Next part to be tracked was bass guitar. The choice to track bass next was a simple one as bass and drums together make up the foundations of a song that everything else sits on top of. Katherine was our bass player and did a good job, playing smoothly and consistently. Bass had everything turned flat with pickup selector in the middle to get the natural sound of the bass.

Recording was done through DI only as it gives a clear sound without any colouration from mics or amplifiers. The DI signal was sent through a compressor unit via a patch bay to slightly compress the low end as it was coming through quite strongly. The ratio of compression was roughly 3:1.

To help Katherine, Jack recorded a guitar guide track beforehand to help her know when a chorus or verse starts as she only played to drums, not the original track.

Some mistakes were present as there often are with limited recording and practice time, but they could be remedied by recording over or ‘punching-in’ the mistakes. This led to the intro being recorded on a separate track that would later have to be mixed in to the rest of the bass track.

 

First part to be tracked was drums. Sensible choice as it’s the standard order of most recordings to track the drums first.  Billy, our resident drummer, had learnt the part and was ready to go. We used the drum booth in our multitrack studio to get a clean, dry sound from the drums as this makes mixing everything else a lot easier.We did close miced the kick, the snare and all the toms, but not the cymbals.

To record the kick drum, we used an AKG D112 dynamic mic. the D112 was chosen for it’s low frequency response and ability to pick up high SPL’s without distorting, as such it’s a popular choice when recording kick drums or bass. Mic was positioned at the front of the drum, pointing inside the sound hole to pick up the thump from inside the drum.

The snare drum was mic’d with two Shure SM57 microphones, one above and one below, both pointing towards the skin of the drum. We chose to use two to record a bigger variety of sound as it opens more tone-shaping possibilities in the mixing stage. Top mic picks up the initial crack of the snare and the bottom one records the rattle of the wires inside.

Billy used all three toms so we had to close mix them, too. All three were mic’d up with Beyerdynamic M201 mics. A choice was made to use three close proximity mics because it then allows for the toms to be panned later on.

Cymbals and the general sound of the drum kit were recorded using two overhead AKG C414 mics. Again, we chose not to close mic the cymbals, because doing that gets a very direct sound and  no one listens to a drum kit with their ears next to a cymbal. Getting a room sound is a more accurate and natural representation.

There were no problems with the recording process. It was clear Billy had learnt and practised the song a lot as his playing was consistent and we didn’t even had to use compression to record and gain levels were very consistent.

There was no EQ or effects used on the recording desk, that was going to be added later on during the mixing process.

After a group vote and discussion on Facebook, we decided on recording and mixing Losing My Religion by REM. I think people chose this song over others because it can accommodate a range of instruments, such as piano and acoustic guitar on top of the traditional bass, drums and vocals. Also, because it’s quite simple with regards to it’s arrangement. Each member of the group would play an instrument with the exception of Alex, Luke and Josh as they volunteered to be the producers. Billy was chosen to be the drummer, Katherine would play bass, I would play keys and Vashti would sing.