Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Unit 48: Being a 'recording engineer'

Facts about Microphones

Key Terms
  •      Transducer – converts one form of energy to another
  •      Diaphragm – a thin piece of material that vibrates when struck by sound waves
  •      Electromagnetic induction – converts mechanical motion into an electrical signal
  •      Capacitor plate – creates a stronger signal by causing a current when the plates are closer together
  •      Pre amp – the device that prepares the signal to be processed by other equipment (i.e. a mixing desk)
  •      Sound pressure levels – how loud something is (size of sound wave)


Microphone Types
  •      Dynamic – versatile and simple mic type with few moving parts. Better suited to high volume, and does not require power
  •      Ribbon – uses a thin sheet of metal to produce a voltage (electromagnetic induction)
  •      Condenser – uses a capacitor to record more subtle differences, also resulting in a stronger signal. Requires power
  •      Boundary (PMZ) – used to record full room sound, or used as a piano mic


Shure SM58
  •      Dynamic
  •      Used for live vocals
  •      50 to 15,000Hz frequency response
  •      Cardioid





Shure SM57

  •      Dynamic
  •      Used for recording instruments such as electric guitar
  •      40 to 15,000Hz frequency response
  •      Cardioid

  
AKG D112
  •      Dynamic - large diaphragm
  •      Used to record kick drums
  •      20 to 17,000Hz frequency response
  •      Cardioid


AKG C1000S
  •      Condenser - small diaphragm
  •      Used for recording and live sound, as well as video productions
  •      50 to 20,000Hz frequency response
  •      Can be switched from cardioid to hyper cardioid

Evaluation of Percussion Recordings
As part of our assignment to be able to mic up various instruments in different recording situations, we first began by focusing on percussion instruments, in this case a glockenspiel.

The first place I recorded was outside the school premises. In order to record, I used a Zoom H2 handheld recorder, which has the ability to mimic 4 different polar patterns:
·       Front (which mimics a cardioid pattern)



·       Rear (which also mimics a cardioid pattern, but from the back)



  Surround 4 channel (which mimics an omnidirectional pattern)



·       Surround 2 channel (which mimics a figure of 8 pattern)




 From listening back to the recordings, I soon discovered a windy day outside was not the best recording environment for percussion recording as the wind can clearly be heard in the background of all five recordings. However, in future, this problem could be remedied by using a wind shield or by recording on a day with less windy weather. In terms of settings, whilst the front and rear settings did give clearer recordings, they are very unbalanced when played in stereo (such as through headphones), which is expected as each recording only used one direction to record in. In contrast, I felt that the two sets of surround recordings, notably the 4 channel setting, gave a far more balanced recording, but did include a lot more background noise from the wind due to recording in all directions.



The second place I recorded was inside the school corridors. Again, I used the same handheld recorder with the same 4 settings:
·       Front
·       Rear
·       Surround 4 channel
·       Surround 2 channel

By moving the recording process inside, I removed the background wind noise, but added working background noise, which is expected as people were working around school at the time. In future, this could be remedied by recording in a quieter place within school, such as in an empty classroom. As before, I still felt that the front and rear recordings were clearer as they included less background noise, but lacked balance when played in stereo. Again, the surround options gave a more balanced recording but included a higher amount of background noise.


The final place we recorded was inside the school recording studio. This time, I miced up the glockenspiel with three studio microphones:
·       An AKG C1000S - a condenser microphone used often for live sound and video productions. It has a frequency response is 50Hz to 20,000Hz, and it can be switched from cardioid to hyper cardioid patterns.



·       An AKG D112 - often called the “Egg”, this dynamic mic is often used to record kick drums. It has a frequency response of 20Hz to 17,000Hz, and has a cardioid pattern.




·       A Shure SM58 - a dynamic mic mostly used for recording vocals. It has a frequency response of 50Hz to 15,000Hz, and has a cardioid pattern.




Unlike the previous two settings, the studio lacks background noise due to being soundproofed, which allowed for a much clearer recording. In addition, all three microphones delivered a much more balanced recording, as all three are cardioid (one directional) and thus were all pointed directly at the glockenspiel. In terms of sound, I feel that the AKG C1000S gave a slightly clearer recording due to having a higher maximum frequency response of 20,000Hz, allowing extra subtleties to be heard. In comparison, the AKG D112 included more bass and treble frequencies, again due to a higher frequency response range (20Hz to 17,000Hz), whilst the Shure SM58 gave a more rounded recording due to its slightly narrower response range (50Hz to 15,000Hz).

In conclusion, this experience has taught me that, once correctly optimised, there are several settings that can be used to record percussion instruments, such as a glockenspiel. Once background noise has been dealt with, a 4 channel surround sound recording setting is very useful when recording these instruments either inside or outside, always giving a clear recording. When recording in the studio, the AKG C1000S, the AKG D112 and the Shure SM58 all offer subtle differences, giving sound engineers a good choice in terms of the frequency ranges they wish to capture, with the C1000S capturing more subtleties, the D112 boosting bass and treble frequencies whilst the SM58 provides a more rounded recording.



In addition to this, I also recorded a full drum kit, using a wide array of drum mics (such as the D112 for the bass drum), as well as using two C1000S, placed either side of the kit to capture more of a surround sound recording. 




I feel that once I balanced all of the levels (mostly ensuring the cymbals weren't drowning out the toms, kick and snare), the recording was of relatively professional quality. However, the D112 did pick up more of a distorted tone from the bass drum as it was located by a rip in the front skin; this could be avoided in future by changing the microphone placement.


Evaluation of String Instrument Recordings
After recording percussion instruments, I then set about recording string instruments for the next part of the task, namely an acoustic guitar.

This time, I began by recording within the studio:



I set up the acoustic guitar so that it was around 20cm away from the soundhole, as this minimised any chance of distortion and unwanted gain, thus giving a clearer recording. I only used one microphone when recording: the AKG C1000S, a condenser microphone that is designed to give a clearer recording due to its frequency response.



As before, the soundproofed studio setting still gave a very optimised sound, removing any chance of background interference. As the C1000S is cardioid (one directional), I achieved the best results by pointing the microphone directly at the guitar, giving a good balance between volume and clarity of the recording. However, I do think the recording could have been improved if the guitar had been slightly closer to the microphone, as this would have resulted in a more rounded, fuller tone due to the additional bass frequencies.

After this, I recorded within the E-Presentation suite at school:


In comparison to recording in the corridor as we did last week, this room gave much less background noise, resulting in a recording with less interference. As with the studio recording, I again used the C1000S, giving a clearer recording when compared to a dynamic microphone such as an SM58. This was plugged into a Korg D888 digital recording studio.





In my opinion, this recording sounded better than the studio recording, as I sat myself closer to the microphone than before, thus achieving a more bassier tone that, in my opinion, sounded more professional. Even though the microphone was kept the same, this showed me how subtleties can differ by a large amount just by changing the distance between the guitar and the microphone.



In addition to this, I also recorded a 12 string guitar within the studio with the same mic setup. I took on board the previous recordings and moved closer to the microphone, resulting in a much clearer recording.
https://soundcloud.com/user-239608709/12-string?in=user-239608709/sets/extra-studio-recordings

Evaluation of Other Recordings
During my free lessons, I went into the studio and recorded a large variety of other instruments, including:



Clean Chorus Guitar

https://soundcloud.com/user-239608709/clean-chorus-guitar?in=user-239608709/sets/extra-studio-recordings

Distorted Guitar
https://soundcloud.com/user-239608709/distorted-guitar-1?in=user-239608709/sets/extra-studio-recordings



Piano
https://soundcloud.com/user-239608709/piano-1?in=user-239608709/sets/extra-studio-recordings



Electric Bass




A wide assortment of vocals, namely a solo female track, a male and female duet and a female vocal + acoustic guitar duet



The electric guitars were plugged into the same setup: a Fender GDEC guitar amplifier which was miced up with the SM57. 



Even though I had a choice between several microphones, I ultimately chose the Shure SM57 as I felt that the SM58 is better suited to vocals, as well as having a higher range of frequency than the C1000S. In addition, I feel that dynamic mics (like the SM58) don't provide as clear of a recording when compared to a condenser mic like a C1000S. Both the clean and distorted guitars were recorded on an Epiphone Les Paul; the Les Paul's mahogany/maple wood combination along with the dual humbuckers gave a darker, thicker tone more suited to a high gain/distortion application as well as luscious clean tones.




In my opinion, both guitar recordings came across extremely well, though I do feel that the distorted recording did pick up strumming sounds acoustically; in future, this could be minimised to give more of a professional feel.

The electric piano was recorded through a Roland keyboard amplifier so that its sound could be more easily recorded, as opposed to placing a mic around the keyboard that could get in the way of the pianist. For the same reason I picked the C1000S when recording electric guitar, I wound up using the same microphone again for recording the piano. I feel that the piano recordings came across slightly better than the distorted guitar recording, as the key presses cannot be heard, giving a more professional recording.

After this, I recorded bass, again using the Fender amp but micing it with the C1000S in order to capture more high end. I chose to use two basses; an Ibanez bass (Bass 1) with humbucking pickups that gave a relatively thick tone, and a Squier Jazz Bass (Bass 2) with two single coil pickups. Whilst both recordings sound relatively good, in my opinion the Jazz Bass came across clearer, and I would definitely choose to use this again in a full band mix situation, as it would sit better in a mix than the Ibanez bass, which would be better solo.

Ultimately, I felt that recording vocals was the hardest task. As previously stated, I feel that the SM58 was the best at recording vocals, so I used it when recording all three vocal tracks. The two acapella parts (the solo female and the male/female duet) were recorded in the same way; a single SM58 covered with a shield within an enclosure (in order to keep the sound focused in the same space around the vocalists. With the duet, the SM58 was placed halfway between the vocalist and the acoustic guitar in order to best capture all sounds. Out of all the recordings I did, I feel these recordings were of the most professional quality, as the vocalist's voices all came through extremely clearly, especially during the duets where only one microphone was used. In future, multiple microphones could be used as different tracks could be panned in different directions.

Evaluation of Final Recordings

 Final Recording Plans
Plan 1 – Accordion, 28/09/15
  •  Personnel – Me (mixing, setting up microphones, recording Cubase, setting levels) and Sam Keys (accordion player, NOT IN SOUND PRODUCTION)
  • Sam will be responsible for playing the accordion to the best of his ability (to ensure the highest amount of expression/emotion was recorded) and I will be responsible for ensuring that all equipment was placed correctly, and all volume levels were balanced to minimise distortion, or overly bassy/tinny sounds. In addition, this role requires good communication skills (by using the talkback mic to communicate with musicians in the studio) as well as good listening skills (to ensure levels are clear and correctly balanced)
  • Shure SM57 used (cardioid, dynamic mic), placed directly in front and in the middle of the accordion to capture the sound from both halves equally. This microphone was also used on Loveless.
  • May face clicking noise from accordion; I will try to resolve this by optimising microphone distance between the instrument and the player. In addition, there is a risk of Cubase crashing, so I will save often to avoid data loss. I will also have an array of XLR cables ready in case any are faulty.

Plan 2 – Vocals. 12/10/15
  •  Personnel – Me (recording Cubase, setting levels), Lauren Thomas (mic placement, vocalist) and Sarah Hambly (vocalist, NOT IN SOUND PRODUCTION)
  • I will be responsible for setting up Cubase and ensuring that all of the volume levels are correctly balanced. In addition, this role requires good communication skills (by using the talkback mic to communicate with musicians in the studio) as well as good listening skills (to ensure levels are clear and correctly balanced). Sarah and Lauren will be responsible for singing everything to the best of their ability (as to incorporate emotion/expression) and Lauren will also be responsible for ensuring the microphone placement is good enough so that it clearly captures the vocals and minimises any chance of too much bass/treble
  • A pair of Samson C01 mics will be used as they are best suited for recording clear vocals. These will be used in an XY configuration to create a stereo recording.
  • We may face problems from the signal being overly distorted, or being too quiet. This will be down to incorrect microphone placement, so I will minimise this by ensuring I set the volume correctly in Cubase, and Lauren will ensure the microphone is placed correctly in front of herself and Sarah. In addition, there is a risk of Cubase crashing, so I will save often to avoid data loss. I will also have an array of XLR cables ready in case any are faulty.
Plan 3 – Guitar, 12/10/15
  • Personnel – Riess Davies (guitar player), Me (recording device handling, microphone placement) 
  • I will be responsible for setting up the recording device and ensuring that all of the volume levels are correctly balanced. In addition, this role requires good communication skills (by moving the musician around the microphone based on best placement) as well as good listening skills (to ensure levels are clear and correctly balanced). Jake will be responsible for playing the guitar to the best of his ability (as to incorporate emotion/expression) and Jake will be responsible for ensuring the microphone placement is good enough so that it clearly captures the sound of the guitar and involves acoustic reflection (reverb) in the stairwell
  • A portable mixing desk will be used so that the guitar can be recorded in places other than the studio. In terms of microphones, I will use a AKG C1000S (condenser) as it has a higher frequency response range and will be better suited at capturing more of the subtleties from the clarinet
  • Problems faced may include background noise from around the college, or poor volume levels due to incorrect microphone placement (resulting in a poor quality recording). To minimise this, I will choose to record in a place where there will be a lack of people, reducing “chatter”. In addition, I will experiment with different mic placements to ensure the best recording is captured.
Instrument
Microphone used
Facts/Reasons
Accordion
SM57
Dynamic, cardioid pickup pattern, balanced frequency response
Vocal Mics
 C01
 Condenser, cardioid pickup pattern that focuses on direct sound rather than from surroundings, clearer at picking up subtleties from vocals
Acoustic Guitar
C1000S
Condenser, choice of cardioid/hyper cardioid polar patterns, higher frequency range that is perfect for capturing subtleties within the recording


Evaluations
The first recording I did was of an accordion. I captured this recording by using a single Shure SM57, as it has a relatively even frequency response and avoids capturing a lot of surrounding noise due to the cardioid pickup pattern. I placed the SM57 directly in the middle of the accordion and around 10cm away. In order to capture the clearest recording, I chose to record in the studio on Cubase through a mixing desk (without using any EQ). Here, I assumed the role of setting up Cubase, controlling levels and setting up microphone placement, whilst my friend Sam Keys played the accordion.

As this recording was carried out in the studio, it does not suffer from background noise due to the studio being soundproofed. In turn, this acts in combination with my good microphone placement to ultimately produce a clear recording. One negative point about this particular recording is that some of the mechanical "clicks" from the accordion were unfortunately picked up during recording; this makes the accordion a very difficult instrument to record. if I were to repeat this recording process in future, I would instead choose to use two SM57s, set up in a stereo pair to avoid this.



The next recording I did was a vocal duet. In contrast, this recording was captured with two Samson C01 mics, placed in front of each performer. I chose these mics as they are condenser, thus making them more suitable for vocals which have a low sound pressure level. This also results in more subtleties being picked up from the vocalists. Again, I was aiming to achieve the clearest recording possible, so I chose to record in the studio on Cubase through a mixing desk (without using any EQ). Here, I set up Cubase and balanced the levels, whilst Lauren set up microphone placements for herself and Sarah, the other vocalist.

As with the first recording, this recording was carried out in the studio, it does not suffer from background noise due to the studio being soundproofed. Like the first recording, it is also of good, clear quality. Learning from recording the accordion, I chose to use two mics to capture both performers instead of one. This resulted in being able to clearly distinguish between both performers, and results in what I consider to be a professional quality vocal recording when both tracks are combined. Evaluation wise, if you listen to each track separately, there is some crossover between mics (where the other performer is picked up by the opposite mic). If I were to repeat the recording process, I would either move the performers and their respective microphones further away from each other, or would track each performer separately.


The final recording was of an acoustic guitar. Unlike the other two recordings, I chose to record outside of the studio, in a classroom. This was done so I could gain natural reverb from the surroundings. This time, my microphone of choice was a an AKG C1000S, chosen as it is a condenser, able to cope with lower sound pressure levels and thus gaining a clearer recording. Here, I set up the Korg mixing desk and adjusted the sound levels, whilst Riess played the guitar.

As this recording was not carried out in the studio, it included more reverb that gave more of a "natural" sound to the recording. However, this meant that the recording was more susceptible to background noise, an example being the sound of the "record" button being pressed at the start. Despite this, I still felt that the good microphone placement did still give a clear recording; it just has more background noise due to not being recorded in a soundproof room, such as a studio.

Linking Back to Brief One
Looking back at brief one, I believe that Kevin Shields' recording techniques on Loveless helped my recordings sound more professional. Loveless has an extremely high quality of sound, with a good level of resonance, and I attempted to replicate this by matching the correct types of microphones to the instruments, based on their sound pressure levels. For example, I would use a C1000S for acoustic guitar for this reason. During the recording of Loveless, Shields wanted to mostly avoid acoustic reflection and sound absorption, and I also did this by mostly using the studio for recording. However, when I recorded the acoustic guitar, I did choose to record in a classroom so as to contrast and to get more reverb. Like all professional artists, I wished to avoid background noise; whilst my studio recordings are soundproofed and did not have this problem, my acoustic guitar recording did suffer from this, so in future I could shield the area to cut out background chatter and/or hiss. In addition to all of this, I tried to ensure all of my recordings contained a lot of expression/emotion, involving the listener in my recordings just as must as Shields did with Loveless.

Conclusion
Ultimately, I feel that my work on this unit was very successful, and I have gained a lot of experience to be able to record at a professional quality. This has also gave me a lot of helpful tips on how to avoid certain problems in future (i.e crossover or "clicking" noises), which can help to make my future recordings be of an even higher quality.

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