u3appliedtechniques

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1.3 Technological Developments

Some of the new technology that have to developed has changed the industry forever. the way that music is created has changed how we mix the tracks or how we record the songs.

some of the developments in the area are Multitrack recordings, Auto-tune, Digital Software, MP3 Players, Streaming Services. MIDI.

Multi-Track

With the introduction of Multi-Track it created a way for the producers to record each instrument separately allowing new and inventive ways to create songs. this allowed producers to create a layers of instruments or vocal harmonies at the same time creating a bigger sound within the recording.

Auto-Tune

As no singer is perfect when singing, there are the odd notes that are not quite right and auto-tune is required. Auto-Tune is not used as a way for every singer can use. it is a tool that is used to pick up the odd note in the vocals that are slightly off in key.

another way that artists have been using auto-tune is to exaggerate their vocals, some artists that have used this movement is Kanye West and T-Pain.

Streaming Services

this was a big move forward in the music industry it created a place that artists could upload their music online for the whole world to hear their music. however one downside to this is that artists are being paid less in royalties.

Reference List

O2, (2017) 8 Technological Advances That Changed The Music Industry Forever | The O2, Theo2.co.uk. Available at: http://www.theo2.co.uk/news/detail/blog_8_technological_advances_that_changed_the_music_industry_forever (Accessed: 7 January 2017).

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Sampling 2.1

With the introduction of contemporary music production came Sampling, what sampling is is taking a snippet of another song and incorporate it in their own song.

A song that this has been done on is hotline Bling by Drake it contains snippets of Timmy Thomas ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’

X, D. and MacMillan, E. (2015). One Dance. [Online] Republic Records. Available at: http://republicrec.co/DrakeHotlineBling [Accessed 4 Jan. 2017]. Thomas, T. (1972). Why Can't We Live Forever. [Vinyl 45rpm] TK Records.

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Contemporary Music Production 2.1

Through the decades how music was produced constantly kept evolving till the point of creating new intuitive ways to create music.

One of the ways that evolved was to use different genres of music and create a different genre altogether. This is how genres such as Rock/Pop came about by producers using a combination of different genres production style and intermingling it into other recording techniques. A genre that does this is Dance.

Producers that use this style to record are commonly, primarily record just dance music.

A producer that is known for this is David Guetta, he creates and producers his own music. One of his songs is ‘Titanium’ this is more of a Dance/Pop song. It uses the mixing techniques of Pop music more than Dance.

Reference List Guetta, D. (2011). Titanium. [Online, CD] Virgin.

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1.2 Changing Approaches

Within the decades the production of music has changed drastically over the years, to microphone placements, what recording technique they use, what microphones they use and mixing.

In the late 1970’s there was a drastic change in the production of music with the introduction to digital recording and MIDI (Musical Instrument digital Interface). Midi allowed instruments such as synthesisers communicate and synchronise with each other. In the ‘80’s this technology was used in Dance, Hip-Hop and Pop Records.

This technology was used in a song called Relax by a band called Frankie Goes to Hollywood. The producer Trevor Horn used the synthesiser technology to create a soundscape in the final recording.

Before 1964 recording studios only used two track recordings. Although multitrack recorders existed before the 1964’ recording studios did not use them for mainstream recordings. Not until the Beatles came along and used them in their recordings. The recorded their music at Abbie aroads studio.

Multitracking was invented in 1940’s which could on record two instruments and different times but could be played back at the same time. In 1954s company called Ampex created the first ever 8 track recorder that was requested by the guitarist Les Paul. To create this technology Ampex and Paul conducted loads of experiments.

This technology we not used in the recording studio until the late 1960s and is still used within studios until this day

Johnson, H. (1983) Relax Don’t Do It. United Kingdom: ZTT Records

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Recording Continued

today we looked at recording the last few things for Lost In The Way. Bass and Drums and because it took longer than expected we have to do vocals as well this week.

Some of the photos are below

Figure 1 Vocals

Figure 2 Drum Kit

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Lost in The Way Recording

today we started recording Lost in the Way properly. we started by recording the Acoustic and Vocals.

we used a technique called Spaced Pair. the microphones that we used were a AKG 414 and a Pro 37R. we used a DI box on the acoustic to get a fuller sound.

We used a SE 2200 for the Vocals and Placed it in the booth

Figure 1 Acoustic DI Box

Figure 2 Spaced Pair

Figure 3 Vocals

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Lost in The Way

In todays lesson we planned out the structure of lost in the way in the studio. we worked out the timing and tempo of this song which were 6/8 and 100bpm. I then played the song in the studio into logic to create the guide track. I then played melody lines of the guitar to compliment the song nicely. the melody lines will most likely be played on an electric guitar.

we then did some takes of Dan’s vocals so that we could come back to it to a later date.

we added a Piano to the song to add texture which sounded nice however we then decided to swap it for an Organ and decided that it was even Better and used it as a Padding instrument.

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Fading Away Planning

In todays Lesson We worked on a logic template to create a structured project for Fading Away. We used Markers to identify when each section started and finished and coloured them in a different colour so that it stood out.

we then set out a click track for the song so that we could add instruments in on the following weeks.

We utilised logics note function to mark what instruments we would add throughout the song. which came in handy.

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Fading Away (Original)

in todays Session we have started to plan our first song we are going to record we have started by choosing reference songs such as ‘Let it go’, Move Together Running by James Bay. ‘how to save a life’  ‘you found me’ by The Fray . Run by Snow Patrol. Photograph by Ed Sheeran. St Patrick’s day by John Mayer. Augustana, R.E.M.‘Half the World Away by Oasis. Remind me miss You by Headway

We then worked out the time signature of this song and its Tempo which are 6/8 and 152 bpm.

we then discussed what genre this song is in, we came to the conclusion that it is in Alt Rock/Indie/Easy listening/pop (american indie).

Ideas that we got from listening to reference song that we could implement into Ash and Heathers song are arpeggiated Piano, Drums, Organ Padded out.

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Steve Albini

03,10,16

in todays lesson we learnt about steve albinis techniques how he likes to record the songs all natural sounding. some of the artists that he has recorded are Nivarna, Plant and The Pixies.

Figure 1 Acoustic Guitar

Figure 2 Vocals

Figure 3 Electric Guitar

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Daniel Lanois techniques

26/9/16

today we recorded a Green Day cover using Daniel Lanois Techniques

Technique 1 Acoustic Guitar

We put the acoustic guitar into an amplifier and recorded it. we used a SM 57 on the amplifier and another SM 57 on the guitar itself a few inches away. We positioned the acoustic guitar in the middle of the room to get the best sound and to catch the natural reverberations of the room.

Technique 2 Amplified Vocals

We used an amp to record the vocals from. We used an SM 58 to record with placed a few inches away from the amp. we used Ash and Abbie to trial this out. Ash were doing the main melody and Abbie were doing the Backing. we had to use a noise gate to get rid of the buzzing noise coming from the amp itself.

Technique 3 Control Room Vocals

we tried plugging in a microphone straight into the mixing desk to see how it would sound in the small room we used a Beta 57 to record from. we found that it took away a lot of natural reverb that you would get in a large room.

Technique 4 Ensemble Texture

we recorded the Bass, Guitar and Acoustic at the same time, placing the microphone in a suitable place in the proximity of the amps. We found it difficult in finding the most suitable place to find balance of each instrument.

Technique 5 Mixing

Towards the end of the session we took it in turns to mix parts of the song. we all had 15 minutes to mix but no one could touch someone else’s mix.

Figure 1 Acoustic Guitar Amp

Figure 2 Acoustic Guitar

Figure 3 Vocals

Figure 4 vocal amp

Figure 5 Acoustic, Electric and Bass

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Recording Drums

19/09/16

In todays lesson we looked at different ways we could record drums using different producers techniques.

We first looked at Brendan O’Brien‘s technique of placing one microphone in the kick drum and a microphone roughly about 3 feet away from the kit.

The other technique we looked at was Glyn Johns, we used three microphones for the whole of the kit which were placed in three places one on the bass drum, one facing the floor tom onto the kit and one in front of the kit facing down onto the kit.

Figure 1: Brendan O’Brien

Figure 2 Glenn Johns Technique

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1.1 Landmark Developments

Introduction

when producers started to create songs they used analogue desks to record to tape. which was a big leap forward in that time however with todays technology with computers we have what’s called Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). they are a computer driven software that is used in nearly all of the recording studios to date. some of the software that can be found in a recording studio are Logic, Pro Tools.

With the introduction with DAW, they did not need to have use of Tape recorders anymore because they went from using analogue to digital. with digital, it revolutionised how the producers recorded because with tape they had to plan out the sessions a lot more because if they made a mistake they had to cut out the mistake out of the tape and glue it back together. however with the new technology they could easily re-record the section because it would only take less than five seconds cutting parts out.

Another thing with Digital is that it has brought the ability to do multitrack records at the same time. so instead of recording one instrument at a time they can record multiple instruments at a time which saves time producing a demo.

The Digital Audio Workstations also comes with Plugins for effects that may want to be added during the mixing and mastering of the product. the plugins could be Reverb, Compressors, noise gate etc.

DJDel313 (2009) ‘The Evolution of Music Technology Pt. 1 Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wpb4N00ruE

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Mixing desk for Fading away

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this is the Second Mix of Lost in the way

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this is my first mix of Fading away

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1.1 Landmark Developments

Session 1

Today we looked into different techniques that studio producers use to record drums. the specific technique that we looked at was the Brendan O'Brien techniques, more specifically how he recorded drums. you may have heard of songs such as