Critical Production analysis

Transcription

1 TPX35 Critical production analysis 3D Production elements 3E Identifying production techniques Critical Production analysis This exercise requires you to provide critical analysis one of the recordings you made in class. Learning to analyse your own recordings and productions is important as it encourages an objective view of your own work, and helps you to develop the ability to clearly articulate your feelings about certain sounds and production techniques. These skills will be required again and again throughout a career in audio engineering and / or music production. During this exercise, be as honest and as clear and you can be. Use the spaces provided for your answers. Working on your own workstation if possible, open one of the sessions you have recorded and answer any of the questions that relate to your session. If there are questions which do not appear to be relevant to your recording, double check with your teacher and then leave it blank. Drums. Provide a broad statement about the quality of the drum kit recording. The drum recording was overall in rhythm and had a good sounds to it. the spud mic we used created a big hearty sound which worked well alongside the hi hats which were crisp. Did the set up and sound checking of the drums take too long? If so, where do you think time could have been saved?

2 Can you remember which microphones were used? (list below) Kick - Spud Snare - SHURE SM57 Mounted Tom - SHURE SM57 Floor Tom - Senheisser E602 Hi Hat - NT55 Overhead 1 - AKG C414 Overhead 2 - AKG C414 Which stereo microphone technique was used for the overheads? Spaced or coincident (Ref 12E) Do you think it worked? Why / why not? The overhead 1 stopped woring through the testing at the beginning so we just decided to only use one overhead which we placed in line with the drummer, this wasn't the worst thing in the world but created a hicupp. Comment on the tone of all the drum kit signals? Was the tone altered using equalisation? Comment on the processed dynamic presentation of all the drum kit signals? Were any of the signals over compressed? Should any of the uncompressed signals have been compressed? The kick drum was compressed which would make the sound louder and more present in the final recording which really helped the overall sound.

3 What do you think of the drummer s performance? For example did they keep good time, were they erratic in their playing style hard/soft? The drummer kept a simple drum beat throughout the recording which was easy to do which limited the amount of mess ups. Locate one point in the drum take where an edit is required to correct the drummer s timing. Note the time of the edit and describe what you did to correct the timing below. Bass Comment on the tone of the bass signal? Was the tone altered using equalisation? The bass sounded beefy, there was no alteration made using equalisation Comment on the processed dynamic presentation of the bass signal? Were you happy with the way the bass was compressed before recording? Which compressor was used? What do you think of the bass player s performance? For example did they keep good time? Did they stay in sync with the drummer? The bassist perfoemace was in rhythm with the dummer, making it work together

4 Locate one point in the song where an edit is required to correct the groove of drummer and the bass player together. Listen particularly for the timing of the kick drum and the bass. In the space below note the time of the edit and describe what you would do to correct the timing. The track was in good time so there wasn't any need to edit it Electric guitars (for this section, if no electric guitar comment on other featured instrument) Describe the microphone placement techniques used for the guitars. (If there was more than one guitar, note these details for each guitar) What microphones were used? A close miccing technique was used with a SHURE SM57 Comment on the processed dynamic presentation of all the guitar signals Comment on the tone at the source (guitar amp). Was it captured well in recording? Was the tone altered using equalisation? The guitar signals were alright but some mistakese were made which effected it a bit The amp was used which created a cruncy sound

5 What do you think of the guitarist(s) s performance? Did they keep time with the drum and bass tracks? Did they introduce unwanted noise into the recording? The guitar brought a meloldy to the track which made it more interesting and gave it some life Other instruments What other instruments were used in the recording? Flugelhorn How were they recorded? RHODE NT2000 Close Miccing Techinique Main Vocal Which microphone was used for the main vocal? Do you think it suited the voice? RHODE NT2000 It suited the voice as in it picked up all the best parts of the voice

6 Comment on the tone of the voice. Was that tone captured accurately in the recording? The voice was really clean and his tone was creaptured well Comment on the vocalist s performance? Did they have a large dynamic range? Were they too soft etc? Did they stay in time with the backing tracks? The vocals weren't really singing but were more of a rap/poetry reading so the vocal range wasn't really there In your opinion, does the vocal style and performance suit the song? Do you like the lyrics? Why / why not? I think it suited it to some extent. The lyrics helped with the whole feel of the song but the lack of tone was a problem and didn't create a final product we hoped for Overall In conclusion, comment on the session itself. Did it run smoothly? Did it run on time? What (if any) technical hurdles were encountered? Are you satisfied with the result? Overall, there were a few difficulty in setting up and preparing but as it was the first time most of us had done any of this stuff i thought we worked well and efficently to get the task done. It did run smoothy with some minor troubles but that was due to no knowledge of how to set specific things up which was expected. I think overall we were all happy with the final product.