Ep Journal
Below, in no particular order, identifies some of the processes and procedures used to create the EP.
Song 3:
Apathy
Demo
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The inspiration for this song came from a song called ‘No Sleep’ by Twin Atlantic. I loved the opening riff and I decided to take inspiration from it and write something similar.
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I just purchased a distortion pedal called the rev G4 and I tracked all the guitars using it and it gave the guitars a grainy feel that although sounded good , I wanted a tighter feel to the guitars. Originally I had the riff at the beginning as the chorus with lyrics over it but listening to songs within the same genre as the EP, I decided that the riff wasn’t a chorus section it was a post chorus section. So I came up with the chorus section over Christmas and recorded it in. I re-worded the lyrics and found a melody line so that the pieces all gelled together.
Bass
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For the bass tone, I wanted a deep low and slightly overdriven punchy sound that retains clarity. Mynett says: “failing to deliver a dense and punchy sound with strong note definition results in a production with reduced impact and less effective heaviness”. (Mynett, 2017, pp. 143)
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I Recorded bass simultanieouly using a DI box and a Orange bass cab with a RE20 microphone. Suggested by Martin Rushent, who says that “I also recall that it used to be a little thin out of the amp. Not desperately so, but it didn’t have a real sub, so I think we picked that up off the DI and EQ’d the signal. Then we’d blend the two together.” (Rushent, 2012)
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The slap bass section in the bridge and breakdown was recorded similarly with the RE20. However, the mic kept popping, even when turning the gain. To combat this issue, the bass was taken into the control room and record using DI alone which coincidently provided a thick warm tone sounding similar to the RE20.
I recorded around 5 takes of each section so I have lots of takes to choose from. After the bass tracks were comped, I started to mix them into the track by adjusting volume automation, applying EQ and compression. I followed Amos Williams’s advise from Tesseract when EQ’ing the bass, who says “i tend to pull down 500Hz, its something that allows me to pop up in the mix” – “theres an actual space that I can carve for myself in the mix and just sit there much louder than everybody else” (Williams, 2016)
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Multiple compression was used on the bass to level the tones. I sent it through an Joemeek sixQ2 rac unit to glue the DI and amp tone together. The slap bass was sent through 2 different hardware compressors – the Joemeek and the dbx 166XL which was then blended together to produce a similar effect. After Mixing the bass I added some MIDI sub bass I created using Massive which was then side chained to the bass notes proving an extra level of depth underneath the bass guitar.
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Reverb. (2016) Amos Williams of Tesseract Talks Bass Tone | Reverb Interview [Online video] 20th Dec. Available from: <https://www.youtube.com> [Accessed 26th December 2019].
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Mynett, M. (2017) Metal Music Manual. New York: Routledge.
FX
The ‘Boomer’ effect from Logic Pro X’s apple loops was use to add impact at the beginning of each section. I reversed a cymbal sample and sent it to a reverb bus to act as a build up towards the ‘Boomer’ effect coupled with a white noise sweep created in Massive. A sine drop and rise was also created in Massive to additionally thicken up the build up sections before drops. (shown below)
Drums and Vocals
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Similar to the rest of the EP, The drums in the 1st version were created using Kontakts studio drummer soon to be re-programmed with Get Good Drums – Matt Halpern PIV – (Kontakt Drum Kit).
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The vocals were recorded at home using a Rode NT1-A with duvets and blankets organised in my bedroom to trap all unwanted reflections. I’ve thought about re-recording the vocals in the studios however they seem to integral to the track to change them. Paul White says that ideally you want to record in a acoustically treated vocal booth however when that’s not possible, hanging a duvet up behind the microphone and singing into a cardioid pattern large diaphragm condenser mic will yield the best results:
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“hang the duvet behind the singer, as any reflections coming past the singer’s head will otherwise be picked up by the extremely sensitive front of the microphone.” (White, 2006)
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White, P. (2006) Vocal Recording & Production Masterclass [Online article]. Available from: <https://www.soundonsound.com> [Accessed 29th December 2018].
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After the vocals were comped and put into place I started processing them. I used EQ to cut away all the unwanted bass frequencies and used some surgical cuts to help them cut through the mix. Compression was used to level out the vocals and glue them together along a plug in called vox thicken, which was used to beef up the vocal and give the impression more than one voice was singing.
What I compromised on throughout the EP- Corona Virus
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Due to the corona virus, there were a few processes regarding the production of the EP that couldn't be finished within the deadline for this project.
The university announced that it would shut which also means the studios and labs. This meant that the final mix couldn't be produced on the big speakers in studio 3. At the beginning of this module I wanted to have a really good mix that sounded good on all speakers, however unfortunately the EP had to be mixed at home using Yamaha HS8's and headphones: audio-technica ATH-M60x. (set up shown in photo on the below)
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Additionally, I planned on having live drums on the EP. Joe Thacker, who helped programme the drum parts for each song, learnt the drums parts, spending hours a day nailing the grooves and fills. I plan in the future to record the real drums but at this time, before the deadline, it's not possible. I had planned which mics to use shown in the picture below. After the virus has gone and everything goes back to normal, hopefully I will have a chance to record live drums properly for this EP to further show of my producing and song writing abilities.
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After the live drums were recorded, there were a few plugins at uni that I wanted to use such as the sonnox collection. I have a few of their plugins but not as much as the university does. These would have been used on the drums to mix and produce them .
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I planned to ride the vocal on a fader in one of the studios to allow the vocal to sit on top of each mix however this is also not possible.
Instead, I shall draw in automation lanes to have a similar effect.
Guitars
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All guitars on the track were recorded with my Schecter Jinx Prowler Recluse Custom with EMG 81 and EMG 85 high gain pickups. This guitar was great for this song as I wanted it to be impactful and heavy, utilising distortion especially in the breakdown section. Mynett says that distortion “embody’s the fundamental identity of heavy music.” (Mynett, 2019, pp. 306) The guitars, like the other songs on the EP, were recorded using the Archetype Nolly plug in with tones designed by myself through adapting and manipulating pre sets created by Nolly himself.
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During my research I found that having a different tone in the left and right, said by Sneapin the Metal Music Manual, will “make the production wider.” (Sneap, 2017, pp. 138)Because of this, I decided that in certain sections of the track where the guitars are to be the main focus, quad tracking will provide a thick full detailed sound. I utilised the pan positions below to create a wide stere image leaving the overdriven bass and vocals in the centre.
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Guitar 1: 100% L Guitar 2: 100% R Guitar 3: 75% L Guitar 4: 75% R
Preparing the Mix
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Had the same issue as the other songs on the EP where the guitar plug in wont print the plug in on the audio file as a stem so I bounced each track out separately by sending it to a separate bus for each track.
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I then set the project up to mix by colour coding, arranging tracks, creating busses, creating VCA’s and a master fader.
