Recording Guide Vocals
16/02/2021
Today I began recording the guide vocals for each poem. We have settled on a total of 10 poems that I will develop into 15-20 minutes of audio. In no particular order, we have:
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CASTLES IN THE SKY
A WASH
WHEELS ON THE BUS
CHASING CARS
MONKEY BOY
SUGAR MONSTERS
CATCHING SNOWFLAKES
THE PARK
YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME
I STRUCK GOLD
Since these were just guide tracks, I wasn't too concerned about recording quality. I used a simple set-up of my SM-58 microphone into a Behringer UMC440 to record into ProTools.
Recording the guide vocals before starting to compose the music helped to figure out the rhythm, tempo and time signature of each piece, for example A Wash is in 3/4 and is 86 BPM; whereas Castles In The Sky is in 4/4 and is 80 BPM.
I also made notes of what kind of field recordings I could add; any ideas for musical motifs or moods, and occasionally assigned colours (i.e. I Struck Gold is yellow, Catching Snowflakes is blue) to help me understand and realise the musical world I was picturing in my head.
Vocal Recording
WEDNESDAY 22ND APRIL
As Carly and I are in a bubble, we were able to work together on recording the vocals for the poems. We decided that, in order to keep things as safe as possible while the pandemic was still ongoing, we would record the vocals from my bedroom.
HARDWARE + SOFTWARE USED:
Behringer UMC404HD Audio Interface
BeyerDynamic DT770 PRO Headphones
Mic Stand & XLR Cable
ElectroVoice RE20 Vocal Microphone
Yamaha HS5 Powered Studio Monitors
8GB MacBook Pro
ProTools
It's a small, carpeted room with lots of soft furnishings that help to avoid reflections and room sound, however we encountered a few challenges on the day such as noise coming in from the window, and noise from my housemates just going about their day. Another issue was monitoring, as I only had one pair of headphones which Carly needed to listen to the guide tracks. I ended up monitoring by listening to the (very low volume) output of my speakers, and then listening more intently through the headphones after each take.
Due to the small size of my laptop, it struggled to simultaneously record audio into ProTools and playback a click alongside several MIDI instruments and audio files. ProTools kept crashing which interrupted the flow of the recording session and slowed everything down a bit.
All in all, this process was probably a lot more time-consuming for a slightly less professional sounding result than we would have achieved in a studio; however it was a useful learning process as I now have a better idea of products that would be really beneficial for home recording, such as a second pair of headphones, some room treatment materials, and a bigger computer.
THURSDAY 29TH APRIL
After listening back to the material from last week's session, I decided to order a pop shield to help reduce sibilance and plosive sounds. I also, in an effort to help my laptop run more smoothly, bounced each demo down to an audio track and imported that into each session. This meant that rather than trying to run multiple instrument and processing plug-ins, my laptop would only be playing back one stereo audio file, and a click track. It made a difference, but not a huge one. The pop shield, however, made such a difference to the clarity of the vocals that I've decided to re-record everything we did last week. I feel like the contrast in quality would be really noticeable and it will be worth the extra effort of one more recording day in exchange for less editing time.
FRIDAY 30TH APRIL
As my ability to monitor during recording sessions is quite restricted, the editing process involves a bit more work than it might do had I been monitoring the live vocal takes.
For each poem I listen through the vocal takes and assemble the best edit. I then remove breaths and other unnecessary noise. I also adjust the timing of some vocals by breaking them down into individual clips and move them around until I'm happy with their position in the arrangement. This can be quite challenging when trying to separate out two words or a line that runs together, and requires careful use of fades so it doesn't sound too obvious. Then, using a combination of clip gain and RX8's noise reduction plug-ins, I remove plosives and sibilance, and reduce the 'wetness' of the vocals.
MIXING PLANS:
As each poem occupies its own acoustic world, it's important that I mix the vocals to also inhabit this space. Some tracks have a more lo-fi, filtered vocal whereas others need to sound upfront and clear. However, the vocals also help to glue the entire project together as it remains the one constant across all of the different tracks. For this reason, I'm using a combination of track-by-track processing and processing in the context of the whole project to create distinction where necessary whilst maintaining a cohesive vocal sound.
Field Recording
To add extra life to each of the poems, I wanted to record natural surroundings (the park, the beach etc.) alongside specific actions such as Noah brushing their teeth or cracking an egg.
My Zoom H5 portable recorder came in really handy for this project; using the XY capsule as a stereo pair, accompanied with a hairy windscreen to combat the ever-present bite of Bangor breeze.
Recording with children was a big learning process for me - in particular responding to the dynamics of their play and vocals by adjusting clip gain and mic position, but also in realising that I maybe wouldn't get things captured exactly as I'd imagined. At one point during pre production, I'd imagined getting Noah to read out an entire poem. As it turned out, even a complete sentence can be a bit ambitious.
DAY 1: CRUNCHY SNOW
This video is from the first day of field recordings; in particular I wanted to get Noah to help me make the sound of crunchy snow. for Catching Snowflakes. We did this by filling an old pillowcase with rice and cornflour and getting Noah to walk over it. For I Struck Gold, we attempted some footsteps and fridge-opening-and-closing noises; and finally we got some vocals and car sounds.
One lesson learned from that first day is to be mindful of background noise. All of the kitchen recordings are marred by the humming noise of the fridge in the background, which I have managed to reduce using EQ and noise reduction software, shown below.
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Another solution would be to record some 'kitchen atmos' to include throughout the entire piece, which would make the hum less noticeable.
DAY 2: STORMONT PARK
We went to the park with Noah's friend (my niece) AJ, to record the musical instruments and the park ambience, which will be helpful for The Park, Monkey Boy and Castles in the Sky.
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Recording in a live environment such as this one is difficult; you don't always get exactly what you expected and sometimes the challenges are completely unprecedented, such as the helicopter circling overhead for a good 20 minutes. We got some cute pics though!
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LAST BITS
There are a few things I captured that aren't documented here; the sound of rain on my skylight window; my girlfriend brushing her teeth; on-board announcements on the train to Bangor; and the sound of Carly's car when the exhaust fell off.