Executive Producer: Mario Baamann
Recording Assistant: Moritz Denzel

Vocals
Anne Zeides
www.facebook.com/annezeides/

Rap
Niklas Brenner

Grand Piano
Milena Winter

Ukulele
Johannes Hagmann
@jojotroniks

Drums
Lukas Günter
www.instagram.com/cyka.cy/

Additional Production
@iammrz

Blurryface
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Notes:
Had some major problems doing this. The recording chronology was just wrong which caused some timing and tempo problems. It wasn't recorded on click as well, therefore i had to edit big time. I tried to get this one groovy instead of making it excessively tight which wasn't possible anyway. Couldn't get the interlude groovy though, with phrasing like that it definitely should have been tighter. Vocal dynamics and the sharp sibilants were not that easy to handle. There's no 'real' e-bass in this production, so I took a deep pad with a subharmonic synthesizer in the verses while using a programmed bass in the hooks. Final mix is solid, tonal balance and equalization are quite nice. Vocals sometimes sit a bit out of the mix, as well as the Hi-Hat which is a bit too loud but carries the groove in most parts. The Judge was tracked in mid 2017, mixed in late 2017 and finalized in early 2018. It's my second finished major production. Ukulele was overdubbed once. 
Please bear in mind that soundcloud compression sounds horrible. Overall sound quality on this platform has never been worse. Maybe I'll put up a Dropbox or Audiomack link soon.

Software:
Recorded, edited and mixed in Pro Tools
Re-edited and stem-mastered in Studio One
Additional MIDI Arrangement made in Logic

Recording Consoles:
Drums, Vocals: Neve VR Legend
Rap, Ukulele: Audient ASP880 Pres in a HDX environment with D-Command Control Surface
Grand Piano: Soundcraft SiEx1

twenty one pilots - The Judge (Full Cover)

Performed by Kai Konold-Arias
Recorded and processed by Mario Baamann

Watch on YouTube
https://youtu.be/HhCHGRVpnkk

Notes:
Kai played all songs on a Blüthner Grand Piano. Room wasn't acoustically treated but sounded very well though. I used three stereo miking techniques and one kick mic for this session. A fake AB directed deep into the corpus, an EBS at the end of the piano, around the bridge. Finally, a NOS about three meters away from the piano. The kick mic was placed under the piano because the room had rounded corners and no standing waves in the deep frequency range. I really liked the recorded sound, so I only applied some EQ on each track. There were some harsh frequencies, so I tried to get to rid of them without being overly surgical. Instead, I wanted it as musical as possible, while keeping everything in phase. I don't own a linear phase EQ which would have been a lot better because my EQ caused some comb filtering, even with perfectly tracked phase. Some frequencies are still ready to mate a bit but it's ok, there's also some residual noise. On master bus are two instances of surgical EQ, a musical API-emulated EQ, a low-ratioed clean compressor and a FET-based compressor to fat it up a bit. Overall processing is largely kept clean. All in all it replicates the vibe of the session as authentic as possible. One Dance was an 1-Take.

Microphones:
SE5 Stereo Pair 
RØDE NT5 Stereo Pair
AKG P170 Stereo Pair
AKG P2

Recording Console:
Allen & Heath GLD80

Software:
Recorded in Pro Tools via SoundGrid (M-Waves)
Mixed and mastered in Studio One

Please keep in mind that SoundCloud audio quality is poor. Watch it on YouTube for a slightly better compressed version.

Drake - One Dance (Arias Pianist Cover)

Performed by Kai Konold-Arias
Recorded and processed by Mario Baamann

Notes:
Kai played all songs on a Blüthner Grand Piano. Room wasn't acoustically treated but sounded very well though. I used three stereo miking techniques and one kick mic for this session. A fake AB directed deep into the corpus, an EBS at the end of the piano, around the bridge. Finally, a NOS about three meters away from the piano. The kick mic was placed under the piano because the room had rounded corners and no standing waves in the deep frequency range. I really liked the recorded sound, so I only applied some EQ on each track. There were some harsh frequencies, so I tried to get to rid of them without being overly surgical. Instead, I wanted it as musical as possible, while keeping everything in phase. I don't own a linear phase EQ which would have been a lot better because my EQ caused some comb filtering, even with perfectly tracked phase. Some frequencies are still ready to mate a bit but it's ok, there's also some residual noise. On master bus are two instances of surgical EQ, a musical API-emulated EQ, a low-ratioed clean compressor and a FET-based compressor to fat it up a bit. Overall processing is largely kept clean. All in all it replicates the vibe of the session as authentic as possible. 'El Préstamo' was the first one tracked. I love Kai's rendition of it, original track is great as well. 

Microphones:
SE5 Stereo Pair 
RØDE NT5 Stereo Pair
AKG P170 Stereo Pair
AKG P2

Recording Console:
Allen & Heath GLD80

Software:
Recorded in Pro Tools via SoundGrid (M-Waves)
Mixed and mastered in Studio One

Please keep in mind that SoundCloud audio quality is poor. Watch it on YouTube for a slightly better compressed version.

Maluma - El Préstamo (Arias Pianist Cover)

Performed by Kai Konold-Arias
Recorded and processed by Mario Baamann

Notes:
Kai played all songs on a Blüthner Grand Piano. Room wasn't acoustically treated but sounded very well though. I used three stereo miking techniques and one kick mic for this session. A fake AB directed deep into the corpus, an EBS at the end of the piano, around the bridge. Finally, a NOS about three meters away from the piano. The kick mic was placed under the piano because the room had rounded corners and no standing waves in the deep frequency range. I really liked the recorded sound, so I only applied some EQ on each track. There were some harsh frequencies, so I tried to get to rid of them without being overly surgical. Instead, I wanted it as musical as possible, while keeping everything in phase. I don't own a linear phase EQ which would have been a lot better because my EQ caused some comb filtering, even with perfectly tracked phase. Some frequencies are still ready to mate a bit but it's ok, there's also some residual noise. On master bus are two instances of surgical EQ, a musical API-emulated EQ, a low-ratioed clean compressor and a FET-based compressor to fat it up a bit. Overall processing is largely kept clean. All in all it replicates the vibe of the session as authentic as possible. 'Englishman In New York' was the last song tracked and only took two attempts.

Microphones:
SE5 Stereo Pair 
RØDE NT5 Stereo Pair
AKG P170 Stereo Pair
AKG P2

Recording Console:
Allen & Heath GLD80

Software:
Recorded in Pro Tools via SoundGrid (M-Waves)
Mixed and mastered in Studio One

Please keep in mind that SoundCloud audio quality is poor. Watch it on YouTube for a slightly better compressed version.

Sting - Englishman In New York (Arias Pianist Cover)

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Mario Baamann
https://www.instagram.com/ma10hernandez/

Vocals
Shakira Wiebe
https://www.instagram.com/dreamingscarlett/

Drums, Bass, Acoustic, Guitar
Lukas Günter
https://www.instagram.com/cyka.cy/

Notes:
Man, this one really killed me! Had like 2-3 mixdowns of this song and they all sounded like absolute horseshit. I started to overdub everything except the drums because i couldn't hear the original recordings anymore. Finally, I pulled off a hearable mix. Took me like forever. Always remember, recording good material is key.
In all honesty, I also didn't know what I wanted to achieve in terms of sound. So I listened to the original, programmed all the synths (except the pluck) and additional drums and mixed it. In the end, it's a huuuge session with 115 tracks (nearly the half of them FX busses) and over 100 processing plug-ins. Never wanted to this but Papa Roach productions are quite astonishing. I guess I dialed in about 30 delays for this. Mix is pretty solid, I think. Especially the hooks are good and when heard at higher volumes they evolve good energy. Hi-Hat and Snare pop out in the parts quite hard but level balancing was hard to master in this. Should have done even more automation and clip-gain beforehand to match the volumes throughout the song. 'Help' was originally recorded in mid 2017 (some weeks before 'The Judge'), overdubbed in late 2017/early 2018 and mixed in mid/late 2018.
As always, keep in mind that soundcloud sounds not that great.

Software
Recorded in Pro Tools
Mixed in Studio One

Recording Consoles:
Drums: Neve VR Legend
Vocals: Audient ASP8024HE
All Guitars: Audient iD14

Papa Roach - Help (Full Cover)

recording/mixing engineer, live sound A1, music producer, media post-producer

post-producer @ Die Ligen (broadcasted on Eurosport, Sport1, Canal+ & DFB.tv)

beat producer alias @goodboimrz

part time pianist and drummer

drop me a mail (inquiries/questions)
audio.mrz[at]gmail.com

MRZ REFERENCES