Car Door

Snap and Drop

Shot Received

TOS Bridge

TNG Chime Short

Change Rattling

modelled after science fiction engine sounds

take off

For the purpose of recording a stereo test I attached a keychain to piano wire, then removed it. I Then played the piano wire with a motor with a feather attached and a hand fan.  The microphones were two cardioid's placed into the XY position by the foot pedals, this was to record as much of the piano resonating as possible and the least of the contact with the piano wire.

Stereo Recording

This session is comprised of two multi-mic recording takes:

The first take is rhythmic sound that can be heard. I recorded a broken amplifier using two SM57 about a half inch above the cone and an inch away from the grill. I placed a second microphone behind the exposed speaker in about the same distance. I walked around the room listening for the most bass reflections and placed an AKGC414 in this position.

Each channel of this recording resulted in different tonal qualities so I decided to take advantage of that with panning and muting to create a more varied rhythmic sound.

The second take I had Don Gray perform in this room using this setup, unfortunately I accidentally left the room mic off on this take.

In the adjacent room (B) I set up for acoustic recording to play along to Don. 
 
I used two microphones set up in mid-side
Sennheiser mkh 40
Sennheiser mkh 30

And just about 2ft above the guitar with another AKGC414

Initially this mic was set up for vocals but after recording and not singing at all it of course captured the guitar a fair amount so I decided to try and mix it in. If It were another session I would have to reconsider either my use of mic placement or mic.

The recording I have chosen to use for this assignment may at times sound a bit lo-fi, and although that can be a nice quality in music I put it down to simply recording a broken amp and improvising along. 

I was still getting used to the studio by this point and with limited time ticking away this was by far the best outcome of the sessions I had. I think in the future now that I am more familiar with this process of recording I will spend more time considering placement of mics.



Multi-Mic (Broken Amp + Bass + Acoustic Guitar)

For my major project I decided to rework an old song by recording each part individually. This is a process I am familiar with but I am unfamiliar with using high quality equipment (used to use four-track tape recorders and playign directly into it) and using a console. Through this process I implemented skills I am gaining from the trial and error of recording such as microphone placement, routing, and the idiosyncrasies of certain studio space. 

The first tracks I recorded were guitar tracks, for this I set up two close mics, one SM57 and one AKGC414, both about an inch and a half or so from the speaker grill, the SM57 on the left side of the cone and the AKGC414 on the right. Initially I had planned to do a vocal take at the same time so I had one SM58 and another AKGC414. In my previous Multi-Mic session I planned to do the same but found that these recordings could work fairly well as they captured a some of the room tone given that I was not singing, 

I attempted to dampen  to a small degree the reflections of the room by setting up tube traps along the glass windows and I also positioned the amplifier away so that the acoustic dampening would soften any such reflections. 

I recorded about three takes on guitar, one straight take, one capo'd from the 12th fret and another just straight but accentuating some of the melody. 

For the Tambourine track I played into the mics I had initially set up for vocals, the AKGC414 and the SM58, I kept one of them dry and added reverb to the other. Initally this was just get a sense of where the recording process could go. I planned to reamp the recording of the tambourine in the kitchen to capture some of the natural reverb, but due to acoustic disturbance and as well as electrical interference this didn't quite pan out. Of course if I had more time I would continue to try and reamp the material in different spaces rather than add on a digital effect. 

The third instrument I recorded was the organ in the kitchen. 
For this recording I placed a trusty SM57 and an AT2020 about 2 inches or so from the speaker grill, the SM57 on the left the AT2020 on the right. A couple of feet back, about just behind the seat I was in as I played was an MS pair, Sennheiser MKH30 & MKH40, these were great for giving the recording a natural reverb and warm room tone. Out of all the individual instruments I recorded I think this one was the most successful, I was pretty happy with the microphone selection and placement with this one. 

I considered playing piano as well and just adjusting the microphone position until I realized how out of tune it was and how I would have to reacquaint myself with where chords would now lie on the keyboard.... Too much of a task if you were to ask me.... 

The fourth instrument I recorded was bass, I used very much the same set up as I did on the organ but with the MILAB dc96b as a distant room mic. The MS pair in this recording was good in adding a more rounded tone as the amplifier I played through was a guitar amp and would distort on certain notes. 

The fifth recording was a kick drum that I placed in the corner of the room of room b, I placed a single AKGC414 in a direct line from from where I was playing, this happened to be in about the doorway more or less. This was about all I needed as there wasn't much I needed in terms of rhythm, just something simple enough to ground the recording. 

The very last recording I did was of distorted guitar, I used the same amplifier I had previously for bass. the Microphones I used were very similar as well, an SM57, and AKGC414 at about my shoulder height, and then a distant mic, the MILAB to capture some of the room tone. 

u-b-f