GCSE Recording

[CharlieH]

Good Evening :)

I have just completed a recording for my GCSE Music performance module, and was wondering what people thought of it. My drum teacher and his band performed the track, whilst I recorded, mixed and mastered it.

 

I have submitted the coursework now, hence why I am allowed to publish it on here for opinions on the recording quality and mixing techniques. Anything constructive is very welcome, as I am proud of this however I am sure others on here will be able to criticise it!

 

The track can be found here.

 

Thanks to everyone that listens http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

Charlie

[revbobuk]

Just personal opinions - this is all very subjective. The obvious thing for me is that the bass guitar seems way too hot, especially at the bottom end. It overpowers the kick completely, and as a result the very clean recording of the vocals and the boom of the bass are the parts of the mix that you hear - the punch of the snare doesn't make it.

 

Maybe others will add different things, but that bass guitar was the stand-out problem for me.

 

Respect for having the nerve to post it here!

[paulears]

Well Charlie - I was impressed enough to go into my studio and download it and listen again on real speakers at a respectable level.

 

First things are pretty positive. Up until 2003, I was the Principal Examiner for A Level Music Technology and I have to say that is better recorded than much of the stuff that used to cross my path then. I don't know the marking scheme (or actually anything about GCSE) but it worked for me, subject to a few odd things.

 

If your teacher marks it in house and then these marks are verified externally, things might be simpler. We always used to try to convince students not to do things with radical eq as an effect, because they could be considered by a random examiner, unaware of the thing you were trying to do - to be a mistake. Any comments students made like "I made the drums sound like they were recorded in a small poor sounding room to bring out the roughness of the genre" - we'd just say squit - it WAS recorded in a small bad sounding room, and discount their comment as an excuse. So your band limited beginning that suddenly expands might be considered a mistake - but it's good enough that I doubt it in your case. I think it held together well. It's pretty compressed, and perhaps when the feel changed half way through, you could have put a bit more light and shade in there. I felt the vocal was a bit overshadowed by the guitars - maybe you could have created a bit more space for the vocal with the guitar eq, or maybe some dynamics treatment? It wasn't bad by any means, just could have been a tad better mixed there. Towards the end when one guitar starts playing a solo line it has an effect applied that blurs it and makes it lack definition. Personal taste, but the ending I thought was a bit weak - leaving that exposed guitar note that was slightly detuned - and awkward ending, I figured it was going to end on a bump and dead stop, so I was surprised when it didn't. There are in reality now two endings, the main ending, then the ending of the note. Not sure?

 

If I were you, I'd be very pleased - If you entered that for the recording component of the A Level it would do quite well.

 

Nice one.

 

You could be really sneaky and post up the mark scheme and ask people to use it and give you marks, bearing in mind we would be doing it without any form of standardisation and knowledge of how things are - but the results might be interesting?

 

Have you checked that you are ok posting this - sometimes exam work needs to remain private just in case you ask for a remark, or there is some problem with the rules. Usually exam material and coursework is not yours to publish like this - you need to be careful.

[Tom Lovick]

Well Charlie - I was impressed enough to go into my studio and download it and listen again on real speakers at a respectable level.

 

First things are pretty positive. Up until 2003, I was the Principal Examiner for A Level Music Technology and I have to say that is better recorded than much of the stuff that used to cross my path then. I don't know the marking scheme (or actually anything about GCSE) but it worked for me, subject to a few odd things.

 

If your teacher marks it in house and then these marks are verified externally, things might be simpler. We always used to try to convince students not to do things with radical eq as an effect, because they could be considered by a random examiner, unaware of the thing you were trying to do - to be a mistake. Any comments students made like "I made the drums sound like they were recorded in a small poor sounding room to bring out the roughness of the genre" - we'd just say squit - it WAS recorded in a small bad sounding room, and discount their comment as an excuse. So your band limited beginning that suddenly expands might be considered a mistake - but it's good enough that I doubt it in your case. I think it held together well. It's pretty compressed, and perhaps when the feel changed half way through, you could have put a bit more light and shade in there. I felt the vocal was a bit overshadowed by the guitars - maybe you could have created a bit more space for the vocal with the guitar eq, or maybe some dynamics treatment? It wasn't bad by any means, just could have been a tad better mixed there. Towards the end when one guitar starts playing a solo line it has an effect applied that blurs it and makes it lack definition. Personal taste, but the ending I thought was a bit weak - leaving that exposed guitar note that was slightly detuned - and awkward ending, I figured it was going to end on a bump and dead stop, so I was surprised when it didn't. There are in reality now two endings, the main ending, then the ending of the note. Not sure?

 

If I were you, I'd be very pleased - If you entered that for the recording component of the A Level it would do quite well.

 

Nice one.

 

You could be really sneaky and post up the mark scheme and ask people to use it and give you marks, bearing in mind we would be doing it without any form of standardisation and knowledge of how things are - but the results might be interesting?

 

Have you checked that you are ok posting this - sometimes exam work needs to remain private just in case you ask for a remark, or there is some problem with the rules. Usually exam material and coursework is not yours to publish like this - you need to be careful.

 

wow paul!!

 

Who did you mark for? edexcel?

 

im just finishing off my AS music Tech coursework now!

[paulears]

Well as Music Tech isn't done by anybody else - yep it was them. I was in on the subject from the very first year, saw it through it's first review, and then moved to BTEC. Best of luck - don't take any chances and make sure somebody older than you has a listen - you can't guarantee the examiner will be into your style of music. Avoid being clever, unless you are VERY good!

[CharlieH]

Thank you very much to both of you!

 

@Revobuk - I will have a play with the bass when I next open up the Logic file, and see what I can do :)

 

@Paul - I put in the bandpass bit as apparently I have to use 'judicious' effects, and things like compression and EQ may not be noticed unless my teacher has the originals to compare back to (which he doesn't). I am unsure if it works for this style of song, but as it is primarily mixed for my GCSE I thought that should take the priority really, hence why I put it in.

 

I see what you mean about the guitar/vocal mix - possibly a slight tweak of the EQ on both? I am still not 100% happy with the solo (it was only recorded a few weeks ago - ages after the rest of the track, as they hadn't composed one by the time recording day came http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif). I am still playing with the effects on it; however I quite like the slightly distorted sound on it, this may have been overdone slightly however. I also see what you mean about the final note. Although the guitarist liked it, I am not so sure.

 

This is where you can find the specification. It is ridiculously complicated, however from what I can gather the relevant sections re Mark Schemes for the recording option are:

Grid B - Page 27 and Grid D - Page 28.

 

If anybody doesn't mind giving me a rough idea of what they would give me then that would be great - didn't want to ask first time as I thought I might be pushing my luck, however since you have offered http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif

 

Charlie

[Tom Lovick]

Well as Music Tech isn't done by anybody else - yep it was them. I was in on the subject from the very first year, saw it through it's first review, and then moved to BTEC. Best of luck - don't take any chances and make sure somebody older than you has a listen - you can't guarantee the examiner will be into your style of music. Avoid being clever, unless you are VERY good!

 

Woops didn't realise that!

 

I'm doing:

 

colourless Colour - La Roux - (sampling project)

The Other side - David Gray - (Recording)

Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns and Roses - Reggae style - (arrangement)

 

think they all sound ok. nothing too extreme.

 

if I can I will post them up here once I have bounced them down.

 

Good to have a man who used to be on the inside of the course!!

 

Also Charlie - On the mark scheme I would put the recording skills into the 'Good' section, as some of the tracks are quite muddy and its not too well balanced, (something you need to do if you do AS Music Tech)

 

As has already been said, the Bass is too loud.

[jmaudio]

I thought it was good. When I was doing GCSE Music I recorded a large proportion of fellow students pieces - I was more interested in doing this than the teacher! This is certainty would well be up there with some of the best that I've recorded - And lots of people I recorded got As and A*s overall - Read into that what you will.

 

Drums - Sound tight. I'd possibly reel the compression on the snare in a little more. Toms clearly had been tuned recently - or you've gated them very well! Kick was a little bit lost in the mush of the bass and vocal. Open it out by reducing the level off bass guitar, and maybe a touch of EQ cut to let the kick breath. You can limit this problem to a certain extent during the recording by making sure the bass has some new strings on it, which makes a huge difference!

 

Vocals - I thought they sounded a little compressed in places. I would possibly add a touch of reverb, sounds a little exposed in some places. I'd also start to roll off the bass on the vocals too, give the bass and kick some more space.

 

Guitars - A little over powering in places, I think automation might be the cure here, though be subtle. Rather than magic compressor settings. On the guitar solo, I found the stereo widener plugin you've used to be quite distracting. The problem is the guitarist used quite a few slides, and so it sounds like the guitarist is moving from left to right and back rather rapidly. Maybe reduce the stereo spread?

 

Overall - Pretty catchy. Has some good builds and original lyrics. I'm not sure what effect you were attempting to create with the band pass at the beginning? But It was lost on me, and sounded really odd when it suddenly dropped out. Maybe automate the plugin so the frequency drops gradually and comes out fully at a musically sensible point? Felt the ending could have been stronger.

 

Obviously, these are all personal opinions, and you may chose to ignore them. But then its your track so your more than entitled too! Every time you play it back after having a break from listening to it over and over again, that you'll find something else your not happy with, or something you want to change. At least thats what I find anyway!

 

Hope this is helpful and good luck!

 

Jamie

[paulears]

To Horizon-events - DO NOT post your work on a public forum before they are marked. It's live exam work, and the board will take a dim view of your work being put into the public domain. Strictly speaking your recordings shouldn't have any comment on it before you hand it in. There are deadlines for submission and your teachers may not have told you the real ones - just in case there is a problem, so if the real date is two weeks after you think it is, you could let people hear your work before it gets sent off, and somebody could rip it off, steal bits, or worse - use our comments to fix theirs when we hear a problem. It's just not done. After you get your A grade, then show it off - but that's a few months away.

[Tom Lovick]

To Horizon-events - DO NOT post your work on a public forum before they are marked. It's live exam work, and the board will take a dim view of your work being put into the public domain. Strictly speaking your recordings shouldn't have any comment on it before you hand it in. There are deadlines for submission and your teachers may not have told you the real ones - just in case there is a problem, so if the real date is two weeks after you think it is, you could let people hear your work before it gets sent off, and somebody could rip it off, steal bits, or worse - use our comments to fix theirs when we hear a problem. It's just not done. After you get your A grade, then show it off - but that's a few months away.

 

Ok sorry.

 

I was told by the Music tech teacher that once it is sent off they are in the public domain anyway?

 

Sorry any way.

 

Thanks,

 

Tom

[lightsource]

Good Evening :)

I have just completed a recording for my GCSE Music performance module, and was wondering what people thought of it.

Charlie

 

Well, I have nothing to do with exam work :D

 

I liked the song, the production was ok, others have mentioned tweaks that may be useful, but my criticism is based more on the overall mastering.

 

This is a subject you need to get to grips with, but don't take it personally, most pro studio's have specific personell or company's they use for this task, so not an engineering issue.

 

The whole project was far too dynamic, something a good mastering engineer would have resolved.

 

 

However, it has to be remembered, that was not the point of your original post.

[Rob_Beech]

I think the majority of things with the track would just be subjective opinions.

 

The bass just seemed a bit overpowering, a pleasant enough tone perhaps it was compressed which made it stand out like it did, perhaps it needed to be who knows.

 

Generally I thought the rhythm guitar part seemed very, erm, whats the word, direct? Was it a DI, it sounded a little bit like it had come straight from an fx pedal not a mic infront of an amp (this may or may not be the case) . I think this and its fairly strong presence in the mix made that a bit overpowering too.

 

The kick drum I'd have had quite a bit louder in the mix though dealing with the bass may have negated the need for this as has already been pointed out.

 

Other than that, I see no issue with it, and now with my muso head on, I think musically it works very well.

[CharlieH]

Thanks to everyone that has posted. I am up to my neck with revision at the moment http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif but when I next get the time to set up my monitors and interface (probably in the summer) I will refer back to this and try to resolve some of the issues.

 

Please keep the advice coming in - I have just been given another set of tracks to can mix (from the same studio as the first recording) which I shall try over the summer, and I want to improve so please: all advice is welcome! http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

 

@Rob - all the guitars were mic'd except the solo, but I can see what you mean. A bit heavy handed with Logic's Amp Designer me thinks http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif Will have a tinker soon.

 

Charlie

[tomo2607]

I have just been given another set of tracks to mix (from the same studio as the first recording) which I shall try over the summer,

 

 

Just a quick question... in your first post you said that you recorded the audio, but in the above post you sugest that you have only mixed the audio (as you have been given another set of tracks). Which is it? IIRC when I studied at uni (I know, different to GCSE) we had a mixing techniques module for which the audio recordings were supplied. In the second semester this lead on to recording techniques and finally studio principles. Im not trying to take anything away from you but I just wanted to clarify what you are asking people to "judge". The mix or the final product. Sugestions on Microphone selection and placement may not be of use to you if you are limited to the mixing stage of production.

 

 

On another note... the mix is nice and clear. All parts are heard nicely, but I must agree with Rob, the guitar parts seems a little too apparent in the mix . Was it recorded clean and effected during production or recorded like that? (again, a personal preference point) Also for me, as other have said too, the kick drum isnt heard enough. The bass and vocals are slightly over powering it. The kick also sounds a little dull too. Mayby try creating a midi track from the gated kick track and over laying a sampled kick to help bring it thorugh nice and clearly.

 

Overall, Its a good mix :)

[CharlieH]

 

Just a quick question... in your first post you said that you recorded the audio, but in the above post you sugest that you have only mixed the audio (as you have been given another set of tracks). Which is it? IIRC when I studied at uni (I know, different to GCSE) we had a mixing techniques module for which the audio recordings were supplied. In the second semester this lead on to recording techniques and finally studio principles. Im not trying to take anything away from you but I just wanted to clarify what you are asking people to "judge". The mix or the final product. Sugestions on Microphone selection and placement may not be of use to you if you are limited to the mixing stage of production.

 

 

On another note... the mix is nice and clear. All parts are heard nicely, but I must agree with Rob, the guitar parts seems a little too apparent in the mix . Was it recorded clean and effected during production or recorded like that? (again, a personal preference point) Also for me, as other have said too, the kick drum isnt heard enough. The bass and vocals are slightly over powering it. The kick also sounds a little dull too. Mayby try creating a midi track from the gated kick track and over laying a sampled kick to help bring it thorugh nice and clearly.

 

Overall, Its a good mix :)

Sorry, should have clarified. The recording above is done by me from scratch - mic placement, setting up the HD24, basic EQing on the desk, monitoring etc. As I know the studio engineers, they have done a nothing recording since (nothing to do with me), and offered me the tracks so I can continue to practice mixing.

 

I did double the kick drum with a MIDI sample, but it sounded a bit too techno for my liking, so I pulled the level of the sample down quite a bit. Maybe I should try a different sample, but I agree with everyone about the kick being too quiet. I can't turn it up much louder without clipping, but EQing the bass and vocals will probably help.

 

The guitars were recorded with a few minor effects on them, and I have compressed them, EQ'd them and put them through Logic's Amp Designer plugin, however I haven't put any major effects on them (slight distortion on the amp designer, but nothing special). http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

 

Would a screenshot of the Mixer pane on Logic help anyone?