MPA 408 Lab 04/12/10 Tracking Vocals cont.

Today's lab center a great deal around wrapping vocals (or at least my portion of them). Throughout the process of recording this album thus far, much of the music has been traditional. By traditional I mean it in the sense that there was something that I could reference it to or somewhere I could find a similar song to help me get started. However, this changed a great deal in conceptually approaching Josh's song. Perhaps it was the sped up tempo of the choruses or the extremely slowed ebo intros in the verses but, the exact reason for the complexity is beyond me. Non the less I took a little time out over the weekend to pen my ideas for the piece, after playing both the concepts for the group they chose the one that best fit the albums current fell. Then we dissipated and Josh and I sat down and delved further into the song. He explained in a very impassioned way about how he really wanted highlight the Ebo... and how i should sort of dance around it. Then we sat down and choped down the amount of actual words that I would be saying within the verses. After our sit down we began to track the lyrics in the same fashion that we did on Nicks Tune (punch Ins). Upon the listen back I started understand Josh's vission and appreciated the song more due to slight changes we enacted. Unfortunatly, Shannon couldn't make lab so we didn't get to hear the song in its entirity however, it is in strong contention for my favorite group song!!!

MPA 408 Lab 04/09/10 Working On Our Day Off

Furlough Day... Fortunately, we were still able to go around the red tape and get to work. After being informed that vocals should begin winding down within the next couple days, I pitch the idea of still holding our lab session (if it were at all possible). After, making a few calls Nick returned with a positive verdict. Regarding setup we continued with the same arrangement that we've been using all along (CM7 / makeshift mic booth). Because Shannon was unable to attend the impromptu Lab i use the entire time to knock my remaining contributions. This included 3 verses on one of Shannon's songs (Take You To Another Level) and 1 verse on the other (Understand). Next we tried an experimental approach to lacing lyrics on Nicks Tune, to help facilitate the process we recorded the verse in takes (live comping? a technique often employ at home on pre production material). Once recording culminated we went back and looked over the album material thus and found aesthetics for improving. I believe we were in and out in about 2 hours flat, it was a very productive lab.

For more post from this week check out:

MPA 408 Lecture 04/07/10 Presentations cont.
MPA 408 Lecture 04/06/10 Presentations (make up class)
MPA 408 Lecture 04/05/10 Presentations
MPA 408 Lab 04/05/10 Tracking Vocals cont.

MPA 408 Lecture 04/07/10 Presentations cont.

We held our final day of presentations today which saw displays from AJ (covering the Beatles), Lucas (San Francisco recording studios of the 1960's), Matt (Trident studios), and Sean (Abby Roads). Due to time restraints, each person had to condense their presentations a great deal. Therefore they were only permitted enough time to touch on key points and innovations.
Beatles: started with two track recordings, encouraged leakage of their music to give it a more live sound, I particularly found it interesting that they ruled the number one billboard charts for nearly a year, until their follow up album was released. The last real group album was the white album.
San Francisco recording studios of the 1960's: Origional Coast Records, Commercial Records, Columbus Records, Golden State Records, Misc. Recordings, New San Francisco Coast, Pacific High Recordings and Wally Heider Recordings.
Trident Studios: established in 1967. It was ranked one of three best studios in England. Recorded the highest selling single, "Hey Jude". The most interesting tidbit of info that I picked up was the idea that the studio was able to completely lose a grand piano.
Lastly, we looked at Abby Roads studios, much of the information here had already been covered in previous presentations. Sean spoke in great lengths about the Beatles, and George Martin. He also stated that it was here that Flanger and ADT were established. All in all, it was a pretty info intensive class. I look forward to the prospect of placing these presentations online so that I can later revisit and take my time to absorb the info better.

MPA 408 Lecture 04/06/10 Presentations (make up class)

Today we had an impromptu class session to make up for one of next weeks classes. The class span was from 9:00pm to 11:00pm, unfortunately I was pretty much dead by the time I arrived, Since Tuesday is already my longest day. We covered three different presentations, first James did his presentation, and he covered analog to digital conversion. A couple key points he illuminated upon surrounded the nyquest thereom, sample rates, and a number of different ways to transfer information via chords. Next, Chad went into detail about Phil Spector, he touched upon a number of his personal situations and many of his technical concepts. The thing I found most interesting was the fact that he was inbred. Usually when you hear about the children of incest its usually some type of horror story, however this time it proved to be a some type of amazing concoction. Lastly, I did my presentation, on Chess Records. After being corrected on certain aspects of my research I went back and reread my sources and understood how I might have gotten confused.

MPA 408 Lecture 04/05/10 Presentations

We continued our in class presentations today and covered three more topics; Live Sound Reinforcement, Microphones and studio (pricing and setup). First Danny illuminated the technical dilemmas and pertinent information that goes along with mic'n and recording venues. He touched on the perception of volts (potential electric force) vs ohms (the resistance of electric force), current flow (direct current, ect.) and attenuators. Next Andrea took center stage and covered an array information on a handful of near by studio's. The most pertinent info I picked up was the importance of comfort-ability in the recording arena. While each studio boasted its own go to equipment and DAW's the universal theme in each arrangement focused a great deal on the performer. Lastly, Nick covered mic's and their perspective uses in regards to their polarity patterns. Much of the info was useful review...

MPA 408 Lab 06/05/10 Tracking Vocals cont.

Today was another session devoted to recording Vocals. Once again we used the the same the setup, Cm7 inside the midi-lab with a make shift vocal booth. In regards to engineering we took turns manning the boards for each of our perspective songs. We began with Nick Song since it was the most vocally intense, however this time around we nixed the idea of using loop recording. For the most this proved to be a much better approach. Considering we not only worked on that song but we also finished Shaun's song and cleaned up my two as well. After all tracking was complete we delved into deeper conversation on the album arrangement and artwork. Then we setup a check list of our outstanding work, as it currently stands we need to complete 3 more songs before the tracking is all done...

MPA 408 Lab 04/02/10 Tracking Vocals

Today we continued on our path of recording vocals. To do so, we used the wounder cm7 patched through the neeves, then into Protools. Inside the midi lab we used a makeshift booth, that had already been setup. For the most part the studio session preceded extremely smooth, however at one or two points we ran into slight setbacks. The first affliction that we encountered regarded editing. For some reason the system would not let us execute fades or clips, so to override the issue we copied the session to the desktop, then re-opened the files and continued our work. The next issue that arose involved receiving feedback in the microphone. Because the cm7 was extremely sensitive we had to mute out the kick drum to avoid feedback bleeding through.

In regards to our work ethic as a group I feel that we are still proving to be extremely productive. Therefore allowing for me to take a more active role without compromising the position of the project. Techniques that we experimented with today included signal generating and loop recording. One important tidbit I picked up was about the dangers of using this method, after allowing Shannon to loop record a number of parts in the composition (that we were recording today) fatigue began to set in. Had we stopped when we had elicited a great take this may not have happened.

For more blogs from this week check out:
MPA 408 Lecture 03/28/10 Presentations
MPA 408 Lab 03/28/10 Tracking Vocals