Lolcatz

:: I saw this picture, and I just had to share ::

Another one bites the dust

:: This is another rough mix that I played in class from my second recording session for my final project. It's not very good, and should probably just be scrapped, but I figured I'd put it up anyway just because. I wish I had more time to go through all my projects; unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to use the studios over the summer since I'm not enrolled in classes. I might be able to use the audio workstation in the computer center, so I plan on trying to get in there as much as possible to finish all the tracks I had recorded.

On the subject of this particular recording...I used the same setup on the drums as I had on the sample I posted just previously: AKG D112 on kick, Sennheiser 441 on snare, and Electrovoice RE16's on overheads. I did, however, turn the drums so they were facing the control booth and put them back one tier on the risers. I tried miking the bass amp with an RE20, but the mic kept popping and cracking, so eventually I just used a DI box. If that was unfortunate, it was nothing compared to the guitar and vocals. I had the guitar amp isolated in the "airlock" space between the recording space and the hallway outside, but the artist had it cranked so loud that it bled into his vocal microphone (a Shure SM7). Other than the bleed, the voice sounded very nice, but it's pretty bad with it. I might be able to do something about it in the mix, but it all comes down to bad technique to start out with; there's only so much tweaking you can do to original material. Anyway, have a listen. It's not my best work by far, but hey, I can only get better from here ::

Final project - rough cut

:: This is a very early mix of a recording I did for my final Intro to Audio project. Due to gear issues, my microphone setup was pretty basic: the drum kit mic placement consisted of an AKG D112 on kick drum, Sennheiser 441 on snare, and two Electrovoice RE16's on overhead left and right. The RE16's were not my first choice for the overheads; I really wanted some condenser mikes to capture the transients and high frequencies of the cymbals. Fortunately, most of the good sound I got was due to the environment. I had the drums set up on the floor in the orchestra rehearsal room with all the curtains open, resulting in the wide open feel; I also oriented them lengthwise in the room to delay the reverberation even more. I really had no intention of getting this effect, but it worked really well anyway. I just wanted all the musicians to be able to see each other. Just goes to show that every recording has it's own special elements that make it unique and sometime unexpected.

As for the guitar and bass, the musicians didn't have amps, so I used a direct box to plug them straight into the board. I regret that any effects that I put on these instruments will be artificial, but hopefully I can get them to sound as natural as possible, especially the guitar. I realize that the bass is much too loud, and on headphones the spacing between the two instruments is a bit unnerving. More to come next week when I finish editing and mixing ::


:: 2.20.2009 UPDATE: Another version of Hey Joe ::