SAP62

Adv. Recording And Mixing

Logbook/Report


















NAME: Wisnu Ikhsantama
STUDENT ID: 10048
DATE OF SUBMISSION: Tuesday, July 15
th
2014





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EXECUTIVE SUMMERY 2
ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW 3
PRE-SESSION PLANNING 3
OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE ORIGINAL GENRE 3
OVERVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF THE NEW GENRE 3
REINTERPRETATION IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY 4
INTRODUCTION TO THE BAND AND BAND MEMBERS 5
INTRODUCTION OF OTHER PEOPLE INVOLVED 5
TIMETABLE AND STRUCTURE OF PROJECT 5
RECORDING SESSIONS 5
INTENTION OF THE RECORDING SESSION 5
MICROPHONE SELECTION 6
MICROPHONE PLACEMENT 9
CONCLUSION OF THE RECORDING SESSION 15
MIXING SESSION 15
MASTERING SESSION 22
FINAL PROJECT CONCLUSION 24
APPENDIX 24
STUDIO LAY OUTS 24
TRACKING SHEET 25











Executive Summery

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This logbook is about the SAP62 final assignment to produce an already
published song into a different genre. The objective of the assignment is to
reinterpret a piece of music into another genre.
Assignment Overview

The assignment is to record and mix an already published song into a different
genre. The objective of the assignment is to reinterpret a piece of music into another
genre. It is done by producing a new song and going through the pre production
phase and also the production phase, which consisted of recording, mixing, and
mastering.
Pre-Session Planning
Overview and analysis of the original genre

The original genre of ABBAs Dancing Queen is Pop-disco. The instruments were
drums, strings, piano, bass, guitar, and vocals. The song is using 4 on the 4 drums
beats that make people going to dance. The beat is usually found in disco songs.
Disco is a genre of music that was popular in the 1970s, though it has since enjoyed
brief resurgences including the present day. The term is derived from discothque
(French for "library of phonograph records", but subsequently used as proper name
for nightclubs in Paris). Its initial audiences were club-goers from the African
American, GLBTQ, Italian American, Latino, and psychedelic communities in New
York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Disco also was a
reaction against both the domination of rock music and the stigmatization of dance
music by the counterculture during this period. Women embraced disco as well, and
the music eventually expanded to several other popular groups of the time.

Musical influences include funk, Latin, psychedelic and soul music. The disco
sound has soaring, often reverberated vocals over a steady "four-on-the-floor" beat,
an eighth note (quaver) or 16th note (semi-quaver) hi-hat pattern with an open hi-
hat on the off-beat, and a prominent, syncopated electric bass line sometimes
consisting of octaves. The Fender Jazz Bass is often associated with disco bass lines,
because the instrument itself has a very prominent "voice" in the musical mix. In
most disco tracks, strings, horns, electric pianos, and electric guitars create a lush
background sound. Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo
melodies, and lead guitar is less frequently used in disco than in rock. Many disco
songs employ the use of electronic instruments such as synthesizers.

Overview and analysis of the new genre

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The original song will be reproduced to glam metal genre. Glam metal (also
known as hair metal/sleaze metal (and often used synonymously with pop metal) is
a subgenre of hard rock and heavy metal. It combines elements of this genre with
punk rock and pop music, adding catchy hooks and guitar riffs, while borrowing
from the aesthetic of 1970s glam rock.

It arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on
the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene, pioneered by bands such as Kix, Hanoi
Rocks, Mtley Cre, Quiet Riot, and Bon Jovi. It was popular throughout the 1980s
and the beginning of the 1990s, bringing to prominence bands including Poison,
Cinderella and also Bon Jovi.

Musically, glam metal uses traditional heavy metal songs, incorporating
elements of hard rock and punk rock, while adding pop-influenced catchy hooks and
guitar riffs. Like other heavy metal songs of the 1980s, they often feature shred
guitar solos. They also include extensive use of harmonies, particularly in the
characteristic power ballads, slow, emotional songs that gradually build to a strong
finale. These were among the most commercially successful singles in the genre and
opened it up to a wider audience that would not have been attracted to traditional
heavy metal. Lyrical themes often deal with love and lust, concerns inherited from
blues music, with songs often directed at a particular woman.

Aesthetically glam metal draws heavily on the glam rock or glitter rock of the
1970s, often with very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing and
accessories (chiefly consisting of tight denim or leather jeans, spandex, and
headbands). The visual aspects of glam metal appealed to music television
producers, particularly MTV, whose establishment coincided with the rise of the
genre. Glam metal performers became infamous for their debauched lifestyles of
late-night parties, which were widely covered in the tabloid press

Reinterpretation implementation strategy

There are a few strategies that I use to reinterpret the song

1. Using energetic drums beats
Make the drums beat more rock feel.
2. Changing the instruments
For the new song, I use an acoustic drum, electric bass, and also electric
guitar.
3. Adding solo guitars.
Solo guitars are the key on glam rock genre.
4. Use of distortion and 2 layers of rhythm guitars.
For the bass and guitar, I make the sound distorted to make it harsh and raw,
and also layering the guitars for making it tighter

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Introduction to the band and band members

The band is Katroxx, a glam metal band from Jakarta. Formed in 2012. The band is
my highschool friends.
The members are:
Drummer: Gilang Novian
Bassist: Rendy Aditya
Guitarists and backing vocals: Ryan Arif & Raven Ramadhan
Vocalist: Bagus Tricahyo
Introduction of other people involved

Producer, recording, mixing, and mastering engineer: Wisnu Ikhsantama
Arranger: Ryan Arif
Assistant engineers: Giancarlo, Solideo Kevin, and Rijal Hamdi.
Timetable and structure of project

The timetable for the assignment is as follows:

Date

Activity

April 11th-13th Pre Production
May 9th Drums recording
May 16th Guitars recording
May 23th Bass and backing vocals recording
June 27th Vocal recording
June 28th - July 13th Editing and mixing
July 14 Mastering & Finalization



Recording Sessions


Intention of the Recording Session

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The intention of the recording session is to record the instruments and get the
sound that will match the rock genre.

I use four different recording sessions, one for each instrument. First, I recorded
the drums. After that, I recorded the guitars. The basses and backing vocals gets
recorded on the third session because the lead singer was studying in another city.
Finally the fourth session is the vocal recording.
Microphone Selection







AKG D112







Shure BETA52

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Shure SM57








Shure Beta57A







AKG C1000

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Sennheiser MD421

Rode NT5

Rode K2

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AKG C414


Microphone placement

Drums: Mapex Horizon Birch
Kick In: AKG D112
Kick Out: Shure BETA 52
Snare Top: Shure SM57
Snare Bottom: Shure Beta 57A
Hi Hat: AKG C1000
Toms: Sennheiser MD421 without roll off
Overheads: Rode NT5 (one above the left crash, one above the right crash near the
floor for making snare and kick more center)
Ride: Shure SM57
Room: Rode K2

Bass: Fender Jazz Bass
Recorded using Ampeg Portaflex and miked with AKG D112 (Simulated on Line6
POD HD)

Guitar A (Ryan): Gibson SG and Fender Telecaster (for solos)
Recorded using Soldano SLO100 and miked with off axis Shure SM57 (Simulated on
Line6 POD HD)

Guitar B (Raven): Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster (for solos)
Recorded using Marshall JCM800 and miked with off axis Shure SM57 (Simulated on
Line6 POD HD)


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Vocals:
AKG C414 about 3 inches from the source, with a pop filter in-between. Polar
pattern set to cardioid, without roll off.


Drum Set

Kick In

Kick Out
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Snare Top

Snare Bottom

Hi Hat
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Toms

Floor

Ride
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OH L

OH R
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Room

Guitar & bass preamp + amp
simulator

Vocal




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Conclusion of the Recording Session

Overall, the recording session went good. I use Apogee Symphony for the main
AD conversion, because I love the color of it. I use my own laptop for guitar
recording and I use POD HD via S/PDIF input through my soundcard (Focusrite
Saffire Pro 24DSP which has S/PDIF input to keep the guitars signal uncolored). I
did not find any major difficulty while recording. The only problem is I planned to
use the Rode K2 for the vocal but it turns out that the microphone were broken, so I
use the Neumann U87 as a replacement but it didnt match with the vocalist
character, so I pick AKG C414 for the vocals.
Mixing Session

I mix all the instruments and vocal digitally using Pro Tools and lite tweaking
and summing on our beloved Neve Custom 75. There are 24 tracks that were
originally recorded. These 24 tracks consisted of 12 drum tracks, 1 bass track, 6
guitar tracks, and 6 vocal tracks. I then add a gated reverb for the snare drum and
toms reverbs, parallel compression for drums, also reverb and delay for the vocal. I
route out every channel to Neve but the vocals were on stems. There were Lead
Vocals, Low Lead Vocals (which is one octave lower), stereo Backing Vocals, stereo
Vocals Delay, and stereo Vocals Reverb. This totaled to 32 tracks at the end of the
mixing session.

For the drum track, the 80s rock music is best known for the gated reverb
snares. I use a reverb bus with 1/16

delay as the pre delay, for making 1/16 upbeat-
gated reverb. Also, 80s rock music were an analog era, so there was no drums
replacement needed. I also treat the drums as raw as possible, like no gate on the
drums (except kick) because the 80s drums has pretty much bleed and made it own
character (raw yet punchy drums). Also I do a pretty hard compression on the kick,
snare and toms to get the punch needed on rock music. Then I EQ the kick to sounds
fatter yet rock, boost the high frequency on the snare to make it presence, enhance
the toms tone and attack, high pass all the cymbals and overhead, and distorted the
room to make dirtier sound. And after that, I use parallel compression to make it
punchier. Also lately when I summed the track through the Neve, I tweak the kick to
make it clicky and cut on mid low frequency so it will more presence and sounds
more rock than before.
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For the bass track, I just compress it and EQ it, using high gain reduction to
make it sound more even and constant.



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For the rhythm guitar track, I only use EQ to filter the frequency, no
compression needed, because distorted guitars were already compressed by its own
distortion. And also I dont want to tweak the EQ too much because I want to keep
the raw sound like people in 80s do.
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For the lead guitars, I use same EQ setting and insert a stompbox simulation
delay plugin before the EQ. I insert it because I want to treat the lead guitars like
using stompbox delay pedal but it can be controlled by me in the mixing process. If I
put the delay on the recording session, it will be an issue if the delay were too much
or less. So I put it on mixing process.



Then on the vocal channels, first I edit the pitch using wavestune, and reprint it
using Pro Tools internal bussing. After I get the edited track. I EQ it with hi-pass
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filter and boost on the vocal tone and the high frequency for making it more
presence. After EQing, I compress it with 1176 simulator. The 1176 were best
known as aggressive compressor that fit in on my production genre. I use high ratio
(limiting) and high gain reduction to make the vocals more even and in your face.
After the compression, I use deesser to reduce some sibilance.





I also use reverb and delay on the vocals track. I send the vocals through an aux
and use convolution hall reverb because it sounds nice and make the vocals sweet.
And also I use 1/8 delay for make the vocals sustains better, but not interrupt the
main vocals.
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After that, I balance all the 32tracks on Neve and compress it on the Neves
2254 compressor to make it more glue to the mix with slow attack fast release
setting to keep the transients/drums alive. And then print it through the Neve back
to the Pro Tools.

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Mastering session
I master the song using standard stereo technique, not stems mastering. I use
Presonus Studio One software. What I do is only EQ the master using Pultec
simulator, I boost the 100hz by 1dB to make it sounds warmer, boost the 8khz by
2dB to make it brighter, and attenuate the 20khz by 1dB to reduce the high
frequency. Then I make it through C6 multiband compressor, using Mastering C
preset which I love to, it become the quality control of the frequency/sonic. Then I
maximize it using Slate Digital FG-X and tweak it to 12.4dB and the master running
on approximately -7dbRMS. At the end of the flow, I add waves L2 limiter to limit it
on -0.1dBFS so it will never peaking, and also use its dithering.



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Final Project Conclusion

This assignment makes me understand the engineers role in the real industry,
how the producer produce the song, how the arranger arrange the song, how the
musician rehearsing, how the pre production done, etc. In the end of the day, the
student is about being professionals in the industry, and this subject teaches us how
to do a production. The song is well build by ABBA so I dont need to put major
changes in musical aspect. The main issue is about the lead vocalist that has issues
in English pronunciation and the pitch control. But above all, the production is fun
and makes me understanding how to be a professional in the industry.
Appendix

Studio Lay Outs

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Tracking Sheet


TRACKING SHEET BAND: Katroxx SONG: Dancing Queen (ABBA cover)
STUDIO: SAE JAKARTA STUDIO 1 CONSOLE: NEVE CUSTOM 75 ENGINEER: Wisnu I.
Source Mic/DI Tie Pre Outboard PT Input Other
Kick In AKG D112 33 33 - 33 -
Kick Out Shure BETA52 34 34 - 34 -
Snare Top Shure SM57 35 35 - 35 -
Snare Bottom Shure BETA57A 36 36 - 36 -
HH AKG C1000 37 37 - 37 -
RT1 Sennheiser MD421 38 38 - 38 -
RT2 Sennheiser MD421 39 39 - 39 -
FT Sennheiser MD421 40 40 - 40 -
OH L Rode NT5 41 41 - 41 -
OH R Rode NT5 42 42 - 42 -
Ride Shure SM57 43 43 - 43 -
Room Rode K2 44 44 - 44 -
Bass POD HD Desktop - - - - Tracking via S/PDIF
Guitars A + Lead POD HD Desktop - - - - Tracking via S/PDIF
Guitars B + Lead POD HD Desktop - - - - Tracking via S/PDIF
Vocals AKG C414 8 33 - 33 -