Primary Research
For My primary research I asked the band I’m recording and who they aspire to and like to sound like, their answer was “Blink 182” I asked them why and they answered “because they are a very liked band and as a group we collectively like the band, and they are just overall great’. With this information I then went away and listened to many Blink 182 songs such as “All The Small Things” and “What’s My Age Again”, with this information I gathered the specific style of the band and what they may sound like.
Secondary Research
I decided to research mixing rock tracks and this video helped me because it showed me how to properly mix a rock track, This video will help me mix and master my recordings of both the live lounge and the studio recording because my knowledge of mixing and mastering rock tracks isn’t very good. Therefore this research was effective and aided me in mixing my tracks because I wasn’t familiar with mixing in this area of genre.
I felt like I needed to research how to place a room mic properly and get a good sound out of the room the people preform in, this video gave me a better understanding of how to use a room mic and what sound to aim for, the man in the video you are looking for a “warm gushy” sound to come out from the mic so you get a thick sound for the snares and the toms. This video game me overall better knowledge of how a room mic works and what to listen out for to make sure you capture the sound your trying to get.
This video helped me understand the differences between some of the different sound that can be captured with the overheads, for example the “X+Y” technique gives you a small stereo spread when you capture the drums and then there is an complete opposite technique called space pair. Space pair is where the two overheads are on completely different sides of the drum kit and this gives you a wide stereo spread over the whole drum kit. This video was definitely the most helpful as it taught me the main differences between two different mix placements.
Side chaining was another key point I focused on as I wasn’t very clear on it. By watching this video made me understand what I need to do to side chain a kick to get a punchy EDM type of kick, to do this you will need to create an separate kick drum track so there is only a kick, from there you would want to then put a compressor onto that kick then in the top right of the compressor you need to then side chain it to the kick for you to obtain that punchy sound. This video was a help to me because in my final track I wanted to side chain the kick however I don’t think it made a difference, and even though I didn’t use it it was still helpful for the future.
Overall my research for this project was very helpful as it gave me new ideas to use through the 11 weeks we had to record in the studio, record live lounge, mix and master the tracks and to use on our own track. the most useful research was definitely the overhead techniques as they where used the most and actually has the most effect on my recordings, the least useful research would have to be the side chaining as I didn’t end up actually using it.
Jack Day 