Unit 48: Music Recording

Task 1 - Recording in different locations using different microphones.

The date we recored in all recording was the 1/12/16.

The task tat we had to do was have four different microphones and record an acoustic guitar (yamaha with metal strings) in three different places. To record the guitar we had the microphones 6 inches away from the sound hole but with the stereo we had one below and above the sound hole. The equipment we used were two microphone stands, A C100s microphone, Two SM58 microphones, A Rode NT2-A and the olympus multi-track linear pcm recorder. As we used these microphones we will have a polar pattern of cardioid with means the microphones will only pick up sounds from the front and the side but not the back. It's called a cardioid pattern as it looks like a upside down heart.

Instrument            Date            Performer       Polar Pattern            Microphone
Guitar                  1/12/16           Ben               Cardioid                  C1000
Piano                   1/12/16           Ben               Cardioid                  C1000
Kick drum           1/12/16           Matt              Cardioid                   C1000
Cymbols              1/12/16           Ben               Cardioid                  Rode NT2-A
Tambourine        1/12/16           Henry            Omnidirectional       Rode NT2-A

Track list:

C1000s - Class room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/c100swav-class-room
Mono - Class room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/monowav-class-room
Stereo - Class room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/stereo
Rode NT2-A - Class room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/rode-nt2-awav-class-room
C1000s- Conference room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/c100swav
SM58 Mono- Conference room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/sm58-mono
Rode NT2-A- Conference room
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/rode-mt2-a
SM58 Mono - Outside
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/sm58-outside
Rode NT2 - Outside
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/rode-nt2-a-outside
C1000's - Outside
https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/c100-outside

Recording in studio: (C1000)
Drums: https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/drum-c1000s-ben-henry-matt
Piano: https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/piano-ben-henry-matt
Cymbols: https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/symbols-ben-henry-matt
Tambourine: https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/ben-and-henry-tam
Guitar: https://soundcloud.com/user-40156537/guitar-ben-henry-matt-1

The recording of C1000s in the class room we used an acoustic guitar which makes the sound a polar pattern that was a cardioid. At the start of the recording we have someone speaking at the start so we will have to edit this out. The volume of the clip is is bit loud so i think that we could move the microphone away from the sound hole therefor meaning that the sound will not be as loud.

The recording of the Mono in the class room we used an acoustic guitar which makes the polar pattern that was a cardioid. Within the recording the player of the guitar was clipping the body of the guitar therefor making the recording have a noise of nails clipping the wood. The recording is too loud so if we recorded it again then we would have to move the microphone away from the hole.

The recording of the Rode NT2-A in the class room was recorded using a acoustic guitar, also the polar pattern that was used was cardioid. The microphone was close the hole of the guitar. The sound is a clear sound meaning that there was no clipping with in it and the microphone wasn't too close nor too far away from the hole of the guitar.

The Stereo the only guitar recording that is a stereo recording meaning that there was two microphone set up therefore meaning that there is sound through two headphones where as before there was only sound through one. The polar pattern is cardioid and the sound of the recording is clear and there is no clipping within the recording.

The recording of the C1000s in the conference room once again uses the polar pattern of cardioid. The sound of the recording as been affected as the room has changed the sound is a lot more echoing as the room as become bigger the sounds has more room to fill. The recording is an ok volume, it could have been closer them guitar as well there is clipping from the players fingers.

The Rode NT2-A is clear sounding track with no clipping of the players fingers and the sound is still echoing as it's in a bigger room as well there is no clipping. The polar pattern again is Cardioid.

The SM58 Mono sound is quite and there is a bit of clipping from the players fingers so for this to be changed the microphone would be closer to the guitar hole for the sound the louder. The polar pattern is Cardioid pattern.

The C1000s recording outside is a lot different to recording in the class room as there is more space so the sound travels. The sound is clear however a little bit quite so the microphone would be closer next time. The polar pattern is Cardioid

The Rode NT2-A recording outside is different as you can hear the wind at the start as we are recording outside so the first bit could be edited out but beside that the sound is clear with no clipping. The polar pattern is Cardioid.

The SM58 Mono is recording has also the wind at the start which couldn't be helped but beside that the sound is quite so next time the microphone will be moved closer to make the recording louder. The polar pattern is Cardioid.

All the rest of the recording were done in the recording studio so they were all done on the same day so they were all done with the C1000 microphone besides two as for the tambourine we used the Rode microphone as we did it on a different polar pattern which was the omnidirectional which is the polar pattern to recording sound all around so when recording the tambourine the player walked around the microphone to pick up the sound from all angles.  All of the recordings are stereo meaning it can be heard through both headphones. Besides the tambourine the rest of the recording were all cardioid polar patterns, As the recordings were all done in the recording studio the volume of all the tracks were all ok and not too loud and there was no interference's with anything so there was no background noise.

Sequencing a pop song

Unit 49 brief 2 sequencing a pop song.
Rather Be

I used a mac with osX version 10.7.5. A DAW

How to set up a new project in Cubase

This is the cubase symbol

To first set it up you need to open it so you need to find the Cubase symbol and double click it.                                                                                               

 

This is what will show when you click the cubase symbol and then to start creating your music you click the create button. 

Then you are shown by this and then you will start creating tracks.

How to create tracks

To add a track go to project at the top and then add track and the go to the Instrument. 

This is what you will see when you click on add instrument track.

How to assign synths to track (Hal Lion SE& Sylenth)

A synthesiser is a an electronic musical instrument which is typically operated by a keyboard. The synthesiser produces a wide variety of sounds by generating and combing signals of different frequencies.
A software synthesiser which is different to a synthesiser as a software synthesiser is a computer program, or plug in that generates digital audio.

This is the track you will need have two of them. So once this one is added you need to add another.

  This track will be used later on as it will be need to edit a sound to make it work with the track.

This is what it should look like after adding adding the two HaLions tracks and the one Sylenth. On the left hand side of the blank track this will appear on the left.

How to input midi data (notes) 

The song Rather be by Clean bandit is a song that will have a tempo of 115 however you will need to edit this your self as it will be 120 automatically. So at the bottom bar find this and double click it and edit it to 115.

To actually add a sound to your HALion tracks then you need to find this box on the track and click it.

Which will bring you to this and as the first track we want a string sound so on the search bar you need to type in string and it will give you a list of string sounds, then you choose which you think sounds like the original. 

How to input midi data

What is midi?

Midi is not music and it doesn't contain any sound and it is a digital music file format. But what it is a set of instructions for a electronic device to generate a certain sound. 

Midi File

Midi files are stored as .mid files and not as a mp3 or wav file. Midi files are stored as .mid as they are small but a mp3 or wav file is big. As it is so small they are able to be opened, edited and played back by most media players. As midi was created in 1982 they only had a 8 byte system so the notes are very basic so midi files were used for karaoke industry, old video games and old phones.

Midi Specifications

Midi specification is the message that is sent to the computer to make the noise that you want. As it's on a computer the midi is in binary. Midi is in bytes which is 8 bits, The main bytes that are in the midi is status, data 1 and data 2. The status is the beginning where 3 bytes are used to denote the type of message, and 4 bits to denote the channel number which the message apply's . 

Midi Connections

The midi connection is a system where by you have a midi keyboard or something with midi ports to connect to a computer and the midi in is the pressing the keys and the midi out is the computer generagting the sound.

Midi thru is another connection but this connection is more difficult as this connection as this connection can be used to link devices. So the midi thru is like a LAN network as if you ave a bunch of keyboards in one room you want a midi thru so if you want you can listen to just one rather than all. 

Midi Manager

How to use Groove agent & Media bay to create the drum track (samples)

Like before you need to go to add a track and then Instrument to get to this however this time you pick the Drum- Groove agent. 

To access the actual drum you need to click the button which looks like a square spilt into three.

Once you have clicked that button this will appear and as you can see there is a bar at the top which is all different tracks so each one has a 4x4 grid with all different notes assigned to each one. With each note you can assign a sound clip to or a sample.

To get a list of all the of the samples you use media bay to get a list so you go to the top and click media and open the media bay.

This is media bay and media bay is a massive sound file as it ha many many samples in it that you can search for. Once you have picked the sound you want you drag it on to the groove agent and then that get assigned to a note which can be played and we make the sound you have set it to. 

A sampler is a sound which is similar to a synthesiser but instead of generating new sounds it's used to store sounds of real instruments. A software sampler is a piece which allows a computer to emulate the functionally of a sampler. 

Software Synthesis

With the Sylenth track you added earlier you need access it so you click the keyboard to access the Sylenth. 

This is the Sylenth, the sylenth has some many different parts to it but the mains ones are the envelope, the oscillators, the filer and the low frequency oscillators.