Recording Techniques In The Studio

Here is a photo of the mixing desk we use in the college studio for recording. It is a Soundcraft Ghost desk. 

 The first stage will usually be to record some guide guitar, so we plug the guitar into the line in on the desk (it's only rough you see). We then select the L/R Switch, and pan the track dead left, then select the group out 1+2 switch, by panning the channel dead left we are just sending it to group out 1, we then turn the group out 1 up, and the output from this channel should be sending to the matching input on the soundcard, this should then show up in logic.

 Here is a photo of Bruce MacDonald recording some guide guitar for a demo track.

 When it comes to Drum recording, the images are fairly self explanitory of the positions of the mics. Remember, the mic should always be pointing directly at the source of the sound as the mic is always picking up from the front, so this will gain the clearest sound.

 Here is the setup we use for micing up the hi-hats, we often tend to use the AKG C1000s for this. I like to try placing the mic in different places and see which position sounds the best, so it's always worth spending the extra time to get the sound you like best.

 I always like to use Shure SM57's on the tom's and the snare, as they are very diirectional mic's, so they do not pick up much spill, i also find that they just sound very nice even dry, so they are easier to get to sound how you want when it comes to the mixing side of things. I always have the mics pointing towards the middle of the drum, especially on the snare drum as i find this is the spot where the main punch of the snare comes, although it is always reccomended to try different places to see which suits you best, but that is my personal favourite.

 When micing up the kick drum, i usually liek to use two mics, one inside the bass drum, and one outside the skin, i find that this works really well as they both pick up different tones, the one on the outside picks up a lot of the clicky high end tones which are important to help the kick cut through in a mix, and the one inside can be used to pick up more of the punch and the sub, though these can be eq'd seperately when mixing to uild up the perfect kick drum sound.

In this photo, as bruce is demonstrating, when recording the overheads, i find the best way to get an accurate stereo imaging is to point both mics towards the centre of the snare, and measure the distance from the centre of the snare to the mics, and make sure it is exactly the same in both mics, this can be done either using a tape measure, or just with a cable or piece of string, then when mixing, pan them dead left and right and you should find you have an accurate stereo imaging.

A lot more of these micing techniques apply when recording other instruments, like when micing up a guitar for example, even a slight mic adjustment in position over the speaker can drastically alter the sound, as will the choice of mic, so it is always worth trying different ones out to see which suits you best, my personal favourite is a Shure SM57 placed slightly off centre of the speaker, though i like to mix it up a little and try out other various mics and positions to.

Music Video Target Audience Profile

Music Video Idea & Proposal

For the music video I’ve decided to start from scratch, and I’m going to make it like a proper video with a storyline, a bit like a short film really.

Here is a profile of the target audience I will be hoping to aim the video at, though many other wider field audience may also appreciate the video.

The genre of music of the song I’m making a video for would be classed as metal, though it has some electro/synthy elements to it aswell! The style of music is influenced by bands like Asking Alexandria, Bring Me The Horizon, That’s Outrageous and many more!

My target audience will be mainly teenagers into heavy music, and that regularly go out to watch gigs, though a lot of people tend to enjoy metal music even if it is nothing like the music they are actually into. The age range of people that I am aiming the video at I would say is between 15 and 24.

The sort of movies they are into are likely to be horror movies, as these type of people tend to enjoy that sort of thing, and metal lyrics can often be linked with similar subjects to those in horror movies. They tend to dress in fairly dark clothes, and often wear tight fitting clothes and fashionable clothes.

I think the best place to promote the video would be facebook, as most people go on there, and a lot of the gothic people that may be in the target audience often sit at home on facebook for all of their spare time.

I would imagine they isten to radio 1 mainly, as they play a lot of mainstream music, but also sometimes play real music including their favourite genre, metal.

The ‘metal heads’ as they are often described, tend to look up to the members of the bands they listen to, a great example of this is Oli Sykes the front man from Bring Me The Horizon, so many people try and dress and look like him, and they really follow the genre like a cult.

I would like the video to have a story behind it, I am not quite sure what yet though, but I want it to be something dark and quite serious, as I think this will capture the audiences attention more and will get them thinking, it will also make them appreciate the song more as the video will be related to the lyrics in the song.