/Yesterday we recorded the last addition to our cover version of REM’s Losing My Religion. This was Keys which was played by Kriss. We used a direct input into Pro Tools with no effects added. We recorded around 3 takes and also different pieces of the song more times. We have no finished all our recording in the studio and all that is left to do now is mix our own version using the effects we think necessary.
/Monday 19th November marked the tracking session in which Vashti and Lindsay recorded vocals for Losing My Religion.
We used a mic input from the ‘dead’ room. The microphone we used was a Neumann U87 along with a pop guard. This microphone is ideal for recording vocals and acoustic sounds. It can handle levels of up to 127db without distortion therefore is a good choice for close up sounds such as these. The pop gurad was used to minimise the sound of hisses and lisps as well as the explosion of air that is present when pronouncing the sounds ‘b’ and ‘p’.
We also used compression on the two vocalists voices and double-tracked Vashti’s voice to cater for our own desired sound.
/Monday marked the session in which we recorded the electric guitar to R.E.M’s Losing My Religion.
We set up the equipment which consisted of the guitar and lead, the amp and three microphones – within the ‘live’ room. An AKG 414 microphone was used to record the sound of the room itself, whilst there were two SM57’s placed in front of the amp – one directly in the centre and one 6 inches to the right of the cone. This combination of microphones and their placement was used to get the best sound possible.
There were about 3/4 takes carried out and two members of the group were controlling Pro Tools and the Ghost Soundcraft respectively. Jack (the guitarist) used the drumming and bass guitar tracks we had recorded in previous weeks to guide him.
I have attached some photos of this session.
/Monday marked our second tracking session; we recorded the bass for R.E.M – Losing My Religion which i have to say was played extremely well by Katherine.
She tuned her Bass and before she started playing, Jack recorded a guide track on guitar alongside the actual song and the drumming I done the week before. After two attempts at this (the guide track), Katherine proceeded to play the song 3 times (alongside the guide track and drums) ensuring accuracy and precision. We used a direct input and compression on her bass to make it sound as clear and crisp as possible; we assisted this through techniques such as boosting the ‘attack’ within the compression unit.
Tomorrow we are recording the guitars in the live room.