Project Updates 2 - Paving Paths

Hey guys! Back once again with a handful of updates about my crazy project work at the moment and how I'm progressing with them so far! Let's take a look shall we?

Post Production - Bugs Live Soundtrack Project

Since the last update on this project, Jackson and I were able to get into the studio for a few hours and jot down some ideas as to what we really wanted this opening scene to portray and sound like. Admittedly, at first I was relatively stumped for ideas as although dark and moody synths are my thing, the synths I was making wound up being a little too dark and dirty for what we were looking for. This is where Jackson stepped in with his idea of creating a semi hip-hop, industrial-like beat which actually suited the vibe we were going for right off the bat. The main reason the ants are gathering food in the first place is because they work for the grasshoppers in the movie. As Jackson is more predominant in making Hip-Hop style beats, he laid out the main structure as well as added in smaller samples to which I layered with larger sample such as the snares and then processed them with delay and reverb to give a more suspenseful effect. Whilst this was happening I started creating a suspenseful glide synth that would sit over the beat, this would eventually come to be known as the 'wind synth' because it wound up sounding kind of airy which really suited the environment we were composing to. You can find screenshots of this synth, its current processing and the current Ableton Live session below!

Wind Synth in Progress - Screenshot taken 14/10/18

Wind Synth Current Processing - Screenshot taken 14/10/18

Current Ableton Live 10 Session for the Soundtrack - Screenshot taken 14/10/18

By the time you guys are reading this, this soundtrack's arrangment will be finished and ready for the processing/mixing phase! You'll notice that in top of the screenshot above, there is a track called 'Dark Synth', this one was a synth I developed a while ago but was to dark for this clip's entirety. However, Jackson and I believe it could potentially still make an appearance towards the end of the track to climax the suspense before the clip ends!

INSERT_NAME Collaboration

Admittedly this one hasn't really progressed as much as I'd wanted it to as Richard and I have both been rather busy working on other projects and dealing with commitments outside of uni such as gigs and work. However, this progression hold up won't be for long as we have a studio session commencing tomorrow morning in which we plan to smash out as much as we can in the time in the time space of 4 hours. In addition to this, I'm also bringing one of my really talented producer friends - Callum Page in to assist in the synthesis for this project as future bass style synthesis is where he is most at home in and Richard and I both agreed that the incorporation of his style can really benefit this track!

Kevin Barber 'Warble' EP Progression - DRUMS

This projects progression is something I'm actually really surprised and pleased with as in the space of a mere 4 hours in the NEVE studio, Kevin and I managed to smash out all of the drums for all 5 of his tracks! We also had our class mate Connor Armstrong in to assist in the setup of the live room and communications between Kevin and myself which really accelerated the process. You can find some sneaky pics I took in the session below!

Kevin Barber 'Warble' EP Drum session in the NEVE - Photos taken on 8/10/18 by yours truly

The recording techniques we used on these drums were very similar to the ones we used as a class when recording dan sugars as we used a blumlein Royer R-121 ribbon mic setup for the overheads as well as the Sennheiser MD421's on all Tom drums. As for the snare, we used the exact same layer technique that we did for Dan Sugars by layering a Rode M3 with an Shure SM57 for the snare top whilst using a Neumann KM184 pencil condenser for the snare bottom. For the kick drum we used a Shure Beta 52A as the kick in and a Rode K2 as the kick out. I found this mic combination really interesting actually as layering them created a really thick and punchy sound which was exactly what Kevin was looking for. Not to mention it was also a hell of a lot of fun! Recording drums isn't something I get to do often and it's really good to step away from EDM sometimes and just embrace organic instruments and experiment with different sounds and genres such as Kevins Alternate Rock/Electronic style which I find beautiful.

Chase Johnstone 2 track recording - Organisation process

This one is coming along really nicely at the moment as I have a backing vocalist ready to go as well as Kevin potentially drumming at this stage (this is yet to be fully confirmed though depending on Kevin's schedule). I've been having regular communications with chase weekly about instrumentation ideas and potential recording dates to which he will be getting back to me very soon with those! With Chase's busy work schedule it has been a little difficult to pin point specific dates but he has confirmed with me that he is absolutely down to record which is always reassuring for an engineer wanting to record a musician :'). I should have locked in recording dates as of today according to Chase. In addition to this Chase has also located his old scratch tracks of the two tracks he wants to re-record known as 'I'm Lonely' and 'Fire In My Soul'. Having these has been incredibly beneficial so far as I have been able to give them to KYA and Kevin to use as reference material for for backing vocals and drums respectively. All that is left in terms of (important) instrumentation at this point is a bassist, anything else that happens to come my way in the next 2 weeks will be a bonus addition to the tracks however, I'm yet to discuss with Chase as to whether or not he wants any other instruments or if he wants his recordings to sound live or not yet. More to come very soon!

Side Project: Glitch - arrangement progression

This one made a sneaky appearance in my last blog as a side project of mine however, since then it hasn't exactly progressed much as its priority is nowhere near as large to me when compared to the deadlines and importance of the other projects I'm working on currently. However, with this being said, I would still love to have this project fully mixed and mastered in 2 weeks for a gig so the arrangement for it will be finished within the next 2 days. The mixing phase will then begin next week with the final master coming in at either the end of that week or the beginning of the next one!

To wrap up...

Similarly to my last update, all of the projects seem to be coming along at a steady rate however, there are some doing better than others which will be having a little less attention paid to them until everything equalises back out again. With that being said though, the difference in progression between these projects isn't massive and can be fixed rather easily which I'll be getting to today after a few more blogs such as what else I've been doing thats kept me away from my projects as well as that quality SAE lecture content ;). Catch ya's in the next one!

Levels :)