The final post...

Finally, the final post. I am pleased to be writing this post as it's a means to an end with this project. Recording the EP has been an experience to say the least. A long journey of learning new things and developing my skills along the way. It's been enjoyable, difficult and very frustrating at times, and at other times it's been a very enjoyable and rather fun experience.

This was just a post to end this blog off and to show you all the finished product that took us so long to create. I am pleased with the overall look of the EP and am impressed with the recordings as a whole.

Here's the finished product...

Thank you to everyone who read my blog!

Chazzy!

Album cover design and the track listing...

During the two days me and Alie spent recording, we managed to design an album cover, a back cover and an insert for the inside of the CD case. 

We came up with the idea that we both wanted a picture of ourselves on the cover as seen as everything on the EP was done by ourselves and felt it was a good idea. 

Album cover - front cover.

The above image is of the final draft of our album cover. We both liked the idea of creating something simple, yet appealing to the eye and thought it would look better if it was in black and white so we used that theme throughout all of the designs. The font we chose made our cover look funky, yet professional and suited the theme of our design. 

Back cover for the EP.

So sticking with the black and white theme on the track listing, we thought that having the images on the back will mix things up a little bit. Personally, I think that it livens the style of the design up and think that it looks really catchy but professional at the same time. 

Whilst designing the album cover, we also decided on the order of the tracks for the track listing. Like in the image above, the track listing is as follows:

1. We The Kings - Check Yes Juliet.
2. Hellogoodbye - Here In Your Arms.
3. Simple Plan - Every Time.
4. Kate Voegele - Kindly Unspoken.
5. Jesse McCartney - Beautiful Soul.
6. Daft Punk - Get Lucky.
7. Rumours - Forever Young. 

We decided on this because, in a way we wanted the album to start with quite an upbeat, yet slow beginning before working up into the upbeat and faster tempo of Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney. Having Daft Punk's song 'Get Lucky' kept the upbeat, funky rhythm and mood of Jesse McCartney before closing off with Rumours' slower and more mellow 'Forever Young'. 

After deciding on the track listing and designing the front and back covers of the EP, we designed an insert for the inside of the EP to write the credits on. 

Insert for our EP.

Above is an image of the insert for our EP. As you can see, we kept with the black and white theme in this too. We liked the idea of keeping it 'funky' by adding our own small touches such as the font and the small flower image that closes off the credits but also managed to keep it looking fresh and professional. 

This is all for now, another post will be added shortly showing the finishing product!

Thanks for reading,

Chazzy!

A little more recording and a mixing session...

Following our very successful recording session, we managed to mix and master all of the songs that we'd recorded ready to be put onto a disc.

Before mixing, we also added in any final touches into the recording such as tambourines and hand clapping sounds to mix up the sound of the EP a little bit. We started with 'Beautiful Soul' by Jesse McCartney, we both decided we wanted some hand clapping sounds and a tambourine in there for definite. We started with the hand claps, me and Alie both decided to clap in sync on every 4th beat to add some form of percussion to the mix. We set-up the microphone we used for the vocals the day previous and got straight on with it, we recorded the clapping sounds in the first take. We the wanted to add something more to the percussion in the mix, so Alie came up with the clever idea of opening and closing a pair of scissors shut on every off beat. So, similarly with the hand clapping, we used the vocal microphone from the previous day to record the sound of the scissors. It took me a few goes to get this right as the timing was difficult to keep to but overall, it made the track sound interesting and gave it something more. Finally, we added the tambourine to the mix, we wrapped the tambourine up in a towel to mute the sound a little more in order to get the sound we were looking for. I played the tambourine along on every 4th beat in time with the hand clapping. I mixed it up a little by shaking the tambourine in time with the song and hitting it on every 4th beat during the choruses of the song; this gave the song a more 'feel good' feeling to it which we were both very pleased with.

Forever Young by Rumours was another song we wanted to add tambourine to. So similarly to Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney, I played the tambourine to every 4th beat of the song and mixed it up by shaking and tapping the tambourine during the bridge and chorus of the song.

We also used tambourine on Hellogoodbye's 'Here In Your Arms', I played the tambourine on every 3rd beat the whole way through the song, this sounded really nice and gave the mix something a little different instead of the whole EP being centered around piano and vocals.

Now onto the mixing...we mixed the songs accordingly to the track listing for the EP. We transferred all of the tracks from the 8-track to Alie's mac, both mixing three songs each making sure we were both happy with each song and the last song we both mixed together.

I mixed Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings, Kindly Unspoken by Kate Voegele and Every Time by Simple Plan. On the other hand, Alie mixed Forever Young by Rumours, Get Lucky by Daft Punk and Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney and Here In Your Arms by HelloGoodbye.

We started with We The Kings' Check Yes Juliet, this was one of the songs I was mixing for the EP. I started with the keyboard track as I wanted this to sit behind the vocal track in the mix. I started by EQ'ing the keyboard track bringing up the bass slightly in this song to add more depth, I then boosted the high frequencies to 'add more life' to the instrument and lastly, I boosted the mid-frequencies to level out the bass and the high frequencies in the mix. This brought the keyboard to life and suited the vocals very well. After this, I added some compression to the keyboard track to bring it out in the mix a little more. Following this, I added some re-verb to the keyboard to add some dimension to the track. I only added a very subtle amount because adding too much would completely wreck the sound of the track and drown out the original sound of the keyboard. After I'd finished mixing the keyboard track, I went onto mixing the vocal track.
For the vocals I started by EQ'ing the track in order to get the sound I wanted. I started by adding a little bass, high and mid frequencies, this leveled out the tone of the vocals and brought it out from being 'tinny' and gave the vocals some form of depth. I also turned up the low and high frequencies a little more just to give the vocals some more character.
I then compressed the vocals to bring them forward to the front of the mix but making sure that the keyboard could be heard properly.

Next song that was mixed was Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye, this song was mixed by Alie. Starting with EQ'ing again, she boosted the high frequencies on the keyboard to give it a brighter sound as the song is supposed to be quite a happy sounding track; Alie also compressed the keyboard to bring it out into the mix and added re-verb for dimension.
Next was the vocal track, Alie started with EQ'ing the track, she boosted the high and the low frequencies to add colour to vocals and compressed the track to bring it out further into the mix.
The tambourine that you can hear wasn't EQ'd as we liked the sound of it in it's original form. She added a little compression and re-verb to make it more noticeable in the mix but turned it down quite a lot so it didn't take over the other elements in the track.

'Here In Your Arms' going through mixing!

The next song that was mixed was 'Every Time by Simple Plan', this track was mixed by myself and as normal I started with EQ'ing the keyboard track first. For the keyboard I reduced the low end frequencies as it made the keyboard sound far too over powering for the mix. I boosted the high and mid frequencies a little more to give it a brighter sound as this song is also meant to be quite an upbeat sounding track. I added some compression and a subtle amount of re-verb onto the keyboard as well to add a sustaining effect to it; the compression brought it into the mix a lot more than what it was originally. I also added some 'cross fading' at the end of the piano track so at the ending the ending is smooth and not abrupt, it adds a nice touch to the track overall.
For the vocals I boosted the low, mid and high frequencies to give it a balanced sound in the mix. I boosted the high frequencies a little bit more as it brightened up Alie's vocals for the song to suit the keyboard track better. Like the other tracks, I added some compression and re-verb on her voice to bring it out in the mix.

The next song that was mixed was Kate Voegele's Kindly Unspoken which was mixed by myself. I started with EQ'ing the keyboard track. I boosted the low frequencies and turned down the high and mid frequencies slightly to add more depth to the song. This song is also quite down beat therefore, the extra bass adds to the mood of the song. I added quite a bit of re-verb to the keyboard as there were a lot of moments during the song that the keyboard was 'on it's own' and the extra re-verb gave it a clearer sound and more of a sustain. I also added a cross fade on the keyboard track at the very end to give it a smoother ending just like Every Time.
For the vocals I reduced the low frequencies so it wouldn't clash with the keyboard. I boosted the high and mid frequencies on the vocals which allowed the vocals to have their own identity in a way. I added some re-verb to the vocals too, this was a nice touch as the vocals for this song were more centre of attention on this track; the re-verb gave the vocals more dimension. I also compressed the vocals quite a lot in order to bring them right to the front in the mix.

The next song that was mixed was 'Beautiful Soul' by Jesse McCartney; this song was mixed by Alie. Starting with EQ'ing the vocals, Alie boosted the frequencies in the bass, mid and high ranges. This gave the song quite a nice balance especially as this song is quite upbeat and 'cheery'. Re-verb and compression was added to bring the vocals forward in the mix. The keyboard track was boosted slightly more in the low frequency range and the high frequencies were also boosted a little; this gave the keyboard track a happy sound to it. A slight bit of phasing was added to the track as well as compression and a subtle bit of re-verb. The phasing effect on the keyboard track really added a different sound in comparison to the previous tracks on the EP. The tambourine was a nice touch in this song overall and adding the re-verb allowed the ringing sound to 'ring out' instead of the ringing coming to an abrupt ending. The tambourine was compressed ever so slightly just to ensure it could be heard in the mix, this was also added to the hand claps and the scissors in the mix. No re-verb was added to the hand claps or the scissors.

Beautiful Soul going through the mixing process!

Now for the last two tracks on the album, the bonus tracks. These were both mixed by Alie, I wanted Alie to mix my solo cover of Daft Punk's 'Get Lucky' as I know I'd have been biased about how I wanted it to sound. Not a lot was done to this track as there wasn't much going on. However, she started by EQ'ing the track boosting the bass frequencies more than the higher frequencies, this gave the song that groovy 'bassy' tone that you can identify from the original song. She also compressed the track and added some re-verb. As the keyboard track was on it's own something had to be done about the amount of space we had to fill, so adding the compression and re-verb really brought the track to the very front making it the centre of attention. A nice touch of phasing was added on this track to give it that electronic dance sound that represents the original song nicely; this also added something quite different on the EP.

And for the final track, 'Forever Young' by Rumours which was also mixed by Alie. For the vocal track, the higher frequencies were boosted and the bass frequencies were reduced slightly; this was because the keyboard track had the bass frequencies boosted meaning the two tracks would've clashed. The vocals were also compressed slightly to bring them to the front of the mix. For the keyboard track, the low end frequencies were boosted to give the song a more 'full' sound, the high and mid frequencies were boosted ever so slightly just to balance out the track. Compression and re-verb was also added to bring the keyboard out in the mix a little bit more so the track isn't lost beneath the vocals and the tambourine. For the tambourine, nothing was really done to EQ the track as it sounded nice as it was in it's original form. Compression was added and a slight bit of re-verb to allow the sound of the tambourine to 'ring out' more.

Overall, I think that this recording and mixing session went very well and me and Alie were left satisfied with what we'd done.

Here's video evidence of our recording and mixing session!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Kulw4mwDY&feature=youtu.be

Thanks for reading,

Chazzy!

3rd recording session!

So on Wednesday last week, me and Alie finally managed to record our EP! Now just before I get started on how we recorded the material and so on, I am going to do a microphone evaluation on the vocal microphone that was used and an overall evaluation on the equipment we used for the recording.

For this recording, we used a Sennheiser E818sii for the vocals. The Sennheiser E818sii microphone is a dynamic microphone which is an advantage all on its own because a dynamic microphone is less prone to pick up lots of background ambiance whereas, a condenser microphone will pick up a lot more background ambiance in comparison. This microphone is particularly good at picking up the higher and mid frequencies which suited Alie's voice perfectly as her vocal range is mid-high range. We also used a jack-to-jack lead for the keyboard that plugged straight from the keyboard to the 8-track. The massive advantage we had with this was that we didn't get any interference and next to no background ambiance in the recording because the signal was taken straight from the keyboard and sent to the 8-track; this made it easier for us when it came to mixing so we didn't have to eliminate any background ambiance. We used the vocal microphone to record the tambourine, hand clapping and the scissors.


We started by setting up the 8-track, keyboard and the vocal microphone. The vocal mic was connected to the 8-track in channel 2 via an X.L.R lead. The keyboard was connected via a Jack-to-Jack lead in channel 1 in the 8-track.

Set-up of the 8-track.

First off, we decided to record the easiest songs first to get them done and out of the way to make it easier for ourselves. We decided that for all of the songs we would record the keyboard tracks first to get a base down for the vocals to make it easier for Alie and myself. We started with a song we've been practicing for a long time now, Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings. So, starting with the keyboard track, Alie set-up the 8-track ready to go for the recording. She also sang along to the song whilst I played so I could get a better idea for the tempo of the song, this was very helpful and made it a lot easier for me to play. Alie sang down the microphone whilst it was unarmed so it wouldn't be recording but I could hear it through the headphones which ensured I could hear her singing clearly.
Following this, we went straight onto recording the vocals for this song. I set the levels on the 8-track and played back the recording of the keyboard track through her headphones so she could hear what she was singing to properly; the vocals were done all in one take.

Alie singing.

Next up was Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye, this song was another one we'd been practicing hard at during our morning sessions on a Tuesday at college. Again, we started with the keyboard track, Alie kept the levels the same on the 8-track and just armed the channel to record. Like the We The Kings song, Alie sung along with me so I got a feel for the tempo of the song, as the tempo of the original version of the song is too fast for the pace we wanted. The keyboard tracks were done in 7-8 takes as I had to re-tune the piano half way through and in general I found it hard to keep to a reasonable tempo but I managed it in the end.
For the vocals, I re-adjusted the sound levels to make sure 100% that there'd be no clipping half way through the recording and to make sure that the vocals were louder than they were for Check Yes Juliet. We then got on with the recording and the vocals were all done in one take.

Got all my music ready to record. 

Up next was another song we'd been practicing during college time on Tuesdays, Every Time by Simple Plan. Just like the two previous songs, Alie sung along whilst I was playing as a guide vocal for me, the keyboard track was done in about 4 takes. This time, I left the levels for the vocals the same as the previous song as they sounded just right. The vocals for this song was also done in one take.

8-track during recording.

With our next song, we had to make a decision on what song we were going to do next. The plan was to record one of the bonus tracks being 'Forever Young' by Rumours. However, I was unsure of the chords for the song at the time so we left it where it was and decided to record my solo track which was the other bonus track on the EP. I had a choice of three tracks I wanted to record and at that time the one I felt most comfortable recording was Daft Punks latest hit 'Get Lucky'. This song was a little different from the other songs on the EP and I enjoyed playing the song.
Like we'd done previously, Alie made sure the levels were okay and I went ahead and got the song recorded in three takes before I was completely satisfied.

After this, we decided to do one of the Kate Voegele songs we'd chosen for the EP. So, we gave Sandcastles by Kate Voegele a good go and it didn't work very well as I couldn't play in time to the beginning of the song very well however, myself and Alie both needed the song playing in the background. After a quick brainstorm of songs, we came up with the idea of doing Jesse McCartney - Beautiful Soul. Alie got the piano chords up on the mac and I played along to the actual song for a practice a few times to see if it worked and it went well. Whilst recording, I played along to the actual song in the background to help me with the tempo and this would also ensure that Alie's vocals fit in time with the keyboard track. This song was surprisingly done in fewer takes than the previous songs and sounded really funky along with the vocal track. The vocal track was done in a couple of takes but fit really nicely along with the keyboard track.

Tambourine, ready to record!

Following the Jesse McCartney song, we decided to get one of the more complicated songs out the way. Kate Voegele's 'Kindly Unspoken' was the longest and one of the more complicated songs on the track list and we decided it'd be a good idea to get this done and out of the way. I played along to the original song in the background, this took me quite a few goes in order to get used to the feel of the song. Overall, this song took me about 4 takes and sounded really delicate. The vocal track was done in a couple of takes and Alie also sung along to the song in background so she could keep in time with my keyboard track.

Finally, we had come to recording the final song, 'Forever Young' by Rumours. As I still had to figure out the rest of the chords for the song, I got right on with it and in total it took me about half an hour to put the final touches into place. We wasted no time and got straight on with recording the final song and once again we started with recording the keyboard track. Alie checked the levels for the keyboard, I tuned the keyboard before hand and recorded the song with the original song playing in the background for a guide. This took me 3 goes in total and I feel it went really well. We got straight onto recording the vocals for this song, I checked the levels again and set the song to play in the background for Alie just like she'd done for me. She got this down in two takes and it went along really nicely with the keyboard track.

After and extremely busy and eventful day, we finished recording and were completely satisfied with how the day went. In the next blog I'll be talking about our mixing session.

Thanks for reading!

Chazzy!

Plan B...

So, after the way everything's worked out using the studio at college, me and Alie came up with an idea that will give us the results we're hoping for.

At home, Alie has a small studio set-up with an iMac, 8 track, keyboard/piano, microphones and Logic Pro. With this, we can record everything we want to in our own time without having to keep to a three hour time limit like we would in the studio at college. We've decided a date for next week that we will record over a period of two days, doing this will give us a better chance at getting more recorded and done for the EP.

We've decided on five tracks for the EP and if we get that all done in time, we we're going to have an extra two bonus tracks. The five tracks we've chosen for the EP are:

1. We The Kings - Check Yes Juliet
2. Simple Plan - Every time
3. Kate Voegele - Sandcastles
4. Hellogoodbye - Here In Your Arms
5. Kate Voegele - Kindly Unspoken 
6. Rumours - Forever Young (Acapella version)
7. Athlete - Ordinary Angel (Piano solo) 

The track listing hasn't change much at all as these are songs that we can both do well. The two bonus tracks are songs that myself and Alie have chosen as a solo track to do something a little different on the EP. We're keeping 'Check Yes Juliet' as we came to the conclusion that it sounded terrible last time due to the piano at college being slightly out of tune. 

Anyway, that's all I have to update you all with so far. More news will be on its way shortly.

Thanks for reading,

Chazzy! 

3rd recording session planning...

So, after last weeks horrific recording session, here's a plan to ensure that the same things will not happen again, well hopefully not anyway.

Basically, after last week, we decided a few changes to how we would be recording so that we could lower the chances of things going wrong again. Anyway, when recording Hellogoodbye's - Here In Your Arms, the timing was awful and I was either playing too fast or too slow for the song, so when I was recording Alie's vocal the timing was out very slightly. This made an impact on the quality of the recording and once we'd run out of time we discussed how we could change what had gone wrong. We came to the conclusion that setting up the vocal microphone in the control room would be a brilliant idea. This would then allow for the piano and the vocals to be recorded at the same time without any spill from either the piano or the vocals in any of the mics; this would then eliminate the possibility of the timing going out again.

The unfortunate events of last week also helped us come to the conclusion that Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings was off the track listing to be replaced with another Kate Voegele song. We decided on this idea because I had difficulty finding the correct chords to go along with Alie's vocals leaving us with no choice but to change the song choice all together. This is a shame as we both loved playing this song but it just wasn't working out when being recorded as it sounded so out of key.

Anyway, with a floor plan and a full microphone specification to follow, this is it for now!

Thanks for reading,

Chazzy!

2nd recording session...

Well, me and Alie had out two and a half hour session in the studio this morning, it didn't go to plan as a lot of things haven't with this project.

Anyway, we got in and set-up all the usual equipment in the live room and the control room and got on with it. We started with Check Yes Juliet by We The Kings and recorded the vocal track first. Following this, we recorded the piano track straight afterwards being successful on the first recording. On the other hand, the vocals and the piano tracks were out of time and sounded pretty awful so we re-done the piano tracks again. This time instead of the vocals and the piano being out of time, it sounded as if the vocals were off key compared to the piano and the two tracks just didn't work together at all.

Set-up of the mixing desk.

Recording the vocals for Check Yes Juliet

After scrapping the idea of recording that song in the session, we moved onto record Here In Your Arms by Hellogoodbye. This wasn't as bad, Alie sung the song down the talk back microphone whilst I played the piano so I had a rough idea on the tempo of the track. We done this a few times as I went a little too fast the first few times. Following this, Alie went into the live room to do the vocals, I got the desk ready and hit record and half way through it the track was out of time. We re-done it one more time and it still didn't work leaving us with practically nothing by the end of the session.

Overall, this session was pretty much a disastrous waste of time and I feel so disappointed about it. Shortly there will be a video added of the set-up for the session...

Thanks for reading,

Chazzy.