Plan for the week:
Create a website to present my work
Monday 25th February 2020
Spent the day creating this website.
A note of criticism from my last project was that I could have separated my work so that it could be found more easily. So that's what I wanted to do for this website.
So I have divided the website into 5 pages:
*Proposal & Planning - Which includes my proposal adn my progress week but week where I compare it to the original plan I made in the proposal.
*Weekly Diary - Which is my where I write up what I do weekly. I will include any research I did, pictures, videos and any mention of collaboration.
*Recording Techniques - This is where I will compile my already known knowledge of recording techniques. But where I will also add any new recordings techniques I learn throught the FMP.
*My How to convay emotions and moods into your music ? research - I will continue my research from Unit 10 and delve into more depth.
* Evaluation - At the end of this project I will write an evaluation about my FMP. It will involve how it went, any key changes I made and how I think I did. Whilst also having a large bibliography of every resource I accessed throughout the project.
I feel that this is a clear way of presentign my work and that people will be able search this webisite easily.
Tuesday 25th February 2020 - W/COLLABORATION
Rona came up to me today and asked if I would help her record somethign in the studio. She had some ideas that she wanted to try and put together.
First we started with bass. She wanted to DI it. So that's what I did. Recording the bass went smoothly.
Next she wanted to record drums. I suggested the Glen John's technique as it gives a nice wide, clean sound. This is my most favorite technique I have used so far.
I set up the headphone foldback and mics by myself, using the microphones I though were best: SM57 for snare, Beyerdynamic MG 88 for kick and Neumann KM 183 mics for overheads.
Going into the control room and setting the gain and adjusting microphones Rona was ready to rumble. Our technician Sam was impressed with the way the snare sounded crisps and clear, this gave me a nice confidence boost.
After making sure Rona was happy with the way drums sounded and that the headphone foldback and levels were okay. She started recording.
(Glen John's technique)
Problem solving
One of the room mics wasn't working and I tried multiple things to get it to work. For example changing channels and XLR cables. But ended up finding my lecturer to see if he could solve the mystery. It turns out that the patch bay wire was faulty. Which was the only thing I didn't try. This is something I'll keep in mind for if this happens again. After swapping the cables it was smooth sailing from there.
The final instrument she wanted to record was piano, which I've never done before. Our technician Sam suggested that we use two AKG C414 Large diaphragm condenser microphones either end of the piano.
I was impressed by the sound that we were capturing, it was crystal clear. I think this was because we took off the front panel exposing the strings, giving us a balanced sound. With the addition of the piano not being fully in tune, it sounds raw and unique.
After a fair amount of practise Rona was ready to record. And by the end of the day she had managed to compile a start to a nice sounding tune.
Wednesday 26th February 2020
At home I was dabbling on guitar and came up with a sad melody that has a hint of hope.
A clean electric version with delay:
An acoustic version:
Not sure if I'll expand on this melody for this project but I wanted to share it here anyway.
Evaluation of the week:
I'm proud that I practically set up drums, bass and piano by myself to be recorded. Rona and I were very effiecient with our studio time communicating well in order to get as much done as possible. If she wants to continue to work on this are other projects I have stressed to her that I am willing to help.