Hi!
I kind of adjusted the threshold for the compression of my pod 2 work because I..really don't know. I'm worried 'cos I know I have not much experience in mastering and I don't know what to expect really :\
But then, I'm just going to go with whatever changes I've made and present it! It's okay if it sounds like crap really but I've tried my best to mix and master both songs so hopefully, fingers crossed!
But until tomorrow, I hope that I will stop touching the mastered pod and just focus on my presentation. Ugh!!!! Itchy fingers and itchy ears.
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
Final POD
Hi!
For my final pod I decided to link pod 1 and pod 2 together (like when you play in iTunes the pod 1 flows to pod 2).
I did not really do any adjustments for my mix except for pod 2, where I EQ-ed and added a deEsser to clear up the sibilance but other than that I did not change much of the mix!
I then proceeded to mastering! Geoff told me not to add a lot of compression and probably no EQ for my pod 2. So yeah I just added the plugins needed, hoping it did not sound terrible from my non mastered mix but I mean I'm still learning!
I'm so worried for the presentation next Monday 'cos I really hope that both pod works are of standard. Fingers crossed!
For my final pod I decided to link pod 1 and pod 2 together (like when you play in iTunes the pod 1 flows to pod 2).
I did not really do any adjustments for my mix except for pod 2, where I EQ-ed and added a deEsser to clear up the sibilance but other than that I did not change much of the mix!
I then proceeded to mastering! Geoff told me not to add a lot of compression and probably no EQ for my pod 2. So yeah I just added the plugins needed, hoping it did not sound terrible from my non mastered mix but I mean I'm still learning!
I'm so worried for the presentation next Monday 'cos I really hope that both pod works are of standard. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Final POD changes
Hi!
I was thinking the other day if I should edit anything for my pod 1. But then I decided that I don't really want to add or edit anything so yeah I'll leave that one alone first!
Moving on to pod2! I changed some notes of the piano and electric guitar as I realised they were clashing. Also, I added in a "bridge" thing whereby I linked both my pod1 and 2 work together. It's just basically a pad sound that last from end of pod 1 and goes into a C chord in pod 2.
Because both my pod 1 and pod 2 are songs about my life, I just thought why not link them together to make it seem like it's one song by itself? Oh wait but then it'd be called "Falling Apart In My Atmosphere". That's so wrong. Okay whatever~
But yeah, pod 2 is actually a sort of response-ish song to my pod1. In case any of you are curious, yes I wrote pod 1 at some time when I broke down (you can tell by the emo lyrics) and I actually hesitated before I used it for pod 1. And then pod 2 was supposed to be written just for fun but I came up with the idea for it to be a song about me picking myself back up again. But yep it is also a song about me too. So I think I really hope that whoever who listens to my pod works are able to relate to me :\
Other than that, I think I'm done with this entry. Bye! And may the force be with you~
I was thinking the other day if I should edit anything for my pod 1. But then I decided that I don't really want to add or edit anything so yeah I'll leave that one alone first!
Moving on to pod2! I changed some notes of the piano and electric guitar as I realised they were clashing. Also, I added in a "bridge" thing whereby I linked both my pod1 and 2 work together. It's just basically a pad sound that last from end of pod 1 and goes into a C chord in pod 2.
Because both my pod 1 and pod 2 are songs about my life, I just thought why not link them together to make it seem like it's one song by itself? Oh wait but then it'd be called "Falling Apart In My Atmosphere". That's so wrong. Okay whatever~
But yeah, pod 2 is actually a sort of response-ish song to my pod1. In case any of you are curious, yes I wrote pod 1 at some time when I broke down (you can tell by the emo lyrics) and I actually hesitated before I used it for pod 1. And then pod 2 was supposed to be written just for fun but I came up with the idea for it to be a song about me picking myself back up again. But yep it is also a song about me too. So I think I really hope that whoever who listens to my pod works are able to relate to me :\
Other than that, I think I'm done with this entry. Bye! And may the force be with you~
Sunday, 2 December 2012
Final mix
Was worried about my mix because I felt that I should have re recorded main vocals! But no time to go back there. Anyway, I hope my 4 recorded instruments/vocals are alright :\ Picking REMT as a skillset is quite a huge scare for me haha cos to be honest I'm not good at that module. But I did try my best!
Hopefully the lecturers will like the song :S
Monday, 26 November 2012
Arrangement & Mixing
Hi! Sorry but this will be quite a long post 'cos it's to keep track of what I've been doing (in case I forget some stuff).
So the past few weeks I've been concentrating on recording, mixing and putting the song together.
I first wanted to follow Mumford & Sons kind of arrangement where I'd keep it really simple. I added in a banjo (using midi but failed to copy the timbre), added in an organ, piano, bass and electric guitars. My folk rock idea was slowly turning into pop rock so I decided to just stick to the pop rock genre! I also arranged for the usual bam bam and ooh harmonies in the song.
Apart from that, I recorded the acoustic guitar, drums, bass and vocals. Mixing is quite a tough one for me because to be honest, I had little knowledge and experience from it. But however, thanks to the internet I researched on my own on mixing and how to use certain plug ins to achieve the sound. I was quite upset with how my snare top sounded because of the wrong mike used. I should have used a SM57 for it but it was recorded with a Senn 441. The body sound was gone and the snare just sounded so thin. I tried boosting the low mids of like around 200Hz but it still sounded bad and the attack sound of the snare hit mixed with the thin sound of the snare was really bad. Thus, I had to trigger midi samples to make up for this. I also triggered a kick drum sample to mix together with my recorded kick drum to give it more "punch" and click sound as the recorded one had a lot of boom sound.
For bass, I used 4 mikes- DI, AKG D112, subkick and senn 421. I really liked the DI 'cos both the attack and plucking sound of the strings/string noise was really prominent. The D112 had a really nice tone to the bass also but it had a lot of low end that gave mud to the mix. The senn 421 was alright but comparing this to D112 I preferred the D112. I only used the DI and D112 tracks to mix cos the others just added alot of mud to the mix.
For acoustic guitar, it was my first time recording it in the stereo XY coincident technique with the Earthworks mike pointing at the 12th fret. I also had another recording to get a different tone using the AT2035 that was slanted towards the guitar hole. This one had a lot of boom sound when I played the low notes but when I EQ-ed the frequencies away it sounded really bright and thin which blended well with the Earthworks. The earthworks represents the highs/clarity of the guitar really well too and because I wanted a bright tone for the song.
As for vocals, I used the u87 because it gives the warmness to the voice and I think it suited the tone of my voice.
So the past few weeks I've been concentrating on recording, mixing and putting the song together.
I first wanted to follow Mumford & Sons kind of arrangement where I'd keep it really simple. I added in a banjo (using midi but failed to copy the timbre), added in an organ, piano, bass and electric guitars. My folk rock idea was slowly turning into pop rock so I decided to just stick to the pop rock genre! I also arranged for the usual bam bam and ooh harmonies in the song.
Apart from that, I recorded the acoustic guitar, drums, bass and vocals. Mixing is quite a tough one for me because to be honest, I had little knowledge and experience from it. But however, thanks to the internet I researched on my own on mixing and how to use certain plug ins to achieve the sound. I was quite upset with how my snare top sounded because of the wrong mike used. I should have used a SM57 for it but it was recorded with a Senn 441. The body sound was gone and the snare just sounded so thin. I tried boosting the low mids of like around 200Hz but it still sounded bad and the attack sound of the snare hit mixed with the thin sound of the snare was really bad. Thus, I had to trigger midi samples to make up for this. I also triggered a kick drum sample to mix together with my recorded kick drum to give it more "punch" and click sound as the recorded one had a lot of boom sound.
For bass, I used 4 mikes- DI, AKG D112, subkick and senn 421. I really liked the DI 'cos both the attack and plucking sound of the strings/string noise was really prominent. The D112 had a really nice tone to the bass also but it had a lot of low end that gave mud to the mix. The senn 421 was alright but comparing this to D112 I preferred the D112. I only used the DI and D112 tracks to mix cos the others just added alot of mud to the mix.
For acoustic guitar, it was my first time recording it in the stereo XY coincident technique with the Earthworks mike pointing at the 12th fret. I also had another recording to get a different tone using the AT2035 that was slanted towards the guitar hole. This one had a lot of boom sound when I played the low notes but when I EQ-ed the frequencies away it sounded really bright and thin which blended well with the Earthworks. The earthworks represents the highs/clarity of the guitar really well too and because I wanted a bright tone for the song.
As for vocals, I used the u87 because it gives the warmness to the voice and I think it suited the tone of my voice.
Thursday, 18 October 2012
POD 2 introduction
Hello POD2!
Just a brief description of my ideas on pod 2. There isn't really a straight forward concept to it 'cos I still have no clue on what genre/arrangement/etc. I did include in my proposal that I wanted this pod 2 to be sort of like a response to my pod 1. My pod 1 had kind of a sad/soft/floaty/dreamy/emo feel to it so why not pod 2 be the opposite of that!
I was inspired by Rob Thomas's Little Wonders with all the electric guitar delay fx going on and also Kris Allen's upbeat drum rhythm and really nice guitar tone. I had a guitar melody at the front that I came up with and I did not know how to continue arranging from there. Then I heard Clara C's Heartstrings and my arranging ideas for drums/guitar/vocals changed also. I decided to add in strumming and organs and pads. Also, my strumming and organs were influenced by Mumford and Sons.
The idea I have for pod 2 is so not concrete yet. And the genre I came up was Pop Folk Rock :\ Plus the chorus melody sounded a little like Goo Goo Dolls's I'm Still Here. Really no clue what to do next. But I've recorded my drums and acoustic guitar already. So I guess I'd better start mixing.
Just a brief description of my ideas on pod 2. There isn't really a straight forward concept to it 'cos I still have no clue on what genre/arrangement/etc. I did include in my proposal that I wanted this pod 2 to be sort of like a response to my pod 1. My pod 1 had kind of a sad/soft/floaty/dreamy/emo feel to it so why not pod 2 be the opposite of that!
I was inspired by Rob Thomas's Little Wonders with all the electric guitar delay fx going on and also Kris Allen's upbeat drum rhythm and really nice guitar tone. I had a guitar melody at the front that I came up with and I did not know how to continue arranging from there. Then I heard Clara C's Heartstrings and my arranging ideas for drums/guitar/vocals changed also. I decided to add in strumming and organs and pads. Also, my strumming and organs were influenced by Mumford and Sons.
The idea I have for pod 2 is so not concrete yet. And the genre I came up was Pop Folk Rock :\ Plus the chorus melody sounded a little like Goo Goo Dolls's I'm Still Here. Really no clue what to do next. But I've recorded my drums and acoustic guitar already. So I guess I'd better start mixing.
Friday, 10 August 2012
3 more days to POD1 submission
Yes yes it's nearing...
Well I guess my song is finalized in a way. I don't really want to edit the mix or add in any last minute changes either because I realised that the more I edit the more it gets worse.
Oh! If the lecturers don't know yet, I've changed my skill sets to Arranging and Songwriting. So I'm still currently scoring my song, figuring out chords, doing analysis, phrasing, adding cresendo etc.
I've not done my report but I did put some pointers on what to write about so that's a good start! ;)
Recap on my work progress:
I consulted Erica on vocal arrangement and added in some extra "hum" lines and like a short counter melody in the last chorus.
I consulted Gerald on my mix and he helped with my acoustic guitar and some vocal syllabus clashes where the backing vox and main vox were not sung together/in sync.
I consulted Geoffrey on my mix and he commented on my pronunciation on the word "feel" that sounded like "fill". I think it's the way I sang it too :\
So here I am! Now with about 3 days left to submission. I'm a little jittery and worried because this work of mine is really personal. But I guess it is good in a way 'cos it does help "speak up" for me and showcase my style/arrangement in songwriting. I never known how hummings could help me this much and how it plays such an important role in aiding my voice (I always think I sound like a fragile mouse or those songs played on a vinyl record in the 60s and earlier :S) It was through writing this song where I figured my style in my own songs and created this "bam" and "hum" and "ooh" in songs.
I'm thankful for my friends who've helped me record my sessions and be a pillar of support for me. So to sum this post up, I cross my fingers and just hope for no more no less.
Oh! And my song title for POD1 is called "Falling Apart" :)
Well I guess my song is finalized in a way. I don't really want to edit the mix or add in any last minute changes either because I realised that the more I edit the more it gets worse.
Oh! If the lecturers don't know yet, I've changed my skill sets to Arranging and Songwriting. So I'm still currently scoring my song, figuring out chords, doing analysis, phrasing, adding cresendo etc.
I've not done my report but I did put some pointers on what to write about so that's a good start! ;)
Recap on my work progress:
I consulted Erica on vocal arrangement and added in some extra "hum" lines and like a short counter melody in the last chorus.
I consulted Gerald on my mix and he helped with my acoustic guitar and some vocal syllabus clashes where the backing vox and main vox were not sung together/in sync.
I consulted Geoffrey on my mix and he commented on my pronunciation on the word "feel" that sounded like "fill". I think it's the way I sang it too :\
So here I am! Now with about 3 days left to submission. I'm a little jittery and worried because this work of mine is really personal. But I guess it is good in a way 'cos it does help "speak up" for me and showcase my style/arrangement in songwriting. I never known how hummings could help me this much and how it plays such an important role in aiding my voice (I always think I sound like a fragile mouse or those songs played on a vinyl record in the 60s and earlier :S) It was through writing this song where I figured my style in my own songs and created this "bam" and "hum" and "ooh" in songs.
I'm thankful for my friends who've helped me record my sessions and be a pillar of support for me. So to sum this post up, I cross my fingers and just hope for no more no less.
Oh! And my song title for POD1 is called "Falling Apart" :)
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