Phil Spector's 'Wall Of Sound" emulation

This composition is my own song, originally composed on acoustic guitar with the simple chord sequence. In the studio, similarly to Phil Spector, I got the musicians (electric guitarist, pianist, bass player, and drummer) to rehearse this chord sequence several times to a click. Once they knew this chord sequence confidently, I then told them to play around and experiment with this. The electric guitarist was told to start with the sustained notes of each chord, and to then build this up. The pianist was given a melodic line which he could then play around with using different octaves and passing notes. The pianist was also told to experiment with the chord rhythm. The bass player was told to begin with sustained notes and to then play the bass notes of each chord in a steady rhythm of his choice. And the drummer was told to keep to the tempo of 4/4, to start off with a simple beat with a few fills which builds up to a guitar solo which needs excessive drum fills, From these instructions, the musicians had time to practice and experiment to just a click (to create more of an impression of the instruments being played together, rather than being layered on top of one another). I then double-tracked the piano parts to create a fuller sound on the more clear and defined instrument sounds.
Once this was recorded and arranged, I played this through two speaker in a medium-sized hall. I placed a DPA microphone almost to the centre of these speakers, further towards the opposite side of the room, facing up. This microphone picked up the song coming through the speakers, and the natural reverberation created in the hall. This was then fed back to the overall mix to create a natural reverb effect. I then double-tracked the reverberation recording to create an even fuller sound.

The microphone set up for the drums in the same hall:


The DPA microphone set up in the hall, picking up the natural reverberation:

Recording the vocals, piano and guitar (again) for the first task

Note to self: ALWAYS check the audio files have been saved before leaving the recording studio.

Because three of my audio files for the first task (cover of Amy Winehouse, 'You Know I'm No good') had been lost from the recording studio's computer, i had to re-record the vocals, guitar and piano again in a ten hour session. I changed the recording technique/microphone set up for all three instruments.

For recording the acoustic guitar, this time I used two DPA microphones: one facing the fingerboard, and the other facing the sound hole. The microphones were placed closer to the guitar (compared to the first recording), creating a clear and open sound.


The piano was recorded using two AKG 414s placed in the MS microphone technique, however the top microphone is placed vertically due to experimenting with the sound it captured. This gave a nice sound quality for the high frequencies, however the lower frequencies didn't seem to be as full as in the first piano recording.


For the vocals, I used a Neumann (Cardioid) in its Shockmount. I chose a condenser microphone to produce a more clear and defined recording. I also used a pop shield to prevent clipping and unwanted noise.

Recording the vocals and bass

For both the bass and vocals, I used the neumann TLM103 in its Shockmount.

For the bass, I placed the microphone a few inches away from the amp speaker, slightly away from the centre of the speaker to create a warmer sound.



For the vocals, the microphone was placed in the vocal recording booth, slightly to the side of the room (to avoid ambience and unwanted room reflections etc). The vocalist positioned herself a few inches away from the pop shield. I used the Neumann TLM103 to create an open, clear and defined recording quality of the vocals, and I kept the Shockmount for the microphone to reduce the levels of unwanted noise.

Recording the acoustic guitar and piano for task 1

I used two Neumann TLN 103 Condensers to record the acoustic guitar. I placed both microphones parallel to each other, a few feet away from the guitar (A-B Technique).



The piano was recorded using two Ribbon microphones placed either side of the piano. The lid of the piano was opened and the microphones were placed inside, approximately a foot above the piano strings.





The acoustic guitar and piano were recorded separately, both using a click and the recorded drum track to keep in time.

Setting up drum kit microphones for task 1

For recording the drums for my cover of Amy Winehouse's 'You know I'm No good' I used:

-Neumann TLN 103 (Condenser) microphones for the Overheads (placed in the same way as described in previous blog post).

-Sennheiser E602 (Cardioid, Dynamic) microphone for the Kick drum (placed inside the Kick drum, as shown in previous blog post)

-DPA 4090 (Condenser) microphone for the snare, however, instead of placing one above and one underneath the snare (shown in previous blog post), I used only one DPA microphone above the snare as one of the DPAs had too much spill of the other drums/high hat.



-DPA 4090 (Condenser) microphone was also used for the high hat (placed similarly to the AKG 414 shown in the previous blog post).

Studio Project - Setting up a drum kit recording on Protools HD

Before starting the recording/mix:

1. Grab hold of mix screen, click all on the top right of the 'edit' screen, click 'expanded transport'

2. A-Z needs to be highlighted gold (on the edit screen) to enable keyboard shortcuts

3. Go on to the set up menu, click 'playback engine', choose 'short' on the 'delay compensation engine'

4. Click on the Protools HD preferences, click 'operation', 'open-ended recording', limit to 5 minutes (or however long the overall piece will be)

5. Always use Phantom Power when recording with Condenser microphones!

Microphones:

Bass Drum - Sennheiser E602 (Cardioid, Dynamic microphone)



Snare - DPA 4090 (Condenser microphone), two, placed above and below the snare, Phase reverse one of these two microphones



High hat - AKG 414 (Omnidirectional, Condenser), angle the microphone at the sound edge, avoiding proximity/ bass tip-up effect



Overheads - Neumann TLN 103 (Condenser), one microphone above the drum kit, the second on the side across from the Tom at a lower level, both should be the same distance from the Snare


Setting up drum tracks:

Bass drum - mono
Two Snares - mono
High hat - mono
Overheads - Stereo (or two monos but 'pan' one to the left and the other to the right)

"You can have the best gear in the world, but unless you've got a really good person dealing with it.." "..it doesn't mean a thing."

"..it's people that make it work, not technology. If you get the right people, you'll be OK. You can have the best gear in the world, but unless you've got a really good person dealing with it - and dealing with the client, of course - it doesn't mean a thing."

- Sir George Martin, http://www.recordproduction.com/sir_george_martin.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFPMrXpWX04 - Strawberry Fields Forever alternate version and George Martin interview



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2jHbwE4DdM&feature=related - Mono vs Stereo interview with George Martin

http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/mersey/11814.shtml - a BBC interview with George Martin



"..George Martin and his team endlessly doubled up backing tracks in order to free up a track for a vocal or guitar solo. Even
Sgt Pepper, made in 1967, was recorded on only a four-track machine."

"Years later, in a television documentary about the making of 'Sgt Pepper', George martin asked Paul,
'Do you know what caused 'Sgt Pepper'?'
Paul replied, 'In one word, George, drugs. Pot.'
Martin protested, 'No, no. You weren't on it all the time.'
'Yes, we were, George. 'Sgt Pepper' was a drug album.'..."

- 'In the Sixties', Barry Miles

''Water is powerful. It can wash away earth, put out fire, and even destroy iron''

''I was like water... Water can carve its way through stone. And when trapped, water makes a new path.'' - Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)