Research Log of Here My Dear

 

 Research Log (Bibliography)

I skimmed and scanned three secondary sources to find out more about the artist of my chosen album, Here my Dear. Here my Dear has very little publicly known information and resources about the albums recorded information since it was not such a popular album, however Marvin Gaye’s final album, Midnight Love and What’s going on, one of his most successful albums do have plenty of information available.

I annotated these articles and found out that Marvin’s album was likely recorded in a similar way to What’s going on. The Sound on Sound article writes that the rhythm tracks and overdubs for What’s going on were done at a separate studio to which everything else was recorded. This was because it had a Neumann solid-state console and a Scully eight-track machine, according to Ken Sands.

The purpose of this research is to find out more about how my chosen album was recorded, why it was recorded, what with, and what I can learn from it and put into practice with my BTEC sound course.

Secondary Source	Relevance to my album
Sound on Sound Magazine Website - http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul11/articles/classic-tracks-0711.htm	Sound on Sound details the album from the point of view of the people involved. It is not biased other than in the quotes of the people involved. It tells me about exactly what was used to record, which is much more helpful than the other sources, as I get a first hand view of what happened.
The Ambient Century Book	This book had very little information but gave an insight to Marvin Gaye’s influence on the music of the time – for example it convinced Stevie Wonder to work with synthesizers in 1971.
The Atlantis “The Man Was a Genius” Article http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/10/the-man-was-a-genius-tales-from-making-marvin-gayes-final-album/263028/	Gordon Banks was with Marvin Gaye when he recorded his last album Midnight Love outside of Motown Records for the first time. This article is and interview from his point of view. It gives me an insight on the atmosphere during the albums creation, but very little information.
All music Here My Dear review http://www.allmusic.com/album/here-my-dear-mw0000112616	This article has written about the background of the album and the importance it had on Marvin Gaye’s album.
Pop Matters Article http://www.popmatters.com/feature/69381-whats-going-on-marvin-gayes-liberation-from-the-motown-sound/	The instruments Marvin Gaye used in this album, the people brought in, and how they contributed to his success as an artist and as an album.
Pitchfork review http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15679-whats-going-on-40th-anniversary-edition/	This source gives information on the instruments used.
Discogs album info http://www.discogs.com/Marvin-Gaye-Whats-Going-On/release/6667997	A list of all the instruments used, and by who.

recording

Plan for Final Recordings

Lewis will play guitar through a microphone. I will record using cubase. Marvin Gaye's album What's Going on was recorded using a Neumann U67. This is similar to our use of the Shure SM58 as they are both fairly clean microphones.  

Lewis will require skill in being a musician - he needs to play cleanly to achieve a better recording. I will record using cubase, which will require basic knowledge of the program and the setup Lewis will use.

We will be using a Shure SM58 to record the guitar. This is a dynamic mic. We used this because it can record high sound pressure levels. On an amp this is useful.

We may face the problem of equipment failure. We will have to be resourceful and think logically to solve this. We will investigate each possible cause of problems - Cubase, the Microphones, and the amp.

Evaluation of Studio Recordings
We used a dynamic mic to record our electric guitar. We did this because dynamic microphones can record at higher sound pressure levels than a condenser microphone. We pointed the dynamic mic at the amplifier to record. We faced another microphone away from the amp to create ambient sound.

We recorded with a variety of instruments with different microphone setups, for example we recorded a guitar using a microphone on the sound hole and one microphone on the fretboard.


We had issues with Cubase at first but after a lengthy troubleshooting session, we fixed our problem - several settings were not quite right, as somebody had been in before us. Our recording has lots of ambient sound because of our setup, and while the microphone is quite clean, our sound wasn't because of the setting we used on the amp.

For the acoustic guitar recording, we recorded from the fretboard of the guitar and from the sound hole of the guitar. It turned out well, it was very clear.
Acoustic Left and Right ear
For the electric guitar recording we pointed one microphone at the amp, less than a foot away, and about 1.5 metres away we placed a microphone facing opposite the amp for added ambient sound. Ambient sound is the pressure level of the background noise.
Electric Guitar Recording

Acoustic Guitar Classroom Recording
Our previous recording of an acoustic guitar (our first recording in the studio) was recorded on a Shure SM58, similar to our new recording of the electric guitar. The major difference between the two recordings was that one was placed over the sound hole to get a good sound in a classroom, while the other recording had two mics, one of which was placed over the amplifier (the first guitar recording was acoustic) and the other mic was facing opposite to create ambient sound in the studio. Our old recording was a very simple one, with no ambient sound like the other recording.
Acoustic Guitar Classroom Recording

Glockenspiel Open Air Recordings
We recorded the glockenspiel using the microphone, with an omnidirectional polar pattern. We could hear the wind loudly, because the microphone was taking in sound from all directions.We used a H2 Handy Recorder microphone by Zoom to record our clip. We recorded outside of the sixth form in a fairly open area.

The quality of the glockenspiel was good quality, though there was a little bit of background noise, probably from the wind, and there was some fumbling around with something, which was probably the microphone at the start and end. Other peoples recordings were very high quality like ours. On a day with more wind you would be able to tell the difference much more between our omnidirectional recording and somebody else's isolated recording, like a figure of 8 or super-cardioid.
Open Air Glockenspiel