Sound on Sound second draft

Sound engineer Hayden Bridgen talks about his recent cover of Jess Glynne's "Rather Be" for a BBC3 documentary. The project was built exclusively in Cubase, and proved to be a success.

I use a program called Cubase to create my projects. Cubase is a digital audio workstation, or DAW. A DAW is a program or tool that is used to create music, whether it be from scratch or a simple edit. Cubase offers lots of control and loads of features, which makes it my program of choice - "it's good to dedicate to just one program, in case you get confused."

Recently I've been working on recreating the track "Rather Be" by Jess Glynne in Cubase. It's great practice because it means creative skills are not a limiting factor, instead it is your experience with the program. I used music sheets of the original to get the melody in there, and I got the chance to use other tracks to really see what Cubase could do.

To recreate a track in Cubase, the first thing you would need to do is set up your project. Don't use templates, grab an empty project from the window that pops up in Cubase. It should be on the far right, select empty. Once you have your empty project, you need to create a track. You want to create your own music rather than record, so right click on the stage and go into new track > MIDI > HaLion Synth > HaLion Sonic SE. HaLion Synth is a plugin for Cubase by Steinberg, the same people who made the program. HaLion is great to use because it comes with hundreds of instrument samples to create music with.

Now that you have your track, set the BPM. If you're working with a certain song, try using a website like https://songbpm.com to find the BPM. BPM is the exact tempo of a song. Find the transport bar, and double click on the tempo field. Now that you have the track, use the pencil tool from the toolbar at the top to start creating music. Draw a bar to add music into by clicking and dragging over your HaLion track on the stage. You can resize this later. For now click the mouse tool from the toolbar and double click the bar you created. This will bring up a new window that you can create notes on. Just use the pencil tool once again from the top toolbar and draw the notes you need. If you go back to the main window, click the track you were using, then click the small icon on the left of the stage that looks like a few keys on a keyboard. It should bring up a virtual keyboard window. From here you can choose an instrument to sample from. If you want to create a new track, follow the same steps. Create a MIDI track using HaLion Synth. Later, you can export the document using the drop down bar from the top. Be sure to select Audio Mixdown when you do.

Overall my version of Rather Be worked well. It was accurate. The melody was finished and didn't seem to be wrong. I didn't get much time to do chords, but what I got was correct. If I had more time I would have finished the chords and added a drum beat to make it sound a little more interesting. I am happy with the end result, and so were the workers at BBC3

Later Hayden mentioned that "Cubase is a powerful tool, whatever the skill level."

I was asked to make this track for a television programme about nature. The client was the people behind BBC 3. They wanted music that was upbeat and happy to use during a particularly happy scene.  They were impressed, and asked for some changes, they thought there should be a drum beat but were fine with the unfinished chords as they only planned to use about 30 seconds of the song. They would now like to commission some music for some extended news pieces. 

The director of the project commented, "We got exactly what we needed, and the programme was better because of it."

When the show went out I asked friends to listen and they said it sounded professional and it fit well to the documentary.

If I did the project again, I would put more time into getting the drum track done. I would also take a look at settings like reverb to really make the track into a version of its own.

This has led me to have a number of ideas for future projects, recreating a track is great practice getting used to Cubase and its many features.

Cubase

After importing .AIF files into Cubase, I used the color tool to color code together the drums, guitars, and vocals.

I then used the scissor tool to cut pieces from the track, in order to remove breaths taken by the singer from the track. If the breath is shorter than the bar, it is not worth deleting.

Then I used effect layers to adjust the equaliser on multiple tracks at the same time, like all the vocals at once, or guitars.

Then I adjusted the sound balance. I could move the vocals to the left side, but I would need to move the same amount of tracks to the other side to keep equal amounts of sound in each side of the headphones.

From the same window, I made sure the sound did not clip. The sound did clip, because on the far right of the window it was labelled with a red warning. I found that the vocals clipped in several places so I lowered the overall volume of the main vocals.

Sound on Sound

Hayden Bridgen talks about sequencing using a Digital Audio Workstation.

I use a program called Cubase to create my projects. Cubase is a digital audio workstation, or DAW. A DAW is a program or tool that is used to create music, whether it be from scratch or a simple edit. Cubase offers lots of control and loads of features, which makes it my program of choice - it's good to dedicate to just one program, in case you get confused.

Recently I've been working on recreating the track "Rather Be" by Jess Glynne in Cubase. It's great practice because it means creative skills are not a limiting factor, instead it is your experience with the program. I used music sheets of the original to get the melody in there, and I got the chance to use other tracks to really see what Cubase could do.

To recreate a track in Cubase, the first thing you would need to do is set up your project. Don't use templates, grab an empty project from the window that pops up in Cubase. It should be on the far right, select empty. Once you have your empty project, you need to create a track. You want to create your own music rather than record, so right click on the stage and go into new track > MIDI > HaLion Synth > HaLion Sonic SE. HaLion Synth is a plugin for Cubase by Steinberg, the same people who made the program. HaLion is great to use because it comes with hundreds of instrument samples to create music with. Now that you have your track, set the BPM. If you're working with a certain song, try using a website like https://songbpm.com to find the BPM. BPM is the exact tempo of a song. Now that you have the track, use the pencil tool from the toolbar at the top to start creating music. Draw a bar to add music into by clicking and dragging over your HaLion track on the stage. You can resize this later. For now click the mouse tool from the toolbar and double click the bar you created. This will bring up a new window that you can create notes on. Just use the pencil tool once again from the top toolbar and draw the notes you need. If you go back to the main window, click the track you were using, then click the small icon on the left of the stage that looks like a few keys on a keyboard. It should bring up a virtual keyboard window. From here you can choose an instrument to sample from. If you want to create a new track, follow the same steps. Create a MIDI track using HaLion Synth. Later, you can export the document using the drop down bar from the top.

Overall my version of Rather Be worked well. It was accurate. The melody was finished and didn't seem to be wrong. I didn't get much time to do chords, but what I got was correct.

If I had more time I would have finished the chords and added a drum beat to make it sound a little more interesting.

Later Hayden mentioned that "Cubase is a powerful tool, whatever the skill level."

I was asked to make this track for a television programme about nature. The client was the people behind BBC 3. They wanted music that was upbeat and happy to use during a particularly happy scene.  They were impressed, and asked for some changes, they thought there should be a drum beat but were fine with the unfinished chords as they only planned to use about 30 seconds of the song. They would now like to commission some music for some extended news pieces. 

The director of the project commented, "We got exactly what we needed, and the programme was better because of it."

When the show went out I asked friends to listen and they said it sounded professional and it fit well to the documentary.

If I did the project again, I would put more time into getting the drum track done. I would also take a look at settings like reverb to really make the track into a version of its own.

This has led me to have a number of ideas for future projects, recreating a track is great practice getting used to Cubase and its many features.

Sequencing

Setting up a project

After opening Cubase you have to choose the default or empty setting. This gives you an empty project  to start on. From here you need to add a track to the sequence.

After selecting Instrument from the list of tracks under Project, a window should pop up. The VST instrument should be set to HaLion Sonic SE under Synth -> HaLion Sonic SE. Use the pencil tool to create a new track by dragging the mouse across the track you just created.

Click the icon that looks like an arrow pointing to a keyboard underneath the VST instrument and it should bring up an on screen keyboard. From there you can change which instrument you want Cubase to simulate.

Double clicking on the drawn track will show the empty track, where you can use the pencil tool to create keys for the song. 

Cubase is a digital audio workplace, or a DAW. A DAW is a program for editing, creating and recording audio files. DAW's don't have to just be on computers. An integrated DAW can mean a mixing console.

I could have used a synthesizer for the sequence. A synthesizer is similar to MIDI but generates its own music. We had access to an analogue synthesizer called the Arturia MiniBrute. It looks similar to a keyboard but has tools on it that alter the sound it creates.

My song

I chose the song Happy because I feel like I could work that song into another genre. It's a simple song.
The original song is 120 bpm but I will probably end up speeding that up a little bit.

MIDI
MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface is the result of instrument manufacturers agreeing to make their instruments more similar in terms of hardware. By doing this, it allows pitch to be changed on each of them in very similar ways. One instrument could be changed in the same way as another.  A MIDI instrument could be a piece of hardware like an electronic keyboard or synthesizer, or it could be part of a software like Garageband or Cubase.


A MIDI sequencing software is useful too because an entire song can be stored in a few hundred MIDI messages. It is easy to change too. Songs can be manipulated without rerecording the entire thing, instead just by a few clicks.

MIDI files read multiple things. Every time you press a note while recording, the program records several things. First it records the note,  which is the pitch, then it records when the note was pressed. It also records when the note ends, and the velocity of the note that was pressed.


15/03 - blog work

https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/hayden-rather-be

Project Outline

What is the type of production?
The production is a recording of Black Sabbaths Paranoid

Who is your client?
The client is a band wishing to record a cover of Black Sabbaths Paranoid.
What are your ideas for a media production?

What is the budget for your production?
http://www.richtonemusic.co.uk/products/akg_c1000s_microphone.asp?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQz2or24u6eimjNMwSbk_EW7hn8AX-VFaUrWcGNxEJU0aAhcb8P8HAQ
AKG C1000S Microphone - £99

https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/drum-microphone-set/samson-dm8kit-8-piece-set-of-drum-microphones?gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ7X4BPby918ljSidDUR2jaSuNSr-0ClnT9Or9serg6YaAkSz8P8HAQ
Samson 8kit Drum Microphone Package - £214

 http://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Shure-SM58-Dynamic-Vocal-Mic-with-Stand-and-Cable/C39?origin=product-ads&utm_campaign=PLA+Shop+-+Shure&utm_medium=vertical_search&network=google&adgroup=2+-+Brand+Level+-+Shure&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=15669d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=85063538239&gclid=Cj0KEQiAq920BRC8-efn57XrotYBEiQAlVlMQ6icY8X5R2jpM_a7zpHrlM6MWgB5V3Q20VovVekgnLcaAvKS8P8HAQ
Shure SM58 - £84

http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
Here you can hire a van for £70 for the day.

How will you finance your project?
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/article/4771-instant-online-finance-at-dolphin-music.html
This website allows us to take a loan out for music equipment that can be paid off over up to 36 months, as long as we're spending over £299.

What production equipment do you require?
 The 8kit Samson drum microphone, an AKG C1000S, and the Shure SM58

What post-production equipment do you require?
 To edit the multiple instrument tracks a computer - PC/ Mac with Cubase

What other materials do you require?
We will need instruments.
What are your transport requirements?
http://www.nationwidehireuk.co.uk/vans-for-hire/
This website can supply a van for the day for £70.

What 'talent' do you have?
Good musicians, singer included.

What crew do you require?
Other than musicians, a sound engineer would be helpful.

What facility hire is required?
 Univibe Audio in Birmingham lets you record for a full day for £250.

What clearances are required?
Vertigo Records currently holds the rights to Black Sabbath's Paranoid. To get clearance we need to contact them. Without clearances we could get sued for profits made from the cover.

What copyright issues need to be addressed?
Using the Black Sabbath brand (the logo for example), which is owned by the band members themselves, is not allowed.

What personnel are required?
Musicians and a sound engineer. This website: http://www.lastminutemusicians.com/musicians.html  provides musicians for events which if needed would help us out.

Somewhere only we know recording

Planning
The Shure SM58 will be a great microphone for recording vocals. For the bass I'll use direct input, for the tambourine and piano I'll use the AKG C1000S mic. The AKG C1000S mic has a small diaphragm, which makes it great for picking up high frequency detail.


Process
I'll start by setting up a project in Cubase. First I would set the bpm of the project to the bpm of the original song, Somewhere Only We Know by Keane which is 86. I'll create an audio instrument in Cubase for Lauren's vocals, and use the SM58 Shure microphone to record her. In order to keep in time I'll use the metronome. Next I'll record the piano as another audio track. I'll use the AKG C1000S for this. After doing that I'll overdub the tambourine onto the track. The bass will be recorded using a direct input - plugging in directly into the mixer itself, rather than through an amplifier and recording through the amp. Direct input will be important because it eliminates background noise. To ensure the instruments are played in time to the song, we'll play the rest of the song through the headphones of the performer. We will use the monitor function to hear what the song will sound like through the mixer.



Evaluating
I found that the tambourine had to be adjusted slightly from the mixer or it would pick up too much sound and be distorted. I turned the gain down to fix this. I didn't like how the tambourine sounded and given the chance to do it again I would try a different instrument for percussion. The direct input sound from the bass was useful and sounded great because there was no unwanted background noise. In the original album Hopes and Fears the band refused to use guitars for the entire album. To make the album work better without guitars, they treated the piano like a guitar - using amps built for guitars. They used a 1x12 amp to record the piano. This is a big difference from ours because while the original sounds much more powerful, since ours is recorded from the piano.
https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/brit-hay-sowk

Separate Instruments
Vocals https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/brit-hay-sowk-0002-audio-vocals
Piano https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/brit-hay-sowk-0001-audio-piano-r
Bass https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/brit-hay-sowk-0003-audio-audio-03
Tambourine https://soundcloud.com/user-822226810/brit-hay-sowk-0004-audio-audio-04

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.