MIDI To MAXI Dairy: Week 4

week 4  recording all parts  drums keytar bass fro first track

week 5 more recording different studio guitar bass ect

This week was a little of course from what I had imagined last week. I wanted to record the Keytar and Bass in the college studio, but the rooms were mainly booked and when they weren't, they didn't fit Jacks timetable. This was unfortunate as I could have complete one track there and then, but I had to use alternative facilities.
I arranged to visit a studio outside of college in Pecham where I would meet some performers who could help with my track. Earlier that week I had sent them Mp4's of what they would need to play and what techniques they could use to enhance the quality of it.
When i had met up with them they didn't have Logic to record with which was a minor set back. To prevent there being problems I imported the mp4 they had had onto Cubase so they had something to play along with.
We recorded the Electric Bass by leading it up to the breakout box and chose the clean effect to make the melody sound as smooth as possible. We then recorded a few takes then transferred them onto my USB. We did the exact same set up with the bass although we used a different plug in setting to give it a more punchy bottom to it.

Later on that week I had mixed the mp4's onto the Logic project so  that it would sound great.  We decided to take all the effects off the bass and guitar because sending them over as I thought that it would be easier to mix on Logic (which it was) I was able to add more in-depth EQ's and reverbs on both. I also added some delay and an echo on to the lead Guitar so that it would cover up any silent spots.

MIDI To MAXI Diary: Week 3

Week 3

This week I was able to record with 3 other colleagues in the studio, getting down the drums for my second track with the help of Josh and recording the grand piano with the help of Tupac pressing the record button! We were fit into a 2 hour recording session where I had three tasks set out for me. To record the Keytar, Drums and Piano. The drums took a little longer to set up as we wanted to experiment with the sounds and microphones used, also the placement of the mics.


We disagreed a few times on placement and I accepted the opinion of Josh as he had recorded the drums on numerous occasions and this was my first. to be fair he did an amazing job when playing.
We used the Audix for the Hi tom and the middle and low part of the drum kit, the D6 for the kick and the Sm57 for the snare.

Allthough i was more then satisfied with the quality of the live sounds, we ran out of time to record the keytar. I knew the drums would take the longest, but I had to priorities them as well as the piano as they had to be done in the studio whilst the keytar could be played in one of the rooms booked.
My next task will have to be booking the studio again, but this time for the Bass and keytar. I will have to arrange that soon.

MIDI To MAXI Diary: Week 2

Week 2

This is the synth riff that I would like to record in my first session,  on the keytar that I will borrow from Grant. There are a few layers but when recording it, it should be simple as it is very similar to a usual Midi keyboard so I wont have to get someone to assist me or play for me. I only have a few things to workout before I start.


This week I am gathering ideas on what instruments I would like recorded first. I have booked out one of the studios in college this week to get the Keytar recorded quickly for the deep synth line. This will require minimal plugins as it should simply connect to the breakout box.

Whilst that room is booked I will ask Josh if he is free to put down some drums for my second track. We are most likely to record with the Sm57 and Audix for the drums. these mics will also be useful for putting down the piano for my first track. This session is a 2 hour slot and because of the similar mics used we should have enough time to record a couple takes on each instrument. The piano being played will only require me to record as it is fairly simple.  I am likely to record this with the Sm57 directly over the piano, but I will decide on that later. This is to capture the Hi and low frequencies being played.