Over the past year I've grown to love midi. Midi has given me access to sounds from instruments that I don't have, can't play, or don't exist. Plus, with midi I don't have to play anything correctly. It's easy enough to fix a take by dragging the notes around on the piano roll. Midi is wonderful fun, and I'm so so tired of it!
In my last few songs, I've been determined to get off the piano roll. It takes a little longer to put the music together, but I'm having fun playing real instruments again. Today I finished a song called Phantom. Here's a run down of the tracks and how they were recorded.
Interestingly, I didn't use any condensers on this track. All the mics are dynamic.
Drums
I started with Drums. The beat is from my Korg/Univox SR-120 drum machine. This is a weird little device from the 1970s. The drum sounds are shaped noise like a synth (not samples), and it's not programmable. It has 13 rhythms: Rock, Tango, Polka, Foxtrot, March, Slow Rock, Swing, Bossanova, Beguine, Rumba, Mambo, Samba and Waltz. Each rhythm has 2 variation --except for Rock which appropriately has 8. What makes this device super interesting is that you can hold down several rhythms at once, and that's what I did for this track. I set the controls to Rock and Waltz at the same time. Instead of creating a 3 against 4 rhythm it played this cool truncated rock beat. Originally I imagined the song would be in 4/4, but I was so taken with this weird 3/4 rhythm I decided to go with the waltz tempo.
I started with Drums. The beat is from my Korg/Univox SR-120 drum machine. This is a weird little device from the 1970s. The drum sounds are shaped noise like a synth (not samples), and it's not programmable. It has 13 rhythms: Rock, Tango, Polka, Foxtrot, March, Slow Rock, Swing, Bossanova, Beguine, Rumba, Mambo, Samba and Waltz. Each rhythm has 2 variation --except for Rock which appropriately has 8. What makes this device super interesting is that you can hold down several rhythms at once, and that's what I did for this track. I set the controls to Rock and Waltz at the same time. Instead of creating a 3 against 4 rhythm it played this cool truncated rock beat. Originally I imagined the song would be in 4/4, but I was so taken with this weird 3/4 rhythm I decided to go with the waltz tempo.
I went direct into logic and then messed around with different reverb and compression settings until I got something I liked. I wish I could have gotten the individual drums on separate tracks, but I don't think it's possible with this machine.
Guitar
I recorded two tracks of acoustic guitar. One with a capo half way up the neck. Sort of a poor man's 12string I guess. I recorded the guitars with the same mic placement: a SM57 around the 12th fret and my SM7B pointed at the body just below the bridge. I usually use one mic when recording acoustic guitar so this was a bit of an experiment for me. I managed to place the mics 180 degrees out of phase and they sounded thin and terrible until I flipped the phase of the SM57. Check it out:
I recorded two tracks of acoustic guitar. One with a capo half way up the neck. Sort of a poor man's 12string I guess. I recorded the guitars with the same mic placement: a SM57 around the 12th fret and my SM7B pointed at the body just below the bridge. I usually use one mic when recording acoustic guitar so this was a bit of an experiment for me. I managed to place the mics 180 degrees out of phase and they sounded thin and terrible until I flipped the phase of the SM57. Check it out:
Wurlitzer
This is where the four note "la la la la" arrived. I don't have a bass guitar so I decided to use my Wurlitzer 200A instead. I just love this keyboard, it's noisy, gnarly, and filled with hiss pops and scratches. Yet somehow it cleans up nice and isn't distracting in the mix. I recorded it direct from the line output and left it dry to give it a little contrast with the CP70.
Yamaha CP70 Piano
This thing is a monster. It's a "portable" electro/acoustic piano that comes apart in two pieces. Kind of hard to explain. Better to just watch this. Anyway, it's the sound you hear at the very top of the track. To me it sounds like a cross between an acoustic piano and rhodes or wurlitzer. Very unique. The instrument is quiet and records well, though it can have a bit of a piezo on the attack that I find a bit harsh. Also, the strings are shorter than a normal piano and the harmonics on the bass notes sound nasty. I'd love to have a real piano, but it's just not possible while I'm still living in apartments.
I played the CP70 with the pedal down and recorded it direct from the FX send. I was just too lazy to reach around the back of the instrument and plug in an XLR. I put a bunch of reverb on it to give things a sense of space during the chorus --especially where the drums drop out.
Vocals
I used my SM7B for all the vocals on this track. I've been really liking it recently. The mic takes a lot of gain and I had my FMR RNP cranked up to 11 here. Unfortunately the RNP is pretty noisy at those levels, especially after I've compressed the track, so I have a noise gate on. The lead vocals are pretty dry. One track has a bit of delay and the other has some reverb.
The background vocals were recorded the same way but they're effected heavily with a backwards reverb into a tremolo.
Trumpet
There's a little trumpet at the end. I just felt like adding one more thing I suppose. The two note line is made of the only two notes I can play. I used to be an OK player in middle school, but those days are long gone. I bought this instrument for 60 bucks at a thrift shore years ago. I'm glad I got a chance to use it.
I didn't think much about mic choice or set up. I just blew into the SM7B and put some reverb and delay on it.
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