Making Of: Superstition Cover By Carla and The Motion

For the first session we had problems, as our original singer did not turn up. As we did not have vocalist we thought we should not wait, and we started a schedule for the session just including the musicians we had. We recorded the entire band at once with the bass in the control room and the guitar in the live room with the drummer. For this session Alex was the producer and I was an engineer. My role was to set up all the equipment, troubleshoot and talk to Alex to check what he had planned for the session. I wasn’t the only engineer, Josh was my assistant engineer.

Schedule:

2:00pm-2:30pm Levels and setting up drum mics, bass DI and the guitar DI

2:30pm- 3:30pm Recording all together

3:30 pm Guitarist had to leave

3:30pm-4:30pm Bass another few takes

4:30pm-5:00pm Pack down and tidy up studio

For the vocals we recorded them in an evening out of college hours with Carla. Before she arrived we had time to discus what microphone to use. Like before we know Carla’s voice to have about 200Hz- 300Hz prominent in her vocals. We

chose a Rode NT2 because its frequency response supplements this as its quite flat at 200hz-300Hz and does not boost at these frequencies, which is good. In hindsight I think it would have better to use an Avantone CK6, as we know this microphone cuts at these frequencies about 2dB, and this would save EQing these frequencies as much while mixing.

After planning the schedule and deciding what microphones to use in the first session we started recording the drum kit, bass guitar and the guitar.

RECORDING:

For the drums we spot mic’d every drum using the Shure drum pack from the cave, but in the end we didn’t use the floor tom track, because the drummer did not use it in the end.

The microphone we used to record the kick drum was a Shure PG52. We positioned this a couple of inches outside the kick drum front skin and quite near the edge of the drum. We did this so it had a sharp, dead sounding attack to the transient to add a punchy kick drum without the prominent boom of 50Hz which would occur if we mic’d it inside and what we did not want.

We used a Shure SM58 as a snare microphone to try to replicate the Shure SM57 that wasn’t available at the time. We took of the grill and positioned it on axis to the snare drum, out of the way of the drummer. This microphone was the next

AVANTONE CK6 FREQUENCY RESPONSE CHART

best option because it’s a cardioid microphone with a low cut frequency response making sure there is no proximity effect if to close to the recording source.

This response was also good for the snare as it emphasizes the “crack” around 2.5Khz, which helps it cut through the mix as well as add brightness from the boost at 4-5 KHz.

For the high tom we used a Shure PG56 on axis, but a few inches away so the drummer didn’t move or hit it while playing. We used a second Shure PG56 a few inches above the hi-hat allowing room for the opening of it.

We chose these mics for both of these drum parts because they are cardioid and just “pick ups” what is in front of it, so its good for spot miking, and isolates each part as much as possible. The frequency response of this microphone boosts 100Hz-120Hz when about 10 cm away from the source. For the high hat this added warmth to the transient as well as keeping the brightness you want from a hi hat.

The overhead mics we used were two Sontronics STC-1 in a stereo XY coincident pair above the kit.

We used these microphones because they have a frequency response which supplements by boosting the approximate main harmonic frequencies of a cymbal which about 5KHz to 10KHz creating a natural bright sound.

For the guitar and bass we used a DI Box so there wasn’t any bleed from the room, making it perfect for re-amping and editing “in the box” within the mixing stage.

Mixing:

After doing a rough mix and organizing my session adding aux busses and reducing clip gain when necessary.

I muted all the instruments apart from the drum kit and started by adding an evening compressor to the kick to add a consistency without taking away from the punch that I needed.

After this I added an EQ to the kick drum with a low pass filter and 100 Hz being boosted. To add more depth to the kick drum and take out the unwanted high end. I reduced 200Hz by 7 dB and boosted 2KHz to make it sound rounded and allow room for the bass guitar within the mix.

When mixing the snare I just used an EQ to add more crack, depth and “fatness” to the snare by boosting 200 Hz by about 3.5 dB

For the overheads I added very light compression with steady attack and a longer release. The compressor settings had a 30dB knee, ratio of 7:6:1 and a threshold of -13.6dB. I then added a boost of 2dB at 6KHz on a EQ, to add brightness and a sparkle.

In the mix I added a large increase at about 6KHz to the Hi hat to add brightness and compensate for the prominent mid range from the recording. I then mixed this so it was behind the overheads.

I then softly compressed the high tom so all transients are heard clearly in the mix.

I then parallel compressed the drum, so it added punch and character making them seem to have a lot of energy. I mixed this so it just laid under the original drums to support them in the mix.

For the bass guitar I used a high pass filter till about 60Hz to take out the low frequency muddiness which was a problem, then I boosted about 1KHz to add a little more attack, and dirtiness to cut through the mix. I then compressed this so it has an even volume consistency during the song.

For the guitar I boosted 2KHz because the mix was a little unbalanced, this allowed the guitars to take up this frequency range and balance the mix, in also added a little sparkle which I also liked. I then added a little compression to level this guitar out.

For the vocals I firstly reduced 280Hz by 4.2dB, as this frequency is quite prominent in Carla’s voice. I then added 2.2dB of 1KHz, which I thought added energy and depth to her voice, which suited the song, as it is supposed to be a fun song to sing along and play. I then reduced some of the higher frequencies above 6KHz to try and decrease the sibilance from the “S” sounds. After this I added a light compressor with a steady release and a threshold of 19.2dB, which evened the vocal out in the mix, which reduced the need for automation and clip gain reduction. After this I used a de-esser to remove the remaining sibilance making sure it wasn’t too much and is as natural sounding as possible. As a last stage I added a little reverb to the vocals. This was to blend the vocals in with the instruments in the backing track, and also so it doesn’t sound too dead. It also makes it sound more natural like she is singing in a small room or venue instead of a studio. For this I reduced the diffusion and used the “small church” setting, then reduced the delay, and the mix level down to 18%.

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After this I listened back to my mix and made a few tweaks to the overall mix using the faders. After I was pleased with it, I bounced this session down to a 24 bit/48KHz. This is because there was a mistake while setting up the session, and this is what we recorded in. I will dither this file down to 16 Bit/44.1KHz during the mastering stage .