![]() I was at Earthworm Amber studio yesterday at their Drum Recording Workshop with Rob Brian and the team. This was a fantastic session covering all aspects of drum recording in the studio and also an insight into being a session drummer. We had Rob Brian’s vintage Ludwig kit and the mighty DW Collectors kit for the day. It is the DW kit that features in The Storm. and we'll be using this again on Out at Sea and The Rescue. We spent a lot of time looking at microphone choice and placement with both classic and modern mic techniques. This is really important to get the best recording from your drums but it’s only part of the equation. Getting the tuning on the drums right is really important too. On the Ludwig kit, we changed the sound from a delicate jazz sound with 60’s style mic set up to something much bigger just by tuning down the heads and dampening the drums. From the control room, you wouldn’t think the sound coming out of the monitors was from such a small kit! It was a huge sound. The acoustics of the room are so important too. Generally, in an untreated room, there will be way too many reflections so you end up with a really boomy sound with excessive reverb. This isn’t conducive to good recording and is pretty tough on the ears too. The acoustic treatment in this studio is excellent and ideal for recording drums. So when we’ve got our drums tuned, the mics in place and our levels set, we are ready to start recording. The drummer gets a click track and some of the music from the track in his/her headphones to play along with. The click track is so important to keep the timing tight. Back in the control room, the producer is ready to start recording. In Amber studio, they are using the Soundtracs mixing desk and a Pro Tools HD rig with a whole bunch of modern and vintage outboard FX units. We recorded the drums into ProTools and once we've got everything into the digital realm, we can start processing the various elements with EQ and compression for example, to create the desired effect in the mix. In the afternoon, we were dropped in at the deep end with the introduction of a new piece of music. The first job to do here is to listen to the music to get some references. In other words, what other tracks are you familiar with that are similar to this? What can you reference it too? When you’ve got a handle on this, it time to create your chart. This basically means timing track so you know where to come in with the drums, where the verse starts and how many bars there are in the verse, where the chorus begins and how many bars are in the chorus and so on. As you can imagine, you've got to keep count while playing. Normally, you’ll have some time to prepare for this rather than being dropped straight into it. But there may be times when you’ve got to think on your feet if you are a session player. All in all, this is a fantastic workshop for those interested in learning more about the drum recording process including tuning, acoustics, mic' choice and placement, the recording chain as well as getting an insight in to being a session player.
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![]() Finally, I’ve completed The Storm, from my forthcoming album Changing Tides. It’s has been a bigger project than I anticipated and took way more time than I planned but it’s been an epic journey with quite a few ups, downs and detours. It’s been worth it though and I’m happy with the final result. The mastering engineer for this track is Pete Maher and he has done a great job of this. Pete is known for his work with U2, The Killers, Rolling Stones and many more so I’m privileged that Pete was able to do this work for The Storm. You can check out Pete's work here: http://bit.ly/1Ual9o6 Last week, I was down in Porthleven in Cornwall and I dropped in on John Boyle at Shark Bay Films. John has got some great footage of storm Hercules in 2014 that will work well with this music so we are discussing plans to produce the video to The Storm in the next few months. We are also looking at capturing some additional footage for other tracks on the album. Shark Bay Films have been established for over 25 years now and they have produced many documentaries for National Geographic that have won multiple international awards. They have also produced videos for music so it made sense to me to combine John’s talent for filming nature and my music. You can check out Shark Bay Films here: http://bit.ly/1tcOKnh I’m back in the studio this week working on the next few tracks - Out at Sea, The Rescue and Homeward Bound. Once again, I’ll be working with Rob Brian over at NAM studios to record the drumming sessions for these tracks and I’ll be recording and producing these through the MTA desk in to ProTools. Keep you posted on this. Thanks for reading. ![]() The mixing process continued a little longer than anticipated on The Storm as there a few issues in the low end frequencies that I was not completely happy with. A bit of work on the EQ and panning has helped to define some of the instruments in the low end such as the bass guitar, kick drum and the double bass strings. It’s really important to find a space for each instrument so that they all sit together in the mix. This can be achieved in several ways and the first port of call is to manage the frequency spectrum, particularly in the lower frequencies. This is where a mix can get muddy with various instruments competing with each other. Then we can use spatial processing so that we create a sound stage with both width and depth. Panning an instrument so that it has its own place in the stereo field sets the stage. Think of the drum kit. The kick drum will be centre stage with the high hat just off to the left, cymbals either side and toms may be spread across the stereo field as the overhead mics pick these up. For depth, we can use effects such as reverb and generally speaking, a little bit of reverb on a sound will tend to push them back a little bit. Anyway, I digress and could go on for ages about the mixing process. Needless to say, mixing can be quite a subjective process and you have to trust your ears. With that said, mastering is a different breed of cat and in my opinion, its best to get a mastering engineer on the job. At the very least, it is a fresh pair of ears and they are coming at it from another perspective. So I’m finally sending The Storm off for mastering. In between mixing sessions, I’ve also been working on the next track which is called Out at Sea. I’ve been re-recording all tracks with the new sample libraries and preparing for another session at NAM studio with Rob Brian doing another guest appearance on DW drums. The orchestral sample libraries I’ve used on this track in include Spitfire Mural String Symphony, 8DIO Agitato Legato Arpeggio, Cinesample Cinebrass, Soundiron Olympus Choirs and 8Dio Epic Framedrums to name just a few. It’s coming together well and I’m just about ready for recording drums to the basic structure. Until next time. It’s been a busy month in the studio working on mixing The Storm and it feels like it is starting to come together now. Let’s take a closer look.
The track starts off with wind, rain and thunder and then we hear the ominous sound of the storm’s ‘voice’ which is difficult to explain in sonic terms but my aim was to create a sense of foreboding and to give the storm a formidable character and personality. For this, I used my trusty old Kurzweil K2600. You also hear the sound of a bell buoy in the background. Again, I used the Kurzweil K2600 for this. With a loud crack of thunder, the music begins. In this mix, the string samples I’ve used are the Spitfire Audio Mural Symphonic Strings. These were recorded at Air Studios in London and in my opinion, these are the most beautiful string samples on the market right now. For brass, I used Cinesamples Cinebrass which has some fabulous ensembles. I particularly like the trombones and horns and used these extensively on the track. On the drums, we have Rob Brian playing the amazing DW kit with Bosphorus cymbals which we recorded at NAM studios in Wiltshire through the MTA 990 series desk. Rob is a professional session/touring drummer and has been playing for many years with names such as Siouxsie Sioux and Goldfrapp. Check out Rob’s web site here: http://www.robertbrian.co.uk To compliment the drums, I used 8Dio’s Epic Framedrums which come into play during the chorus and also on the return of the storm to add more pace and rhythm. I’ve also used timpani’s from True Strike which has beautiful timpani rolls. During the eye of the storm, everything calms down and we can imagine a few rays of hazy sunshine starting to filter through the storm clouds. I’ve used a flute from VSL here to set the gentle tone along with a solo string from the Mural collection against a backdrop of choirs from Soundiron Olympus Elements. The character of the female choir is particularly enchanting. We’ve got some really nice timpani rolls in this section with crescendos from the Bosphorus cymbals. Then the mood changes as the storm makes its return. This is heralded by the horns and trombones with bass strings, timpani hits and the male choir. The storm’s ‘voice’ makes another appearance at this point and we hear the ominous tones of a tubular bell which is from TrueStrike. The idea behind the bell is linked to the bell buoy that we heard in the introduction but it is more striking in this instance to create a sense of impending danger and to bring a new tonality to the mix. I thought it just added a bit of interest too. In the next section, the storm returns with a vengeance with all the force of nature. The frame drums set the pace with strings driving the music forward. The male choir provides a strong backdrop and underpins the mood. The next section introduces the string arpeggio and the trombones and horns come back to the fore as Rob works his magic on the toms of the DW kit and Bosphorus cymbals. This all sets the scene of the storm’s full fury with huge waves crashing and gale force winds. Underpinning all of this throughout the track is the kick drum, hi-hats and bass. They sit back in the mix for the most part, but they are most certainly there and play an important role. It was quite a challenge getting the kick drum, bass and also bass strings to sit in the mix happily together without muddying the bottom end too much. I used iZotope Alloy for the majority of the processing such as EQ, compression, limiting and so on which I find very intuitive with a great workflow. With 50 plus tracks, I needed a fair bit of processing power to keep up with the load. The next step is mastering and rather than tackle this myself, I’ll get a seasoned mastering engineer to do this. I’ll keep you posted on progress here. Changing Tides Changing Tides was inspired by my travels in Cornwall, England and spending my summer holidays on the south coast of Cornwall. Those long summer days relaxing on the beach, walks along the harbour side watching the boats come and go with the tide. Porthleven is my favourite and I have very fond memories of this quaint harbour town. It was here that I started to think about a story of the many different aspects of life by the sea. The changing nature of the sea and weather ranging from those beautiful summer days with a gentle breeze and calm seas to raging gale force winds and huge waves battering the shoreline.
I remember walking along a beautiful beach on a gloriously warm and sunny evening, seeing the damage left by the 2014 winter storms. Huge rocks had been swept onshore and trees that had stood for many years, uprooted or washed away. So my album, Changing Tides, takes us on a journey of life by the sea. The music of Changing Tides is a fusion of electronic sounds, drums, orchestral instruments and percussion. Not in all the same track but across the album to varying degrees depending on whether a particular track needs a fusion of different types of sound. Here are the tracks: 1. On the Beach 2. Harbourside 3. Darkening Skies 4. The Storm 5. Out at Sea 6. The Rescue 7. Homeward Bound 8. Sunset Reflections 9. Party on the Beach In future blogs, I’ll be writing about each track and the story behind the music. Stay tuned. |
Tim HardwickI'm a composer, producer and author. I've been creating music for many years now and over the last 8 years, I've been focused on the fusion of electronic, orchestral and acoustic music that tells a story. Archives
April 2018
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