The Is The Life- Amy McDonald
For Artefact 2 I'm going to be going through the steps of planning recording and mixing of this is the life by Amy McDonald.
Planning
Planning Recording
First of all we will be planning how we are going to be recording the song. We will be Planning out everything we will need to know and do for our project, First we write down the song and artist we will be doing. Then we note down the instruments we will be using and the mics in use for each instruments then what instruments we will be recording in order.
Research on Song
We will be researching everything we will need to know about This Is The Life by Amy McDonald. For example the BPM of the song, the instruments that are used in the song and the genre that the song is in.
Mic Techniques/choose for instruments
Kick- It will be Placed on a low mic stand and put into the kick hole. Snare- Will be positioned on the back ring of the snare on a mic clip. Toms- Placed on a clip at the back of tom ring facing down towards the tom. Hi Hat- Placed on a stand facing down and about 6 inches above the top of the Hi Hat. Overheads- Equal distance from the middle of snare measured using an XLR cable. The Bass will be recorded using a D.I box and a mic placed around an inch from the grill. This will be directed towards the centre of the cone in the AMP. Acoustic guitar will be in a stereo pair placement on a stereo bar. Vocals will be recorded on a mic stand with a pop shield. Percussion- will be recorded with a standard mic on a mic stand. Dynamic Mics for drums and Bass and Condenser for the acoustic and percussion.
Studio Times
We will be recording on Wednesdays as that’s our studio days in college. Drums will be played by Archie on 04/04/2026. Acoustic will be played by Jack on 04/03/2026. Vocals will be done by Tez's friend on 11/03/2026. bass will be done by Lewis on 11/03/2026. Percussion will be done by me and Scott on 18/03/2026
Recording
Drums
Someone in the group will help Archie set up the drums with all the cables and mics we will need to record the drums while 2 people do this the other people will be setting up the desk and the channels for the mics. Then we will record the drums then once the drums are recorded we will put all the mics down and all the cables away for recording the next instrument. the Daw we will be using is Pro Tools and we recorded in SSL2. the recording method we will be using is recording man. the mics we will use is the Audix Kit.
Acoustic
Jack will set up the guitar the way he wants it to be and get all cables set up which will be recorded using a D.I box and a SM57 dynamic mic with a cardioid polar pattern which will be placed around an inch from the grill. This will be directed towards the centre of the cone in the AMP. while Jack is doing that I will be setting up the desk and get the channels set up for him to be ready to play.
Bass
Scott will be setting up the Bass for Lewis so its ready for him and get the D.I set up a swell, the bass will be recorded using D.I box and a SM57 dynamic mic with a cardioid polar pattern which will be placed around an inch from the grill. This will be directed towards the centre of the cone in the AMP. while Scott dose that me and Tez will be setting up the desk in SSL1.
Vocals/ Backing Vocals
Tez's friend will get the mic set up for him to sing which will be recorded using a SM58 which is a dynamic mic. The polar pattern of this mic is cardioid, We will also be using a pop shield. Which that is going on I will be setting up the desk and getting everything ready on the desk.
Percussion
Scott will be setting up the mic for the percussion which will be recorded using LCT 040 condenser mics on a stereo bar. They have acardioid polar pattern. Then I will record after Scott and Tez will set up the desk for us
Mixing
Drums
First I mixed the drums and I added reverb to the drums to give it a better sound overall. I also added EQ to the drums so I could get the low end sounds boosted up and make the sound level balanced. I added EQ to the kick the EQ is called EQ3 7-band and I can choose between different instruments so that its a certain EQ for different instruments. For the different parts of the drum kit I added certain EQ for specific parts of the drum kit so for example for the kick drum there is an allocated EQ for that to make it sound better.
Acoustic
For the acoustic I added the same effect as the drums to it for the same reasons to boost the lows and make the sound level even so it sounds nice. I added channel strip EQ to it as that's the one that sounds really nice. I also added a limiter to it as well to balance the sounds.
Vocals
For the Vocals the first thing I will be doing is adding melodyne to the vocals to give them a better sound, I will also be adding EQ a EQ called EQ3 7-Band and adding a pre-set om it called female voice to make it similar to the song as it was a guy singing the song. I also added compressor/limiter to the vocals as it controls the dynamic range and keeps the vocals clear. I also added a little bit of reverb called studio reverb and put the pre-set of theatre reverb on the vocals.
Percussion
For the percussion I will be adding compression and limiter to both the egg and tambourine for the same reason as the vocals it controls dynamics adds punch and makes sure the drums cut through a busy mix.
Bass
For the bass the first effect I added was distortion to the bass as I wanted to add the extra punch to the bass. I also added in-tune to the bass guitar as well so that it sounds nice and not out of tune. I also added a pro limiter to the bass as well, to get control of the bass throughout the song.
Keys
Moving onto the keys and the first effect I added to them was an EQ called Channel Strip which is a good EQ as it stores a lot of things with in it for example compression and limiter and I messed around with that part of the effect until it was at what I want it to sound like. I also added a delay plug in called Tape Echo and that plug in helped me find the sound I wanted by cutting some of the low ends out. I then added a Pro Limiter to it as well to get control of the keys through out the song.
Drums
Create Your Own Website With Webador