Adding reverb effect

Adding reverb on all tracks except the bass because it creates muddiness in the mix. Used effects-loop technique for this track. Basically, effects-loop normally use for adding reverb or delay to the mix. So it allows multiple track to access one effect processor and this can save a lot time also if we use plug-in reverb then this will save a lot of computer processing power. And also gives a lot of control over the sound of the mix. So to set up this all you have to do is send all the tracks you want to add the effect to one auxiliary track and insert the reverb or delay on the Aux track (only for inside the box). If it is done outside the box, we need to bring it back to the desk by using stereo Aux return then route it to Protools for recording. Here, also combining this track with the original unaffected Dry tracks this also created a fattening effect so made the mix fuller and denser. This it really good when you want to turn down the volume but still can be heard. The reverb we used in this track was my own very cheap (£50) worth ZOOM RFX-1000 digital reverb & Multi-effects and just bought it from ebay. So tried it here and wasn't the best but it was fine for me.

Bass with compressor

Here in this track also used the parallel compression so it creates thicker and fatter bass. Not quite happy with this one because of the way it sounds and I properly should EQ this a bit specially the muddiness range frequency around 300Hz. And also boost the highs around 2kHz. So the compressor we used for this track was Focusrite compounder and the parameters - Threhold: -23dB, Ratio: 5:1, Attack: 0.5ms, Release: 0.30ms.

Snare with compressor and gate

Quite happy with the snare but being said that there were still some spills in this track. It is not 100% clean because you can still hear the kick in there. So this it the gate parameters used in this track - (Drawmer DS201) Threshold: 0dB, Attack: 1ms, Hold: 50ms, Decay: 2.5s, Range: -75dB, LP: 50Hz, HP: 250Hz. And also the compressor parameters are - (Drawmer DL411) Threshold: -25dB, Ratio: 5:1, Gain: +10dB.

Kick With compressor and gate

Used parallel compression technique on this kick so made it sound more punchy. Basically, compressed copy of a track to the original so it increases the punch of the overall sound. So we have got the original Dry (unaffected) track and the compressed copy of the track mixed this two tracks together in the overall mix. As you can hear there is volume different and also it gives a bit more power with the parallel compression in there but it's still has the dynamic left over from the Dry track. The compressor and gate we used were a Drawmer DL411 & DS201 and the parameters - For gate -(Threhold: -20dB, Attack: -10ms, Hold: 0.2s, Decay: 2.5s, Range: -80dB, LF-25Hz, HF-250Hz). For compressor - (Threhold: -35dB, Ratio: 20:1, Soft Knee).

Recording Drum Kit

This it the drum kit that we recorded by using close mic technique. Placed the AKG D112 just outside the kick, MD421 for the beater and also placed Neumann 1m apart from the kick to capture the whole kit. For the snare used SM57 pointed to the center of the snare and MD421 pointed to the center of the Tom. Placed two AKG414B as stereo space pair for overhead. Some how all the mic from the kick, snare and tom did not sound good for me, as you can hear the clip above. Without room mic they all sound really weak and not really punchy. I noticed that the room mic really made different here. Also need to do a lot work to fix this when we mix them down.

Recording Piano

The piano track was not so bad overall, being said that I also think something still not quite right because of the way we set up the mic. We used a stereo space pair technique so there might be time delay between the mic if I was right. Listened with the headphone and noticed that the image tends to be on the right hand side.

Recording Electric Guitar

The electric guitar which was quite straightforward and we recorded it with the orange amp and also used the MD421 positioned it about 3/4 inches away from the amp. And also placed Neumann as a room mic. Overall it was not so bad and gave us very clean and try sound as you can hear the clip above.

Recording Bass Guitar

For the bass guitar, people normally just recorded by plugging the guitar directly into the DI. In our case, we just want to experiment how it will sound if we record with both method. So, we used the amp as well as DI. Placed the SM57 very close to the Roland amp. Since we know that if we place the mic very close to the sound source, it will produce proximity effect so will increase the low frequency response. Also found out that combined these two method it made our sound thicker.