Class Act

well, i finally started taking a class like i've been meaning too. i first noticed that Portland Community College was offering a "Production and Recording" (non-credit, extended learning) class in the winter semester and i signed up. i was excited because it listed the teacher as Jim Brunberg and the location as Mississippi Studios. real, hands-on from a local pro. it was such a let-down when they cancelled the class.

i kept checking for the new class schedule for summer and it was listed again so i signed up. then i started reading about how the IRS was going after Jim and that the space was closing for remodelling. i figured that meant the game was up. but i never got a note about cancellation so i showed up to the first night of class.

the people in the cafe side of the building guided us back to the under construction studio space where a bunch of us waited for Jim to show up. when he finally did he quickly put everyone at ease with his laid back demeanor.

i wasn't sure what to expect from the class, the description in the course catalog was pretty generic and terse. he told us we'd be going around to different studios in the city and learning each aspect of production and recording along the way. sounds awesome!

some of the things we discussed:

an engineer vs. producer. engineer is the technical guy who sets up the equipment, runs cables, makes it possible to record but tries to stay out of the way and doesn't make creative decisions per se. the producer is the guy who's trying to get the best performance out of the musicians. a little more creative input here. but paramount is making sure the musicians play their best.

we talked about the move from analog tape to pure digital recording. especially for beginners, not worrying about maintaining a tape machine is probably beneficial. the advances in the technology make this possible.

summing vs. mixing. a confusing subject. mixing is basically getting levels, eqs, etc.. whereas summing is the combining of the audio signals. there are outboard was of sending the signal to add warmth and get a more analog feeling. In Box vs. Out of Box (ITB/OTB, in the computer, out of the computer).

Graham is one of Jim's peers who is a very technical and knowledgeable engineer who does recording and live music. smart guy with a lot of insight. he, and others, agreed that a good philosophy on recording is to get as close to raw an input as possible. "baby steps" on adding any effects such as eq or compression. save that for later. get something good to work with by good mic placement and good pre-amps.

sound technical:

ADSR

/\______
/ \
/ \

Attack
Delay
Sustain
Release

the transition at the top is important. this is very important in mic'ing say a snare, probably anything.

"scratch tracks": first-time tracks used for getting the feel down and often thrown away but not always.

the first night we went to the space where Mississippi Studios is now recording. i believe it's an old Masonic Temple. it's up by the Florida Room off Killingsworth. the place is desserted and boarded up, it doesn't look like anything's inside.

inside is a cavernous space with a temporary recording studio set up. the building is amazing. not only is it incredibly unique and warm and interesting but the acoustics aren't too bad.

there was a standard drum kit set up in one corner, a cirus-like funky little drum kit set up in the far center and cords running everywhere. at least that's what it looked like to the untrained eye.

Jonathan Newsome of Miraflores was there, as was a drummer Scott. they were going to lay down a song that we would later use for editing, etc.. a quick introduction to the folks and the equipment and we were each given a job to do. i was tasked with setting up a DI box (direct input) for the acoustic guitar. this is where the built-in pickup will be captured from. we ran our cables to boxes at the end of snakes that connected back to the recording rig. when we were done the drums, guitar and vocals were set for recording.

this is probably really fucking boring, so maybe i ought to just jot down some stuff that i learned that seems applicable.

Mic'ing -- much of this is general best practices with some of Jim's specific style thrown in

- the snare was mic'd top and bottom (i wish i had noted all the mic names). i believe the top was a Shure 57, the bottom was a pencil (condenser). the important thing here was to set up the mics so they're at a 90 degree angle to each other to limit any phase issues (more on phase later).
- toms were mic'd so the mic head was at a 45 to the head and closer than some people prefer. about 1/2" off the surface inside the rim.
- the kick was mic'd on the outside with a kick mic and the batter was mic'd seperately.
- two overheads. not crossed, pointing straight down. you start them at even height. you try to get them about equi-distant from the snare (timekeeper). then adjust heights if necessary by monitoring.
- a room mic was set up out front of the drums. there was a lot of mention on the importance of this mic. lots of drum kits have been mic'd with this mic alone!

peter gabriel came up a lot. and his penchant for 57's for everything. lots of good tangents on past successful recording techniques were bandied about that i can't recall offhand.

acoustic guitar -- this one was very enlightening.

- 2 condenser mics pointed at the body of the guitar. jim tapped the body to find the best resonating high and low. notice how the body of an acoustic usually has one smaller and one bigger cavity. basically, the best (loudest?) spots on each were mic'd. the mics were adjusted so they were about 90 degrees to each other and also slightly pointed down because Jonathon would also be singing at the same time. don't usually mic the hole. or the bridge! also try to get fretboard for that sound.
- the DI box as mentioned earlier.

the vocal mic had the wind screen you often see -- a pop filter. and there's talk of the "P" because that's the consonant that cracks the most.

back at the recording setup. each mic was routed to a preferred pre-amp. there were about 4 different kinds of pre-amps used that i can't remember off-hand. pro tools on a mac was the DAW. tracks were set up for each mic. as the musicians played we adjusted levels on the pre-amps. the mix was routed to two sets of headphones for the artists. we didn't have a talk-back mic on hand for this session, but one would usually be used.

time was short but we recorded one pass on the song which we'll use later.

i learned a lot from just seeing it all happen first-hand.

after class we were outside the temple and i accidentally knocked over my scooter in front of Jonathan and felt really fucking stupid.

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