Category: Recording Projects

Recording project: No Angels

No Angels

A cover of a Samantha Fish song showcasing Angie Lacey‘s powerful bluesy vocals.

 

The recording process:

I started by creating backing tracks for a simple drum loop, the acoustic guitar riff, electric guitar rhythm and bass. These were bounced down to create a single backing track to guide the vocals.

Angie then recorded her vocals as a separate track which I combined with the backing track. The key issue here is to ensure the vocal track starts at exactly the same point as the backing track, so some type of software with Digital Audio Workstation features is needed. Angie used Soundtrap, an online music editor.

Then I added some additional guitar layers including the lead guitar to complement the vocals. These were recorded live as single takes. This helped overcome the mechanical nature of the process and I think we achieved a reasonably live, spontaneous sound.

Track files (mp3) were exchanged via email and Google Drive. I used GarageBand to record, assemble and mix the recorded tracks. Then I used Audacity to do some final tweaking to the finished audio file.

A Steinberg UR12 interface was used to record the bass and guitars.

My favourite feedback on this track: Very thoughtful and sensitive allowing all the space in the world for the vocals and yet holding it all together to deliver on time.

Recording project: Shallow

Shallow

A cover of a song by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I was keen to have a go at this because it has an interesting acoustic guitar part and builds nicely from a quiet beginning.

I used a Godin Metropolis acoustic guitar with an LR Baggs Anthem pickup. I’ve been really pleased with the sound of this setup. About halfway through I added a bass track as the song starts to build.

I used a simple percussion loop as a click track, then added my parts and sent it off for the others to add the vocals, keyboards, drums, and some additional guitar textures. I didn’t do any of the mixing on this track so can’t claim any credit for that!

The musicians involved are all listed in the video: our locations include Greece, UK, Sweden and New Zealand. So it’s a real global collaboration – check out the beautiful Mediterranean scenery.

Recording project: If Love was a Train

If Love was a Train

Most blues uses a 12-bar format: this is a little different in that it’s based on a 16-bar verse structure.

The recording process

I recorded a simple rhythm track using a drum loop, bass and rhythm guitar. Angie Lacey used Soundtrap to create the vocal track which I then added to the rhythm track. Lastly, I added a lead guitar track for the short instrumental sections and to complement the vocal lines during the verses.

When collaborating via email and sharing audio files, it’s easy to end up with a rather mechanical sounding result. My aim in recording and mixing this  was to achieve something like a live sound, as if it was performed in a live jam session. That may not be what you want for a perfect pop song, but it seems to suit the character of the blues!

To achieve a live sound, the lead guitar track was largely improvised and recorded in a single take.  Once I had all the tracks together, there was a small amount of tinkering to get the mix how I wanted it. But I kept the editing to a minimum to try to preserve the live sound, imperfections and all.

Angie and I were both pleased with the result. My favourite feedback was from an experienced music producer, who said the result was “full of soul and attitude”. Very gratifying!