October 2015 – Year 3: Audio Project 1

Music Video Update, Gig and Promo Video (LO1, LO2)

Adam Thraves / October 24, 2015December 16, 2015 / Audio Project

Earlier on in the week I met up with one of the crew who will be filming the music video, I went through what the band wanted and sent him the song they chose, I have also invited the crew up to the studio for our next session so it gives them a chance to meet the band and have a proper talk with them what they want to do.

As part of my update on social media I have been adding some content, I made a promotional video which showcased them, it was a teaser. With some pictures compiled and the last 30 seconds of a demo we did the other day in the studio. We also went to watch them at the college for a gig on Thursday, so I took some pictures and uploaded them. Already I have got their post reach up by 95%! So at the minute it is all going quite successful.

I will embed the video within this post, and the pictures I uploaded.

Guest Lecture: Bryan Rudd

Adam Thraves / October 24, 2015 / Guest Lectures

This lecture was very interesting, we learnt a great deal about organisation in a project. The premise of the lecture was around a real case study, a project Bryan worked on for the BBC called ‘The Chronicles of Freedom”. It was based around William Wilberforce and his journey to freeing the slaves. Bryan was called into the project as producer 9 months in to the 12 month contract and found that the whole thing was unorganised. By this time it was September, the 5 part radio drama had to be finished and the first one played on Boxing day. From the point where he came in there was so much more to do in terms of recording, post production and even finding the locations!

Budgets are the most important factor when beginning a project and what was agreed was way too small for the scale of this project. But it was something that could not be changed, and therefore it had to be worked with. What Bryan found with such a small budget was that it was quite hard to get an on location recording in Wilberforce’s house in Hull. The council wanted to charge in excess of £1000, so the whole recording was done in Lincoln under the Stonebow! This was for accuracy in the sound recording. Some of the public were not happy with this due to it not being the real location. If the budget were correct then maybe this could of worked!

First Recording Session

Adam Thraves / October 21, 2015November 13, 2015 / Audio Project

This first recording session was a big one. We got the guide tracks laid down for the first three songs, Love is a Crime, Spit it Out and KO4. It was great to be in this environment with them. I recorded some material to make for promo’s and took photos for the visual online aspect.

Me and Niall engineered in this session, and did various mic techniques. As they were only guide tracks we got the singers to use the Se2200A changed the pattern to bi-directional and then had one of them either side. This worked as a brilliant technique for us as the way they harmonise made it sound beautiful on the track! This could be a potential method we use in the future. We originally had one on the Neumann-87 and the Se2200A but we found their voices worked a lot better with the SE… as they are very powerful singers.

For the drums we used a total of 7 microphones, these were on the snare, 3 toms, kick and 2 overheads. The overhead style I used was a stereo pair, aimed in the same direction towards the centre of the drums, so we got most of the sound captured. We used a DI box for the Piano, the Bass was mic’ed up using a Audix D6 very close to the bass amp. This was because the sound was quiet, however with the guitar the mic was placed about 6 inches away from the centre of the cone, this was a decision because it is the most tonal part of the amp. We used an SM57 for this.

Singer set-up:

Singers

Drum Kit set up:

Whole Kit Kick_Mic Snare

DI Box for Piano:

The pictures and short video I recorded will be made into a promo video for them. This will go down as part of my project, as I am working in liaison with Niall I will be uploading this online

Project Update

Adam Thraves / October 10, 2015November 13, 2015 / Audio Project

After our meeting at the Lincoln College, we have a found a funk/soul band. They are a six piece band based in Lincoln, and from what we saw they are very talented. This is going to be a great opportunity to work with them. They are called ‘The Square Bears’.

We have made some changes to how we are structuring our project. As there are three of us, we had to go big. So what we’ve got planned are three roles. The first one which I will be undertaking are the visuals, so in terms of this I will be creating a music video for the band on whichever song they like, this will involve all the editing and filming (we are planning on getting help from second year media students to help me film this). Another thing I will be doing is the album artwork, so all the photography and design that goes with this!

Another Job is the actual production of our EP. This will be undertaken by Oliver. This is going to be a four track EP, which the person is going to drive the desk and give feedback to the band on how they can improve things in their music. They will also be in charge of mixing and mastering the tracks. Me and Niall will be there on studio days to engineer in the process.

The final job is the marketing and branding, which will be run by Niall. This job consists of creating dedicated pages over social media for the band (Facebook, Twitter) and even setting up a website for them. Throughout the process this person will be in charge of updating the pages with what is going on. They will also be looking at arranging a radio slot on Siren FM, where before the album launch they will do an interview and a live session!

We have arranged a meeting with the band this week, where we will work out production plans for the music video and the EP. We will also talk to them about the process, what were going to do and how they will be marketed across the process.

Guest lecture: Lol Hammond – Music Supervisor

Adam Thraves / October 5, 2015November 25, 2015 / Guest Lectures

This was a very interesting lecture, and also a great insight into what a music supervisor is and what their role is in film. Lol has been working in the industry for 14 years for a company called Vertigo Films. He was originally a DJ running clubs in Brixton. The company is quite large and there have been many blockbuster films directed by them. Lol has worked on films such as: Football Factory, Bronson, Monsters, The Sweeney etc. So he has a lot of experience in choosing the correct songs for film.

To get the right song for a film they sit in a studio, watching the film with no music coming up with different tracks which could go there, and when they present to the director there should be about 3 or 4 choices. So in this role it is very important to be creative. It is a job which is all about good relationships with everyone they come into contact with, they can’t be too pushy while negotiating.

The music supervisor is involved in a lot of the work with the Director to put songs into film and most of this music is paid for. Prices for songs vary but the most expensive examples of artists are: Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Pet Shop Boys and Michael Jackson with prices from £500K+ a side! (A side means that £500K will go to the record company and 500K will go to the publishing company). However this can only be used within context of the film. If they want to use this song in a trailer, opening and ending credits the price can go up drastically! This is the most extreme example, usually songs go for 1.5K a side.

The music supervisor must track down the people who published a song and the people who own the rights to a song in order to use it in a film (this is where the bartering happens). Sometimes if an artist wants their work to be in a film they can call their publishers and tell them to reduce the price for the film company. It is a bit different with composers, here the music is a lot cheaper and they can negotiate the price more. When the music supervisor gets permission to use a song they get it either ‘for the world’.

Plan for Project

Adam Thraves / October 5, 2015October 24, 2015 / Audio Project

We want to create a 4 track EP with a band/artist who needs musical development, what we learnt from our first tutorial was to definitely go for someone who needs it. Musical development being things like incorporating new instruments, new sections completely to the song. We have been in contact with David Mallett from the Lincoln College, he’s emailed us back and we are meeting with a group this Wednesday.

I have also been put in touch with Rob Dean from the University of Lincoln, he runs the BA Music Course. We are hoping to use a couple of music students in certain sessions. This all depends what instruments they play and what we want in the production. We have emailed and are awaiting a response.

There will also be a website being created and various social media pages too. This means we can do some proper advertising, marketing and also branding of our artist. There will be constant updates on these pages. We want to do a launch day for the EP, but will talk more to our tutor about this in our next session.

Finally we were thinking of incorporating some album design into the project so we can create a full package for the EP.