Author Archives: Sam Atkin

Reflective Summary (Final Blog Post)

To conclude, I feel that this has been a successful project which I have learned a lot from. I feel that the thing that I am most proud of is the sheer amount of work I have done this module. In terms of my individual learning outcomes, some have been more successful than others.

 

LO1 – to identify and produce guitar sounds similar to those used by Matt Bellamy and Tom Morello on Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry, Absolution and Renegades, is the outcome that I feel went best. The guitar tone on ‘Antagonise’ is one that I’m really proud of and hopefully my research and planning has meant that it sounds very similar to the guitar tone of Tom Morello. This track along with ‘El Pres’ also heavily features the Digitech Whammy pedal, an effect used liberally by both Bellamy and Morello. The guitar tones of Matt Bellamy were definitely trickier to replicate but I feel that’s down to the amount of different tones found throughout their music. Nonetheless, the tone on ‘El Pres’, which is intended to sound similar to that of Muse’s Micro Cuts, is one that I’m happy with. ‘El Pres’, like ‘Fame’, also heavily features phasers reminiscent of the MXR Phase 90 pedal that Matt Bellamy has a proclivity for adding to his guitar parts. This can be heard almost totally isolated in the breakdown section of ‘Fame’, which took inspiration in terms of mixing from the middle section of Muse’s Citizen Erased. ‘Alive’ features two guitar tones similar to those that can be found on Muse’s New Born. The first, a powerful fuzz sound, the second, an overdriven but cleaner sound, more prominent in the mids and highs. I believe the guitar sounds that enter halfway through ‘Alive’ demonstrate the research I did into how Bellamy achieved these tones. Overall I feel that my research and the guitar sounds on my EP show that I was successful on this learning outcome.

 

LO2 – to identify and shape synthesizer sounds and production techniques used by John Leckie on Showbiz and Origin of Symmetry​ is the learning outcome that I personally feel has been the least successful. That said, I am still happy with how the synths turned out on my EP. The one I’m happiest with features on ‘Fame’, an arpeggiator which was hugely inspired by the tone, modulation and note staging of Muse’s Bliss. All three of these things can clearly be heard in the main synth in ‘Fame.’ The pad synths used on the EP such as those on ‘Alive’, and in the middle section of ‘Fame’ are also synths I feel I accurately replicated from Origin of Symmetry. Another synthesized sound I used, the reverse piano on ‘Alive’, pays homage to New Born and was something I wanted to add because I felt I’d got it almost identical to the reverse piano on New Born. The biggest flaw in the completion of this learning outcome was the fact that there was not a great deal of information that I could extract regarding the synths that Muse used and how they used them. Despite this, through listening and tone-bending I feel that several of the synths I created were close replications of those used by Muse on Origin of Symmetry and therefore am relatively happy with how this outcome turned out.

 

LO3 – to identify and replicate the use of recording spaces used by Rich Costey on Absolution to create similar sounding reverbs and ambience. This is an outcome that in hindsight, I could have done differently. The main problem was that through research I found that Rich Costey doesn’t use a great deal of reverb on several instruments. I feel that I made up for this however, by following his stance on recording drums with a room mic to capture the natural reverb of the kit. The drum sound on my EP, while not spectacular, is one that I’m really happy with because it was recorded and mixed in a manner similar to that of Absolution. This means that the ambience of the album has at the very least attempted to be replicated. I feel that I learned a lot from this about recording drums and the amount of difference a room makes. The fact that I paid £70 for a room to record drums in shows the level of dedication I was willing to go to in order to adhere to the techniques used by Rich Costey. Several other instruments on my EP feature delays that were inspired by the research I did on Costey. In particular, the piano on ‘Alive’ features delays and multiple-tracking that Rich went into great detail on in his article on Absolution in Sound on Sound.

 

LO4 – to identify and produce bass guitar sounds like those used on all 4 albums to create a bass tone that can dominate a piece of music. This is something I feel is highly successful in my project. This is mainly down to the research I did on the bass sound of the bassist in each band. The bass tone in ‘Antagonise’ is a really close replication of Tim Commorford of Rage Against the Machine’s bass tone. Other stand out points for the bass guitar include the filter sweeps and synth pedal sounds on ‘Fame’, which are intended to sound similar to Muse’s Plug-In Baby. The way that the filter moves to allow more space in the mid-range for the vocals is something I feel is really strong. This can also be heard on Plug-In Baby. On the whole I feel I got the bass tone for both bands really close and the study of the pedals, amps, and basses used as well as the mixing techniques meant that I had all the information I needed to do so. My only qualm is that I didn’t have a high-quality bass amp to record through and therefore the bass tone can sound a little too saturated in places. The bass tone absolutely dominates large portions of each of my tracks and so I would therefore say that this is an outcome I achieved very successfully.

 

LO5 – Mix a track(s) to sound full and complete with a minimal selection of instruments, like the work of Costey on Renegades and Leckie on Showbiz​ and Origin of Symmetry. Another outcome I feel I achieved successfully, my tracks except for ‘Alive’ all feature a maximum of four instruments at a time (including drums, excluding vocals). Despite this, the tracks do not sound as though they are lacking anything musically and I was never once tempted to add another guitar or synth part that did not need to be there. Research into the minimal nature of both bands meant that I knew how to get the most from guitars and basses and I feel that this is a really prominent feature on my EP. The method of having bass on three or four different tracks meant I had a really powerful sound that was only ever playing one bassline. While uncomplicated musically, this makes the bass sound highly dominant in the mix in a way that would normally be reserved for guitars in rock music. Double tracking the guitars also meant that I could both layer tracks without needing more than one guitar part, and be able to enhance the stereo image, something that can be hard to do with a minimal selection of instruments. The stereo image in my tracks is something I worked hard on and really contributes to the ‘powerful-but-minimal’ sound which I intended for my music and which took inspiration from Muse and Rage Against the Machine. I feel that in terms of getting a full sounding mix with limited instrumentation is best demonstrated on ‘Antagonise’, which only ever features one guitar part, bass, drums and vocals. This is an outcome I feel I have achieved without any compromise.

 

In my opinion the biggest flaw of my project is the fact that is clearly weighted in favour of replicating the production and mixing of Rich Costey, rather than John Leckie. I feel that this is due to the amount of research I could find on the albums recorded by each and interviews by them. I’m slightly disappointed with the lack of information I managed to find on Leckie in terms of Muse’s first two studio albums and how they were recorded. Despite this, I feel that I achieved the outcomes I set for myself that feature him. I also feel that my EP is more influenced by Origin of Symmetry than Showbiz (both produced by Leckie.) This, in my opinion, is due to the fact that I feel Muse were more developed musically and in terms of production on their second album. In hindsight, I should have recorded the drums on a higher-quality drum kit as it became difficult to mix one recorded. I also should have taken more time on the recording of vocals. While I feel I captured enough from Sam, the singer on the project, I would have liked to have had alternative takes to use in my EP, and some tuning and edited needed to be done on the vocals. That said, both of these points are not part of any of the individual learning outcomes identified.

I feel content with all of the aspects of my EP that were shaped by the learning outcomes I set myself and therefore I feel that overall, this project has been successful. I’m really proud of the time-management aspects and the way that all of my recording sessions were done easily and without any problems. I also feel that I have produced 4-high quality tracks that relate to the research I’ve done on Rich Costey, John Leckie, Showbiz, Origin of Symmetry, Absolution, Renegades, Muse and Rage Against the Machine.

Vocals

Vocals is not something I mentioned in any of my learning objectives. The main reason for this was that I felt it would be too difficult to find a vocalist able to replicate the ways Muse’s Matt Bellamy or Rage Against the Machine’s Zac De La Rocha sing.
I did, however, take further inspiration from Rich Costey in the mixing stage of the vocals, in the form of adding distortion.

Costey mentions in the Sound on Sound article on ‘Absolution’ (linked below) that he recorded Matt Bellamy’s vocal parts by “clipping the mic pre — I’d deliberately clip the mic pre on ‘Time Is Running Out’ as he sang louder and louder, adding more intensity and grit to his vocal. Distorting a vocal is so commonplace nowadays that to me it’s the same as distorting a guitar or a bass. And much of the time when I’m mixing records for other people I’m distorting the vocal… whether they know it or not!”

While distorting the mic pre wasn’t really an option for me due to the system I recorded on, I did use the ‘clip distortion’ plug-in in Logic which I feel faithfully replicates the sound of distortion by means of clipping.

I added distortion to the majority of the vocals on my EP, not only because I took inspiration from the vocals on Absolution but also because I felt that it suited the style of music that I had written and my vocalist, Sam Carter.

I feel my project gains from distorted vocals as, to my ear, they blend more effectively with the guitars and the bass.

http://www.musewiki.org/Rich_Costey:_Recording_Muse%27s_Absolution_(200312_Sound_on_Sound_article)

Reflective look at sequencing and recording synthesizers (LO2)

While recording and sequencing the synthesizers in my project was not nearly as big or time consuming as recording guitar, bass, drums or vocals, it needed to be done with care and attention to detail. Due to the nature of being able to quantize and easily duplicate software instrument parts, the session was done quite quickly once I had found the synthesizers that I had wanted to use.

As intended, one of my tracks did not contain any synths. I did this because the track, ‘Antagonise’, is chiefly influenced musically and in terms of production by Rage Against the Machine who generally speaking only really use guitars, basses, drums and vocals.

The other three tracks on my EP however, did include synthesizers. The most prominent set features on ‘Fame’, in which I feel I have, quite successfully tried to replicate the synthesizer sound and style of Muse’s ‘Bliss.’ This track also features pads, among other synths, in the breakdown section reminiscent of ‘Megalomania’ from Origin of Symmetry. ‘El Pres’ features a cutting lead sound in the chorus sections that arpeggiates in a single octave, rather than two or three like the synthesizers from ‘Bliss’ or ‘Screenager’ from Origin of Symmetry. ‘Alive’ mainly features piano and organ software instruments, modelled on those from ‘New Born’ and ‘Megalomania’ from the same album but there is also a pad, which I actually modelled on Ruled By Secrecy from Absolution, and an arpeggiator which took inspiration from the one that can be heard on ‘Space Dementia’ from Origin of Symmetry.

As planned, I used Logic Pro’s ‘Alchemy’ synthesizer for nearly all of my synths due to the highly customisable nature of the sounds included. The tone-shaping made it quite easy to get the timbres I wanted . I also used Logic’s ‘ES2’ and ‘Retrosynth’, which are a fair amount more basic than Alchemy.

As I mentioned in my other post about synths, it has been difficult to find very much information on how Muse recorded their synths and what synths they used but my sequencing/recording session went exactly to plan and I believe the synthesizers on my album are reminiscent of those used by Muse on Origin of Symmetry.

Tutorial 7 – Tuesday 13th December

This was to be my final tutorial with Lee. It should have been on the 6th of December but we decided to reschedule in order to try and book the Multitrack to review my mixes and for him to give me any last-minute feedback.

While we didn’t manage to book the Multitrack due to it being highly in demand, the tutorial still went ahead. Lee gave me some valuable feedback on my mixes which I took into account. Later in the day I fixed the minor issues in my mixes.

Lee also looked over my blog. While it did not need a lot of work, I decided I would add a few more posts to show further research that I’ve done.

In conclusion I’m happy with the feedback I got in my final tutorial and it has given me the confidence to submit my work slightly early.

Tutorial 6 – Tuesday 22nd November

In this tutorial, Lee and I discussed the drum recording session that I had done the previous day. I informed him that it had gone to plan and I had recorded a drum sound and performance that I was happy with.

The majority of the session was dedicated to looking through my blog. Lee fed back to me that I needed to include quotes to back up several claims that I had made in posts such as ‘Pickups.’ I later amended this in my blog.

Lee and I decided that a one-hour tutorial would be more suitable in a fortnight’s time as then I would have more to show him in terms of recorded material.