Unit 48: Being a 'Recording Engineer' - locations, microphones and instruments

Key Terms:

Transducer
- Converts variations in a physical quantity, into an electrical signal
Diaphragm
- A thin sheet of material forming a partition
Electromagnetic Induction
- production of an electromotive force across a conductor
Capacitor plate
- consists of tow conductors separated by a non-conductive region
Pre-amp
- Prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing
Sound pressure levels
- referring to the threshold of hearing or the lowest intensity sound that can be heard by most people measured in decibels (dB)

Definition of microphone Types:
Dynamic
- Thin diaphragm, attached to a coil of thin copper wire. sound vibrates the diaphragm, the coil moves up and down creating an electrical current.

Image from http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/images/mic-dynamic.gif 

Condenser
-It uses a capacitor to convert the compression and rarefaction of sounds waves into electrical energy.

Image from http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/images/mic-condenser.gif

Ribbon
-Uses a thin aluminium of electrically conductive ribbon placed between the poles of a magnet to produce a voltage by electromagnetic induction.

Image from http://www.vias.org/crowhurstba/img/crowhurst_basic_audio_vol1-58.gif

Polar Patterns:
Cardioid
- 120 degrees pick up

Image from http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/filedata/fetch?id=31129488&d=1398382724

Omni-directional
-360 degrees pickup

Image from https://www.tablemike.com/images/flexymike-pics/PolarPattern-Flexymike-Low.jpg

Figure of 8

-front and back pick up

Image from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Polar_pattern_figure_eight.png

Super-cardioid

-100 degrees pick up

Image from http://jcsites.juniata.edu/faculty/rhodes/dap/images/shotgun.png

GLOCKENSPIEL

Studio Recordings 

Shure
I used a Shure SM58 to record a Glockenspiel in the studio, this is not a typical microphone to use for a percussion instrument, as a Shure microphone is a dynamic. This type of microphone has a frequency response of 50 to 15,000 Hz.

Position/Distance            10cm away from the instrument, pointing at the keys
Type of microphone        Dynamic

Shure SM58

Polar Pattern                   Cardioid

The recording itself is good quality, as there is no background noise or interference with the recording. This shows that the recording was successful and completed to a professional standard. One-way to improve this recording however would be to move the microphone closer to the instrument or adjust the gain. The link to this track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/glock-task-0001-audio-shure

AKG C1001
I also recorded the glockenspiel using an AKG C100, this is a condenser microphone, which is more suited to recording a percussion instrument. The frequency response of this microphone is 50 to 20,000 Hz.

Position/Distance               10cm away from the instrument, pointing at the keys

Type of microphone           Condenser

Polar Pattern                      Cardioid/Super cardioid

AKG C100

This recording is clearer and is the best out of all three; this is because I used a condenser microphone. This recording also has no background noise and the quality is very good. An improvement that could be made to this recording is similar to the other recordings, which is to have the microphone closer to the keys. The link to this track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/glock-task-0003-audio-akg-jae

AKG D112 

AKG D112

I then recorded glockenspiel using another dynamic microphone, the AKG D112 (also known as the egg microphone). This isn’t a typical use for this type of microphone as it usually used for recording instruments such as a kick drum. The frequency response for this particular microphone is 20 to 17,000 Hz.

Position/Distance                10cm away from the instrument, pointing at the keys

Type of microphone             Condenser

Polar Pattern                        Cardioid

A good point about this recording is that the sound of the instrument is clear, just like the other two recordings. However an overall improvement that can be made to not only this recording but also all the recordings is to have placed the microphone closer to the keys of the glockenspiel. The link to this track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/glock-task-0002-audio-egg-jae

Open-Air Recordings

Open-air recording 1

I used a special type of microphone called a H2 handy recorder. This type of microphone is useful for all different types of recording including interviews and podcasting. The first time I recorded the glockenspiel I adjusted the microphone so it was Front 90 degrees.

The quality of this recording was okay, however since it was recorded outside you could hear a lot of background noise (e.g. people talking, wind). If I were to do this recording again I would make sure I had a pop shield, which would minimize the amount of background noise that would affect the recording. The link to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/open-air-jae?in=user-886671367/sets/open-air-recordings-glockenspiel

Open-air recording 2

For the second recording I used the same recorder and remained in the same area for the recording of the glockenspiel. This time around I changed the settings to surround, I also moved the microphone closer to the glockenspiel to see what difference it would make to the overall quality of the recording.
The quality of this recording is slightly better than the first one; this is because I placed the microphone closer to the glockenspiel. However like the first recording I would still use a pop shield as this make the recording more professional. The link to this track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/open-air-jae-1?in=user-886671367/sets/open-air-recordings-glockenspiel

                                                                                       

Open-air recording 3
For the last open-air recording I again kept the same surrounding, however I did change the setting on the hand held microphone to 120 degrees (rear). Just to make sure all the recordings were different I adjusted the distance of the microphone. This recording was probably the most successful out of all three of them, however a successful open-air recording is down to controlling the amount of background noise present and making sure the performer is doing the best they can. The link to this track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/open-air3-jae?in=user-886671367/sets/open-air-recordings-glockenspiel

H2 handy recorder

GUITAR

AKG C1001

I used an AKG C1001 to record a acoustic guitar in the studio, this is a good type of microphone to use for a acoustic instrument. The frequency response of this microphone is 50 to 20,000.

Position/Distance           10cm away facing the performer, above the sound hole

Type of microphone       Condenser

Polar Pattern                  Cardioid

This is a very good recording of the acoustic guitar because not only was the performer on point, but also I believe the microphone placement was correct and that is the main factor that led to this decent recording. The sound was clear and there was no clipping that could be heard.  However if were to do this recording again the only factor I would change is possibly using different microphones or using more than one microphone. This way I could test out which positions and which type of microphones work best for recording an acoustic guitar. Alink to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/guitar-studio-0004-audio-jae

Open air recording

After the studio recording I moved on to the open-air recording, I decided to record the acoustic guitar in the presentation suite. I chose to do my open air recording there because there was a lot of extra reverb that filled the room and it created an ambience for the recording. I plugged in the C1001 to the D888 mixing desk, which we used to record the acoustic guitar. I checked the level of the gain to make sure the levels were right.

Position/Distance             10cm away facing the performer, above the sound hole

Type of microphone         Condenser

Polar Pattern                    Cardioid

This recording is again very clear, but you can hear that there is more reverb on this recording and this is due to the location of the recording. Even though a lot of reverb on a recording is not required, I believe for this recording it worked out really well. Also I believe the quality of the performance will automatically be different because for each recording I used a different performer. If I were to do this open-air recording again I would pick a different location to see how the location would affect the overall quality of the recording. A link to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/trk01vt1-wav

VOCAL
For the first time recording vocals, I recorded them in the studio. I decided to have a practice recording some vocals with a condenser microphone Rode NT1. Since this was a practice I asked the performer to say whatever they wanted and that they didn't need to produce high quality vocals. Once I set up the microphone with a Jack lead I tested out the levels and I then adjusted the gain, this way the levels would not clip.

Position/Distance               5cm away facing the performer, mic level with the performers mouth
Type of microphone          Condenser
Polar Pattern                     Cardioid

Analysing this recording, it is good for a first attempt recording of vocals. However when I listened back to the recording afterwards I realised that the level of the gain could have been boosted a little higher. Apart from that this practice recording was very successful. The next time I record vocals I will try recording in a different location, to see if this affects the overall quality of the performance. A link to the track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/vocal-practice-1

29/09/15 Recordings 

Classroom
Acoustic Guitar 
I set up a mic stand and a condenser microphone connected by an XLR lead in a classroom. I chose a classroom because the room provided a lot of extra reverb, this helped the overall quality of the recordings. After setting up the microphone, I plugged in the Kettle lead which provided power to the mixing desk. I then set up a new track on the mixing desk and asked the performer to play the guitar so I could check the levels using the gain.

Position/Distance              10cm away facing the performer, the mic pointing just above the sound hole
Type of microphone         Condenser
Polar Pattern                    Cardioid

With the extra reverb provided by the classroom the recording of the guitar was of a high quality. I believe this is a high quality recording because the gain was set to a suitable level, this can be heard in the recording due to the fact that there is no clipping in the recording. This recording also has no background noise present, which automatically makes the recording more profesional. Furthermore because the performer I chose was highly trained, this also made the overall performance of the recording more professional. A link to the track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/acoustic-guitar-classroomwav

Studio
Vocals 
In the studio I plugged an XLR lead into the Rode NT1, which is the best type of microphone for recording vocals. After this I went into the control booth and set up a new track on Cubase 7. I asked the performer to practice singing, while they were doing this I adjusted the level of the gain so it was at a level where the performer could be clearly heard, but not to much that there was clipping. The pop shield attached to the microphone helped prevent any plosives from the performer.

Position/Distance               3 cm away from the performer, mic level with performers mouth
Type of microphone          Condenser
Polar Pattern                     Cardioid

Comparing this vocal recording with the other vocal recording I have, I would argue that this recording is of a higher standard. One reason this recording is of a high standard is because the performer is performing at a high quality and is actually singing. Where as the first vocal recording I was still learning what would work best, also the performer did not sing anything properly. It is important to highlight that a professional recording relies on both the level of the performer and the setting up of the equipment. The pop shield made a huge difference to the performance as well because the first time I recorded vocals, we attempted them without a pop shield. A link to this track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/btec-session-4-0008-audio

Rode NT1

Electric Guitar 
After recording the vocals I decided to record an electric guitar, so I unplugged the XLR lead from the Rode NT1 and plugged it into a AKG C100s condenser microphone and set the microphone so it was pointing at the strings of the electric guitar. I also plugged the electric guitar into an amp. Same as last time I went back to the control booth and set up a new track on Cubase 7, the same mono as the vocal track. So I could set the gain I asked the performer to play as loud as they were going to for the recording, this helped me set the gain to a suitable level where it would not clip.

Position/Distance                15cm away from the performer, mic pointing at the strings
Type of microphone           Condenser
Polar Pattern                      Cardioid

One of the main successes of this recording is that there was no distortion/clipping on the recording, with all instruments one of the main issues you can come across is distortion/clipping. However one area of the recording that could be improved is the level of the gain, because listening back to the recording it appears that I had the gain to low. However this was only due to the fact that I did not want the recording to clip. However the overall performance of the recording is of a high quality because the performer I chose was at a professional standard. A link to the track is below.
https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/btec-session-4-0009-audio?in=user-886671367/sets/vocals-electric-guitar-studio

Plans for final recordings and Evaluations 

Mixing Desk-Acoustic Guitar 

Time of recording: 14:30

Date: 13/10/15

Location: Classroom

List of group: Andrew, Emily, Jamie and Jacob

Roles
Jacob is going to be in charge of setting up the mixing desk and creating a new track on the mixing desk. Emily and Andrew are going to be setting up the microphones for the recordings and making sure that the microphones are at a suitable distance from the instrument, they will also be setting the gain for the recording. Jamie is going to be playing the acoustic guitar for the recording.

Skills 

Skills that are going to be required for this recording firstly is teamwork. Teamwork is essential for the recording to work successfully because without teamwork the recording would not work and the recording that is produced would probably be to a low standard. Another skill that is required for this recording to be successful is communication, as a group we will need communication because we will need to ask each other for example if the microphones are working correctly or if the gain has been set to high. All of us will also need to have good listening skills because all of us will need to be able to hear if the guitar is clipping or if there is any background noise on the recording.

Position/Distance            10cm away facing the performer, the mic pointing just above the sound hole

Type of microphone        Condenser (AKG C1000s)

Polar Pattern                   Cardioid

Potential Problems 

Problems that we could come across firstly is equipment failure. For example one of the microphones may not work correctly. Ways this can be prevented is by firstly making sure that the microphone is connected to the XLR lead correctly, or replace the XLR lead. If that does not work we will check the levels on the mixing desk because the gain on the mixing desk may be to low and that is why we may not be able to hear anything from the microphone. The last option is to replace the microphone with another one. Another problem we may come across with this recording is that we may not know how one of the controls work on the mixing desk. If this happens we will have to refer back to the mixing desks manual to figure out how the control works. A further issue we could have with the mixing desk is that the desk crashes and we lose the recording. If this problem occurs we will have set the mixing desk back up and if the recording is lost, we will have to make a new recording.
A further issue that could occur with this recording is that the classroom provides to much acoustic reflection and has a negative effect on the quality of the recording. When we listen back to the recording and there is to much acoustic reflection we will either re-record the track or we will move to a different location where there is less acoustic reflection.
Separate problems that could occur when we are recording in the studio are that Cubase does not load or the system completely crashes. If this does occur one way we can prevent this from happening is by either restarting Cubase or if that fails restarting the mac. If the problem keeps on re-occurring we will contact IT support to help us.
Another studio problem we could come across is that all the instruments sound out of tune. If we ever face this problem we will ask the performer to re-tune their instrument, however all these types of checks will occur before recording begins so this issue will be very unlikely.

Techniques used from research 
A technique that was used to record guitars was by using two dynamic microphones, a Shure 57 and a Sennheiser 421. This technique was used by Stephen Street in the recording of The Smiths album 'Meat is Murder'. Even though we are using a condenser microphone (AKG C1000s) we may decide to try this technique, if the condenser microphone does not work the way we want it to.

Evaluation 
The sound pressure level for this recording is low because we used a condenser microphone and these types of microphones have a low SPL, for an acoustic guitar it was important that the sound pressure was low because this type of instrument produces its own sound. The recording is at a good SPL level. The frequency response for this microphone can be seen below.

Frequency response of a AKG C100s condenser microphone

The quality of sound of this recording is good because the timbre is crisp and clear. The strumming of the guitar can be clearly heard on the recording and there is also no clipping present on the recording and it is also not a tinny recording. Furthermore this recording has more acoustic reflection because the area that we recorded the acoustic guitar in was an empty classroom, which provided natural reverb and made the sound of the acoustic guitar travel further. The acoustic reflection was useful in this recording because the extra reverb provided more ambience to the recording.

Picture of microphone set up

Mixing desk, attached with XLR lead

On the first take of the acoustic guitar recording we discussed whether the acoustic reflection was needed on the recording and if we needed to use some absorption, but we decided we didn’t need any sound proofing on this recording. The resonance of this recording is clear and can be described as a professional. The performer took the time to practice and that clearly shows in this final recording. Another success of this recording is that there is no background noise present, you cannot hear any clipping/distortion or people talking in the background, this automatically brings the recording to a higher standard.
Recording expression and recording emotion are two elements that were down to the performer, even though the performance is not emotional, the expression that is given in this performance again makes the recording very professional. The recording also doesn't involve the listener, like some recordings from The Smiths did, there recordings contain a lot more emotion and expression as well. Furthermore the only problem that we encountered was that the microphone we used did not work. However once we realised it had nothing to do with XLR lead or the mixing desk we replaced the microphone, then the recording did not encounter any more problems. Overall this recording was very successful because I didn't encounter any other problems apart from the microphone not working. A link to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/acoustic-guitar-classroomwav
Studio-Vocal
Time of recording: 15:00
Date: 13/10/15
Location: Studio
List of group: Andrew, Emily, Jamie and Jacob

Roles
Emily is going to be in charge of setting up the mixing desk and creating a new track on Cubase. Jacob and Andrew are going to be setting up the microphones for the recordings and making sure that the microphones are at a suitable distance from the instrument, they will also be setting the gain for the recording. Jamie is going to be singing.

Skills 

Skills that are going to be required for this recording firstly is teamwork. Teamwork is essential for the recording to work successfully because without teamwork the recording would not work and the recording that is produced would probably be to a low standard. Another skill that is required for this recording to be successful is communication, as a group we will need communication because we will need to ask each other for example if the microphones are working correctly or if the gain has been set to high. All of us will also need to have good listening skills because all of us will need to be able to hear if the guitar is clipping or if there is any background noise on the recording.

Position/Distance             3cm away facing the performer, the mic pointing at performers mouth

Type of microphone        Condenser (Rode NT1)

Polar Pattern                   Cardioid

Potential Problems 

Problems that we could come across firstly is equipment failure. For example one of the microphones may not work correctly. Ways this can be prevented is by firstly making sure that the microphone is connected to the XLR lead correctly, or replace the XLR lead. If that does not work we will check the levels on the mixing desk because the gain on the mixing desk may be to low and that is why we may not be able to hear anything from the microphone. The last option is to replace the microphone with another one. Another problem we may come across with this recording is that we may not know how one of the controls work on the mixing desk. A further issue we could have with the mixing desk is that the desk crashes and we lose the recording. If this problem occurs we will have set the mixing desk back up and if the recording is lost, we will have to make a new recording. A further issue that could occur with this recording is that the classroom provides to much acoustic reflection and has a negative effect on the quality of the recording. When we listen back to the recording and there is to much acoustic reflection we will either re-record the track or we will move to a different location where there is less acoustic reflection.

Separate problems that could occur when we are recording in the studio are that Cubase does not load or the system completely crashes. If this does occur one way we can prevent this from happening is by either restarting Cubase or if that fails restarting the mac. If the problem keeps on re-occurring we will contact IT support to help us. Another studio problem we could come across is that all the instruments sound out of tune. If we ever face this problem we will ask the performer to re-tune their instrument, however all these types of checks will occur before recording begins so this issue will be very unlikely. 

Techniques used from research

From my research I have learned that Street recorded all of his performers vocals by using an Neumann 87 or 47 condenser microphone. Sometimes street also used hand held dynamic microphones like a Shure 58, which would be a good type of microphone to use for an open-air recording. The type of microphone we are using is also a condenser microphone, a Rode NT1. 

Evaluation 

The sound pressure level for this recording is low, because the vocalist did not have a very high range and was not used to performing. Furthermore the type of microphone that I used was another condenser microphone which has a low SPL, vocals are also an instrument that produces its own sound. The frequency response of the Rode NT1 can be see below.

Frequency response of a Rode NT1 condenser microphone

The quality of sound for this recording has a thin timbre, as the vocals are clear and are expressive. The vocals have not been altered in any way, for instance there has been no EQ or reverb added to the vocal. Another reason this is a high quality recording is because the words of the song are clearly pronounced. The acoustic reflection in this recording is hardly present, that is because we recorded the vocals in the studio and we also used a pop shield to help prevent plosives. The absorption in the studio also helped prevent reflections of extra natural reverb.

XLR lead is connected to Mono 2,
providing power to the microphone

Picture of performer facing the microphone

The resonance of this recording is rich with emotion and expression because the performer picked a song that they wanted to perform. The performer also did a few practice run throughs just to make sure they were ready, at one point we did have to tell the performer to sing louder so we could gain more emotion out of the performance, once we did this the vocal was fine. To make sure that there was no background noise on the recording, we covered up the drums so the cymbals would not vibrate when the performer was performing. This was beneficial to do because there is no background noise present on the recording. To make sure that the recording contained expression and emotion we did a few takes of the vocals and then picked the best one. This was a wise action to take because the vocals contain emotion and are clearly expressed by the performer. Similar to The Smiths the vocalist is not professionally trained, but like The Smith still delivers an expressive performance. A link to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/final-recording-vocal?in=user-886671367/sets/final-recordings

Mixing Desk- Piano

Time of recording: 15:30

Date: 13/10/15

Location: Theatre

List of group: Andrew, Emily, Jamie and Jacob

Roles

Andrew is going to be in charge of setting up the mixing desk and creating a new track on the mixing desk. Jamie and Emily are going to be setting up the microphones for the recordings and making sure that the microphones are at a suitable distance from the instrument, they will also be setting the gain for the recording. Jacob is going to be playing the piano.

Skills 

Skills that are going to be required for this recording firstly is teamwork. Teamwork is essential for the recording to work successfully because without teamwork the recording would not work and the recording that is produced would probably be to a low standard. Another skill that is required for this recording to be successful is communication, as a group we will need communication because we will need to ask each other for example if the microphones are working correctly or if the gain has been set to high. All of us will also need to have good listening skills because all of us will need to be able to hear if the guitar is clipping or if there is any background noise on the recording.

Position/Distance             15cm away, one mic under the left side of the piano, and one mic under the
                                          right side of the piano, both pointing up towards the keys 

Type of microphone        Condenser (AKG C1000s x2)

Polar Pattern                   Cardioid

Potential Problems 

Problems that we could come across firstly is equipment failure. For example one of the microphones may not work correctly. Ways this can be prevented is by firstly making sure that the microphone is connected to the XLR lead correctly, or replace the XLR lead. If that does not work we will check the levels on the mixing desk because the gain on the mixing desk may be to low and that is why we may not be able to hear anything from the microphone. The last option is to replace the microphone with another one. Another problem we may come across with this recording is that we may not know how one of the controls work on the mixing desk. A further issue we could have with the mixing desk is that the desk crashes and we lose the recording. If this problem occurs we will have set the mixing desk back up and if the recording is lost, we will have to make a new recording. A further issue that could occur with this recording is that the classroom provides to much acoustic reflection and has a negative effect on the quality of the recording.When we listen back to the recording and there is to much acoustic reflection we will either re-record the track or we will move to a different location where there is less acoustic reflection. Separate problems that could occur when we are recording in the studio are that Cubase does not load or the system completely crashes. If this does occur one way we can prevent this from happening is by either restarting Cubase or if that fails restarting the mac. If the problem keeps on re-occurring we will contact IT support to help us. Another studio problem we could come across is that all the instruments sound out of tune. If we ever face this problem we will ask the performer to re-tune their instrument, however all these types of checks will occur before recording begins so this issue will be very unlikely. 

Techniques used from research

For recording piano I could not find any techniques that Street used to record for The Smiths album. However the way we are going to record piano is by having two AKG C1000s microphones, both pointing up towards of the keys of the piano, one on the left side of the piano and one on the right side of the piano. 

Evaluation 
The sound pressure level for this recording is higher than the other two recordings because the volume on the piano was turned up. However similar to the other two recordings I used a condenser microphone, and they have a low SPL, except one difference is that I used two AKG C1000s to record the piano. The quality of sound of this recording has a thick timbre and is also sharp. Since we recorded the piano in the theatre there was going to be a lot of acoustic reflection, so we decided to put some sheets around the piano. So when we listened to the recording on the desk there was hardly any acoustic reflection, we felt that a lot of acoustic reflection would have had a negative effect on this recording. The sheets propped up round the piano provided absorption for the recording.

AKG C1000s connected with XLR lead,
pointing at the right side of the piano

AKG C1000s connected with XLR lead,
pointing at the left side of the piano

The resonance of this recording is deep and clear, the notes that are played can be clearly heard on the recording. The performer was not completely trained, which can be heard on the recording. But I believe the recording is at a high enough level because there is no background noise present on the recording. There is no rustling or clipping, this shows that the microphones were in a good position. This links to the recording expression and emotion because as I previously mentioned the performer was not the most experienced piano player, however the performer still managed to put across emotion and expression in the performance. This may be due to the fact that like the other recordings, the performers were allowed to pick what songs they covered. I believe this is one of the reasons as to why all of the recordings are a high quality. A link to the track is below.

https://soundcloud.com/user-886671367/final-recording-piano?in=user-886671367/sets/final-recordings

Unit 48: Write an article for 'Sound on Sound' magazine about the production characteristics of classic albums

The Smiths 

Meat is Murder

Album cover art

The most influential Indie music label at the time

Nightclub Hacienda in Manchester

The term given to the scene 'Madchester'

Background

The Smiths were an Indie Rock band from the 80s. Formed in Manchester 1982 the band has created four successful albums before their breakup in 1987. They were one of the bands that helped kick start the Madchester scene, which combined rock with dance music to create a jangly psychedelic sound. This genre of music became the main type of music that was listened to in the 80s and even helped the club industry, with famous clubs like the Hacienda becoming more popular by playing this genre of music. Morrissey was the main creative element in the group who came up with the majority of their lyrics.

“His lyrics were far removed from the normal rock canon-literary but colloquial, sometimes heart-breaking (fro instance in ‘Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me’), and frequently humorous (as in ‘The Queen is dead’).”
Although sometimes Morrissey's lyrics can come across controversial, especially the song 'Suffer little children' which covered the topic of the 'moors murders'.
 

“However, his lyrics were mainly concerned with shyness and unrequited love in everyday England.”

Album
Meat is Murder is the second studio album by The Smiths, produced in 1984 and released the following year became the bands first number one album.  The album was written and produced by band members Morrissey and Johnny Marr, they were also assisted by legendary producer/engineer Stephen Street.  The YouTube video below is a clip from The grey whistle test a show aired from 1971-88, this clip gives more insight into how The Smiths came to create this album, influences as well as performances. Singles that were taken from the album were 'Barbarism begins at Home' and 'That joke isn't funny Anymore'.

The album charted at number one on the charts in the UK, it stayed on the charts for thirteen weeks. In 2003 the album was ranked 296 on Rolling Stone magazines list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

Production Characteristics 

Stephen Street is a well-known producer/engineer, who has produced albums for The Cranberries, Blur and assisted The Smiths with their album Meat is Murder.

Similar to most producers Street has his own way of recording different instruments, some of these techniques, if not all, he would have used to help The Smiths record their hit album.

"You can have a guitar and an amp and one person can play it and it will sound completely different to how another person will sound when they play it. A lot of the sound does come from the player -- it's the way they hit the strings.”

The way Streets mikes up guitars is by using a couple of dynamic mics, a Shure 57 and a Sennheiser 421.  

Shure 57 and a Sennheiser 421

"I do sometimes try miking up further back but I generally find it starts making the amp sound very woody and roomy, which I don't like. If I want to add ambience to a guitar I'd rather do it at the mix, so normally I opt for close miking and if I want effects on the guitar I ask the guitar player to rummage through all the pedals and try and get it with them."

When working with bands Street believes that they should be able to choose their own sound and gives them a lot of creative control over their music. Street allows the bands to choose the different types of pedals and effects to use as well. Another reason he prefers guitarists to use their own pedals is because effects like distortion and delay go through the amp better. He believes this is easier than trying to re-create the effects through the mixing desk later on.
In terms of an acoustic guitar, Street usually tries out a number of different mics, ultimately he treats every studio session differently than the last one.

"I also like the Rat distortion pedal -- Graham uses that a lot -- and I like the small Boss chorus pedal. I don't like the big digital units because I think they lack warmth. I've been using some interesting patches on the Eventide 3000 Harmoniser, which is great for some way-out ambient sounds, but most of the time I do tend to use the Boss pedals and sometimes an SPX90 or 900 for chorusing. With bass guitars I tend to DI if I can get away with it, because all bass guitars are pretty much the same. If the strings are sounding really dull and it doesn't suit the song I get the bass player to put on some new strings so that the mid-zing really cuts through."

When it comes to recording vocals Street likes to use a Neumann 87 or 47. However sometimes he does like to use dynamic hand-held mics like a Shure 58. In general he finds it easier to record vocals with singers that he has known for a while.
Street uses live drums whenever possible, but he does sometimes use drum machines for example in Blurs song 'Girls and Boys'. But when he does record drums he uses a Shure 57 on the snare and 421s on the toms, then setting up ambient mics around the room. This arrangement of microphones is good to use because it reduces the amount of spill from other parts of the drum kit and improves the quality of sound of the recording.

The full article on Stephen Street can be found below.
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994_articles/jul94/stephenstreet.html 

Comparisons to Pulp

Pulp were a band that were overshadowed by The Smiths originally, but when the hit ‘Common People’ was wrote they developed into a more well-known and successful band. Pulp are often compared to The Smiths because ‘Common People’ covers topics similar to what smiths record covered including, juxtaposition of wealth and privilege, also emotional and financial destitution.

Pulp recorded ‘Common People’ with engineer David Nicholas at Townhouse’s studio 2. At the time the studio was equipped with a 72-channel SSL G+, with two Sony PCM3348digital multi track machines, TAD main monitors and NS10 near fields.

The way Nicholas records drums is slightly different to Street because he uses different mics and techniques.
"There were Sennheiser MD421s on the toms and the kick drum, AKG C414s in X-Y stereo for overheads, Shure SM57s top and bottom on the snare, an AKG C451 with the 20dB pad on the hi-hats and, for room mics, a crusty mono ribbon with a pair of Neumann 67s up against the wall.”

These techniques would provide a higher quality of sound and provide less spill and background noise.

Urei 1176 compressor

For recording guitars the microphones that were used were a Beyer M201 and a Neuman FET 47. Nicholas then adds Urei 1176 compressor, but tends not to add any EQ, which is different to the way The Smiths recorded and edited their guitars. This creates more of an acoustic reflection with out the use of EQ.
“Then, for the bass, I tended to use valve DIs and the preamp out of the head; never straight out of the guitar.”

Overall, creatively Pulp are very similar to The Smiths writing about similar topics and ideas. Although when it comes to recording techniques and overall production of the music they are two different bands.

Comparisons to My Recordings 
There are similarities between my recordings and the classic album/track that have been covered in this article.
Quality of sound
The difference between the quality of my recordings and The Smiths Meat is Murder is high because on my recordings I did not add any effects such as EQ and compression. Where as The Smiths recordings have effects on the instruments to produce a higher quality of sound. If I had the opportunity to add effects to my recordings I may have been able to improve the quality of my recordings.
Acoustic Reflection
A lot of my recordings are open-air recordings, for instance I recorded a acoustic guitar in a classroom which contained a lot of acoustic reflection. For that practice recording the extra reverb from the room made the recording a lot better. In general though I tried not to rely on to much acoustic reflection for the recordings. The Smiths album would not have contained much, if any acoustic reflection because The Smiths would have recorded their album in a professional studio. A studio contains a lot of installation, meaning there is very little acoustic reflection.
Absorption
The Smiths recorded all of their albums in a professional studio, and in these studios absorption would have been present. Absorption helps prevent acoustic reflection and natural reverb that isn't  required with a professional recording.The recordings that I did in the studio would have had absorption present meaning that there would not have been much acoustic reflection present in my recordings.The vocals that I recorded in the studio would not have had any acoustic reflection because the pop shield would have served as absorption.
Resonance
The Smiths album contains resonance on every song, and that is because they wrote about hard hitting subjects that caused controversy. But there are other songs that cover topics such as unrequited love, which are more emotional and personal to the listener. So even though The Smiths are not technical singers, they are still able to bring resonance to their songs. For my recordings I did not really think about the resonance, but the vocal recordings contain some resonance because the performer chose the song they wanted to sing, so they put emotion into their performance, creating a resonance similar to The Smiths.
Background Noise 
Similar to The Smiths I was not completely trained in using the equipment or an experienced performer when playing the instruments. However despite this factor a lot of the recordings that were done did not contain any background noise. There are three open-air recordings when I recorded the glockenspiel that do have some background noise, but that is because they were recorded outside and the wind affected the recordings. The Smiths recorded their album in a studio, even though background noise is still possible a lot of it would have been edited out in the mixing and mastering of the recordings.
Recording Expression
I believe that my final recordings do contain expression, as the performers that I used were experienced enough to provide a high quality recording. For instance on my final piano recording, the performer picked the song they wanted to do and because of this they provided my expression in the performance.
Recording emotion
When recording vocals it was very difficult to try and portray emotion, firstly because I only needed to record about a 30 second clip of each instrument. This left very little time to portray much emotion into the performance. The Smiths album contains a lot of raw emotion, this is due to the fact that The Smiths wrote their own songs, which covered strong emotional topics, automatically giving the recording a lot more emotion and depth. For the vocal I used an AKG C100s condenser microphone for recording the vocals, I worked with two other people on the recording, one of them providing the vocals and the other helping me set up the microphone and taking pictures of the set up. With The Smiths there only would have been the band present and Stephen Street who helped produce the album. As a group we performed well together, we did have slight issues with the levels at the start of the process, however once I had adjusted the gain the levels were fine and we had a successful vocal recording.
Involving the listener
On the album itself there isn't any points where the listener is directly involved e.g. call and response moments. However the emotion and expression that is portrayed through this album is enough to have an impact on the listener. My recordings also do not involve the listener, that is because I was focused on getting a high quality recording.

Bibliography

I skimmed and scanned three secondary sources to find out more about The Smiths album Meat is Murder and how they recorded this album. Also including different techniques and microphones.

I annotated these articles and found out the following information:

·      The Smiths wrote and produced the album by themselves, with the assistance of engineer/producer Stephen Street

·      Album is ranked 296 on Rolling Stone magazines list of The 500 Greatest albums of All Time

·      The Smiths used production characteristics/recording techniques used by Stephen Street

·      The band Pulp became more mainstream with ‘Common People’, the sound of the track was inspired by The Smiths

The purpose of my research is to find out about classic albums and how they were recorded, produced and engineered. The reason I believe The Smiths album ‘Meat is Murder’ is a classic album is because it helped influence a generation and helped create and expand the Madchester scene.

Secondary Source	Relevance to my project
Sound on Sound magazine article: Stephen Street	The main section of this article that is relevant to my article is the different production and microphone techniques that were used in the recording process of the album.
YouTube video: The Smiths: complete Old Grey Whistle Test (1985 & 1986) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6snT_uEpxZU	This video highlights the process of recording the album in The Smiths own words. It also presents the information in another format. The video also contains live performances of some of the tracks from the album.
Website Source: Wikipedia, Meat is Murder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smiths	This website source is relevant because it provides more background information to The Smiths as a band and how they started out. It also gives further details about the track listing and more details about how the album was recorded.
Pop music: The text book	Chapter 6 of this book contained a section on The Smiths. The section was relevant to my article because it explains about Morrissey writing style and the influences behind the album.
YouTube video: The Smiths- Meat is Murder (1985) Full Album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QTL8gYdc8M Magazine article: Ten acts that clearly worship The Smiths Website source (The Quietus)- 30 years on: The Smiths Meat is Murder Revisited http://thequietus.com/articles/17340-the-smiths-meat-is-murder-review	It was essential to include this video in my article because it was important for people to be able to listen to the full album when reading the rest of the article on the production characteristics and microphone techniques. This magazine article is useful to my article because it highlights acts that were influenced by The Smiths. I can use these acts such as Pulp to compare their music to The Smiths and see how they influenced them.   This review of the album is really relevant and useful to my article because it gives an in depth view of how The Smiths recorded the album, the influences and writing behind the album.