Skiffle Recording

Q: How many people are in the band?

A: Thirteen

Q: What are the instruments that you have to record?

A: Drums, tea chest bass, guitar, piano, vocal, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, kazoo, washboard, tambourine, trumpet, violin.

Q: What is the song you are recording?

A: 'Mumma Don't Allow'

Q: What is the song structure?

A: Verses throughout the song with individual solo sections

Q: Are the band playing live together?

A: Yes

Q: Will The Band Want to overdub guitar parts of vocals?

A: Yes, backing vocals

Q: Does the band want a guide vocal?

A: No

Q: Where are you going to position the instruments?

A: The drum kit will be in the secluded 'drum room' with the door open, as to get some intentional bleed to capture the raw sound of a Skiffle recording. Skiffle is usually performed live, so it is a good idea to capture the atmosphere of a skiffle recording. The guitars will be on the right hand side of the room, propped up on guitar amp stands and not too close to the wall, to avoid phasing. The bass guitar and piano will be placed on the left side of the room to create some space between the instruments to hopefully get some natural sounding bleed, rather than direct interference with all of the instruments. The ukulele and banjo will be facing each other in order to capture them both with one guitar between the two, the same apples to the mandolin and a guitar. The vocals will be in the centre front of the room, as they will be the person the studio will be communicating with, as well as this, the vocals and the centre of the mix. The trumpet will be closer to the front, further away from the singer to avoid bleed as a trumpet can have a very strong signal when recording due to the trumpet's acoustics.

Q: What miking techniques will you use?

A: I will use the Glynn Johns method for the drums. The Glynn Johns method makes sure the overhead mics are in phase with each other, this is very useful for the recording as we do not want any frequencies to be cancelled out. This method, also allows for each part of the drum kit to be picked up by the microphone, helping keep a balanced drum mix.

For the guitar and mandolin I shall be using a ribbon microphone between the two instruments on axis to both sound sources. This allows me to effectively capture two instruments with one microphone.

For the ukulele and banjo, I shall, again, be using a ribbon microphone between the two instruments on axis to both sound sources. This allows me to effectively capture two instruments with one microphone.

For the piano I thought it would a good idea to use clip microphones to record from the strings, as it would give a raw sounding tone which is familiar amongst pianos in skiffle recordings, it will also get a good signal from the close proximity of the sound source to the microphones.

As for the vocals I shall place the microphone on axis to the sound source to receive a strong signal.

trumpet microphones I will place them on axis to the sound source to receive a strong signal. The microphone distance to the trumpet will vary depending on how loud the player will play the instrument, as I want a good signal, however, I do not want to overload the microphone.

Q: What microphones will you use?

For the overhead microphones I will use two Samson CO2 microphones for each side of the Glynn Johns method. I chose this microphone, because, it is a condenser microphone, therefore, is more sensitive to sound sources, and since the overheads are further away, the microphone will receive a strong signal coming from the kit, despite the distance. The Samson also has a cardioid polar pattern. This pattern suits the use of the microphone, as it will be placed above and to the side of the drum kit and will need a wider range to receive the sound of the whole kit. The cardioid pattern also reduces some bleed from the other instruments, as it does not pick up sound from behind it, therefore, the drum kit will be focused on whilst reducing bleed from other instruments.

For the kick drum and the bass guitar i shall use a AKG D112. The reason for this, is because the frequency response of the microphone really suits the frequency range of the instruments. This is because the microphone has a boost at 100Hz which really favours the lower frequencies of these instrument. The microphone also has a boost at around 3kHz, this really fits the bass drums natural sounding 'crunch'. The slighter higher frequencies that creep in.

I shall be using a Shure SM58 for the vocals. I will be using it for the vocals due to the fact that the polar pattern of this microphone is a cardioid, this suits a vocalist as vocalists tend to move their head when singing, due to the cardioid polar pattern, the microphone will pic up a wider range. It is also fitting, as it will not pick up much from behind, this eliminates recordings of reflections of the wall, as the singer will be placed closer to the front of the recording studio. The frequency response suits both the vocalist as the frequency response focuses mostly on the mids, as well as covering some lows and boosting around the 7kHz frequencies. This is perfect for the the vocals as vocals usually sit within the mid frequencies, with detail added in higher notes. I wanted a microphone that had a good frequency coverage, and the Shure SM58 gave me that.

For the acoustic piano I used AKG C518 M clip on microphones. The main reason I chose to use these clip on mics is because I wanted a strong signal from the piano with next to no bleed. Therefore, I used clip on microphones, and shut the piano lid down upon the mics, this really isolated the instrument. The microphone also has a very large range in which it responds to frequencies, and it does so with an incline towards the higher frequencies. With an instrument so varied in dynamic range, i thought these mics were perfect! I placed a microphone in the lower end of the piano, mids, and highs, the frequency response gives me the ability to record these frequency ranges separately, capturing the depth of the lower frequencies, and the pinch of the higher frequencies.

For the guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo I shall be using an Audio Technica AT 2050. I used this microphone as it gives you a choice of polar pattern, for the way I was setting up the instruments, i chose to use the figure of either pattern, this is because, I wanted to capture the instruments, but avoid bleed from the sides. Since the microphone is a figure of eight, the microphone will not pick up from its sides. Also the AT2050 microphone has a frequency response that favours the mid frequency, with a slight boost at 10kHz. This is useful, as the mid frequencies cover all of the instruments that I need to record, and keeps the bright sounding tone for these stringed instruments that favour themselves really well to a skiffle recording.

For the tambourine, washboard, and kazoo, I used Samson CO2 microphones. This is because these instruments tend to be quieter in comparison to other instruments within the band. Since a CO2 is a condenser microphone, this means it is more sensitive to sound, therefore, will pick up more of the instrument's sound waves. As well as this, CO2 microphones have a cardioid microphone, and so cover a wide range, but not from behind, giving the instruments a slight isolation and reduction to bleed, however, not too much. The frequency response of these mics cover a wide range of the frequency spectrum, therefore, it is perfect for the usage of these not so common instruments.

Finally, for the trumpet I used a Sontronics Sigma ribbon microphone. I chose this microphone as before the recording we talked to the trumpet player, and he informed us that he would like to use a ribbon mic as he preferred the sound of the recording. With this in mind, i chose the Sontronics Sigma. The sontronics sigma is a ribbon microphone, and has a figure of eight polar pattern, which picks up signal from the front and the back, but, not from the sides. This was great as we had the trumpet player face sideways to the drums and guitars as they were the closest to him, this meant that the microphone was less likely to pick up bleed from the sideways direction. As well as this, the frequency response of the sigma is very well rounded, picking up a wide array of frequencies, and slightly dropping off on the higher end of the frequencies. I thought this fit the trumpet perfectly as sometimes the extremely higher aggressive notes on a trumpet can be ear piercing, and unpleasant, so if I can curb that at the recording, it would mean I wouldn't have to fix it later, and fixing a problem is never as good as not making the problem in the first place.

Overall:

Overall, the skiffle recording went really well, we took around 6 takes and the final recording was the recording the band thought was their best. If i were to do this recording again, I would mic up every single instrument and see if the mix sounds better with stronger signals from each instrument, rather then using one mic for a couple of instruments.