Recently a good friend of mine, Monique, and someone who I have done extensive work with in the past (on tracks like this and this) expressed interest in recording a solo album of originals she has written and asked if I would be interested in recording, mixing and mastering these songs. Of course, I said yes.
There is no deadline required so I have begun to slowly plan out the nitty gritty of the project and begin communicating with the artist to do some meet-ups in a studio to flesh out some basics and decide on a direction in which she will want the album to head. As I have no real idea of the genre of tracks that will be recorded I have used what knowledge I have of working with Monique in the past to sort out equipment details and begin to research some techniques I may use in a recording session.
The first area I have been researching is something that I know will be included in the song, vocals. From past experience, I know Monique has a relatively soft voice, so I am more than likely going to be using a studio condenser microphone so as to pick up the real intimate details of her voice. I will more than likely be using the Rode NT2-A for my recording as it’s honestly one of my favourite microphones, however I might also grab another couple of microphones just to see which produces the cleanest sound at the end. Microphone positioning is also extremely important, especially in a scenario where the artist isn’t the loudest. Therefore, I will position the mic fairly close to Monique and having her facing mostly front on, with a pop filter ensuring the vocals will be as clean as possible. The polar-position of the mic will stay in cardioid as I have no real interest in receiving signal from anywhere other than her mouth. This image provides a general sense of the setup I will be using to record vocals:
Image Retrieved from Musformation.com
As an artist, Monique feels most comfortable with a guitar in her hands so I also assume that this will be the centre-piece instrument of her tracks. I read a great little blog about some of the techniques that can be used to effectively record acoustic guitar. I believe I’m going to keep it simple and use a simple spaced pair of microphones to record the guitar in a similar fashion to this:
Images Retrieved from Cakewalk.com
This setup will allow me to setup a microphone that will pick up the sound of the guitar being played as well as the chord changes to again align with the really intimate sounds that Monique usually creates.
So far, these are the only two pieces I have begun to research as they are the only things I know are practically set in stone and will definitely be in her tracks. I am meeting up with her in a studio this upcoming Sunday afternoon (19/11/17) so will post an update on the direction of the project once that is done.
References:
Gonzalez, D. (2017). Cakewalk – Knowledge Base – 10 Microphone Placement Techniques for Acoustic Guitar. Cakewalk.com. Retrieved 14 December 2017, from https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013311/10-Microphone-Placement-Techniques-for-Acoustic-Guitar
Connor 