Recording

The final part is the scariest of all.

Mixing and Recording.

I will admit it here: I have no idea what I'm doing.


My college education was more centered on the theory and writing of music than the production of it.  We had a music technology course... and I learned how to paste a sound track into iMovie.  Cutting edge stuff, there.

To my college's credit, they did do a huge revamp to the technology courses my last year, when it was too late for me to really get into the courses with all the other work I was doing.  It was a tempting idea to stay an extra semester, but my wallet and intentions to marry my fiance sooner rather than later said no.

Suffice to say I'm lost when it comes to mixing, dealing with things like 'channels' and 'ports,' and how to get different hardware things working with software things.  I consider myself lucky to know that such a thing as a pre-amp exists; I may one day learn to use one.

Please don't ask me about filters and equalizers.  I think I learned a little bit about using panning to seperate instrument sounds, and the need to filter sounds to provide space between instruments (the cello part doesn't need a lot of high frequencies that muddy up the sound of the flute) but I'm at a loss on how to properly adjust or judge how to do that.

I'm sure someone more experienced in music production can tell I'm a novice, but until I can get some decent education and experience, I'm working on a "this sounds good" basis. That annoys me for reasons I've talkabout about with theory.  Writing music can be done on a "this sounds good" premise, but theory helps you write faster and trouble shoot problems.  I don't have the theory background I need for mixing music, so if something seems wrong, I'm stuck fiddling with nobs and hoping to get lucky.

The only external hardware outside of my computer is my USB mic, its stand, and a pop blocker.   Oh, and some cheap studio headphones.   I have to buy cheap ones because my cat will eat through headphone cords;  I've probably spent close to a hundred dollars over the years replacing headphones.

Recording myself singing has taught me one big lesson:  I would have been a much better singer in school if I had recorded myself more often.

My first attempts at recording myself were awful.  So very awful.  Suddenly, all the things my voice teachers had been trying to tell me made so much more sense: the need to hit a pitch immediately.  Start the consonant before the beat or you'll come in late.   The struggle to keep an even tone.  I could hear every single mistake I made.

Lady by the Lake was recorded one single phrase at a time over the course of several days.  Now I was attempting to record myself singing in harmony.

At least this time, I knew how to set it up.  I had two tracks per voice I could record one phrase, switch to the other track and sing the next phrase without worrying about clipping phrase #1, then switch back.  The problem came when I tried the harmony.

Singing with another live human being, there's a sense of give and take and a lot of subtle nuances to keep you in line.  Singing with a recording meant learning to be consistent on both takes.

I had trouble initially with the word "flows" because of the 's' sound at the end.  I could not get myself to match up on the 's' without it sounding very strong on the recording.  Then I remembered a trick we used once in choir when we had the same problem: our director instructed half the choir to drop the "s" at the end of the word. So, when I recorded the melody, I sang "the blood flows," but the harmony was, "the blood flow."  It worked. I no longer had multiple "s" sounds all over the place and it was a softer "s."

I do wish I had the time and money for more voice lessons; I'm sure I'd appreciate them a lot more now.  I have an okay voice, but not a wonderful one, and I would record more of my music if I thought I could do the vocal part justice.  I adore listening to how smooth Greyfoo sings, or how whimsical Oxhorn is, and wish I could be like them!  I intentionally wrote Silence of Silvermoon to play to my strengths, and I still cringe at some of what I hear.

I also wish I had a dedicated practice space that I could work in.  I can't do any practicing or recording at home unless no one else is around due to the constant noise of televisions, fans, etc.  Or the embarrassment of having my mother constantly comment on how I'm sounding, even if she's trying to be supportive; I can't stand people listening to me practice.   I'd like to experiment with different sounds or character voices, but there's no way I want anyone else to hear that!

So at long last, here's the final results.