#Soundresearch No. 15 - One mic - Zmelkoow

The recording with one microphone continues. An important detail in this recording is that the bass player Žare spun the light for the song and you can see drummer Koščak in the mirror.   I have produced Zmelkoow outside of #Soundresearch several times. Some things turned out fine, while others I butchered - especially when I wanted, during a certain period, to get something different from them than what they are.

In the recording of "Ribica," I changed the drummer's rhythm and playing style, seeking precision and sound. And as if that wasn't enough, I wanted to make a hit. To create a track that would be played on radios and have the best sound. What a cool guy I am. Well, things didn't turn out quite as expected. The recording came out very sterile, with terrible sound. Because I approached the project with the goal of making a hit, it led me to not listen to who the guys really are and, more importantly, who I am. Prioritizing radios and everyone else over myself and the band means selling out and doing something that you are not, something you don't even possess. You aren't following your intuition but building on hope, a pattern of what you wish it to be. Just like in some families where men expect a boy to be born, and women expect a girl. Not a person as such. The recording of "Ribica" with Zmelkoow ended by capturing everything but the energy.

However, when we recorded with one microphone in this #Soundreserch and, let's say, "for fun," one of the best recordings, in my opinion, I ever made for this group was created. Interestingly, my mind struggles to accept that something done "for fun" and recorded with one microphone can be professional and good. What do I see in this recording? I see the band playing, the blending of sound, how each instrument intertwines with the others. For those exploring recordings, here is a great example of natural reverberation, how the vocals are upfront, how the guitar is in the space, etc. For those who are "obsessed" with sound (which I am trying to cure myself out of), the sound of the flute is how I have always wanted it to be. Yet, the trick is not solely in the sound of the flute itself but in the sonic background that helps the flute sound that way. So space, sound, and supportive people are crucial.

Recording with one microphone trains you to sense a good take immediately, learn to perceive the band's and recording’s energy quickly, and read the essence of the song. Not what the song should be but what is good about it, how it breathes. This is how I experience my journeys, peeling off layer after layer like an onion every year, coming to new realizations.

In this case, we encountered an obstacle: the instruments were very loud, so much that the singer could barely hear himself while singing. While the mix ratio was excellent, it was very challenging during the performance since the musician is used to hearing himself more than what is in the actual mix. In the following experiments, we started to solve this by adding an additional microphone and monitor that was used solely for monitoring.

Let's conclude today's writing with the possibility of discovering results in the way Zmelkoow say in this song: "and what I see, maybe it just seems" .

To be continued...

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YggFrQn2R_Y

#Soundresearch št. 15 - One mic - Zmelkoow

Snemanje z enim mikrofonom se nadaljuje. Pomemben podatek pri tem snemanju je, da je Žare Basista pri komadu zavrtel luč in da bobnarja Koščaka lahko vidite v ogledalu. ;)) Zmelkoowe sem izven #Soundresearch-a že večkrat produciral. Nekatere stvari so nastale v redu, druge pa sem zelo razmesaril - in to takrat, ko sem v določenem obdobju želel iz njih dobiti nekaj drugega kot to kar so.

Na posnetku “Ribica” sem bobnarju spreminjal ritem in način igranja, iskal sem točnost in zvok. In kot, da to ni bilo dovolj, sem želel narediti hit. Narediti skladbo, da bo vrtena na radijih in da bo moj zvok najboljši. Kakšna faca sem jaz. No, tu se je malo drugače izšlo. Posnetek je prišel zelo sterilen, z obupnim zvokom. Ker sem k projektu pristopil s ciljem, da bom naredil uspešnico, me je pripeljalo do tega, da nisem poslušal kdo v resnici fantje so in kar je še pomembnejše, kdo sploh sem jaz. Dati prednost radijem in vsem ostalim pred samim seboj in bendom, pomeni se prodati in delati nekaj kar nisi ti, nekaj kar sploh nimaš. Ne delaš na občutku ampak gradiš na nekem upanju, vzorcu, kaj bi rad, da bi to bilo. Tako kot v nekaterih družinah moški pričakujejo, da se bo rodil fant, ženske pa, da bo punčka. Ne pa oseba kot taka. Posnetek “Ribica” z Zmelkoowi se je končal tako, da sem posnel vse razen energije.

Ko smo pa v tem #Soundreserchu snemali na en mikrofon in recimo temu “za hec”, je nastal, za moj okus, eden boljših posnetkov, ki sem jih tej skupini kadarkoli naredil. Zanimivo je, da moj um ne more sprejeti tega, da je nekaj “za hec” in posneto na en mikrofon lahko profesionalno in dobro. Kaj jaz vidim v tem posnetku? Vidim igro benda, vidim mešanje zvoka, kako se vsak inštrument prepleta z drugim. Za vse tiste, ki raziskujete snemanja, je tu super primer naravna uporaba reverba, kako je vokal spredaj, kako je kitara v prostoru itd. Za tiste, ki ste “mahnjeni” na zvok (od česar se jaz zdravim), je tu zvok flavte tak, kot bi ga jaz vedno želel imeti. A vendar - trik ni v samem zvoku flavte, ampak v zvočnem ozadju, ki flavti pomaga, da tako zveni. Torej prostor, zvok in ljudje, ki te podpirajo.

Na snemanjih z enim mikrofonom se natreniraš dobiti občutek, da takoj prepoznaš dober tejk, se naučiš zaznavati energijo benda in posnetka ter hitro prebrati esenco skladbe. Ne, kakšna skladba bi morala biti, ampak kaj ima dobrega, kako diha. Tako nekako doživljam ta moja potovanja, ki se kot čebula vsako leto lupijo plast po plast in prihajam do novih spoznanj.

V tem primeru smo naleteli na eno oviro: inštrumenti so bili zelo glasni, tako zelo, da se je pevec zelo slabo slišal medtem, ko je pel. Za mix je bilo razmerje sicer odlično, za izvedbo pa zelo težko, saj je glasbenik vajen sebe slišat več, kot ga je v dejanskem mixu. V naslednjih eksperimentih smo to začeli reševati z dodatnim mikrofonom in monitorjem, ki je bil uporabljen samo za monitoring.

Zaključimo današnjo besedo z možnostjo odkrivanja rezultatov na način kot pravijo v tej skladbi Zmelkoow: “in to kar vidim, mogoče se mi samo zdi” .

Se nadaljuje…

Editor: Rok Rokson

AEA Ribbon Mics