2012-2013 SHURE INCORPORATEDFANTASTIC SCHOLASTIC COMPETITION

TEAM MEMBERS:TREVOR FEDELE

PATRICK LINEHAN

JOSHUA PLEETER

BRENDAN WILLIAMS

JOSEPH YONKERS

FACULTY ADVISOR:SILAS BROWN

Song Name:!! ! ! ! Soviet Union

Song Composer:! ! ! ! Sean McVerrySong Copyright Owner:! ! ! Sean McVerry Recording Copyright Owner:! ! Sean McVerryPerformers: ! ! ! ! Coyote Campus

Coyote Campus: (left-to-right): Andrew Russell (Flugel Horn, Trumpet, background vocals)Andrew Cowie (Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Baritone Sax,), Jonathan Sacca (guitar, background vocals) , Sean McVerry (Lead Vocals, Background vocals, Piano, Music Box), Dean Torrey (Upright Bass), Brendan Caroselli (Drums)

We chose to work with Sean McVerry and Coyote Campus. Sean and the band are all Purchase students and well known on campus as high-energy, dynamic performers. Because of their experience performing regularly together, we felt they would give us a tight, well-organized tracking session combined with great live energy. Also, we are all fans of their songs and creative arrangements.

For the recording of ‘Soviet Union’, Sean chose to have all acoustic instruments. We agreed that this best suited the energy of the song. It also offered a wide palette of colors and textures to show off the mics we had at our disposal.

We are most proud of our creative decision that EVERY signal, including ambiences, in the recording and mix of this song passed through Shure mics. This means we used no synthetic reverb. We are fortunate that Purchase has a number of ‘accidental’ acoustic gems throughout the campus and we enjoy taking full advantage of them. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to show off the incredible depth and resolution that can be captured through these mics and how much it adds to the dynamics of a song.

Parts were all either recorded live in an ambient space where the reverberation was captured through ambient mics (all vocals, winds, and brass) and / or were played out into various acoustic spaces with the ‘reverb’ recorded back on new tracks and mixed in to taste (additional passes for vocals, wind and brass pads). We also took an impulse response of one space in order give us some extra control in the mix as needed.

Tracking - Dining Hall Stairwell play-outs (our reverb chamber):

Our favorite acoustic space on campus is a large, 3 story stairwell in the main dining hall. All walls are made of various kinds of brick - stone and concrete block. One side of the stairwell has a circular shape and the other side is rectangular. The ceiling has a dome-shaped, glass skylight in the center. The highly reflective building material combined with irregular wall angles and a ceiling height of 40 feet creates a dense reverb time of more than 3 seconds.

We played out the flute and flugelhorn parts, music box (reverb not used in mix), and lead and background vocals (original tracking of everything detailed below). We set up a pair of KRK Rockit 5s as our source spaced about 4 feet apart at the lowest point of the stairwell.

We chose a spaced pair of 181s in omni up one flight. They were about 12 feet away from the source and were about a foot and a half from each other.We also had a second pair of mics - KSM-44s in omni- 2 flights up and more than 25 feet from the source with a wider spacing of about 3 and a half feet.

We also took an impulse response of this space in case we wanted to have some more mix control before striking for the night.

Tracking - In order of song entrance:(Instruments tracked in Purchase Studio A or Music Building stairwell)

Music Box:Sean brought a tiny, hand-cranked music box to one of our sessions. The music box came with blank staff paper strips for you to punch out your own melody for the box to play. Sean had punched out the melody of the song, and when he played it for the group our jaws dropped. The sound of the music box was so delicate and intriguing that it inspired us to rework the introduction of the song.To enhance the sound of the music box, we held it firmly to the soundboard of a grand piano with the sustain pedal depressed. We then miked up the piano with a spaced pair of Beta 181s with omni capsules. We placed the mics very close to the strings (and therefor the soundboard) - approximately 3 inches above them. They were spaced 28 inches apart on either side of the music box but a bit further inside the piano.

We first experimented with placing the mics under the piano to get closer to the exposed soundboard but found that in fact the Beta 181s gave us a perfect balance of music box and resonance in the final position. The resonance of the piano boosted the volume of the little music box, and the ringing open strings created an ethereal, floating reverb. It also amplified the sound of the crank turning and the paper sliding through the guides but we decided that this was part of the sound of the music box and added to the effect.

There is no EQ or reverb on the Music Box in the mix. We used some mild compression in the mix to increase the resonance.

Lead Vocal:

After much testing of microphones we decided upon a KSM 44 in cardioid pattern with 80Hz roll off for out main vocal microphone. We placed our singer Sean at the bottom of a stairwell in the music building right outside our Studio B. The stairwell is about 20 feet high. We placed him right at the bottom with a gobo behind him. We then placed a spaced pair of KSM 141’s about 6 feet apart at the top of the stairwell. All microphones were being sent into a Vintech 473 preamp. After making sure the pair was phase coherent with the main microphone, we started tracking. The spaced pair made for a very cool reverb. It has a much shorter RT60 than the Dining Hall stairwell - about 1.2 seconds - and has stronger early reflections. it sounds more like a large room and adds a ‘live in a club’ sense of space.

Upright Bass:

To capture the fatness and articulation of the upright bass we suspended a KSM 141 in omni mode in the bridge of the bass using rubber bands. The mic was suspended pointing straight up but because it is omni it picks up a lot of body resonance as well as articulation from the bridge.We also used a spaced pair of Beta 181s with omni capsules for extra depth and dimension.

We tracked an additional KSM 44 positioned just above the body pointing at the fingerboard and a KSM313 ribbon positioned lower near the left-side f-hole and bridge. We found that only the KSM 141 and Beta 181s were needed in the mix.

From this tracking session we learned that a close pair of spaced omnis (or any stereo mic technique) added to mono spot mics gave the instrument a depth and dimension that we couldn’t get from just mono spots.

Drums:

Drums were tracked in the live room of Studio A. We set the drum kit up facing diagonally into the room, offset a bit toward the back left corner. We found that in this location almost all instruments were creating a great amount of projection and the room was best supporting the source. An all maple Pearl drum kit was used for tracking. We mic’d the kit keeping in mind that the drummer is primarily a jazz drummer and the song has some nice jazz elements in it. Knowing the drummer had great dynamics and control over his playing, this allowed us to get great full kit sounds out of the overheads and room microphones. The Beta 181’s with the hyper-cardioid capsule were our first choice for overheads. The ‘recorder-man’ technique worked exceptionally well for our overhead configuration. This is a technique where one overhead is placed to the drummers left and the other is placed over their right shoulder. We made this decision in an effort to get a full kit sound (not cymbal heavy). The recorder-man set up gave us a great stereo image of the drum kit and captured the body of the drums that some overhead setups lack.

The Beta181s in ‘recorderman’ position

The Beta 52 worked quite well as our kick drum microphone. It was placed about 2 inches into the kick drum port and angled at the shell of the drum slightly. A KSM32 was also placed outside the kick to give us an alternate.

The Beta57 and KSM32 served as two microphones pointed at the center of the snare drum, over the rim. A SM57 was also pointed at the center of the shell to pick up some tone from the shell and get some bite that a bottom snare mic would normally have.

For the toms we tested out a few different options, we chose the Beta 98 on the rack tom and the SM7b on the floor tom.

Lastly, to have a an interesting option we places the KSM313 about 2 inches over the kick drum on the beater side. The darker side of the ribbon was facing the floor and the brighter side was picking up some cymbals and snare bite. The Ribbon also gave a nice sub feel the the kick drum for some added fatness. We were able to use the null-point of the figure 8 pattern to reduce the snare in this mic.

Piano:

Piano was tracked in the live room of Studio A. The piano was located in the back left corner of the room with the opening facing out into the live room. The song we recorded was heavily piano driven. As a team we decided the piano had to have a big full sound but we also want some options to give it a unique sound and place in the mix. We started out with two stereo sets of microphones spaced on the soundboard angled up slightly towards the lowest octave. Our two sets were the KSM 44’s in omni. and the KSM 313. Both of these sets gave us great results. To add some dimension we added the Beta 181’s with the hyper-cardioid capsule on the stereo bar. They were at the edge of the piano where it curves in about two feet off the piano but facing into the room. We still were not fully satisfied with the sound so we took the lid completely off, which ended up clearing up the sound and giving us the big and open sound we envisioned.

KSM44s and KSM313 spaced pairs as piano close mics.

6-String Acoustic Guitar:

Our instrument was a Taylor 114CE with Martin Silk and Steel strings which we located in a sweet spot of the room. We had our artist walk around while strumming until we all agreed on the best spot. We have consistently found that the same location works for most instruments but continue to test the room with each new scenario.

We tried 12 string acoustic but there seemed to be an intonation issue. We also tried 6 string electric guitar but it just wasn’t the right sound for this arrangement so we had Sean make a hybrid part for the 6 string acoustic and it came out just as we hoped it would. We had a small array of mics set up for the sound check of which we kept five.

The primary sound came from a KSM44 in cardioid pointed at the 12th fret, about 18” away, combined with the 181’s in omni, which were about four feet back in a spaced pair about two feet apart.

The other mic that we decided sounded appropriate for some glue was the KSM313 ribbon mic right next to the 44 aiming at the 12th fret. We used the back side because we wanted to keep this as bright as we could.

Winds and Brass:

Coyote Campus has two band members who are instrument doublers - one plays wind instruments (Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Baritone Sax) and the other plays brass (Trumpet, and Flugelhorn).

We needed to create a tracking plan that reflected what the role of each instrument was in the arrangement, who their parts interacted with primarily, and also respected the fact that the same person was playing many different parts.

We first tried tracking them in the live room of Studio A. However, we found that we got a sound we were happier with (and that the musicians were happier playing) in the stairwell. They got great feedback from the space and we got to capture a real ambience live.

Flute and Flugelhorn:Flute and Flugelhorn were tracked together. Their texture is more of a pad in this song so we made sure that they blended well in the room mics with the intention of using them to position these instruments deeper in the mix.

We used a KSM 32 on flute at a 45 degree angle aimed at key holes about 7 inches awayand a KSM 313 on flugelhorn pointed at the bell, with the null pointed at the flute, about 14 inches away. Room/ambient mics were a spaced pair up a flight of stairs angled slightly down towards the source. They were KSM 44s in omni about 25 feet from source.

Baritone Sax (tracked alone):A KSM313 and a KSM32 were used as close mics angled at the keyholes about 8 inches away. We found that the left side of this particular instrument (audience perspective) sounded best so we set the mics to the left of the bell. Room mics were kept the same as flute and flugelhorn (KSM 44s).

Clarinet and Trumpet (Tracked together - similar line harmonized):We used a Beta181 Hyper-Cardioid capsule on clarinet angled at the keyholes with the null towards the trumpet, 5 inches away.We chose a KSM313 for trumpet using the off axis null towards clarinet, 10 inches away. Room mics were kept the same as flute and flugelhorn (KSM44s).

Bass Clarinet (Tracked alone):We decided that the setup for the Baritone Sax was good starting point for the Bass Clarinet. A KSM32 and KSM313 were angled at key holes about 8 inches away, also to the left of the bell. Room mics were kept the same as flute and flugelhorn (KSM44)

Background Vocals:

There are two sets of Background vocals on Soviet Union. One during the bridge that Sean performed in multiple passes alone, and another at the end of the song performed by 3 band members and recorded at the same time.

For the layered background vocals heard during the bridge, Sean overdubbed several tracks to create a small choir of himself. He sang into a KSM 32 in the same music building stairwell that he recorded lead vocals in.

We later played the tracks as a stereo group into the Dining Hall stairwell on campus and recorded the resulting reverb.

The background vocal trio at the end of the track was performed by Sean and his bandmates gathered around a mid-side array of KSM 44 microphones. We chose to record this section in mid-side because it provides excellent spacial detail; you can almost “see” the singers in the stereo image.

Mixing:

We mixed this recording in ProTools 10HD set at 32-bit floating point and at the original sample rate of 96kHz.

Our first of three mix sessions was spent evaluating sounds and performances. We decided to set up a mix with most elements summing into their own busses which allowed us to ride elements in the mix more easily as well as apply some global EQ or compression as need be.Once we felt we had made the best basic balance and performance choices we proceeded with fader rides.

The goal all along was to create the most organic representation of the band’s performance energy. Their performance has tremendous dynamic range and color changes and they are all critical to the impact of the song. Our second mixing session was spent working on ‘the quartet’ - lead vocal, piano, bass, and drums which drives the shape of the song.

Our third mix session was spent working on the brass, wind, and background vocal parts as well as making sure the music box sat in the mix correctly.

One of our main goals was to use the Dining Hall and Music stairwell ambiences to drive the big climax of the song which was achieved with careful fader automation. We also added a delay plugin to the lead vocals. We increased and decreased the delay effect in order to give the vocals some more width and depth as the energy of the song expanded. We hope that as the energy increases the mix expands in at least 2 dimensions - front-to-back and left-to-right.

While we aren’t opposed to using what ever tool is needed to make something sound right, we found that with this project most tracks we more evocative when left very close to how they were tracked. We used modest amounts of EQ and compression on busses but we were happy to see that the sounds we got in tracking were generally translating with little manipulation.

However, Sean had a specific sound in mind for the background vocals - a lush and breathy sound that he had heard on some albums. We liked the concept and set about to create the sound he described. It has a processed quality to it - a high-frequency-only compression that seems almost impossible to create with EQ. Our Department Chair Peter Denenberg had described a technique using Dolby noise reduction units which involved passing a signal into the unit’s first stage (pre-emphasis that changes according to input level ) but not passing it through the noise reduction and EQ make-up circuits (de-emphasis). This meant that the high frequencies would be compressed and EQ’d in preparation for Noise Reduction that never occurred. It also meant that the high-frequency effect changed with the dynamics of the track. It gave us just the sound we were after so we printed the background vocal tracks through a hardware Dolby 361A Noise Reduction unit we have in studio A.

We liked the sound so much that we also passed our snare mix through the process as well.

Special thanks to:

*Shure for creating and continuing such a unique opportunity and your dedication to audio education.

*Sean McVerry and the members of Coyote Campus for your amazing performances and hard work.

*Chair Peter Denenberg - for your tireless time and valuable advice.

* Suzanne Farrin (Director) , Jerry Mitkowski (Piano Technician) and everyone at the Purchase COM for your support and enthusiasm.