Session Plan for Monday 12th May
In this session I will be recording from the electric Yamaha piano. I chose this because I was originally going to record from the acoustic piano that is present in the live room but I didn't like its tonality. I will accomplish this by connecting the piano to an amp and recording from that using a SM57 dynamic microphone, which will be placed a bout 15cm away from the amp (pointing directly at it). I chose the SM57 because it has a high SPL (Sound Pressure Levels) and can cope with recording from an Amp at that distance.
From the above frequency response chart (with a response ranging from around 50 Hz to 20 KHz) we can see that it emulates the human ear in a way, perceiving higher frequencies louder than their physical volume. This way I can capture a realistic recording of the piano.
I will use two AKG C1000s overhead microphones and place them about 7 foot in the air above the speaker to capture the ambience of the room. These are suitable microphones as they are condenser microphones and can operate in super cardioid mode, allowing me to use them at a distance from the sound source.
As we can see by the above frequency response chart, the AKG C1000's are suitable for recording piano (with a response ranging from around 50 Hz to 20 KHz), capturing the broad range of frequencies of the piece, which starts on D3 and stretches up about 2 octaves, and ends with multiple low pitch D notes. I recognise this as an unusual method of recording from the electric piano as DI would have been a more preferable way. However to fill a grading criteria I required more audio to be recorded from a microphone. This will fulfil the grading criteria in which I have to record two sources with a microphone (alongside the vocals that we recorded in Mat Quinn’s session). The original plan was to use the actual piano in the live room but I much prefer the timbre and tonality of the Yamaha Electric piano. For this session I am going to need two studio assistants to help set up and maintain the equipment and an engineer to operate Pro Tools and the main desk. The session will commence at 3:30pm and is planned to end at 5:30pm.
I will use two AKG C1000s overhead microphones and place them about 7 foot in the air above the speaker to capture the ambience of the room. These are suitable microphones as they are condenser microphones and can operate in super cardioid mode, allowing me to use them at a distance from the sound source.
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| Cardioid top, Hyper Cardioid bottom. |
Equipment List:
Yamaha Electric Piano
Marshall Amp
SM57 Microphone
SM58 Microphone (for Talkback)
AKG C1000s Microphone x2
XLR cable x4
Microphone Stand x4
Headphones
Jack adapter
Session Roles
Producer/Performer - Dan Burrows: In this session I will be producing and performing myself since it is for my track and I can play the part. I will need to coordinate my team correctly by briefing them on the plan and going over the equipment list/setup plan. I must then perform my part on the piano while it is recorded.
Assistant - Alex Dudley/Mat Quinn: Alex and Mat will be assisting me in my session by setting up the equipment after I have briefed them on the session plan. This will involve placing microphone and mic stands in the correct places according to the Setup Plan, maintaining the equipment should something go wrong or fall out of place as well as assisting the engineer.
Engineer - Alex Ross: I asked Alex Ross to be my engineer as he hasn’t been that role yet throughout the FMP. It will be his job to set the levels using the gain dials after the equipment is set up. He will also be responsible for operating Pro Tools while recording my piece and giving me feedback through talkback.
I/O Plan
SM57 - Analogue 1
SM58 - Analogue 4
AKG C1000s - 5-6 (Stereo channels)
Headphones - Headphone jack output 1
Setup Plan
