Day 1: 26/2/2007
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This is the very start of the process. Maxine scribbles out some lyrics - I'm actually amazed at how fast she comes up with lyrics that don't suck (It usually takes me over an hour per song - she does it in minutes). I pick a key - any key, whatever I'm feeling like on the moment. Horse Head was in Bm. Undone is in Am. I sequence a bunch of piano notes on A and loop them for about two minutes. Then I get Maxine in front of the mic, and let her wail over that A.
We did a number of takes of the whole song, each with a different singing style. We had "Rock Chick", "Spoken", "Buttery", "Screemo". "Rock Chick" was the first take - just a general slightly-agressive rock performance. "Spoken" was mainly spoken, with a little tonality on a few words. "Buttery" was very light and airy - you can hear it in the first half of the third verse in the final version. "Screemo" was even more aggressive.
This gave me a lot of flexibility in riding the emotional impact of different sections of the song. Most of the song is based on the "Rock Chick" takes. The "Spoken" takes were used in the introduction and the "You turned it on" after the 2nd and 3rd choruses. The "Screemo" takes were used in the background of Verse2, the second part of Verse3, and for the final choruses.
The Day1 snapshot is actually missing a whole lot of these takes. I can't remember if we'd recorded them and I'd just put them out of the way, or if we just hadn't done them yet. You can clearly hear the "Rock Chick" takes, with some of the spoken takes in the background of a few places. There might be a few "Screemo" takes in there too.
-Kim.
The "Undone" Production diary
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- KVRAF
- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 2: 28/2/2007
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At the end of Day 2, I'd almost finished "optimising" the vocals with Melodyne. This is where I get the main chord sequences figured out, and match the performances to those chords.
It might seem a bit backwards to record the vocals first, and then develop the harmonic basis later. I can only do this because of Melodyne. It means I can get Maxine recording vocals as quickly as possible while she's inspired and ready, without making her wait for me to do some composing first. It also means I don't have to sit there with her and collaboratively write the melody and chords.
She can focus more on the emotion and performance when she's not worrying about singing the right notes or the right melody. As a side-effect, most of the takes have different melodies and timing, which means they don't line up at all. Sometimes I take advantage of the differences (like in the verses), sometimes I force the takes to conform (like in the choruses). I couldn't do this without Melodyne.
Interestingly, when I played the final version to my sister, she complained that I didn't "fix" her voice enough - that it still sounded like she was a "bad singer". I find this interesting because it's a fine line to tread when correcting vocals. Too much correction and it sounds lifeless. I tried to keep as much of the original performance, making it sound like she just did that performance on the right notes. I definitely fell on the side of too much expression (as opposed to not enough). Maybe next time I'll make her sound like Eiffel 65.
-Kim.
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At the end of Day 2, I'd almost finished "optimising" the vocals with Melodyne. This is where I get the main chord sequences figured out, and match the performances to those chords.
It might seem a bit backwards to record the vocals first, and then develop the harmonic basis later. I can only do this because of Melodyne. It means I can get Maxine recording vocals as quickly as possible while she's inspired and ready, without making her wait for me to do some composing first. It also means I don't have to sit there with her and collaboratively write the melody and chords.
She can focus more on the emotion and performance when she's not worrying about singing the right notes or the right melody. As a side-effect, most of the takes have different melodies and timing, which means they don't line up at all. Sometimes I take advantage of the differences (like in the verses), sometimes I force the takes to conform (like in the choruses). I couldn't do this without Melodyne.
Interestingly, when I played the final version to my sister, she complained that I didn't "fix" her voice enough - that it still sounded like she was a "bad singer". I find this interesting because it's a fine line to tread when correcting vocals. Too much correction and it sounds lifeless. I tried to keep as much of the original performance, making it sound like she just did that performance on the right notes. I definitely fell on the side of too much expression (as opposed to not enough). Maybe next time I'll make her sound like Eiffel 65.
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:17 am, edited 5 times in total.
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- KVRAF
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- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 3: 4/3/2007
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By Day 3 I'd finished optimising the vocals and applied ballpark eq and compression with Voxformer. I've also added the rhythm section for the chorus and verse 2.
Finished optimising and (initial) processing vocals. Added rhythm section (drums and bass) to chorus and 2nd verse. This is where I lay down the groove and start to establish the vibe of the song. As you can hear, the drums have got quite a bit of swing in them. That's a custom groove quantise I made in Cubase that I use from time to time.
The drums are from Sonic Reality's Studio Drum Capsule, separated as individual elements in SampleTank2. That way I can process each element (snare, kick, hats, cymbals, toms) separately. I usually work with electronic music, so I don't feel any great need to treat the drum kit as a single instrument - I'm not going for a believable "band" sound here.
I like to give the drums quite a bit of groove - even on heavier or otherwise "straight" (non-swing) songs - to juxtapose against the straight 16th of the bass and guitars (and other instruments eventually). It tends to give the song a bit more "vibe" and goes a long way to making it not sound like Rammstein.
As I've written elsewhere, I set the levels so that the snare is roughly level with the lead vocal, and the kick and bass are just a bit behind. I start setting levels and eq right from this early stage for two reasons:
1) It informs the composition process. It's so I can add parts that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Often I'll choose register and even harmonic complexity for a part based on the the spectral content of the existing parts. It also helps keep size in perspective - I make sure each part is suitably "sized" (the size of the sound) to work in the mix. For example - I could have made those chorus guitars really massive, but it works better in the mix to have them fit under the snare. Getting it right first time saves me wrestling with it later in the mix, and also prevents me from making wrong composition decisions further down the track based on a sound that may have to change radically to work in the song.
2) It makes it much easier to mix at the end if the levels and eq are pretty close to their final position. It really relegates the mix to "making it sound better", instead of "making it work". Attempting to mix around 60 tracks would be a nightmare otherwise.
-Kim.
Download Audio
By Day 3 I'd finished optimising the vocals and applied ballpark eq and compression with Voxformer. I've also added the rhythm section for the chorus and verse 2.
Finished optimising and (initial) processing vocals. Added rhythm section (drums and bass) to chorus and 2nd verse. This is where I lay down the groove and start to establish the vibe of the song. As you can hear, the drums have got quite a bit of swing in them. That's a custom groove quantise I made in Cubase that I use from time to time.
The drums are from Sonic Reality's Studio Drum Capsule, separated as individual elements in SampleTank2. That way I can process each element (snare, kick, hats, cymbals, toms) separately. I usually work with electronic music, so I don't feel any great need to treat the drum kit as a single instrument - I'm not going for a believable "band" sound here.
I like to give the drums quite a bit of groove - even on heavier or otherwise "straight" (non-swing) songs - to juxtapose against the straight 16th of the bass and guitars (and other instruments eventually). It tends to give the song a bit more "vibe" and goes a long way to making it not sound like Rammstein.
As I've written elsewhere, I set the levels so that the snare is roughly level with the lead vocal, and the kick and bass are just a bit behind. I start setting levels and eq right from this early stage for two reasons:
1) It informs the composition process. It's so I can add parts that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Often I'll choose register and even harmonic complexity for a part based on the the spectral content of the existing parts. It also helps keep size in perspective - I make sure each part is suitably "sized" (the size of the sound) to work in the mix. For example - I could have made those chorus guitars really massive, but it works better in the mix to have them fit under the snare. Getting it right first time saves me wrestling with it later in the mix, and also prevents me from making wrong composition decisions further down the track based on a sound that may have to change radically to work in the song.
2) It makes it much easier to mix at the end if the levels and eq are pretty close to their final position. It really relegates the mix to "making it sound better", instead of "making it work". Attempting to mix around 60 tracks would be a nightmare otherwise.
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
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- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 4: 5/3/2007
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This is where it starts getting really fun. I've worked out the structure for the first half of the song. I've added a bunch more guitars and synths, spot effects and automation. You can still hear the backbone rhythm section from Day 3 though - hear how even with the added instruments, the vocal and snare (and kick and bass to a lesser extent) are still front and centre.
I've added the full four-guitar compliment to the chorus, though it's not easy to pick them out - they blend as a texture, rather than a melodic or harmonic part. One of the guitar parts is a straight Mesa-style overdrive. One part is a bitcrusher going into a vintage amp. The two other parts are fuzzed atonal harmonics. All guitars are processed with Amplitube2.
I also have the Verse 2 violins and violas added at this time. I wasn't sure about this, they sound pretty thin on their own, but I wasn't sure if there'd be room in the mix for a full string section. Later I added cellos and basses in parallel octaves, following the main melody (the violins and violas harmonise it, along with the background harmony vocals). The strings are all from Miroslav Philharmonik, of course.
Notice that in this version verse 2 is twice a long as in the final version of the song. I did a similar thing in Horse Head (a double-length second verse), but this song was getting too long. I think it was threatening to push five minutes, whereas I as was targeting 3:30 (the perfect pop song length). I had to cut something, and the second half of verse 2 was the least necessary (and also means we get the the chorus faster!). I couldn't bear to cut anything else, so the song ended up weighing in at 4:30. It's a bit on the long side, but it covers a lot of ground.
-Kim.
Download Audio
This is where it starts getting really fun. I've worked out the structure for the first half of the song. I've added a bunch more guitars and synths, spot effects and automation. You can still hear the backbone rhythm section from Day 3 though - hear how even with the added instruments, the vocal and snare (and kick and bass to a lesser extent) are still front and centre.
I've added the full four-guitar compliment to the chorus, though it's not easy to pick them out - they blend as a texture, rather than a melodic or harmonic part. One of the guitar parts is a straight Mesa-style overdrive. One part is a bitcrusher going into a vintage amp. The two other parts are fuzzed atonal harmonics. All guitars are processed with Amplitube2.
I also have the Verse 2 violins and violas added at this time. I wasn't sure about this, they sound pretty thin on their own, but I wasn't sure if there'd be room in the mix for a full string section. Later I added cellos and basses in parallel octaves, following the main melody (the violins and violas harmonise it, along with the background harmony vocals). The strings are all from Miroslav Philharmonik, of course.
Notice that in this version verse 2 is twice a long as in the final version of the song. I did a similar thing in Horse Head (a double-length second verse), but this song was getting too long. I think it was threatening to push five minutes, whereas I as was targeting 3:30 (the perfect pop song length). I had to cut something, and the second half of verse 2 was the least necessary (and also means we get the the chorus faster!). I couldn't bear to cut anything else, so the song ended up weighing in at 4:30. It's a bit on the long side, but it covers a lot of ground.
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
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- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 5: 7/3/2007
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The Cubase project file is taking longer and longer to load. 45 plugins and counting. I usually surf KVR while the project loads. My computer boots up faster than this project.
The song structure is complete - I've finished the third verse, final chorus, and the outro (is that short for "outroduction"?). I don't fade out the outro at this stage - I do that at mastering... so I've got these two bars that just loop on for half a minute.
The 2nd half of the third verse was fun. The lead vocal is not distorted at all. What I've done is duplicated it twice, and processed the two new copes with Replicant. The bitcrusher in Replicant is awesome. Unfortunately the random nature of these non-deterministic plugins means that no playback will sound the same. What I did was bounce down each track three times (so, six in total), and then edited the best bits together. Mostly, it just sounds like horrible digital glitching, but occasionally you can hear bits of vocal in there.
I've also added subtle vocal harmonies to the 2nd and 3rd choruses. They're just the lead vocal re-pitched with Melodyne. It makes the vocal sound bigger by adding additional harmonic content (musical harmony, not distortion!). Compare the vocal sound in the chorus with that in Day 4. You'll notice that Day 4's chorus vocal sounds a lot simpler and more "naked'. I've left the first chorus without harmonies to keep it raw in comparison - supported by the lack of orchestral strings (which further brings out the brutal guitars).
-Kim.
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The Cubase project file is taking longer and longer to load. 45 plugins and counting. I usually surf KVR while the project loads. My computer boots up faster than this project.
The song structure is complete - I've finished the third verse, final chorus, and the outro (is that short for "outroduction"?). I don't fade out the outro at this stage - I do that at mastering... so I've got these two bars that just loop on for half a minute.
The 2nd half of the third verse was fun. The lead vocal is not distorted at all. What I've done is duplicated it twice, and processed the two new copes with Replicant. The bitcrusher in Replicant is awesome. Unfortunately the random nature of these non-deterministic plugins means that no playback will sound the same. What I did was bounce down each track three times (so, six in total), and then edited the best bits together. Mostly, it just sounds like horrible digital glitching, but occasionally you can hear bits of vocal in there.
I've also added subtle vocal harmonies to the 2nd and 3rd choruses. They're just the lead vocal re-pitched with Melodyne. It makes the vocal sound bigger by adding additional harmonic content (musical harmony, not distortion!). Compare the vocal sound in the chorus with that in Day 4. You'll notice that Day 4's chorus vocal sounds a lot simpler and more "naked'. I've left the first chorus without harmonies to keep it raw in comparison - supported by the lack of orchestral strings (which further brings out the brutal guitars).
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 6: 9/3/2007
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The Mix. Track saturation, panning, reverb. With the composition finished, I can focus on the types of processing that don't change the sound, but make it "better".
As I've written elsewhere, I like to add saturation to almost every sound at this stage. No so much that it changes the functionality of a sound (its place and function in the mix or in the song), but just enough so it adds character and complexity. Of course, saturation isn't the only way to do this, some people use modulation processes like phasers or choruses. Some people use impulse-based colouring. Other people use character compression. I happen to have a taste for dirty, hairy sounds. I like the way it piles up and adds a kind of upper-mid "gzgzgzgzgz" that works really well with already-distorted sounds.
I leave panning to this late stage because I prefer to compose in mono, for a number of reasons. One is that (non-audiophile) people tend to listen in mono, so I don't want to include panning as a significant composition device. Also (and probably more importantly) panning adds extra space in the mix, which I would fill up in the composition process. Once this space is filled, it's extremely difficult to get it back without losing sounds. My composition process is very much one of adding more sounds until I can't fit any more, so I tend to come to the mix with something that's a bit more dense than it should be. Leaving panning to this stage gives me a bit of room to add some space back in.
I'm not a fan of "big mono" sounds - single sounds that occupy a lot of stereo space through the use of processes like phasers and flangers. I can usually fit two or three sounds in the place of a single "big mono" sound... and I much prefer the added harmonic and compositional complexity of more parts over the sonic complexity of a single, more spectrally-complex part. When I use a wide stereo pad preset, I typically collapse it to mono before doing anything else.
Likewise, I don't use autopanners because they take up a lot of space. A statically-panned sound only has to work at a single location. A mobile sound has to work at ALL the locations it might be at. This makes it much harder to mix, and tends to make things a lot more spacially-complex than I like. It's easier to hear subtle sounds if they're not moving about spatially. Once you add autopanning in, subtlety easily gets lost into mush (even more so than normally!).
I also don't use any sidechaining. There seems to be lot of excitement around these parts about side chaining - particularly when compressing the bass and kick. Personally I don't find a need for it. Like autopanning, subtle sounds are easier to hear if they're not fluctuating in volume.
As a side note, I don't remember the CPU overloading like this. Might be something to do with running the project off my (external) backup drive. Cubase is exporting straight to mp3, and the CPU can't handle it so the "realtime" export is sounding like a bad timestretch. I'm actually really surprised the resulting file sounds fine.
-Kim.
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The Mix. Track saturation, panning, reverb. With the composition finished, I can focus on the types of processing that don't change the sound, but make it "better".
As I've written elsewhere, I like to add saturation to almost every sound at this stage. No so much that it changes the functionality of a sound (its place and function in the mix or in the song), but just enough so it adds character and complexity. Of course, saturation isn't the only way to do this, some people use modulation processes like phasers or choruses. Some people use impulse-based colouring. Other people use character compression. I happen to have a taste for dirty, hairy sounds. I like the way it piles up and adds a kind of upper-mid "gzgzgzgzgz" that works really well with already-distorted sounds.
I leave panning to this late stage because I prefer to compose in mono, for a number of reasons. One is that (non-audiophile) people tend to listen in mono, so I don't want to include panning as a significant composition device. Also (and probably more importantly) panning adds extra space in the mix, which I would fill up in the composition process. Once this space is filled, it's extremely difficult to get it back without losing sounds. My composition process is very much one of adding more sounds until I can't fit any more, so I tend to come to the mix with something that's a bit more dense than it should be. Leaving panning to this stage gives me a bit of room to add some space back in.
I'm not a fan of "big mono" sounds - single sounds that occupy a lot of stereo space through the use of processes like phasers and flangers. I can usually fit two or three sounds in the place of a single "big mono" sound... and I much prefer the added harmonic and compositional complexity of more parts over the sonic complexity of a single, more spectrally-complex part. When I use a wide stereo pad preset, I typically collapse it to mono before doing anything else.
Likewise, I don't use autopanners because they take up a lot of space. A statically-panned sound only has to work at a single location. A mobile sound has to work at ALL the locations it might be at. This makes it much harder to mix, and tends to make things a lot more spacially-complex than I like. It's easier to hear subtle sounds if they're not moving about spatially. Once you add autopanning in, subtlety easily gets lost into mush (even more so than normally!).
I also don't use any sidechaining. There seems to be lot of excitement around these parts about side chaining - particularly when compressing the bass and kick. Personally I don't find a need for it. Like autopanning, subtle sounds are easier to hear if they're not fluctuating in volume.
As a side note, I don't remember the CPU overloading like this. Might be something to do with running the project off my (external) backup drive. Cubase is exporting straight to mp3, and the CPU can't handle it so the "realtime" export is sounding like a bad timestretch. I'm actually really surprised the resulting file sounds fine.
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Sun Mar 11, 2007 2:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4692 posts since 28 Jan, 2003 from In these very interwebs
Day 7: 10/3/2007
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Music Cafe thread here.
The Final Master. If I ever selling this stuff seriously, I'll have to get my work professionally mastered. Mastering is HARD. The more I learn and the better I get, the harder it gets. It's a completely different mindset, a completely different way of listening. Out of all the stages of creating a song like this, from lyrics to recording, from selecting sounds to composition, from mixing to distribution; mastering is the most difficult task of all.
I mastered this song my lining the mixdown against a reference commercial track, and matching the eq and dynamic range by ear. I also reduced the stereo width of the low end because the room reverb on the kick was blurring the image a little too much.
That's it!
-Kim.
Download Audio.
Music Cafe thread here.
The Final Master. If I ever selling this stuff seriously, I'll have to get my work professionally mastered. Mastering is HARD. The more I learn and the better I get, the harder it gets. It's a completely different mindset, a completely different way of listening. Out of all the stages of creating a song like this, from lyrics to recording, from selecting sounds to composition, from mixing to distribution; mastering is the most difficult task of all.
I mastered this song my lining the mixdown against a reference commercial track, and matching the eq and dynamic range by ear. I also reduced the stereo width of the low end because the room reverb on the kick was blurring the image a little too much.
That's it!
-Kim.
Last edited by Kim Lajoie on Fri Mar 16, 2007 11:00 am, edited 2 times in total.
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- KVRAF
- 3123 posts since 6 Dec, 2002 from Ljubljana/ Slovenia
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- KVRist
- 43 posts since 24 Jun, 2006 from Chipupupuchi
that's because MAN was created on that 7th day.. symbolic, 
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- KVRian
- 1184 posts since 27 Apr, 2004 from Houston, Texas
After listening to all the versions (slow day at work)....I have to say, I like Day One the best.
It started off with kind of an intimate but edgy "PJ Harvey" vibe and ended up with a "Heart does Garbage (The Band...not trash
)" vibe.
I guess in the end you were wanting more of a mainstream radio type of track.
It started off with kind of an intimate but edgy "PJ Harvey" vibe and ended up with a "Heart does Garbage (The Band...not trash
)" vibe.I guess in the end you were wanting more of a mainstream radio type of track.
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- KVRian
- 1022 posts since 14 Feb, 2005 from Concord, CA
very interesting...thanks for sharing.....
what a smashed mix, no? or is that on purpose?
what a smashed mix, no? or is that on purpose?
.:my music and stuff.:Ephesians 6:12.:http://www.myspace.com/atdigs:.
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- KVRian
- 653 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from Rocklin, CA
Thanks for taking the time to write all this down! Some very interesting insights and good tips that I'll find handy in the future. Fascinating to see how the song built up in parts and then got merged together.
I think I agree that Day 6 was "better". Day 7 is probably more radio-like, if you were going for that, but a lot of the dynamic contrast was lost, to the point that some instrument balancing was, er, undone.
I think I agree that Day 6 was "better". Day 7 is probably more radio-like, if you were going for that, but a lot of the dynamic contrast was lost, to the point that some instrument balancing was, er, undone.
Ceej
aka Chris Hillery
aka Chris Hillery