AA1 Week 2 (week 3 assignment)

The band I have chosen to record is Billy Cobham and his studio band. His music, (a funky soul sound) would need very little post recording touch ups as usually bands of this nature like a natural sound, or as natural as possible. In fact in most songs only the guitar and keyboards are the only instruments with effects.

For the preproduction I will contact Mr Cobham and consult about sound and overall effect of the music. I will also confirm instrumentation and adjust where required. As solos and songs are improvised in this style of music I will be open to indefinite song times, however I will ask for approximate time duration. I.e. 10 to 12 minutes. I will also confirm solo instrumentation and ask for an approximate time frame for these solos.


In addition to this I will ask about which instruments will amplified so no interference will occur when I do my positioning (i.e. vibrations through the drum kit), in my example I have decided to use a guitar amp but no bass amp. In positioning the players I will put the guitarist next to the keyboard player, as these two instruments work well together during improvised sections. However I will keep the bass player and drummer in sight of these players so improvised cues can be seen. The bass and the drums I will keep next to one another because the beat of the drums and the bass player can work together. Finally the trumpet and sax will be placed in front of the band and next to one another. Please forgive the horrible diagram. I was only using it as an aid.

I will record all the instruments at the same time in 3 takes (bands of this nature work much better when done this way). After this the band will assess the performances and select the best take. They may wish to re-record individual tracks where required. I’ve also opened up tracks for the solos to be re-recorded. After another take of the solos have been recorded, I and the band will select the best sections of solos from the takes and mix them together for each instrument (where required). (Bands of this nature usually desire a natural sound may not wish to "create a solo.") As their virtuosity is of a very high standard, it is unlikely that too many mistakes will be made and there will be more time spent on overall sound and post recording procedures rather than the actual performance recording.

After all this is done the band will add effects to the sounds (if required). Although these sounds and ideas have been discussed before recording, I will leave plenty of time for experimentation with these ideas.

Additional explanation of the session plan.

Guitar has an amp mic and direct input to gather as much sound quality/timbre as possible. The amp presents sounds that a DI can’t reproduce. The DI is used to add effects and/or in case the amp sound is unsatisfactory. Perhaps both channels could be mixed together to create a mixture of both sounds.

The bass has a DI because there is little sound difference that an amp would offer. In addition a DI gives a much clearer and deeper sound (i.e. bassier), which is suitable to Billy Cobham's music.

I've set up 3 room mic for good measure, in case these mics pick up sounds that could be used and for performance evaluation.

Additional Information

I will label the files names extensively (i.e. BC "Stratus" Guitar solo take 2) as to remove confusion.