After turning on the console and setting up a new Pro Tools session, we plugged Luke's instrument lead through to the interface which fed through to the amp. While trialing and recording Luke playing the guitar, we noticed the signal was coming in quite loud and was starting to clip on Pro Tools. After tampering with the mic gain we realized it may be better if we moved the mic back a bit more as it could be a little too close to the amp. We adjusted the mic distance to the amp so it was further away , roughly fifteen to twenty inches, and the signal coming through the desk and into Pro Tools was a lot more crisp and clearer than when it was 6 inches from the amp (see pic 4).

We recorded over three backing tracks of Luke's choice for some variety. After we were satisfied with the amount of recordings we started to cycle through the lot to see which one we wanted to use (see pic 5). Kieran decided it might be beneficial to play around and include some effects on the recording so, he created a bus to come out through the Audient 1 so we could hear the effects. The effects he used were,

• Compressor: The compressor was applied on the channel to create room for some of the other elements in the backing track by dimming the lows .

• Flanger: We used the flanger to give the guitar a little bit of character; we barely adjusted the settings of the flanger.

• Reverb: This was used to give the guitar a touch more acoustic space.

• Lo-Fi: To give the guitar more of a gritty/crunchiness to it, the bit rate for the Lo-Fi effect was dialed down slightly.

Kieran's idea to apply these effects to the mix was a concept I think complimented the project well and although these effects may not be used in traditional guitar mixing, I did enjoy how they reshaped the guitar recording.

We all decided on the recording with the reggae backing track including Luke, who was quite critical of what he had recorded. Once we were finished and content with how the session had turned out we bounced the mix and created 4 separate mp3 with a variation of either the back track or effects included or removed (see bottom of the page for the embedded mp3's).

REFLECTION

Bryce and Kieran were great partners. We all kept in contact with each other during the project which helped us with booking multiple studio times for us to get familiar with the studio and record for this project. They helped me when I was struggling to wrap my head around the inner workings of the studio, the console and setting up in the recording room. They even came to a session I booked on the weekend after we had recorded our project to oversee me set up and record Bryce playing bass.

I wouldn't say this is an issue but more of a future consideration but, I think we possibly could of waited another week to record. We did collectively decide that we wanted to get our recording done early and after one session in the studio so we could focus on the documentation into our learning journal and save the last minute rush. Had we waited another week and with more studio time under our belt, I believe I could have possibly pulled my weight within the group a little more.

My understanding for recording and using the desk is still minimal. During the initial recording process I feel I should have been more forward and asked the others to explain to me what was going on as I was lost for some of it and I didn't wanna slow down our recording process. Moving forward, I am going to start asking more questions when I am unsure of what is going on as well as try and be more hands on with the setting up and recording process. I've started asking more questions in class that I wouldn't other wise.

To get the confidence I need to be able to use the console, set up the studio and, to understand and record signal flow. The game plan I have set myself at this point in time is to book more studio time by myself and with others every week during trimester 1 and future trimesters if need be. Leveraging the knowledge of my peers who are more experienced than myself , like Bryce and Kieran, is another task I should keep in mind to gain valuable insights. Finally, I believe that I'll need to increase the research I am doing outside of my module class times to find solutions to many of the difficulties I have to overcome.