PRE-PRODUCTION

ASSIGNMENT 2

PROJECT STATEMENT

There are a lot of music artists/bands that I enjoy listening to, whether international or local, but recently, I find myself getting hooked on Cup of Joe, a Filipino band composed of young artists. I'm not an avid fan of them but with the final project in mind, I thought of making a cover of their song, Patutunguhan, as a way of appreciating them. I'll be using my voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar, and tentatively, other synth sounds, in producing this song cover.

PROJECT PLAN

I plan to produce a song cover of Cup of Joe's Patutunguhan, initially as an acoustic cover, but if I'll be able to learn electric piano within the weeks of pre-production, I'll be happy to include it too. It will be a blend of my vocals, acoustic guitar sounds, drum sounds from BandLab, or most probably, improvised drum sounds, and lastly, electric keyboard sounds. For now, I won't include electric keyboard as part of my instruments since it's not yet sure, nevertheless, I deem the remaining planned tracks to be sufficient for the course's final project requirement.

LOGISTICS

As early as this point, I wanted to clarify that my singing ability isn't comparable with Cup of Joe's. What I can guarantee is my voice recordings will be in the right tune. These will be accompanied by an acoustic guitar, which doesn't have a built-in pickup, thus, extra effort will be allotted to ensuring a conducive recording environment and proper recording process.

I honestly lack recording equipment. I was only using my smartphone for audio recordings but recently I bought a good-to-decent condenser microphone which I will be using in this production. I was looking for a Fifine or Maono brand but the store didn't have stocks that's why I decided to acquire the one that was available at that time, which is the Delta Force condenser microphone. I hope it'll function enough to help me produce a decent song cover.

I'll be doing the audio recording in my room. It is an untreated one, but I'm planning to do DIY treatments such as thick curtains and blankets while recording. Windows and the door will be closed as well to lessen potential noises, especially sounds from outside.

I'll be using BandLab for the entire production of this song cover. I will use it solely for editing multi-tracks and final touches, rest assured, tracks that will be used are originally recorded by myself. I had a few experiences using this and I think it's enough for me to utilize this DAW for the decency of my audio production.

Equipment

Microphones: Delta Force condenser microphone

Instrument:

Acoustic guitar

Speaker:

Harman Kardon Onyx Studio

Digital Audio Workstation:

Laptop with Intel i5 11th gen processor
BandLab

SIGNAL FLOW

Every track will be recorded by using a condenser microphone. Vocals and the acoustic guitar will be captured separately, and both of them will be edited using BandLab. If I'll be able to learn to use electric piano, I will include piano sounds and ambient synth pads to match the mood of the song, but now, it's still tentative. Also, I haven't made a signal flow for the drum sounds for I will check first if it's appropriate to include such, and if it fits or will blend nicely with the acoustic guitar, most likely, I will improvise the sounds and use the condenser microphone to pick up the sounds. However, if Prof. Al permits me to use drum sounds using BandLab, I'll just resort to that approach.

TIMETABLE

The production of this song cover will consist of 4 steps; pre-production, recording, mixing, and publishing. The pre-production will be done in 3 weeks since I'm planning to learn electric keyboard for this, and I will still do DIY treatments for my production area since I will only use a condenser microphone to record most of the tracks, hence, the environment should be quiet. Recording will be done in the 2nd-3rd week. Mixing or the editing of multi-tracks will occupy 3rd week to 5th week since I'm not adept in this aspect. I will publish the song cover on SoundCloud within the 5th week, after the final touches.

I think this plan already conveys what I'm about to do to produce a song cover. I just need to exert extra efforts to learn electric piano and make the production area conducive to the audio production. It all depends on my will to execute this well and make the output satisfactory, good luck to me and everyone else!

Page updated

Report abuse