PATUTUNGUHAN by Cup of Joe (Song Cover)

FINAL PROJECT

PREFACE

For my final project, I produced a song cover of Patutunguhan by Cup of Joe. It was planned to be accompanied by an acoustic guitar and an electric keyboard, however, I wasn't able to outsource such an instrument, thus, I used BandLab's built-in virtual instrument. I was also the one who took care of the vocals that's why as early as now, I remind you, the audience, to not expect anything from the output—it's merely a practical application of what I've learned so far in this course regarding audio production, especially recording. The song cover lasts for about 3-4 minutes. I hope everyone enjoys this little piece of mine, and let's celebrate the greatness of every OPM artist just like the Cup of Joe.

CHALLENGES

Apparently, I had a hard time finishing the recording because of problems related to the instruments—electric keyboard and acoustic guitar. I wasn't able to borrow my cousin's electric keyboard since he was busy using it in their school's music club. As a result, I used BandLab's virtual instrument. I'm aware that it wasn't encouraged since the purpose of this project is to understand the nuances of audio production through recording. However, I assure you that the keyboard's sound is just minimal. I was only eager to include the "Ra-ta-ta-ra-ra-rat-ta-ta-ra" melody through the sound of a piano/keyboard since I deem it significant to the song. Below is the visualization of the virtual keyboard's notes I used.

Keyboard Bass Line

Keyboard Melody Line

Another problem was my acoustic guitar. I didn't anticipate that it'd not sound good through a recording because of its oldness. In the bonus activity 3 of Prof Al, I was told that the guitar was out of tune despite preparing it properly before recording. I believe the out-of-tune sounds it produces are caused by worn guitar parts such as the frets, saddle, and especially the old tuning pegs. This is the reason why I had to record in multiple times until I captured a decent recording. Below is the picture of my old acoustic guitar.

Despite these challenges, I was able to finish the production of the song cover by following the proper recording practices I learned in the past weeks; mic placement and positioning, as well as the acoustics of the recording room.

TIMELINE

My initial plan was to do the entire project in 5 weeks which covers 4 main phases; pre-production, recording, mixing, and publishing. The pre-production will be done in 3 weeks for instrument practice and room acoustics. 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. However, due to circumstances, I wasn't able to record in time because I wasn't able to borrow my cousin's electric keyboard, and my only instrument, the acoustic guitar, seems uncooperative, perhaps due to its oldness that's why it does not produce good-quality sound anymore. The entire production was extended to 6 weeks and the recording phase was finished only in 5th week. Below is the updated timetable of my project.

RECORDING

I recorded the guitar and vocal tracks in an approximately 10 sqm room. I used a condenser microphone (Delta Force) that is placed on a table, which is in the corner of the room. The table is beside a sofa and a wall fan which is turned off during recordings. Walls are hard while the ceiling is wooden. Doors and windows are closed with a not-so-thick curtain to block all possible noises coming from the outside.

Acoustic Guitar - I followed Prof Al's advice of experimenting with mic positioning. This time, I aim the mic to the sound hole but not directly. It was slightly off-axis and 6 inches away from the instrument.

Vocals - The microphone is aligned with the level of my mouth, and it is slightly off-axis pointing to my chin.

SIGNAL FLOW

Every track will be recorded using a condenser microphone. The sounds from my voice and guitar will be then converted digitally by the 4-pin XLR to USB A connector as audio and will be stored in my laptop. Vocals and the acoustic guitar will be captured separately, and both of them will be edited using BandLab as the DAW.

The tracks—recorded, refined, mixed, and final audio—will be transferred to a portable Bluetooth speaker, which will be the channel to convey the sound signal through the ears of the audiences.

EDITING

I used BandLab as my DAW to edit these tracks. I used its denoise feature only once on all recorded tracks (guitar & vocals) for subtle cleaning. This time, I wanted the recorded tracks to sound natural. I did not use any presets, which is different from my output in Assignment 3: Multitracking wherein I used the BandLab's Acoustic Guitar preset for the guitar recordings and the Minimalistic Reverb preset for the vocals.

Aside from denoising, another essential thing I did to furnish the project was to address the uneven volume of the tracks. I manually modified the volume of such parts through Gain adjusting.

OVERVIEW OF THE TRACKS

The song cover consists of 6 tracks; Keyboard Bass Line, Keyboard Melody Line, Guitar (Verse, Chorus, & Bridge), Guitar (Pre-Chorus & Instrumental), Vocals (Melody), and Vocals (Harmony).

In the guitar part, I decided to record Verse, Chorus, Bridge, and Instrumental separately. It has become my answer to the challenge I mentioned earlier, which is the sudden production of out-of-tune sounds due to worn guitar parts. I also recorded vocals part by part since I cannot do it in one take. Below is the final output of my project, I hope you'll enjoy listening to it despite the problem with the guitar instrument. I also wish everyone to appreciate the greatness of Cup of Joe. Mabuhay ang OPM!

FINAL OUTPUT

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