Embedded Files
Nandito Ako
by Ogie Alcasid
(Cover w/ english lyrics)
The Changes I made...
Before we go through the process I did for this project, let’s first talk about the changes I made during the first two weeks of my GANTT chart. Actually, nothing drastic changed in my pre-production plan; it’s just that the song I originally chose was replaced by the one I ended up using for this project, the chosen MIDI instrument, and the DAW.
The initial song for this project was MAPA by SB19. At first, I thought I could accomplish it and get familiar with the chords used in the original song, but I ended up feeling drained because there were some chords I couldn’t really play on the guitar due to my short fingers. While I was dealing with that situation, my news feed—or my For You page on social media—was filled with different covers of the song Nandito Ako. I decided to search for its chords, and it was easy, like the “beginner” kind of chords on guitar. That’s why I chose that song instead of the original one I planned to use in my pre-production blog.
The second change I made in my production plan was the MIDI instrument I would use. Instead of a piano—which I’m not familiar with at all since I’ve never played piano in my life—I ended up using a MIDI drum. The third change is the DAW. Instead of using Audacity, I decided to change it to Cakewalk Sonar.
And lastly, this one wasn’t really a change but more of an additional step in my process. I actually wrote the second verse of the song in English, as well as the second chorus.
That’s all I changed in my pre-production plan: the song, the MIDI instrument, the DAW, and a small additional twist with the lyrics. That’s everything I did for my final project.
For the revised Pre-production page, here's the link:
[REVISED] Pre-production
The Process:
The First Times
In this section, we will talk about the walkthrough process I went through for this project. It is divided to clearly show what I experienced in each part of the process. As the title of this section says, “The First Times…”, it’s really true that most of these steps were first-time experiences for me. It felt like a first-hand dive into something new. I actually enjoyed it, but at the same time, I still have that feeling inside me that I can do better. Maybe if I continue to practice, enhance my knowledge, and improve my skills by working on different kinds of audio projects, I could get better at creating audio or even composing songs. But that kind of reflection, I’ll save for the reflection section, lol. For now, let’s proceed to what I experienced in each part of the process.
Recording
When I started recording my vocals with the Boya K3 microphone, I didn’t feel like it was some super “audiophile” experience, but it worked fine for what I needed. This mic has both an audio jack and a USB-C input for the microphone, plus an audio jack for output. The playback was nice, there was a little bit of lag, but nothing that bothered me.
I actually recorded my voice at midnight, since that’s when everything in the house is quiet. The only noise that sometimes came through was water splashing, since the comfort room is right below my room, but as long as no one used it, things were quiet. It took me three days (three midnights to be exact) to record my vocals for this audio, plus one more day for the harmonies and ambiance, and another two days for the guitar recording.
The microphone does have a built-in noise reduction feature, but I still feel like it’s kind of sensitive to sounds. For example, my laptop makes a motor sound (probably something inside it, aside from the bloated battery—lucky me).
Overall, the recording process was as smooth as I expected it to be, especially since my family cooperated with me by keeping quiet at midnight. That’s all for this section—let’s proceed to the next.
I literally learned guitar plucking just for this project (I'm used to strumming only). I had seen a lot of covers online, and it sounded really nice to hear the song played on guitar with plucking. So even though I was a bit scared that I might not be able to learn it in just a couple of days, I still tried—and I actually succeeded.
While recording my guitar plucking, it kept buzzing (I later learned this is called fret buzz). I think there were two reasons for that: one, I didn’t press the strings correctly, and two, my guitar neck is not good (it’s just a cheap guitar, so I kind of understand).
So, what I did, as you can see with my interface here, is I recorded each chord individually in separate tracks. There are 3 tracks here, and yeah, that’s what I did just to record it properly without too much fret buzz. I also used the same method for the strumming parts because I think it sounds more pleasing to the ear. When I tried recording the chords continuously, it didn’t sound good to me since there were unnecessary stops, which I felt ruined the strumming part. So instead, I just recorded each chord individually.
Guitar Plucking
Figure 1: Tracks of guitar recordings
MIDI Drums
Here comes my first time creating and using a MIDI. I used the built-in MIDI drum of the Cakewalk Sonar DAW. I didn’t really play the whole drum set for this project—I only used the snare drum and the bass drum, and I just did what I needed to do. The moment I played the MIDI drum, I thought of it as a cajón (here in the Philippines, we call it a beatbox cajón). I had seen and played one before, just for fun, because one of my classmates in high school owned it. So that’s basically how I played the drum in my project—I treated it like a cajón.
To figure out how I would play it for my project, I first listened to the original version and kind of played along in the background to see if it fit or not. That’s how I came up with my arrangement of the snare drum and bass drum for my audio project.
Actually, nothing too special to mention here—it’s just that this part is my favorite but also the hardest to execute. I ended up doing the main melody along with a high melody for the harmony. I originally planned to add a low harmony, but I couldn’t figure out how to fit it into my song. Yeah, I know the problem is my voice, that’s on me. So, in the end, I just went with the middle and higher harmonies.
Harmonies
Ambiance (Cliche) Act
I think this is the cringiest part of my audio project—sorry for that. I just wanted to add, you know, a theme to my cover song. As you may notice at the beginning, there’s a dialing sound followed by a ring, which indicates that someone has picked up the call. Then you can also hear some voices. Honestly, I just had this theme in my head that I wanted to execute, but it still feels kind of cringe to me.
And then for the last ambiance, at the end of the song, there’s a hang-up sound to signal that the song (call) has ended. That’s all for this part—I just hope you don’t find it as cringe as I do. Fingers crossed
Mixing
For the acoustic guitar, I first dropped in the Sonitus Gate to clean things up: threshold at -42 dB, depth at -∞ so it mutes background noise, with a fast 1 ms attack and 200 ms release for a smooth fade. Then I shaped the tone with EQ (I used all 6 bands and played with it): high pass at 40 Hz, cut at 60 Hz to reduce boom, slight boost at 200 Hz for warmth, a little lift at 2.5 kHz for clarity, cut at 4 kHz to tame the pick, and a high shelf at 7 kHz for it to be lively.
For the vocals, I used EQ to balance my tone: high pass at 100 Hz, cut 250 Hz to remove mud, add warmth at 500 Hz, dip at 3 kHz, cut 4.5 kHz for harshness, and boost 10 kHz for air. I also pushed the output +1.5 dB so it stands out. Then I added reverb—small room (25), short decay (1.2s), 25 ms pre-delay, with cuts to keep it warm. Low reverb level, just enough for depth without drowning.
Figure 2: Sonitus Gate, Reverb, and Equalizer settings
For harmonies, I EQ’d to blend: rolled off at 120 Hz, cut 250 Hz and 500 Hz so the lead stays upfront, boosted 2.5 kHz for clarity, added sparkle at 6 kHz and 10 kHz, and lowered output to -7.5 dB so they sit behind. Reverb matched the main vocal for a cohesive space.
For ambiance, I kept it simple. The ringing calls (Ambiance 1 and 2) only had volume automation at +6 dB to cut through since they came from my phone. Ambiance 3 (phone talk recorded with my Boya K3) had heavy reverb to feel distant, plus volume automation at -12.3 dB so it sits quietly in the back but still adds atmosphere.
Lastly, I used fade in/out on most tracks for smoothness, and for the chorus I added some recorded pats—just me tapping the guitar three times for emphasis.
Sound Effects
Most of the shaping of my audio came from the effects I used. For the guitar, the Sonitus Gate helped keep the track clean by cutting out small noises, while EQ added warmth, clarity, and sparkle. On the vocals, EQ once again helped control muddiness and harshness, while boosting frequencies that made my voice more present and airy. Adding reverb gave it space and depth, but I kept the settings subtle so it stayed natural. The harmonies were treated with similar EQ and reverb, though I lowered their output so they stayed behind the lead instead of competing with it.
For ambiance, I used volume automation and reverb to shape how the background layers felt in the mix. The ringing sounds were made louder so they could stand out, while the phone conversation was pushed back with both heavy reverb and volume reduction. Finally, fade-ins and fade-outs across tracks helped smooth the transitions so the whole project flowed more naturally.
When it came to mastering, I decided not to touch the export settings and just used the default ones in Cakewalk. Most tutorials I watched recommended keeping them as they are, since what you hear in Cakewalk is usually what you’ll also hear in the exported audio. After exporting, I played it back with my default audio player on my laptop, and it sounded the same as in Cakewalk. I also checked it after uploading to SoundCloud, and again on my phone, and it still sounded consistent across all devices. That gave me confidence that the mix translated well and was ready to be shared.
Mastering
Figure 3: Export settings
Figure 4: The whole audio interface
Reflection
(and challenges)
I actually enjoyed doing this audio project. To be honest, I had already finished it days before submitting this blog on MyPortal. The problem was that my laptop had been acting up lately, so I thought of giving it a rest for a couple of days. I honestly expected the laptop to die first, but surprise—my monitor gave up before it did, lol. Now it has white lines and can’t properly project the display from my laptop, so yeah… goodbye, monitor.
Aside from that, some other challenges included the motor sound my laptop makes, which really distracted me while monitoring my audio. Even with headphones on, I could still hear it a little. Then there was the bloated battery, the broken monitor, and even the house renovation going on—all of which made things harder. But despite those challenges, I still managed to succeed and finish an output for this project. For that, I’m really thankful. Even those frustrated nights when I cried—it all paid off.
From pre-production to post-production, I learned a lot. I’ll definitely take note of these lessons and continue enhancing my knowledge and skills in music production. These learnings will serve as my foundation for the future—in the days (or even years) to come when I produce music. Who knows, hahaha.
That’s all for the reflection on this blog. I’ll save the rest for the last blog I’ll be creating for this course.
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