Embedded Files
The Output
Introduction
For this assignment, I made a cover of Matt Maltese’s As the World Caves In. I chose this song because whenever I listen to it, I hear so much potential for many stacked harmonies. This song became viral during the pandemic due to its end-of-the-world message and many artists made their own versions of it. I wasn’t able to join the trend back then (since I wasn’t as active on social media) but hopefully, I was able to make it my own through this assignment.
I decided only to record the first verse and first chorus to make it short, and I followed a key higher than the original. I did not choose the song I planned for my final project because I wanted this assignment to be a practice and a progress check for my production and mixing skills—getting myself ready for the final project.
The Logistics
HARDWARE
Microphone: Neat King Bee II (with built-in shock mount and pop filter)
Audio Interface: Behringer UMC22 U-PHORIA
Headset: Kingston HyperX CloudX
Laptop: MacBook Air M1
SOFTWARE
DAW: Logic Pro
LOCATION (my room)
It has many things present so hopefully it does a great job at sound absorption and reducing echo. It also has curtains and rugs which could hopefully reduce reflections. I closed all windows and doors and turned off air conditioners and fans.
Recording
The first step I did was to find a pre-recorded instrumental online of this song and in the key I wanted. Thankfully, since this song became viral at some point, there were a couple of options available. I chose Shanif Jaya’s instrumental and I then imported that into Logic Pro and started my audio recording.
I started with the main melody of the song which I did a total of 4 takes. I then cut and chose the parts that I liked from those 4 takes—seamlessly combining them to make it sound like it was from 1 take. Once I was satisfied with how the main melody sounded, I started with the stacking of harmonies. I had to make a new track per harmony which is why I ended up with 22 tracks just for the harmonies. I expected this much tracks for a more fuller and complex sound.
Mixing
All the tracks I made for this cover (Logic Pro)
I didn’t do much editing to the instrumental by Shanif Jaya since I already liked how it sounded, so I just lowered its gain to balance the track with the vocals.
The main melody and harmonies have pretty much the same audio settings and effects, except for its audio gain. Starting with the main melody, I wanted it to be clearer, more apparent, and obviously, louder than the stacks of harmonies. I added some custom Channel Equalizer to alter the volume of some frequencies. I added a high-pass filter to cut the lower (bass) frequencies and boosted some of the middle frequencies since I wanted it to sound brighter. I also added a Vintage Opto Compressor which is known to add tube warmth and saturation to the audio. Since I added a compression, I balanced it out with a little bit of gain. Finally, I added a DeEsser to reduce some sibilant sounds (“s” sounds). I used to always add noise reduction when using my old microphone, but this time, I did not use any noise reduction in my post-processing as my microphone did not pick up any unnecessary noises.
Custom Channel Equalizer
Vintage Opto Compressor
Gain
DeEsser
Here’s how it sounds like raw and with the changed audio settings and added effects.
Raw Main Melody
Main Melody with audio effects
For the harmonies, each track has a -20 audio gain since I had to stack a lot of the same harmonies together. I no longer needed to add any gain for these tracks. Here’s how it all sounds like acapella (with the audio effects).
Acapella (with audio effects)
Conclusion
I think I was able to create something decent for this assignment, which I am quite proud of. Was it perfect? Definitely not. I know that I could have done better in compressing and balancing the main melody. I know that I could have made the harmonies sound more cohesive. I think that there’s still room for improvement (which will hopefully be executed in the final project), but overall, I think the final product sounded okay. I would like to think I was able to make the song my own.
It was also my first time using a new microphone and audio interface so the set-up was a bit novel for me, but I was able to figure it out in the end and it sounded good! It did not pick up other noise which is great when stacking a lot of harmonies. I knew it was the best decision to upgrade my equipment.
Moving forward, I am excited to finally tackle the Final Project. I will take all the learnings I got from this assignment and apply them to the next project.
Until then!
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