MMS 172 Assignment 3: Multitracking

Unlike what I intentionally planned to do for the final project, I decided to record a song cover with just my poor vocals since I did not know how to play any instruments. I chose the song “I Will” by The Beatles because the record has “bass vocals” done by Paul, and since the assignment requires at least two tracks for the output, I thought the song was an easy choice. I used the recommended software, Audacity, as my DAW.

First, I would like to show my recording setup for the acoustic treatment. I used a foldable bed mattress as a sound-absorbing wall for my recording setup. I used a regular bed or the back side because I thought the sound would bounce to my body more than the wall behind me. I also used a thin comforter (blanket) for the acoustic treatment on the top side of the setup. I thought my microphone placement was too low for soundproofing on the top to be significant. And yes, I had to keep my hand on the front to keep the whole thing from falling. The mattress used was a three-step fold so I had to flip it after taking the photos so the third panel could lean against the concrete and keep me surrounded with my acoustic solutions.

I do not know how to sing, and it is one of God’s greatest jokes for a person who likes music to be tone-deaf and out of tempo. For that problem, I decided to record my vocals while simultaneously listening to the track. Keeping up with the bass vocals was the most difficult part since I did not know how to read bass tabs. I also added a third track of me snapping my fingers. The snaps were done in 103 beats per minute, the same as the song. I treated it as a metronome that was a substitute for the drums.

Dealing with the tracks themselves, I only did a few mastering—well, more like tinkering. In the first track, the main vocals were adjusted to -6.0 decibels, while the bass vocals and finger snaps were both reduced to -13.0 decibels. I also did some magic (editing) on the tracks. I did the following steps for each track

·         Noise Reduction at a Profile of:

o   NR dB: 6

o   Sensitivity: 6

o   Frequency Bands: 6

·         Bass Boost

o   at factory preset

·         Treble Boost

o   at factory preset

·         Noise Reduction (Again)

·         Amplify (from 26dB to 30dB)

Listening to it, I will be honest that I cringed too much at my voice and out-of-tune singing, but I think I did better than I expected since I only used minimal noise reduction. I can clearly understand the lyrics and get a grasp of the bass (vocals) from the recording. So yeah, I think I am on the right track, but I still think I can do better.

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