MMS 172 Assignment 3: Project Output

Now comes the tough part, the actual production stage. To be honest, I was skeptical about this project at first. I’m not an audio expert. But I’m the type of person who takes on challenges anyway. I’ve always believed we grow the most in uncomfortable situations. That’s just how evolution works. We learn and adapt when we’re pushed out of our comfort zone.

To recap, for the culminating activity of this course, I chose to do a cover of Cup of Joe’s Pahina. I thought it would be simple. The song already exists, so I just needed to replicate it. That should be easy, right? Well, I was wrong. Sure, the chords and lyrics were already there, but the real challenge came during recording. And wow, I faced a lot of issues along the way. Let me walk you through what happened.

Most of my prep work was already sorted during pre-production. The schedule, gear, DAW, and even a spatial map of how I wanted the sound to sit. I also talked to my boyfriend, Red, who agreed to sing and play the guitars for me. We met a couple of times just to plan how to split the vocal parts, especially since Cup of Joe’s version has two lead singers.

RECORDING

The Recording Space

My first plan was to record in my room. Maybe even build a small audio booth for the mic to help with acoustics. But of course, life had other plans. Out of nowhere, our neighbor decided it was the perfect time to renovate their house. And guess what? My room isn’t soundproofed. All day long, the sound of hammering and drilling cut through my walls.

My next thought was, “Okay, I’ll just record at night.” But then that would mean disturbing everyone at home who’s already asleep. Not a good idea.

Blackroom Studios (Band Rehearsal Studio)

So, I started looking for a recording studio, or at least a band rehearsal room. Thankfully, I found one nearby. The studio had acoustic foam on all the walls, which helped a lot with the reflections. I thought, “Finally, peace and quiet.” But nope, not really.

The studio wasn’t soundproof either. It’s located on the corner of an intersection, so jeepneys and tricycles passing by could still be heard faintly. And to make things even more fun, the air conditioner added a low rumble and a light hiss. I’ll share later how I tried to manage all that.

Acoustic Guitar Recording

Acoustic Guitar

We started recording with the acoustic guitar. Following my pre-production plan, I used a large diaphragm condenser microphone (Boya BY-M100 Pro), connected to my Maono PS22 Lite audio interface, then into Tracktion Waveform (my DAW). Originally, I thought of recording in Audacity and mixing in Waveform, but I decided to do everything in one DAW to keep it simple.

Acoustic Guitar → Microphone → Audio Interface → DAW

For mic placement, I kept it about 12 inches away from the guitar and angled it at the 12th fret. This helped avoid a boomy sound while still capturing a clear tone. We recorded two parts:

A plucking intro
A strumming pattern for the rest of the song

Two Recorded Acoustic Guitar Tracks (Plucking & Strumming Pattern)

Electric Guitar Recording

Electric Guitar

The electric guitar was easier. Well, it wasn't part of the original plan but since it is available in the studio, might as well use it.

We plugged it straight into the interface using a TS cable, recorded it directly in Waveform, and kept the same strumming pattern as the acoustic.

Electric Guitar → Audio Interface → DAW

For both recordings of the acoustic, electric, and vocal parts, I had to be mindful of the gain on my audio interface. I made sure what I recorded was not loud enough to clip. I kept the average at -18 dB to leave plenty of headroom for mixing.

Vocals Recording

Vocals

Vocals came next. Since Cup of Joe has two lead vocalists, we decided to separate some lead parts, especially the sustained notes. We also recorded one backing vocal track.

We used the same Boya mic with Red standing about 12 inches away. A pop filter helped control plosives and sudden bursts of air.

Voice → Microphone → Audio Interface → DAW

For all the recordings, I used my Maono MH700 monitor headphones to hear what my DAW was receiving. I also used it as my listening device during the mixing and mastering process.

DAW → Audio Interface → Headphones

Microphone with its back facing the noise source

Noise Issues

Now, the tricky part, the noise. The AC gave off a constant rumble and hiss. Add to that the faint sound of jeepneys and tricycles outside, and it became a real problem.

To reduce it, I set the mic to a cardioid pattern and turned its back toward the AC. It didn’t solve everything, but it helped a bit.

MIXING

Now, the fun part. I began the mixing process by organizing tracks and grouping them. Guitars together, vocals together. I also added the original Pahina track as a reference to check tempo and balance.

I went through all recordings, deleted bad takes, and aligned everything with the tempo. Then I cleaned the tracks before moving into detailed mixing.

Noise Gate Applied on Acoustic Guitar Track (Plucking Intro)

Acoustic Guitar

Mixing the acoustic guitar was the most challenging part. The plucking intro track captured a lot of unwanted noise. Low rumbles from the AC and a high-frequency hiss from the ambient sound.

To clean up the quiet parts, I used a noise gate. I applied the MCompressor plugin by Melda Productions and started with its noise gate preset to cut off the noise. After that, I adjusted the curve a bit upward because the noise gate had lowered the overall intensity of the guitar more than I wanted.

That helped clean up the silent sections, but when the guitar was actually playing, the mud was still there. To address this, I decided to use both a High Pass Filter and a Low Pass Filter.

The low rumble wasn’t too heavy, so I didn’t need to cut too aggressively with the HPF. But the hiss was a different story. It was very prominent and sounded almost like static. To reduce it, I applied a Low Pass Filter at around 1800 Hz. This was a compromise because it also cut some of the guitar’s brightness, but I had to get rid of at least the worst of the hiss.

Thankfully, this issue was only in the intro plucking track. The strumming track was much cleaner and only needed a subtle Low Pass Filter cutting around 5000 Hz, just enough to smooth it out.

To keep the acoustic guitar tracks consistent and balanced, I also added light compression. This helped even out the levels and made the guitar sit more naturally in the mix.

HPF and LPF Applied on Acoustic Guitar Track (Plucking Intro)

HPF Applied on Electric Guitar Track

Electric Guitar

Since the electric guitar was recorded directly through my audio interface, there wasn’t much to fix (at least, in terms of noise). I just used a high-pass filter below 42 Hz to remove unnecessary low frequencies.

Vocals

For the vocals, I was lucky because they came out clean and didn’t have the same high-frequency noise that my acoustic guitar recordings had. To tidy things up, I used the same noise gate I applied to the guitars. This helped reduce background noise and made the quiet parts cleaner.

Since vocals naturally have a wider dynamic range, there was a big gap between the softest and loudest parts. Some notes were too quiet while others peaked really high, especially in the chorus and climax. To fix this, I added a compressor. This brought up the softer parts while keeping the louder ones under control. The result was a more balanced and consistent vocal track.

I applied compression to all the vocal tracks, but I adjusted the settings for each one depending on the peaks and dips in their recordings. This way, every vocal part sat well in the mix without sounding too squashed or losing its natural sound.

EQ and Reverb Applied on Backing Vocals (Outro) Track

Backing Vocals (Outro)

In the outro, I added chant-like backing vocals. They were meant to sound a bit muffled, almost like a voice inside your head. To get this effect, I went heavier on the EQ. I cut both the highs and the lows, leaving only the mid frequencies. This creates a telephone effect sound. It makes the vocals feel narrower and less natural, as if they’re coming through a small speaker or echoing inside your head.

To make it feel more atmospheric, I added reverb using the "sparkling keys" preset. This gave the vocals an echoing, dreamy quality that spread across the stereo field. The result was a chant that didn’t just sit in the mix but floated around, adding more depth and drama to the ending.

MIDI and Other Elements

In addition to the recorded tracks, I also incorporated some pre-recorded audio and MIDI files I found online, as well as a few MIDI parts I played myself.

Phat low EQ Applied on Heartbeat Track

For the intro, I used a heartbeat sound that I downloaded. To make it feel more powerful and immersive, I boosted the low end with a phat EQ so the bass hits harder as heartbeats are something you should feel, not just hear.

I also added reverb so it resonates more naturally, as if it’s filling the room.

For the MIDI instruments, I used the LABS plugin by Spitfire Audio.

There are two piano MIDI tracks that play throughout the mix. They come from the same MIDI file, but one is transposed an octave lower to thicken the overall sound. I also used different piano tones for each. The higher one is an electric keyboard using the original pitch, while the lower one is a grand piano with longer sustain. This layering created a fuller sound without the two parts competing with each other.

For the intro section, I added another grand piano MIDI. I gave it a touch of reverb so it blends smoothly with the heartbeat in the background, creating a cohesive atmosphere.

LABS by Spitfire Audio Plugin

Bridge MIDI Tracks

In the bridge, there’s a quieter moment with just light guitar strumming. To make it more intimate, I introduced a subtle vibraphone melody in the background. I added reverb here as well to enhance the mood and give it a more dramatic, dreamy quality.

As an accent, I layered in electric guitar solos using the same melody. With added reverb, the notes resonate and feel more connected to the rest of the arrangement.

Finally, towards the end, I brought in MIDI strings to make the climax more cinematic. Since strings can easily mud up the mix, I used a High Pass Filter to roll off some of the low frequencies. I then added reverb to simulate a larger space, making the strings feel wide and expansive, building up the ending with more emotional weight.

These MIDI layers helped fill out the mix, adding depth and dynamics while building the track toward its climactic ending.

Volume and Panning

After cleaning my mix and adding effects, it still didn’t sound quite right. The tracks felt like they were competing and overlapping. To fix this, I worked on volume and panning to balance everything in the stereo field and make each track more distinguishable. I also had to adjust from my pre-production plan since there were now more elements to consider. (The visuals I made are just approximations of the audio panning perspective.)

Panned Perspective: Intro

Panned Perspective: Verses

Panned Perspective: Bridge

Panned Perspective: Ending

My spatial field isn’t very sparse for a reason. I wanted the song to feel more intimate at the beginning, then gradually open up toward the climax. I used more reverbs and spread out the accent tracks near the end to create a dramatic effect. For the main tracks, like the vocals and guitars, I kept them closer to the center and nearer to the listener. This makes it feel more personal, as if someone is singing directly to you in a small space, which fits the mood of an acoustic cover.

Automations

While the mix was pretty straightforward, there were certain parts of the song that needed to be quieter than the rest, particularly in the intro and the bridge. To control this, I used volume automation on some of the tracks.

Volume Automations on Intro Tracks

I lowered the intro by about -3 dB and gradually increased the volume so that the beginning wouldn’t feel too “in your face.” This subtle rise helped create a smoother buildup and made the entry of the song more natural.

MASTERING

Since most of the cleanup was already done during mixing, I didn’t need to do much in mastering. I added a high-pass filter to roll off the low frequencies that created mud and applied slight compression to merge everything together. This kept the final track consistent without sacrificing too much of the dynamic range.

During mixing, I left plenty of headroom, with peaks averaging around -12 dB. For mastering, I raised the gain to bring the track up to around -3 dB. Finally, I set a ceiling of -1 dB to make sure the track wouldn’t clip. Then I exported the track at a 48000 Hz sample rate, 16-bit WAV file, and uploaded it to SoundCloud in HD format.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Final Multitrack Mix

I definitely faced challenges with this project, but overall, it was still a fun experience. Even though it’s an academic requirement and something to take seriously, I still found space to experiment and enjoy the process.

Coming into this class, I only knew how to use Audacity, and even then I didn’t understand what the other settings were for. I just used it to clip and organize my tracks but never bothered tinkering with other functionalities such as compression, panning, and so on. That changed here.

Recording was one of my biggest struggles. It made me realize how important it is to capture good-quality audio from the start. Do it right the first time. For example, my guitar plucking intro came with a lot of background noise. Cleaning it up was tough, and no matter how many effects I applied, it wasn’t perfect. I had to compromise, either keep the static and preserve the full sound, or reduce the noise at the cost of quality. I chose the latter and made it work.

On the other hand, mixing was something I had a lot of fun with. I layered multiple tracks, added MIDI instruments, and even doubled some parts to make the sound feel fuller. At one point, I added so much that the mix became muddy. That’s when I learned to start removing tracks, simplifying things, and clipping sections so each instrument had space to shine. It taught me that more isn’t always better. Sometimes less really is more.

Every time I listened back to my exported master, I found something I wanted to tweak. I think I uploaded at least five different versions to SoundCloud before forcing myself to stop. For now, it’s decent, or maybe good enough to submit. The final track is far from perfect, but considering I only started learning all of this three months ago, I’m proud of it.

In the end, what matters is not perfection, but that I learned, experimented, and grew through the challenge.

Rhon Joshua Calupitan | 2022-30993

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