Basement Tapes Audio & Video Recording Production Project
Production Project Plan -
Date : 14/05/24
Venue : Jacaranda Basement Stage Crew :
- Live Sound Audio Engineer
- Stage Hands [2]
- Film Crew [3]
- Director
- Project Management Set Info :
Two sets from two bands : each set consisting of two tracks with multiple takes.
Production Day Timeline :
9:00 - Arrive
9:30 - Film equipment load in & setup
10:00 - Band 1 equipment load in, setup & soundcheck 11:00 - Set 1 start
12:00 - Set 1 end & load out [excluding film equipment] Break
1:00 - Band 2 equipment load in, setup & soundcheck 2:00 - Set 2 start
3:00 - Set 2 end & load out [including film equipment]
Post-Production [of 4 AV production tracks] :
- Take Selection and confirmation across audio / film
- Video Editing
- Audio Mixing
- AV Editing
Release
As a part of The Campus Label’s output, the Jacaranda’s basement tapes is a recurring production undertaken by a team of audio / film personnel from SAE Liverpool’s student base. Being an AV production, there were numerous roles to fill across production crews including detailed above. More specifically, the audio crew consisted of stage hands assisting in setup followed by recording operator roles during filming. Film crew consisted of a dolly camera operator, tripod mounted camera operator, and a hand-held camera operator. Project management was then responsible for the coordination and organisation of the production and post-production, personnel and schedule. In this project I undertook assisting audio crew responsibilities and the project management role for Band 2’s set [The Kites].
During run-up to production day, there was a number of planning ambiguities that had to be clarified and resolved :
- Film Crew Availability : During the 2-week period running up to the production’s start, it took more time than anticipated to secure a film crew. Going forward, more time should be given to secure these roles [4 weeks]. Fortunately, we secured a team close to the date who did a top quality job of production roles & responsibilities.
- Director’s Availability : Similarly, there was ambiguity around the directors availability due to miscommunication from a previous Basement Tapes production day. Fortunately we were also able to secure their participation close to the date. The consensus between the project management and director is that this role however should be made more accessible to film crew personnel who’d be interested, for their own professional development & for additional options of personnel to fill this specialised role.
- Band Availability : Two days before production day, Band 2 dropped off due to unavailability from clashing schedules. Despite the production date being coordinated and confirmed 4 weeks in advance between parties, it is recommended that the likelihood of last-minute cancellations should not be underestimated. In these scenarios it should be considered that whilst some may become inaccessible at the last-minute, others may be accessible at the last-minute. Acceptance of the changed circumstances is recommended, and quick adaptability is crucial to ensure a smooth transition in the situation. After receiving this information, a quick pivot of offering to another band [Band 3] resolved this issue with them being available on short-notice for the production.
- Equipment Availability : Coinciding with Band 2’s cancellation, it was also brought to my attention that the audio recording equipment [Laptop / DAW] for Band 1’s set would not be available for the afternoon due to personnel departure at midday. With this then preventing production of the afternoon set, I again had to quickly pivot to sourcing another laptop. As the one available was not one used for multi-track recording previously, setup and configuration was undertaken to optimise the system - with lightweight multitrack recording software [Waves Tracks Live] and drivers being installed and tested beforehand. Using this setup, Set 2’s recording went smoothly on the day & the recording equipment’s processing was consistent and reliable.
Keep calm - adapt and work around issues, expect nothing to go as planned. Although circumstances shifted unexpectedly, the day as a whole was still a successful production session with the planned outputs of 4 tracks still being met.
Following the production day, post-production has begun with the multitrack mix. Consisting of 8 tracks :
- Kick
- Snare
- Rack Tom
- Floor Tom
- Bass
- Guitar Stage L
- Guitar Stage R
- Vox
Lacking overheads on the kit, cymbal signal has been taken from the rack tom and mixed in combination with the vox signal bleed to place them in the mix as needed. Going forward it should be considered that at least one overhead (or stereo configuration at the stages rear) should be utilised to capture the cymbals better. As overheads typically are intrusive to a set’s visual appearance, rear placement behind the kit could be viable
Post-production for the project began with coordinating the selected takes with the film crew. Once selected, mixing began for the two tracks (+ additional bonus track).
Following the successful production session, conversations with the band who’s set I oversaw have moved into potential onboarding to the label - including studio production work and release publishing plans.
Post production for the sessions recorded material commenced following the recording session day. With the layout of the band being a 4-piece with 2 electric guitars / bassist / drummer, the approach to mixing followed the brief given by the band - a raw indie sound with some Stone Roses influence to a sonic quality similar to The Libertines’ self-titled album.
Panning guitars to their respective stage sides to fit with the video, these were attenuated and filtered to minimise bleed in the top / low ends where bass / cymbals carried across. The bass itself was then low-focused to lend midrange space to the mix, with emphasis on its punch with compression during slap sections. Due to the bleed present on some mics, there was a section in track 1 where the bass is slightly distant however with some level adjustment and EQing this was treated to bring further forward through the section. Vocals were compressed to balance out levels throughout the recordings, these then were processed through reverb to better sit in the existing mix - given that instrumentation had reverberant qualities from recording. A main adjustment in the mix from the original recording was done with sample replacement on the snare track - as the band had been without breakables for the kit, the in-house snare had been used. This however had a less than ideal tone, sounding fairly springy with longer decay times. Whilst this was initially an issue, when layered with a double track of sampled snare closer in tone to those found in The Libertines reference material, it added an interesting reverberant sound which then sat nicely behind the sampled snare replacement.
Upon completion of the post-production for both tracks, the mixes were sent for review and reception by the band - “the band are absolutely made up with these! Everyone’s said how good they sound and spot on to what we wanted them to sound” - this is a really great and supportive comment to have received on the work, having heard they’d attempted productions for these tracks twice before already in different production circumstances, I was very happy to have delivered them a finished result which they were satisfied with.
With the mix being well received, the band is keen to look at options for releasing through the label distribution to online stores such as spotify for audio only. For this I plan to export additional streaming platform orientated masters.
Regarding the AV basement tapes production, following the session there had been some delay on the AV edit - as the planned editor for the sets had to step away from the project, it has circumstantially fell to me to complete the AV post-production video editing. Having experience in this regard, I had felt confident in my ability to take on this additional production task - weighing against time constraints and paid work responsibilities, I concluded it’d be best for the bands to get these productions complete, so that the project can cleanly come to a close - with the output combining as a strong portfolio set of AV production.
What this means is as well as the existing responsibilities for this project, I have had to source the video footage for the sessions, as well as transfer and organise takes. With a count of 4 bands in total across 2 recording day sessions, 2 tracks each leads to 8 total AV productions.
Following completion of the bands mixdowns, I sought the video files and edited together their two tracks. As the previous format for these productions had followed a strict 4-panel visual arrangement of camera angles, and as a consensus had been reached to move away from this old format. I opted for taking the initiative with a refreshed full screen single-shot / cuts between camera angles to keep the AV flowing throughout the track duration, with additional interest and action drawn from the cinematography framing & focus. Additionally, opening title frames & credit frames were designed and added in.
With these 2 AV productions fully complete, I am now in the process of gathering the remaining footage for the 6 tracks of the 3 other bands. I plan on carrying out edits similarly for those.
