The Kites “Just Say When” - Studio Production
Project Summary
Being a developmental continuation from the PDS project The Basement Tapes, Jacaranda Records (2024) - I have carried on working with the merseybeat band “The Kites” who I’d brought onto that. In aiming to develop their repertoire with a debut single release, we arranged to work together again in a studio production, for which I planned and produced their debut record as detailed here. Spanning the full scope of production, I was the sole recording / mixing / mastering engineer - and supported them in the afterwork effort of the release stage. This has been a milestone for myself, as it is the production which I would most qualify as a professional undertaking - being that I was hired to work for this client, fully engineering & producing their track.
This project has actualised all the learning this practitioner has gained from this inquiry, and the development which has been documented across its full duration. Being a very gratifying undertaking, it has better set the confidence in myself to continue my own career progression in audio production. Being informed by the recommendations set out below from the developed NOS Sec 2b.2 R&Cs, Sharp (2024), it not only has evidenced my own professional production capability - but also it has been an example justifier in the methodological approach to this research inquiry as a developmental framework to advance not only my own skills, knowledge & portfolio - but also that of the artists who’ve been a part of these production undertakings.
Informing this production is the documented approaches of Malcolm Chisholm provided by Linden P. S. (2013), alongside the standard referands given here -
Practical Process Recommendations:
[SKSP12 (2019)] Plan and schedule productions.
[ECIPMD12 (2015)] Manage project activities and resources.
[SKSPP24 (2017)] Mix recorded sound.
[SKSPP23 (2017)] Support clients and colleagues in post production facilities.
[CCSMT3 (2020)] Set up, configure and maintain studio equipment, software, hardware and instruments.
[CCSMT18 (2015)] Operate analogue and digital dynamics and effects equipment for music and audio industries.
[SKSRACC5 (2024)] Work to a brief for radio and audio content.
[CCSMT25 (2015)] Develop techniques for mastering and restoring audio using critical listening skills.
[CCSMB13 (2015)] Understand how artist agreements and contracts work.
[CCSMB15 (2015)] Identify development and repertoire opportunities for artists.
[CCSMB4 (2015)] Support music industry promotional activities.
[CCSMT13 (2015)] Assist with recording of live sound location sources.
Pre-Production
Following on from the successful professional development scheme production - The Basement Tapes - I have continued to work with one of the bands, merseybeat 4-piece ‘The Kites’, in the production of their debut single - Just Say When, The Kites (2024). Identifying their potential as an enjoyable & interesting modern iteration in that field of genre, being mersey rock / indie rhythm and funky bass, that could benefit from a boost in their profile as a band - in line with the practical process recommendation of identifying development and repertoire opportunities for artists, [CCSMB15 (2015)], further developed within the practically informed Sec 2b.2 R&Cs, Sharp (2024). I began discussions with the band on the opportunities of development to facilitate this boost.
With the basement tapes featuring three of their tracks, two full live audio / video productions & one for the series trailer - being a promotional campaign organised for both the label & showcased artists, we sought to take hold of the marketing opportunity to further promote the band with a debut single release.
With the showcase series running through its release schedule, we organised the production of their featured bonus song - Just Say When - as this was freshly finished with lyrics since the Basement Tapes production, they had a keen excitement with the track. As it had been teased as the backing track to The Basement Tapes - Season 3 Trailer, Jacaranda Records (2024) - they were looking to get this produced first. Being a worthwhile opportunity for their repertoire development, we jumped at the opportunity to give them a strong start to their discography, with debut singles being a milestone in any band's career.
With the studio session date set for the production, I finished pre-production arrangements with the above production outline & tech notes for the planned setup - being an SSL suite with mix & live room, organised for a streamlined industrial recording process. Being familiar with the studio, I was aware of the temperamentality often found with the desk - therefore alongside information for its operation, I detailed in the tech notes any known faults that I could encounter. This was a precautionary risk-assessment that ought to be carried out to mitigate unknown faults & subsequent time delays, as is put by Linden P. S. (2013) -
“Success in this environment requires talented artists as well as resourcefulness on the part of an engineer ... This resourcefulness refers to the craft of an engineer to successfully troubleshoot any problems threatening the session, including electronic repair of any and all related equipment.“
On the day going into the setup for the studio live room, I first went about clearing the space and arranging the areas for each instrument to their requirements -
- First, sourcing all the parts & positioning the kit centrally to the rear, being optimal as there is the rear stagebox to group it’s mic signals along with being where there are minimal gaps through acoustic panelling through to the flat walls.
- Guitars being both lead and rhythm took another area nearer to the mix / live room window, this consisted of a stage that provided the amps with some solid / safe height off the floor to minimise bleed into it & reflections off of it (additionally dampened with carpet). Amps were lined up, with low demand on the day meaning more could be brought in for part dependent options.
- Bass was set up on the opposite side of the room to the guitars, being in a relatively null placement from the guitar amp mics & vice versa - reducing bleed for rhythm tracking.
- Vocals were positioned centrally along the length of the room, next to the guitars.
Setting up the studio in this arrangement allowed for a good interplay between the band when settling and warming up - providing a professional recording environment which accommodated for creative approaches. In the vein of Linden P. S. (2013) -
“Set them up as if they are playing a gig, and then you go from there. A band plays in a room, not a box. They play to and with each other. You could call this organic, I call it traditional.”
Additionally, each area was then organised and assigned to the respective stage-box (sb-1 being near / sb-2 being far), in line with the pre-planned assignments setout in the above tech notes. Mic choices were gathered, placed and positioned for each instrument - with the presumption of later adjustments for the guitars. Aside from standard placements on most sources (57s / dynamic mics for cabs - face on the cone & stereo XY overheads for the kit etc) I also made the decision to add an additional mid - focused mic to the kit, centrally positioned onto the void space between the drums body, rather than any skins.
Production
With pre-production setting a clear outline for the production process, it was a straightforward and simple process of tracking each part in series. The ordering we discussed was based on the band’s natural interplays, and was for the purpose of maintaining their prominent characteristic of groove - whilst still recorded to a click track, which was only familiar with one of the members at a level to record onto. With that, and with a couple full-band run-throughs, the tracking series followed as such -
Roughs first - to outline the track’s arrangement and establish the groove, we first tracked the guitar rhythm section (rhythm guitar + bass) - with the bassist monitoring the click and the rhythm playing off their timing, this worked very well to get a consistent bpm to the track whilst still providing a more natural - live approach for the artists in their performances.
With the rough rhythm tracked, next was the drums - receiving the mix via cues, we tracked the drum takes - with a few iterations to account for adjustments to where certain parts came in, however ultimately finding in agreed discussion with the drummer that the first & most energetic take was best to be used.
Next, we re-recorded the bass in the context of the drums now being in the mix, providing the bassist with a consistent tempo to bring more timing grooves in without the need for the click - interplaying off the tracked drum parts from the selected take.
With the arrangement taking shape, the lead guitar was tracked next - requiring only two takes to nail the part. We discussed and agreed to use take 1 for the majority of the first half of the track, and take 2’s outro solo, and a blend of both in the intro.
Next to then get a clean, bleed-free tracking on the rhythm guitar part - this was re-recorded, multiple times for layering later into a larger / wide guitar sound.
With the main arrangement complete, tracking for the vocals was done - again doing multiple parts for layering later to get a more harmonic quality via doubling.
To finish off the tracks and to encourage and provide some creative experimentality to the end of the session with the tracks main core being recorded - there was placed in the pre-planning some additional conga / hand drum percussion & a prophet synthesiser - these were mic’d / DI routed respectively and ready to go already, so with the last few hours of the session still on the clock, we tracked some additional percussion, some very interesting synth parts alongside some group backing vocal layers.
During the tracking process, I’d put a mix together on the desk to provide a good balance of elements whilst maintaining a near approximate to their original recorded gain levels. This was well received by the band, and formed the basis reference for going into the post-production mixing stages. At the end of the session, the consensus was very positive on both the session and its outputs from all involved. Before heading home, the studio was packed down, tidied away with all equipment zeroed / returned to the technicians whilst chatting through the next steps for the production.
Post-Production
Differing from the production context of the recording sessions - being predominantly an industrial approach in line with Chisholm’s descriptions provided by Linden P. S. (2013) - the post-production process has situated within a post-industrial method of predominantly in-the-box processing.
Produced from the recording session are thirty-three tracks (excluding take iterations for each part), these were brought into the DAW in use - Logic Pro - chosen for the quality of processing and being what I predominantly utilise for post-processing.
When undertaking post-production, a beneficial practice for risk mitigation which I have utilised is “checkpointing” - i.e. saving as a new session version with each return to the mix. Understanding my own post-production process I know I will often return to a mix across consecutive days, opting regularly for experimentation in the mix of differing elements to find what is best preferable for a particular layer or group. This creative iterative method usually leads me to desirable results - whilst providing a backstop of satisfactory save points to reimport from if part of the mix develops unsatisfactory. This also provides a useful frame of reference on reflection of the development to reach the final piece.
Aside from key aspects such as channel processing and bus routing, this mix utilised a recent development in my approach to the post-industrial mixing process - that is the design and use of master console routing structures found on hardware mixing consoles.
To extrapolate on this further, when using a mixing console such as the SSL in this production’s recording section, there are additional processing stages often found on the master console section - such as with mix compressor settings on the whole output. Whereas in previous scenarios I’d have utilised the stereo mix out to process across the whole mix in this way, I have recently been deploying a digital mixer setup which combines VCAs / dedicated group processing / stereo mix dynamics processing. This configuration can be seen across the channels from “Kit Rev VCA” to “Stereo Out” on mix session 4’s figures.
Using VCAs in a standard utilisation, explicitly for subtle gain staging where required, these are then accompanied by what are serially denoted as “EXMSC Aux” - being group buses for each set within the mix, configured and set to specifically process dynamic through expansion (EX), mid/side channels (MS), and finally glue compression (C). These are set and adjusted as necessary, routing then to the “Mix Bus” which serves as a final bus compressor and summing point, before then routing to the “Stereo Out” master output in parallel to the Dolby-A processor previously configured in the PDS Portfolio Component Project 5 - Operationalize, detailed and also utilised in the included production Project 2 - Operationalize B-sides & Radio Edits.
The results from the post-processing stages were well received through reception and feedback from the first mix test-pressing sent. The group expressed their satisfaction and excitement at the quality of the final production output - being beyond what they’d anticipated in the overall quality as a professionally produced debut record of their music. Going into this project with the developmental approach in my own practice as a production engineer, it is also a testament to the rigour of the utilised approach in that the group themselves independently see this as a successful development for their repertoire and sound.
Following from the production, release arrangements have been organised by the band, with the track set to release on the 31st of October 2024.
https://open.spotify.com/track/3JnedDgMRM7Eli2LJkekYP?si=e654ac5608ab44a4
