Solo Performance Recording

Solo Performance Recording

Stage Box

The first thing I did before the recording was to set up the stage for the performer. To start off I asked the person who was going to perform what she would like to have on stage for her performance. The only things she asked for was a microphone  for herself and the one we used was 'Shure SM58' and also a piano for the accompanist of one of her songs because the other songs were A Capella and a backing track.

After asking the performer what she was going to need, I picked up a jack lead plug for the microphone so I could plug it into the stage box so I could send signal/sound to the mixing desk and record it onto Logic Pro. I made notes on my phone so I could remember which input the mic was in which was in input 1 on the stage box.

Mixing Desk

After completing all the setting up of the stage for the performer I went where the mixing desk and the laptop were and opened Logic pro, created a new file, add four new audio tracks then I saved the new project I was doing so the audio files being recorded would have somewhere to be saved to then I named each of the audio track so I could know which one was what and started setting up the channels for each of them, the vocals were on channel 1, the piano was on channel 9 and the backing track were on channel 15 & 16 and then set up the inputs for all of them.

After setting up all the channels & inputs for the instruments and backing track I pressed the 'Mute' button of the 4 channels being used so I could hear the instruments and vocals, I then turned up the 'Gain' button on the mixing desk to 60db but only for the vocals and the piano because it wasn't sending any sound to the mixing desk and while using the 'Line level channels' to turn up the volume of the instruments and vocals I looked at the meter to make sure both of them was reaching to '0'.

After that I used a stereo plug cable and plugged it into the headphone socket of the performer's phone so we could use the backing track for her performance, I then turned the the 'Line level channel' for the backing track to make sure we could hear it and also to make sure logic was receiving it.

After checking if everything was working perfectly which was, I pressed the 'R' button of each audio track so I could record them, I then asked the performer to sing one of her songs for few minutes so I could just check if Logic Pro was receiving all the sounds and if it was recording properly with enough volume sound and everything was fine. 

Techlog

Roland Gaia SH01 (Synth)

How have you been using it ?

• By pressing different keys you get a variety of different sounds and also effects.
• I've been messing around with the effects you can get from it, such as reverb, distortion, phaser, pitch shifter, delay with panning and tempo sync etc.
• Even though it has less keys than the other synth, with the Gaia you can change octaves with the octave key, you can transpose, you can change the pitch.

What are the limitations ?

With the Gaia you can't record or save sounds in it and different from the other synths, the Roland Gaia has much less keys than the other synthesisers, for example, the Roland Juno-6 or the Roland AX-Synth.

How could you use it effectively in performance ?
The Gaia can be used in any song, because even though it is a small synth it has a lot to offer, it has many songs that can be added in any part of a song and it can be used to add texture.

RC-5 (Loop Station)

How have you been using it ?

I've been using it to record different guitar parts, for example, the rhythm and then the melody. I also used it to record a bass line or even me just tapping/drumming on the guitar.

What are the limitations ?

• With the RC-5 if you record loads of sounds then you can't go back and choose which instruments you want to delete or re-record, you can only delete the previous sound.

• With this loop station you don't have the control of the instruments, if you record guitar, bass and then you tapping on the guitar and then you want to stop one of them, then you can't because you don't have the control of the sounds you are recording.

How could you use it effectively in performance ?
The RC-5 can be very helpful if you are doing a solo performance, for example, if you are guitarist and you are doing a solo performance, in the beginning you can just start by strumming the guitar, then adding a bass line to your song if you want, then do some tapping on the guitar body and then just adding a melody line on top of it. Any other instruments can use it for the same thing,