One-sided
Weekly Recording Process of One-sided
9/8-9/14
I started recording One-sided this week and opened up a fresh new project in GarageBand. This week I mostly messed around with technical things like tempo and which guitar I should use to record. I am still navigating around the EC3 recording studio but I think I have found a good setup to start recording guide tracks next week. I just need a pop filter for recording vocals. Hopefully next week I can start recording more.
9/15-9/21
I began recording tracks this week. I found it challenging to record the guitar to the tempo of the song and was only able to record the verse part this week. On a side note, I found some pop filters in a bin which will be great for when I record vocals. I also finally settled on the tempo of the song to be 93 beats per minute after lots of experimentation. I will look to get more of the guitar tracks finished in the next week.
9/19
On 8/19, I performed One-sided in front of the whole school with a friend. I sang and played the rhythm guitar while my friend was in charge of the lead guitar and solo in the song. It was because of this performance that I decided to permanently change the key of One-sided to D major instead of C major. I dedicated some of my recording time this week to practicing playing One-sided live. I was only given a day’s heads up to perform One-sided but the performance turned out to be great, especially for how little time I had to prepare. It was a great positive experience, and although at times it was stressful, I was glad I was able to share a piece of myself that others don’t know about.
9/22-9/28
I found the most amazing tool this week. It is called the Time Quantization tool and it works by having the computer align all of the guitar notes I play to the tempo so that it sounds like I am playing in tempo for the whole song. Time Quantization is going to save me so much time in the future and will be extremely useful for my guitar tracks. Since I spent a part of last week in preparation for my performance, I was able to make up some of that time and recorded the pre-chorus and chorus guitar parts. The process was very time-consuming though. I not only had to repeatedly play a section until I got a good recording but I also had to go back and edit little notes so there was no bad bleeding when layering the tracks. If there was bad bleeding I would have to go back and re-record certain sections. I still might end up having to re-record certain parts of the guitar tracks but I can accomplish that next week. I also hope I can begin recording the vocal tracks next time.
9/29-10/5
I was super efficient this week. I finished re-recording certain guitar tracks and also began to record the vocal sections. My friend was able to come in and re-record certain guitar parts for the song which allowed me to start focusing on getting the vocals of the song in. It took some minor readjusting to find an optimal recording setup and the right gain levels but once I found them, I was set. I was able to record rough tracks for both the first and second verses this week, however, I don’t like how the 1st verse sounds so I might re-record it next week. I would also like to have the pre-chorus and chorus recorded next week, in case I need time to re-record them after that. Next week is a shorter week in school but now that things are set, I should be in a good place.
10/6-10/12
It was a shorter week at school. I still don’t like the first verse. I got a chance to re-record the first verse’s vocal track this week but something still feels off. I probably won’t end up keeping this version of the first verse. I just don’t like the tonation of my voice and the pronunciation of certain words is not as clear as it could be. The tracks also just feel too rough. It is hard to record the first verse because the track has to be good enough to set up the song. It’s difficult but I like recording the verses first because those two parts are more independent in this song than say the chorus which is repeated three times. Next week I’ll work to re-record the first verse. I also want to get a good take of the second verse so that I don’t have to re-record either of them anymore.
10/13-10/19
This week was awesome. I decided to re-record the second verse first and it sounds amazing. I tried to make the last lines of the second verse more emotional to tie into the second chorus. I think emotion is what the first verse had been missing. The second verse sounds good enough that I don’t think I will have to re-record it anymore. I then moved back to the first verse. I tried adding more emotion into the first verse and it fits so much better. It just sounds more real and natural than the previous takes had been. After that, I still had time and began recording the pre-chorus. I might end up having to re-record certain parts of it since some parts are good but some could be better. I will try to record the two choruses and might also re-record the pre-chorus next week.
10/20-10/26
I got a lot done this week. I re-recorded the pre-chorus and it sounds great. Initially, I tried splitting up the pre-chorus into sections so I could just record pieces of the pre-chorus bit-by-bit, however, I found that the recording sounded smoother if I just recorded it in one take. And I’m glad I did. It only took me maybe seven takes before I got a clean take of the whole pre-chorus. I ended up going back and fixing the “can’t” in the pre-chorus but either than that it all was a single recording. I also was able to record the first chorus. I had to split this part into multiple recordings, but they all came together and sounded pretty good after some minor editing. I tried experimenting with the third final chorus of the song but it is challenging because it slows down. I recorded a bit for the third chorus but I’m not sure if I like it. I wasn’t able to record the second chorus but that can wait for next week. The song is starting to come together.
10/27-11/2
Things are coming together. I was able to record the second chorus and it sounds great. It took a while since I had to make adjustments after deciding to take out the second pre-chorus which would tie the second verse into the chorus but I was able to get it done. Like the first chorus, I found it was easier to record the second chorus in chunks. For longer sections, splitting up the recording into multiple sections was better. The main vocal tracks for the song were complete after that so I began doing some background vocal pieces. I decided to do an echo after the second half of the first verse and throughout the whole second verse to build up the song in those sections. I’ve also experimented with some harmonies in the pre-chorus and chorus. I only have a few parts right now but they sound amazing. Next week, I want to have most of the background vocals done so I can begin mixing.
11/3-11/9
I made so much progress this week. I re-recorded all of the background harmonies for the song and recorded all of the second chorus’s harmonies. While recording the harmonies, I figured it would be a cool idea to do some crowd vocals in the pre-chorus and chorus sections. The crowd vocals turned out so well and they fill in a lot of the empty space between spaces in the song. They also just help build-up the song and give it more life. I was able to tweak the ending too and found out a great way to do the slow down. I first had to make a duplicate of the project and change the tempo on the duplicated project. This would mean that the guitar track on the duplicated track would be affected by the tempo track. If I then exported these vocal tracks back to the original project, the guitar tracks would still be affected by the tempo change but the vocal tracks would not. This prevents any distortion to the vocal tracks, making everything sound cleaner. I also recorded the guitar solo and it sounds great. Everything recording-wise is basically complete. I just need to record one last background “ah” section, the vocals for the final chorus, and finalize my drum beat. I should be able to start mixing soon. I’m excited to see how this all turns out.
11/10-12/1
I had a short week at school and then Thanksgiving break. I made a lot of progress during this time and am almost done with the song. I actually went back and recorded some more vocals and repeated the phrase “one-sided” at the end of the last chorus to give it some more build-up. I decided to add both high and low versions of the phrase however the high version stands out more which gives the song a nice touch. I also added some more “ah” tracks in the background and the buildup at the end sounds so good. Additonally, I changed the ending of the song a bit to fit the pace of the song more and all together, the ending is amazing. I messed around with some drum settings and have found some temporary ones but not one that I am satisfied to settle with. Just a little bit of mixing and mastering is left for the song to be done. I’m excited to wrap up the song soon.
11/3-11/9
I got a lot done this week. I re-recorded the pre-chorus and it sounds great. Initially, I tried splitting up the pre-chorus into sections so I could just record pieces of the pre-chorus bit-by-bit, however, I found that the recording sounded smoother if I just recorded it in one take. And I’m glad I did. It only took me maybe seven takes before I got a clean take of the whole pre-chorus. I ended up going back and fixing the “can’t” in the pre-chorus but either than that it all was a single recording. I also was able to record the first chorus. I had to split this part into multiple recordings, but they all came together and sounded pretty good after some minor editing. I wasn’t able to record the second chorus but that can wait for next week. The song is starting to come together.