aneveningofjazz

[aneveningofjazz]

[aneveningofjazz]

28/1/19 The Story So Far…

The Alan Lewis Rarebits performed two sets of smooth Dixieland jazz to a welcoming audience at The Thatched Inn, Abbotsham, November 2018. The concert raised over £1500 for Prostate Cancer UK during which Alan highlighted audience members at risk, urging them to get checked whilst joking about how his hormone treatment causes hot flushes and unexpected emotional reactions. It was a great night and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

With concern for Alan’s health and limited venue availability, organising everything was fast tracked in just three weeks. The event itself went smoothly without any hiccups, a testament to good organisation. However, there was an oversight that lead to an interpersonal issue whilst setting up the venue.

With the limited timeframe for marketing and promotion (and the concert being held on a Tuesday evening) the biggest concern was lack of attendance. This led to  the legal capacity of the venue being overlooked during planning. When a volunteer arrived to help decorate and announced they had invited around 100 people, the duty manager panicked about the potential for health and safety issues with the 65 person capacity. We reassured the manager that this was an exaggeration of numbers and that we would direct any people over capacity to the bar and restaurant areas. However, there was still friction during setup. Had the venue capacity been confirmed during the planning stage, nobody involved would have felt the need to invite such a large amount of people. Both myself and the duty manager were very relieved to count between 40-50 people enjoying themselves in the 65 person capacity venue!

[aneveningofjazz]

6/2/2019 Critical analysis and roughly balancing the mix

The recordings of both sets, 24 songs, have been critically analysed. The use of ribbon mics on the drum overheads, electric guitar and bass have produced a warm smooth sound whilst capturing the vibe of the room and performance. However, as the guitarist played softly with a rounded tone, a blend of the SM57 dynamic mic was needed to help cut through the other instruments. Also, the ribbon mic on the bass occasionally overloads slightly, even though care was taken to avoid this by using the mic off axis. Blending with the DI signal was necessary to reduce the distortion artifacts whilst balancing the mix.

    When mixing jazz, Matthew Weiss (2015) uses heavy use of EQ to make the room mics sound like the whole mix, then builds the mix around them. However, the ‘Rarebits’ play quite quietly compared to a rock band and the room mics were positioned in front the sound desk and above the crowd. Unfortunately, these have captured a lot of talking from the audience, which is intrusive on many of the songs and will need to be avoided. Positioning them above the band could have reduced this whilst still capturing the sense of space. Mix engineers, Kris Burton (2018) and Nick Messitte (2017) state when mixing a live album, applause often has to be manufactured to enhance the tonality and size of audience. The room mics could be repurposed for this as the ribbon mics on the other instruments, especially the drum overheads, provide a good sense of the room and atmosphere.

   The snare proved challenging to balance. It was played lightly and was difficult to bring out the subtle ghost notes. Emerson R. Maningo (2019) suggests boosting around 100 Hz, cutting around 2 kHz and boosting around 8 kHz but this caused conflict between bass and snare and made the cymbals sound harsh so another approach was needed. Weiss (2015) states that a common misconception amongst those unfamiliar with mixing jazz is that it has one particular sound. With this in mind a playlist of live jazz was analysed for various production aesthetics. The reference tracks revealed that the snare on most tracks had more bite with very little body or weight. Filtering off frequencies below 1 kHz and boosting at around 2 kHz allowed the snare ghost notes to cut through without affecting the cymbals.

    The playlist revealed that many tracks have been mixed in mono, have less low frequencies and are very dry and close. Alan wants a more modern sound so ‘Betcha by Golly Wow’ has been used as a reference track due to its wide stereo field and bass response. With a rough balance completed and all instruments clearly audible, all tracks will need to be critically analysed for any performance issues and have been sent to Alan to assist in this.

References

Burton, K. (2018) Unpublished interview conducted by Toby Lewis, 11 Dec 2018.

Maningo, R. E. (2019) audioissues [Online]. Available at https://www.audio-issues.com/music-mixing/jazz-music-mixing-tips-for-beginners/ (Accessed 6 Feb 2019)

Messitte, N. (2017) iZotope [Online]. Available at https://www.izotope.com/en/blog/mixing/7-tips-for-mixing-live-recordings.html (Accessed 6 Feb 2019).

Weiss, M. (2015) PRO AUDIO FILES [Online]. Available at https://theproaudiofiles.com/mixing-jazz/ (Accessed 6 Feb 2019).

[aneveningofjazz]

8/2/19 Performance analysis- Bless the mess

Alan and I both critically analysed the performance and general balance. Separate word documents were used so notes could be compared and contrasted.

Generally the performances are good but there are some performance issues which are severe and need to be addressed, mainly with sloppy timing on guitar and bass solos and some out of pitch notes from the fretless bass.

Melodyne 4 - Fixing Bass Guitar Tuning, Intonation, and String Tension Issues (2016) demonstrates using Melodyne to correct pitch and intonation issues which could be attempted on the DI and miked bass tracks. However, the bass bleed on the other mics is prominent due to the nature of the live recording, which could result in phase and spatial artefacts.

Mitch Gallagher (2017) demonstrates using iZotope RX7 audio repair software to remove drum spill from organ tracks. This same technique could be used to remove the bass bleed however, Harrison White (2019) suggest phase cancellation could perform the same task. White (2019) recommends:

Copying an audio track(s)

Reversing the polarity of the copied track which should result in silence when both are played

Using a specific linear phase EQ, with 48 dB/oct LPF on the copied track, drag the filter back to the point where the all the instrumentation, except the bass remains.

White (2019) suggest that this method allows for adding desirable elements of bleed, such as kick drum, by boosting with a narrow Q. 

All of these methods will be compared and contrasted.

Bearing all this in mind, this blog entry will sign off with a particularly relevant and poignant quote from Nick Messitte (2017)

See, with rare exceptions (overdubs provided in studio), what you have is what you have. You must make peace with the audio [...] The very first thing you do is listen to the tracks and come to terms with their limitations. You bless the mess, embracing these tracks exactly as they are. It clears the mental cobwebs, allowing you to move forward [...] I don’t approach mixing a studio recording this way. Indeed, there’s a lot about mixing a live record that’s quite different and counterintuitive.

References

Gallagher, M. (2017) Sweetwater [Online]. Available at https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/how-to-remove-drum-bleed-from-other-tracks/ (Accessed 8 Feb 2019).

Melodyne 4 - Fixing Bass Guitar Tuning, Intonation, and String Tension Issues (2016). YouTube video, added by MusicTechHelpGuy [Online]. Available at URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7kD89802rQ (Accessed 8 Feb 2019).

Messitte, N. (2017) iZotope [Online]. Available at https://www.izotope.com/en/blog/mixing/7-tips-for-mixing-live-recordings.html (Accessed 6 Feb 2019).

White, H. (2019) Email to Toby Lewis, 8 February.