Small Ensemble Project
In this project, I decided to cover "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix. My creative idea was to record the song using minimal equipment and try to get a mix sounding exactly like the record. I played drums and bass while a friend, Jacob, played the iconic Purple Haze riffs on his fender Stratocaster.
Tracking Phase
I had a couple amps to choose from but I figured it was easiest to come up with a similar guitar tone through DI and into Studio One's "Ampire". All bass tracks were recorded through a crate amp using an AKG D112 and shure sm57. Drums were recorded with a simple snare, kick, and overhead setup also including a room "crush" mic facing the opposite wall.
Editing/Post Production Phase
In this phase I cleaned up all tracks with audio bending as well as clean cuts/fades. Each section was repeated in the corrected order of the original song.
I then leveled my mixed and used my preferred plug-ins to make the song sound like the original record. I used redlight distortion to give me that famous fuzz sound Hendrix often plays with. All of my drum tracks were mixed then sent to a drum bus with a send effect for more of an oldschool room sound. I used a saturation effect from reapers plug-in pack to give more of a tape feel on my recording. I also sent the drums and bass to a "grit" send which included the redlight distortion. My mix bus included a mix compressor, binaural pan, the MaagEq2, and Limiter6.
Conclusion
In conclusion this was a fun project. I was surprised at how difficult it was to make a recording sound lesser quality. I felt like my recording quality was great but my playing did not sound like the record. If I could go back and make any changes, I would rerecord the drums and fix some parts that are not exact to the recording. Overall, another good project in the books.