The Ghost In The Machine (Phase two)

This project has moved on the the next stage with Jonathan(the director) formulating a project management programme called Basecamp, were he can upload each scene and where others can use as a file sharing platform for the movie. As there are a number of different sound designers involved in the project, Bascamp has been very useful and has also been used as a forum to discuss techniques, approaches and problems we've been having. So far Jonathan has uploaded the first batch of scenes, of which we have to choose from and mark our name next to, making sure no one else completes the same scene. We have been told to only apply Atmos+FX to the scenes, as the Foley and ADR are being completed by another group of professionals in a London studio. My first scene I chose was scene 7 - "Sophie and Mark argue", because it's based by the sea and I can accurately recreate this, as I live in a coastal town.

My first scene without ADR+Foley:

Untitled from Jamie Frye on Vimeo.

HARDCORE STRAIGHT EDGE DOCUMENTARY

The Straight Edge Documentary by jamiefrye

I have produced a Punk fuelled hardcore straight edge documentary for Resonance FM, Which is a central london based radio station that kindly gave myself and others the chance to produce a three hour show. This documentary follows the birth of American Punk and continues with how it became hardcore, which then leads to the current UK scene and how Straight Edge still influences bands today. Making this documentary involved:

• Researching through interviews and other punk films, as to how the American Punk scene started.
• Writing and developing a narration script with Leeds based hardcore veteran Nate Bean.
• Recording interviews at shows.
  
• Recording and producing an interesting narration that would keep audiences griped throughout.
• Piecing it all together to create the final product.

This documentary will be aired on the 19th May 2010 on Reaonance FM and at Ravensbournes, Ravelive.

Flowers - Short Film

I was contacted by Sarah(who is a third year content student) to help with sound on her final project called flowers. This is a short film which was filmed both in college and on location at a house in Bromley. Sarah needed both sound mixer and boom op, so asked a classmate to help boom op so I could concentrate on cable bashing and sound mixing.

Battling with trains, Plains and lawn mowers

The problems we came across were batteries running out and not being able to get the boom microphone close enough to the actors. we also film outside and had to wait for plains, trains and lawn mowers to stop, so it wouldn't be captured by the personal and boom microphones. This was important as the producer didn't have enough time to perform ADR to replace the dialogue so had to get the best production sound possible.

The Allen Family Band - Demo Recording

This was an interesting project as this oldtime bluegrass band from New Mexico is lead by a grammy award winning fiddle player, and is accompanied by his four kids. All of which were all under 17, which I found incredible as they played with such confidence and experience. They recorded 4 oldtime tracks in there own hillbilly style. The band played to all together in a live atmosphere much like a transatlantic type session. The Vocals were even record live, but then would get Roby (the vocalist, 17) to over dub and redo lines that were pitchy or not in time. Acoustic guitar, Bass guitar, Mandolin, Banjo were all performed live and then went on to multi track Fiddle. I used a:

Rode NT3 - Acoustic Guitar
NT3000 - Vocals
Sans Amp D.I - Bass
NT5 - Banjo, Fiddle

What I liked about this recording was that we recorded it in the afternoon, went for Dinner, then returned to mix in the evening. So the turn over was very quick. I used a high pass filter on most instruments to remove room hum and rumble from other instruments. It was a pleasure recording this family because their family band goes back to the 1850's. Problems I faced during recoding was the amount of bleed from the other instruments in the vocal microphone. This happened because the band wanted to be close to each other, as they would be in there natural playing environment. I could have prevented this by using a more directional microphone like a hyper cardioid 416, Instead of a large diaphragm cardioid condenser.

COLD SNAP RECORDING

This was a difficult recording as I had a very short deadline, which was given to me by the record label. This recording is set to be release on a 7" on Dead and Gone Records, with a release date in early June.


http://ctwrecords.bigcartel.com/product/cold-snap-bad-moon-rising-7-pre-order

• Edited drum tracks so were constant in tempo as I refused to record to a click to help song flow and drummer comfort.
• went on to enhance bass drum using an edited version of the original. Also used a medium plate reverb on drums to get that trade mark New York drum sound.
  
• Bass was recorded using a sans amp pedal to give that signature No Warning/Terror presence.
• I used a Marshall JCM 2000 and 900 to get an authentic Hardcore tone.
• Vocals were recorded over 2 sessions as vocalist lost his voice mid way through the first session, Therefor having to make voice sound similar on the next session as punk/hardcore vocals can change over time.
  

SKYLARK - ALBUM RECORDING

This record eventually took four days to finish, which is not bad for an album as we used the fourth day to add organ and percussion. I think this was because they were extremely focused on what was need and what wasn't, which is unlike a typical rock band with egos and differing tastes. Charlie the bassist, wanted a big and more distorted sound much like converge or daughters, which strays away from your common bass tone. We tried some of my different techniques and foot pedals to achieve this.

Peadal selection used on different tracks and sections. From left to right. Boss Bass overdrive, Boss BluesDrive, Rat. and using a AKG d112 to mic up the bass speaker for a true representation of sound.

Organ Recording on intro of record.

Using organs and vintage amps and equipment always brings a record to life and was fortunate to do this here. was very excited to use a 1962 JMP1 Marshall guitar head(above) on this recording and found it easy to record and work with when mixing. As the recording went so smoothly, I'm in the process of mixing and have chosen to leave most of the instruments dry to achieve absolute roarness. This reflects the bands aim on this record.

BREAKING POINT SPLIT RECORD

Due to be released on a split 7" with WireTap from Wales, these two tracks were recorded in a few days but was only scheduled for one day. The problems I had when recoding were:

• Getting the drummer to play tight. So having to edit multiple takes into a passable single take.
• The guitarist had a some tuning problems with his guitar, and found it hard to play tight to drums tracks so spent extra time on guitars than usual.
• Recording Vocals for these tracks became difficult as he has problems with his breathing techniques. this means we have to record line by line and sometimes breaking up sentences into two to make it sound powerful all the way through. This process became a time consuming task and my patients was tested.

Louis struggling with Vocals

Skylark - Album

As i've recorded a demo for this band before, I new that it had to be a bigger sounding record to their previous, so have some different techniques to achieve this. Skylark have booked two days with me this weekend and have mentioned layering percussion and other hits, so may need to book another day to complete. This record is in early stages and is scheduled to be released on a 12" record. Update and pics up soon...

Ghost In The Machine (Phase One)

This trailer was sent to me by the director to see if I was interested in taking on the film. It however, was made with production sound so made it obvious as to the scale of the project and made it clear as to what this film needed.

"Ghost In The Machine" trailer by Jonathan Dupont from Adrian Holmes on Vimeo.

This is a project that I'm working on and is going to be a "work in progress", as it will run into the summer break. I received a telephone type interview from the director lastnight and he stated the films budget is running out and exceeds 5k . The director is working with the concept of splitting the film into four different segments and using different sound designers from LA, New York, sweden and myself to complete the segments. He will assign these different segments to each sound designer to speed up the sound designer process and completion of the film. A studio in london is undertaking the Foley and ADR which will then be transferd out to build on with FX's and atmos.

LAST WITNESS RECORDING

A DAY AT ABOVE ALL STUDIOS

Untitled from GIVE UP on Vimeo.

At the weekend I recorded a band from London called "Last Witness". It was an interesting project for me to undertake as the drums were recorded the previous day at "Crow's Nest" studios, which is a highly used studio in the Punk scene. As the drums weren't recorded by me I started the session with replacing the Kick Drum, As it wasn't to my taste and is a colon practice in this musical style. I did this by using a sampler that alternates the velocity and randomises the samples used, to give a human like realness to the replacement drum. I find this a great way to add consistency to a track or record.

Tracking the guitars and bass, which became quite challenging as their bassist was on tour with there other band (Your Demise) in America. So they relied on Bobby (lead guitarist) to track all guitar and bass for the entirety of the record due to the second guitarist unable to play tight, but in reality was still learning the songs. As the bass was borrowed from a friend it needed some attention, so I raised the action to stop the strings buzzing as they tune to drop A. The internation was a big problem aswell and keeping it in tune when its that low was difficult.

This recording is going to be put on a 7" release on Holy Roar Records.

NEVER AGAIN SPLIT REC

Never Again/Mindtrap Split 7"

In the next two months I have studio bookings for 4 records and an album. The records are a mixture of split 7inches, 12inch and CD Promos, which I have to bare in mind when recording and editing. So this recording diary starts with the Punk Hardcore band "Never Again", and is being released By Hit Time Records on a split 7" (Artwork Above) with Mindtrap from Austria.

Pat Never Again Recording Guitars

I use the same process almost every time when recording drums. Having the guitist play a D.I guide guitar track to prevent any bleed and using an SM57 on snare and toms with a spaced pair of Rode NT5's for overheads to achieve a stereo image of drum kit.

Preorder the record from Hit Time records Here:
http://hittimerecords.bigcartel.com/product/never-again-mind-trap-split-7-preorder

My Negotiated Individual Project

This Blog will be a run down or portfolio of the records and productions I produce over the coming months. I hope to incorporate a range of different platforms and styles of my work, such as band recordings and sound design for TV and film. I will post regular updates to show the progress from start to finish of productions, with added session pictures to support and show techniques I have used.