2 hours

New set suggestions made for gigs 3 and for over Easter at The Louisiana and The Fleece and Firkin; Dreary Pale Shadow has been dropped due to negative feedback at both practice 9 and gig 2. A new song has been written which seems set to be one of the best yet and will be presented to Martin in the next practice.

Suggested new Set for Gig 3

Suggested Set for Gig 4

In this session, the album art that Andy had done was culminated in Photoshop. This gave rise t some initial ideas for the album cover.

Like with the first mixing sessions tracks were chosen which sounded as unalike as possible and a minimum of a 1 hour break was taken between mixing tracks. Each track being mixed then checked separately at the end of the mixing session. Overdubs were also done before the mixing session for ‘Common Sense’ and ‘Unfinished’ which concluded the recording and ensured that the material being mixed was satisfactory. Finally, a well reasoned track order was decided.

The slightly weak vocal recording from the first session was re-recorded twice so that it could be double tracked. This was done using the SE2200A microphone close to the performer.

The bass track sounded a little loose so was re-recorded using the D.I technique used on most tracks.

Vocals – Two vocal tracks were recorded and each was panned left and right 60% to create fullness and separation. This also gave a character to the vocal that was enough like a delay not to sound out of place on the album but different enough to make the vocal on this track stand out. A small reverb was also added to each channel to help the vocals sit in the mix.

Distorted Lead Guitars – Only one lead plays most the track with a slight reverb applied to help it sit into the mix with the vocals, behind the acoustic guitar. The main lead part has been panned 40% right in the mix like on most tracks to counter the acoustic guitar in creating a level stereo field. The two lead guitar tracks which have been overdubbed at the end have been panned hard left and right to separate them. They play the same lead line at the start to create a double tracking effect and they go into different sounds at the end when the guitars are hit against things.

Acoustic Guitar –This has been left as it was recorded so that it stays forward in the mix with no reverb applied. It has been panned 30% rather than 40% as it is quite a lot more prominent in the mix that they lead guitar and therefore the mix sounded unbalanced when the acoustic was panned 40%.

Bass – This track has been treated in the same way as on By Yourself but with a little more reverb to push the bass sound behind the vocal and lead guitar.

Dr-Rex drums – These have been done in the same way as on many tracks with loops being cut up to create the desired drum sounds. The track ends with a chaotic15 drum tracks playing at the same time. Each drum track had to be faded slightly as the next came in as not to completely fill the mix with drums.

Vocals – Only one take was done which was panned in the centre of the mix A hall reverb has been applied which has a 2 second decay time to help push the vocal back in the mix, giving a more Shoegaze dreamy feel with no instruments at the front of the mix.

Clean guitar with delay – each of the two guitars were panned 50% left and right for most of the mix so that they were separated in the mix but still had a feeling of unity which may have been lost a little if they were panned hard left and right. The part where this unity was retained despite the wide panning was on the parts where both guitars played a lead like line together. In this instrumental part near the start of the song, the guitars panning moves hard left and right. A slight reverb has been added to both channels to push them back in the mix but not as far as back as the vocal so that the guitars still have their own space.

Overdriven Guitar (volume swirls) – These guitars used the same reverb as the clean guitars so keeping all the guitars in the same space. These two parts are panned 50% left and right in the instrumental section and hard left and right for the rest of the track as to not interfere to greatly with the clean guitars.

Bass – The uses the same 150Hz E.Q boost that most of the other tracks use with a 3dB boost at 250Hz to help reinforce the higher parts played by the bass at the start. The same reverb as used on the guitars has been applied so that it sits in the same place in the mix as the guitars. This creates unity between all the guitars which lye spaced out across the stereo field at 50% intervals.

Re-Drum Drums – The drums use a small plate reverb so that they sit into the mix but still retain impact when they come in.

Vocals – These were double tracked with both panned centrally. On of the vocal takes has a huge reverb with an 11.3 second decay time so that every time a word is spoken it triggers a huge reverb tale. The second vocal is louder and has no reverb so that what is being said can clearly be heard over the reverb tale. It has a delay applied to it to give the vocal character and bring it to the front of the mix. This results in a very interesting vocal sound which may be used on future albums.

Distorted Lead Guitar – This track has been left clean so that it cuts through in the mix with the acoustic guitar. It is also panned in the centre as to avoid interfering with the multitude of sounds which are being triggered throughout the track. The guitar goes into a double tracked section when it plays a solo which helps emphasise the unfamiliar sound as the Arabic sound bounces between the listens ears.

Acoustic Guitar – This has also been panned in the centre of the mix as to not interfere with the others sounds being triggered in the track. It doesn’t interfere with the vocal, bass, or lead guitar as each of these parts have a very different timbre and play very different sound parts. Otherwise the guitar is left with no effects applied to it and is probably the most successful acoustic guitar recording on the album.

Sound effects –There are several background sound effects on this track. One is a rumble which plays behind the chorus parts created by cutting the hi-hat parts from the chorus drum beat used and using a long delay followed by a large reverb with long decay time. This rumble helps create the sinister undertones thought the track. Other sound effects include a glitchy high hat sound after the first chorus done in Re-Drum by speeding the tempo to 300BPM and placing hi-hat hits on every grid space. Another example is the use a few times in the track of a time stretched hi-hat, slowed down to less that 15% of its original speed to create a very robotic sound. Some of these sounds use several reverbs with different decay times to create a thick reverberant field. As well as this some hi-hat parts have been slowed down and reversed to help anticipate a change in the music. A signal generator sound has also been used to reflect the line “simple selfish circuit’ by creating a very robotic sound.

Bass – The bass uses a large reverb so that it is far back and muddies the mix slightly with its strange Arabic like tones. It has also been compressed so that it stays audible throughout the track.

Dr-Rex Drums – In the verse a hand drum loop has been used to help with the foreign feel of the music. More standard electronic drums then come in for the chorus which help bring more energy in this section and also help the track to fit with the rest of the album while still being quite far removed.

Vocal - The vocal is left very clean on this track with only a slight reverb to sweeten it slightly and help it fit into the mix. As on all vocals a compressor has been used to keep it clearly audible at all times.

Clean guitar – This guitar has been left as recorded and has been panned 40% to the left so that, like on many track, it fills the stereo field with the acoustic guitar.

Overdriven Guitar (volume swirls) –This track was panned in the centre with a reverb used to push it behind the vocal.

Acoustic Guitar – A slight reverb has been added to push it back from the front of the mix. It has been panned 40% to the right to fill the stereo field with the clean guitar.

Bass – The bass has a slight reverb to push it back from the very front of the mix but otherwise has no E.Q and is left as recorded.

Dr-Rex Drums – The drums in this track are very simple with only two drum loops being used. Their main influence on the track is to add a subtle dynamic as they drop in and out.

Attached is the mix of Common Sense:

Track list:

By Yourself was a logical choice for first track because of it attention grabbing pace and interesting start. Unfinished is then placed at track 2 to keep the pace and introduce an overdriven guitar which bridges the gap between By Yourself and track 3, Moving Inside. Moving Inside is selected at track because it again keeps the high pace start but also has a very different sound from the tracks which have gone before. Exterior addition follows this track; it is the same tempo but has the illusion of slowing at the end because it becomes less urgent and goes into an instrumental section. This makes it a perfect transition to the next track, which is much slower, Gone. Gone is a good choice at this stage because it again introduces something which hasn’t been heard yet on the album with its slower more relaxed pace and feel. Dreary Pale Shadow follows Gone to ensure that the attention of the listener is retained because of its strange overdriven sound, haunting choir and glitchy drums. Track 7 brings the mood back to a slower and much cleaner sound in fading out and brings in a dreamy feel which hasn’t been fully explored before this track. It is also the perfect track to lead into Face to Hide the Doubt, which is track 8. A Face to Hide the doubt is well placed here as its upbeat drum beat is striking against what has gone before and is also very new as it uses a real drummer. A Face to Hide the Doubt also helps pick the pace of the album back up. Common sense follows this which brings back a feel hinted at in Dreary Pale Shadow. It is very different from any other track on the album with its use of hand drum and Arabic tonality. Not Really Here follows at track 10 which acts as a single like, fast track which emphasises how the slow pace of the final track, Stop Dreaming. Ending the album on this track allows space for reflection and it is a very strong track.

This week again had a very heavy work load, which would be unsustainable if done every week. On reflection, this was probably still too much work for one week but was worthwhile with the album nearing completion. This is likely to be the last week when such a heavy workload will be required.

4 hours

‘Holes in the Smiles’ was played live but it didn’t work was expected and therefore it was not added to the set list. Unfortunately, there was no time to play through Something to Nothing but the two sets were played and confirmed for the next two gigs.

Confirmed new Set for Gig 3

Confirmed Set for Gig 4

There are only two tracks remaining to be mixed, both of which again purposely sound very different from each other.

The Vocal has a delay and reverb but with a short pre-delay to help it sound close and personal to the listener.

The Backing Vocal has been purposely moved out of time with the main vocal so that it responds to it. I has also been used back very far in the mix using a large church style reverb and long decay time. 

The Rhythm guitar is panned 40% left in the mix to give space for the vocal but to still keep the performance sounding close and personal to the listener. 

The Lead guitar has been left as it has been recorded because I was so happy with its sound. It has been panned 40% right to balance the mix with the rhythm guitar.

The Drums have been treated individually with an E.Q added to the toms to increase the power in the low end. They have been panned to either side of the listen to give more impact. The snare has a large reverb with quite a short decay time to make it sound big and increase its impact.

The Bass was mixed in the same was as on other tracks panned centrally but with a slightly smaller boost to the low end so that it sits further back in the mix.

Reverb has been added to the master to push all of the instruments slightly back in the mix and give a dreamier feel.

This mix was very simple with the bass mixed as on most tracks with a low end boost to add power. All other parts were left as recorded apart from the vocals which had a delay and reverb added to make them stand out from the rest of the mix.

The mix of A Face to Hide the Doubt is embedded below:



Track testing:

Upon the completion of the mixing stage each of the tracks were tested in a variety of environments listed below:

Testing over such a large number of systems allowed me to ensure that any listener would hear a high quality mix.

Upon completing the mixing and testing stage, 4 tracks were posted on Myspace to promote the new album. The tracks used were By Yourself, Moving Inside, Gone and Not Really Here. These tracks were all potential singles but sounded different enough to show the different sides of the band. The Myspace page can be viewed at: 

 http://www.myspace.com/manillacrescent

As well as posting these tracks, bulletins and messages were posted which had the myspace player embedded on them as below:

Note: The Myspace player will constantly be updated as the songs are updated on the Manilla Crescent page so if viewed at a later date may not contain all the songs listed.

The code was also placed separately on the page so that fans could place it on their pages. One example 
of a fan that has the player on her page is below:

 http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?
fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=119769280&MyToken=566f8691-8dd6-4167-8b44-3bb9c1ad6174 

As well as this a Myspace promoter conducted an interview which was posted online as part of the promotional campaign. A link to this is provided below:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=262647315&blogID=341426676

Note: An error occurred on Myspace with the date placing the interview in December.

In an attempt to encourage more people to come to the next gig Myspace bulletins, messages and comments were sent out stating that anyone who brings 4 friends to the next gig gets in free. This is possible for putting them on the guest list. The number 4 was chosen as it is achievable but still a challenge, also it costs £5 to get in so if the group go together they can all save £1 each. 

4 hours

The practice was successful and left the band feeling confident and well practiced going into the next gig. This was the most confident we had been going into a gig.

(A copy of the CD will be included in the hand in)

The CD was completed on the date planned, 17^th of March. Completing the album meant printing the CD’s to Redbook standards and using Nero to print track title information onto the CD. The track names were also added to the iTunes database so that when it was inserted onto a computer connected to the internet using iTunes, the track titles were displayed.

The second stage after printing the audio to the CD was printing the images onto the CD using Light Scribe technology and printing the art which had been finalised in Photoshop. The printed booklet then had to be cut out and each one stapled together in a long process. In all 50 CD’s were created ready to be sold online and at the gig. 15 CD’s needed to be sold overall to cover costs.

The completed artwork is embedded below:

Booklet pages 1 and 2


Booklet 2 and 5


Booklet 3 and 3

The CD price was decided as £5. This undercut major artist CD costs considerably and represented the lowest value of note in English currency. It also keeps with George A. Millers best numbers to be dealt with by the short term memory making it simple to remember.

The first stage in promoting the CD was by making it available online. To do this a Paypal account was created so that safe online transactions could take place. A button which linked to the information needed by Paypal to complete the purchase of the CD was embedded on the Manilla Crescent Myspace. As well as this, images of CD cover were added to the Myspace which also acted as buttons by which you could buy the CD. 

As well as embedding these buttons, images from the booklet were added so that when a track is selected the image shows next to the track. Further updates on the page included creating a button using HTML which linked the Facebook and Myspace groups. This is posted below; it links to the Facebook group but needs membership to enter: 

To complete the promotional campaign a large number of messages, comments and bulletins were sent to friends with the Myspace player and Facebook group button embedded.

A photo shoot was arranged with Andy to create a collection of promotional photographs representing the band in a variety of environments. These pictures are in the picture section of the Manilla Crescent Myspace and on the Facebook page both of which are inaccessible without membership. Because of this, they are embedded below:

3 CD’s

Gig 3 – 22^nd March, The Fleece and Firkin, Bristol

• To promote and sell the newly completed album

 

3 hours

The songs were played through and greater familiarity of the set for the coming gig was achieved. The song writing session led to no ideas of merit.

The Myspace ‘Space Station’ friend adding bot was used to add friends to the Manilla Crescent Myspace in an attempt to find more potential fans. The bot was set to people who were based in Bristol and who listened to Indie and Electronic music in order to increase the likelihood of the people found enjoying the music.

3

Total Week Time: 4 hours  

7 hours

A very successful session where two demos were recorded and roughly mixed using my MBox and SE2200A microphone. The practice part of the session left both members feeling confident going into the gig. 

The Holes in the Smile recording is embedded below:

4 hours

Who Are You Now was played with distortion on the rhythm guitar which both band members felt was an improvement. This discovery led to the recording of Who Are You Now rather than Something to Nothing as a more advanced demo.

This demo is attached below:

1

After a response to last weeks emails Nik Mercer wrote the below Manilla Crescent, which was placed on his blog. The link to his blog is:

To me, there's always been something I can't quite place that makes British moody music different than the American counterpart. These are all guesses and assumptions, but I feel like British shoegaze and folksier stuff is tenser, more nervous and under spoken. That's not to say that Americans don't do it, too, but whenever I hear a British band play shoegaze, atmospheric, sad stuff ... I imagine the singer trying to look up from his shoes, trying to stop the warble. We just keep staring at the ground ...

Does that make any sense?
Manilla Crescent is one such U.K. group. Everything off their debut LP, Social Engineering, sounds as though it was recorded in a cold, dank room, a storm brewing up outside. The frail vocals matched with the Pixies-esque alternative rock-y sort of guitar work and grung-y framework ... make for really compelling songs that you can't help but feel are truly from the heart; terribly sincere ...

Check out some of the tracks below!

Manilla Crescent - By Yourself
Manilla Crescent - Gone
Manilla Crescent - Not Really Here

Labels: British, Grunge, Indie, International, Pop, Shoe Gaze

As well as this review the song By Yourself was played on BBC Radio Bristol on the Bristol Uncovered show. As well as this promotional work a Manilla Crescent phone screen saver was created that was distributed among as many fans as possible. The screen saver is embedded below: