No Hand Holding Needed
Sound engineer Lauren Thomas discusses her production of Jess Glynne’s
Hold my Hand
Lauren Thomas is a
rare thing in the production world, being both a engineer and a vocals, adding
a creative twist to hit songs by famous artists like Jess Glynne, Sam Smith and
the upcoming MNEK.
“I’m only 17 years old, so I’m quite new to all this and
there is still a lot to learn. I’m flattered that already people have started
complementing my work and appreciating the sound of my covers on YouTube,
iTunes and Spotify is so amazing!”
The track covered is an alternative version of British Pop
Singer, Jess Glynne’s hit record: Hold My Hand. “Originally this song was a
dance song but I, as the producer of this piece, have decided to vary the
style. Instead I have decided to use more acoustic instruments such as; the
guitar, piano, drums and bass. Also I have added to and edited the vocals, by
taking out certain notes and adding more harmonies.”
To give Lauren assistance on her production were a team of
Musicians and Instrumentalists. The producer said ‘I’m quite lucky to be
friends with so many people with musical talent, it makes it a lot easier for
me when I need help with one of my projects! We all help each other. As I’m
also a singer they often use my vocals for their own tracks, while I may ask
them to record piano, drums or guitar for me in one of my pieces’.
She wanted to give this song a creative twist and add her
own style to it.
“To begin with I got the piano recorded, this was a very
simple instrument to record for me as I am used to doing this set up.” Unlike
the original piano (which is quite a choppy sound), Lauren tried to create a
more acoustic sound. “I did this by making chords longer and composing
additional melody played by the piano.
The vocals have been artistically changed too. The style of
the voice is very different. This is because of a couple of reasons; “First of
all, Jess Glynne has a very distinct voice and we don’t have any vocalists to
hand who can perform in this style. Also, another reason we are changing the
vocals is because; as the vocals are a big part of the song, if we would have
copied these vocals it would have been extremely similar to the original song
which is not what I was aiming for.” The vocals were alternatively recorded in
a different style.
Speaking from her School in Tamworth, Lauren and _______
still seem shocked by the publicity of their cover songs, “We started posting
our covers publicly for our teacher to be able to mark our work for the Sound
Recording course we’re doing”, but obviously the covers reached more than just
the School but to be recognised on an international scale too!
Hold My Hand was
originally sung by English singer and songwriter, Jess Glynne and produced by
multi-platinum selling British songwriter, producer, remixer and DJ, Starsmith.
Both musicians are highly recognised and credited within the music world. “I’m
inspired by these two musicians and I love their work, most of my favourite
songs have some input from them in someway! One of my favourite songs which
they are both involved in is Hold My Hand,
which is why I wanted to cover it.”
Even critics are impressed with this piece and haven’t had
many bad things to say about Lauren’s work. They love the arrangement of this
piece and how the instruments complement each other. Producers have said ‘they
love the reverb used in the song and the effects put on the bass’. One thing us
at Sound On Sound love about the track is how drums sound and the effect the
have on the overall project. Being critical of her own work Lauren thinks she
could improve next time by letting herself be more creative and exploring
music, ‘I would love to start producing experimental music that people enjoy to
listen too. I feel as if there is not enough experimental music in the charts
at the moment, and people are becoming complacent with standard pop music’.
Maybe Lauren’s next release will be a bit more alternative.
Q: As a female, how do
you feel about being involved in the producing side of music?
‘Well, if I had a penny for every time I was asked that!
It’s an important question though, personally I don’t know why there aren’t
more females involved in this industry. You’d think there would be considering
in recent times the music industry’s sharing the top spots with women too,
rather than just being male dominant, but with the production side often female
engineers, producers and mixers are not given enough credit or recognised for
what they do. In the 42 years GRAMMY awards have been around, only 6 women have
been nominated for the Producer of the Year (non-classical) category, although
5 of these nominees are best known as performers. A female has never won the
award, which is something that I hope to change in the future, I believe that
more women should be recognised for the work they do in this industry.’
You’ll be glad to hear that Lauren doesn’t want to stop at Hold My Hand, “I’d love to carry on
doing this sorts of stuff, I’ve always wanted to release my own music- so song
writing is definitely on the cards for me. Stay tuned!”
Microphones
Short Article By
Young Producer Lauren Thomas
Choosing the right set
up and microphone is extremely important when you want to achieve the perfect
tracks. Join me on my talk through on each track featured in my new release,
Hold My Hand cover, originally by Jess Glynne.
Vocals
To record vocals I used the Samson C01, this is a large
diaphragm condenser microphone and I find that it is great for recording
vocals. Personally, I prefer this to the RODE NT2-A microphone, which is often
used in the School studio where this production took place. Due to its cardioid
pick up pattern, the frequency response is smooth and flat, and vocals are
picked up with warm bass tones and extended on the top end. I find this mic is
a lot more accurate than the recordings made on the RODE NT2-A microphone,
probably because the C01 has two ultra thin sensor membranes allowing it to
pick up much more detailed sounds than any other dynamic coil.
If you’re looking into buying this microphone for
professional recording purposes then you may be pleasantly surprised at the
price, having an RRP ranging from £45|€65|$70.
This mic is also amazing at being an overhead drum microphone because of
its flat and smooth frequency response. Which is amazing as when you compare these
prices to the RODE NT2-A, it is around £250.00|€320|$350.
Backing Track
I did use Cubase to compose some of the sound as I thought
that this would add a more diverse range of instruments and add layers to the
tracks. I used three different VST instruments; HalLion Sonic SE, Groove Agent
and Sylenth. For some of the instruments, for example drums I recorded the
drums acoustically in the studio. Then I replicated the sound on Groove Agent creating
a track, then I turned down the track so you could only slightly hear it in the
background. I found that this was a good technique, as they didn’t sound
exactly the same so it gave a natural feel to the sound. The music software I
used was Cubase which hs an RRP of about £406|€511|$570, but if you’re looking
for a more inexpensive alternative and you have an Apple Mac, you could go for
Logic Pro X which has a much lower RRP of £149.99|€179.99|$199.99.
Guitar and Bass Guitar
To achieve the perfect sound for these two instruments I
decided to input the sound using DI (direct input). Compared to recording the
guitars using an SM57 next to the amplifier, direct input allows you to get the
direct signal from the guitar or bass. This makes it a lot easier to change the
style of the guitar using an amp plug-in (such as Guitar Rig) to vary tone,
volume and sound. Plus, if you need to double up the track, which I did in the
chorus, it is much easier to use DI. The microphone used (Shure SM57) has an
RRP of £79|€100|$111.
Piano
To record piano I used the spaced pair technique, by using 2
stereo microphones. To achieve this I used two cardioid microphones positioned
4ft away from each other either sides of the length of the piano. As we were
using an electric piano it was rather easy to set up, and the set up allowed us
to collect the full sound of the piano. The microphone used was the AKG C1000S
condenser microphone, these mics have an RRP of about £179|€219|$279.
Drums
My initial plan was to record the drums acoustically using a
full drum kit, but after doing this it didn’t sound right with the rest of the
song. Instead I decided that I was going to sequence in the drums using media
bay on Cubase and also Groove Agent. I find that these are two very important
plug-ins which are really useful and give effective sounds on Cubase. This have
quite a high RRP at about £119|€150|$170.
Claps
You may notice on the track that there are claps features in
certain parts of the song. I recorded only one clap and then used my sequencing
skills to create a pattern with the claps, which repeated on the beat. For this
I used the RODE NT2-A with a pop shield and pop filter. I decided to use a
condenser microphone to capture all sounds in the frequency range. It is
important that the handclaps are done far enough away from the mic, so it is
unaffected by the blast of air which can sometimes can be heard when the hands
close. The pop shield helped to reflect the sound of the clap. The RODE NT2-A
has a RRP of about £250.00|€320|$350, but there are several cheaper
alternatives that can deliver the same quality sound.
