Pre Production Unit 1

Pre Production

 Production Report

Plan:

A duo act has approached me to help produce a remix that can go on their latest album. They have specified that want a remix of a song they want to show on the album they have there own style of music, which is a combination of live recordings and digital editing. My idea for the remix is ‘All of Me’ by John Legend, the reason being is that the client wants to include a track which the original worked well as a live recording but also has several opportunities to include mixing techniques. This song has also been remixed before showing it is capable to remix the song to include effects such as reverb and fading as well as live recordings like the piano and vocals.

Budget:

For the budget it depends on how the client wishes to record, whether they want to hire all equipment separately or hire a studio. I highly recommend hiring a recording studio as you can receive all professional equipment needed for the recording in addition there is no need for transport hire for equipment.  Overall, I suggest a budget of £5000, £750 for studio hire, £100 for mastering, £3000 for licences and the rest in case of breakages or extra equipment needed. Payments for this budget will come from a grant given by FlipSide studios after the previous collaboration between the studio and the duo act.  

Equipment:

Several pieces of equipment are required to record this cover, from microphones to recording software. Here is the list of possible equipment that could be needed for this project.

Prices http://www.maniacfilms.com/rental

http://gav.co.uk/audio-visual-hire/mixing-desks.html

http://www.bigfishrentals.co.uk/keys/

Equipment	Quantity	Hire Price (For 1 piece of equipment)
C1000 microphone	2	£5 per day
Shure SM58 microphone	1	£5 per day
Shure SM57 microphone	1	£5 per day
Microphone Stand	4	£2.40 per day
XLR Cable	3	£1 per day
Mixing Desk	1	£110 per day
Recording Software (Cubase 7)	1	£150
Acoustic Guitar	1	£50 per week
Electric Piano	1	£200 per week
Pop Shield and reflexion shield	1	£45 a week from SohoBroadcast
Cubase 7	1	£210 from Gears4music.com

Each piece of equipment is selected from various hire companies in order to minimalize the overall cost. The microphones have been selected as each microphone is designed specifically to record individual instrument. For example the Shure SM58 is specifically for vocal recording whereas the C1000 is used to record the electric piano and the acoustic guitar.

Transport:

In order for the client to access the studio or pick up equipment from hire companies they will need transport. Transport is vital to get around from location to location so I recommend hiring from Hallmark Van and Truck Ltd. The reason for this company is because the company is close enough to access as well as giving a variety of different sized vans. This will be useful to the project as the size of the van needed may depend on the equipment needed per day. The price range varies between different vans, for the small van it is £35 and a medium sized van is £45. I won’t look at a larger van, as I do not believe it will be used to its full potential.

Personnel:

Here is the list of everyone included on the project:

·      Guitarist

·      Pianist

·      Vocalist

·      Sound engineer

·      Mixing editor

·      Producer

All talent will be completed by the duo act and the studio can provide all technical roles like the engineer and the editor.

Studio:

The recommended studio for this project is FlipSide studios. Firstly the previous relationship between the client and the studio was positive as well as the duo knowing they know the studio and the work they can achieve beforehand. FlipSide studio is also capable of recording and mastering everything, with dedicated rooms to mixing, recording and mastering. More details about each room can be found on their website. This studio is located closer to Coventry but the client has said they are able to travel to the facility.

Copyright:

There are many clearances and laws that we need to follow so that no one is sued for any reason. First of all, copyright laws apply to this remix, as John Legend owns the song, therefore all royalties and payment of this song will go to the original owner and not the client. Next, we will need permission from the publisher before anything can be recorded. Without this acceptance it is not possible for us to record vocals, chord progressions or anything from the original song legally. Copyright licenses that need to be bought include a mechanical licence and a sync licence. The mechanical licence allows the remix to be played in a public area and the sync licence allows us to record the vocals and chord progressions of the song. As well as these copyright licences, in order to remix the song and use samples, you will need a sample licence. This would enable you to legally use samples in the project.

Licences needed are not free and the prices can vary, I would estimate the price of all the licences to be around  £2500.

·      The producer of the original song offering a quote will decide sync licence; this is usually a one-time payment.

·      Mechanical licence can be as cheap as £15 for a one off licence but prices can be increased.

·      Sample licence cost will depend on different factors, from how long the sample you are using to how many samples are used in one track.

Regulations:

The music industry has changed drastically with in the last 15 years; nowadays most albums can be found on the Internet and streamed or downloaded for free. The biggest example of this is YouTube, with over a billion users. This has led sales of CD’s to decrease, as people don’t want to buy something when they can get it for free. This change has caused a drastic change for artist because they won’t get paid as much for selling CD’s as they once did. Instead artists have to rely on tours and festivals as the main income. Previously this wasn’t the case as artists relied on the distribution of CD’s with the help of record labels.  

One example in the industry where the artist refuses to stream music is Adele. She doesn’t allow her music to be streamed or give permission to put her music online without her consent. She would rather sell physical copies of her music to her audience.

When marketing and promoting the client, there will need to be several regulations that will need to be with in copyright laws and regulations. PRS (performing rights society) and MCPS (Mechanical copyright protection society) are societies that collect royalties and allow the licence holder to play music without getting into trouble. This will be needed, as well as the mechanical licence and sync licence, especially for this specific project because this will give royalties to the right people. Also helps the client from other people uploading the project without permission.

The consequences of not holding a licence can lead to companies being sued. An example of this is sound cloud. Legal action is being taken against the streaming company due to the fact they did not pay royalties to songwriter’s music, which was streamed on their site.  The penalty for sound cloud could be that they pay up to £150,000 for every track they have infringed. We don’t want this to happen to our client so the licences and regulations will be met before production starts.

Risk Assessment:

There are many risks or situations, which could put the client in harms way or could slow the production of the project. Here is a table outlining the most important problems and how to avoid them.

Possible Problem	How to Control	Contingency
Car Crash during travel	Careful when driving	Have someone with a licence drive musicians to locations
Broken Equipment	Careful when handling equipment	Have spare equipment
Tripping over Wires	Tidy up wires	Make sure wires aren’t on the floor before musicians enter the room
Musicians don’t attend	Timetable emailed to every member who is part of the project	Have contact details of each musician
System failure	Back up files	Use previous back up file
Fire in the studio	Health and safety explained to all personnel	Have personnel able to direct musicians to the nearest fire exit

Plan of Action

- Meet the client, listen to project they want to create DONE

-  give few ideas about how to create cover DONE

- Research all of me DONE

- mood board ideas DONE

-Meeting with client, pitch idea DONE

-Research studio DONE

-licences/ copyright law DONE

-Meeting with client, agree on recording studio and final budget DONE

-Produce recording schedule DONE

-record demo DONE

-meeting with client, listen to demo DONE

Minutes of Meetings

Date: 11/01/16

Time: 14:30 to 15:30

Attendance: Jon Wells (Producer), Amy Garrett (Client), Megan Matthews (Client)

• Client introduced themselves and idea for their album
• Idea was to create a cover song to reflect their style of music
• Gave ideas of cover songs they wanted to do like Ed Sheeran-Thinking out Loud, John Legend-All of Me and Sam Smith Writing’s on the Wall
• Prefer to do a cover of All of Me
• Discussed the clearances needed for cover songs
• Agreed on next meeting on Wednesday 20^th January
• Producer set task to come up with ideas for next meeting

Date: 15/01/16

Time: 11:00 to 12:00

Attendance: Jon Wells (Producer), Amy Garrett (Client), Megan Matthews (Client)

• Producer welcomed clients, gave a brief explanation of how the meeting was going to go

• Producer showed 3 different mood boards for the ideas the clients previously gave
• Discussed the pros and cons of each idea
• Decided to cover All of Me
• Producer went into detail about clearances and licences needed for a cover song such as synch licence and mechanical licence
• Talked about how to record the cover, whether to hire equipment or book a recording studio
• Client suggested a recording studio they worked with on other projects
• Discussed the budget required for the project, estimated £3000 depending on studio used and the price of licences
• Clients agreed to see if it was possible to get a grant from a company they have worked with before
• Producer agreed to work on a more detailed recording plan

Date: 20/01/16

Time: 09:00 to 10:30

Attendance: Jon Wells (Producer), Amy Garrett (Client), Megan Matthews (Client), Nathan Morris (head engineer)

• Engineer talked about the studio, what they can offer
• Clients ask questions about the studio they were unsure about
• Engineer said he will give a 25% discount to the client due to previous collaborations
• Producer talked about the budget needed for the recording studio as well as cost of licences and transport. Production report suggested £5000 but producer explained that was a maximum
• Producer suggests total costs between £3000 and £5000 just to be safe
• All attendees agree on price
• Discussed the times of recordings
• Agreed to begin recording on 25^th Jan
• Producer shows detailed plan of idea
• Clients suggest personal ideas to incorporate
• Producer agreed to email all personnel timetable

Date: 28/01/16
Time: 13:00 to 14:00
Attendance: Jon Wells (Producer), Amy Garrett (Client), Megan Matthews (Client), Nathan Morris (head engineer)

• listened to the demo track
• Discussed the faults in the recording
• Agreed to record piano track again and balance tracks more evenly in the chorus
• Producer showed ideas for mixing
• Talked with engineer to create final plan
• Agreed to mix recording

Research

Thinking out Loud by Ed Sheeran

• written by Ed Sheeran and Amy Wadge
• produced by Jake Rosling
• Romantic ballad
• Key of D major
• 79 bpm
• Triple platinum single
• chord progression; D F#m G A
• Source; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking_Out_Loud

All of Me by John Legend

• Written by John Legend and Toby Gad
• Produced by John Legend and Dave Tozer
• Power ballad
• Key of A flat major
• 63 bpm
• Dedicated to his fiancé
• chord progression; Em C G D
• Sources; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_of_Me_(John_Legend_song)

Writing's on the Wall by Sam Smith

• Written by Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes
• Produced by Disclosure and Sam Smith
• James Bond theme
• Key of F major
• 66bpm
• Written in 20 minutes, first Bond theme to become No. 1
• chord progression; Fm A7 C D
• Sources; http://www.nme.com/news/sam-smith/88645
• •http://www.notediscover.com/song/sam-smith-writing-s-on-the-wall-piano-accompaniment

Mood Board Notes

Idea 1: Rose, symbolise love and romance in song. Use effects on computer to help get the love emotion across. Dancers, the song uses a walking bass which is helpful for rhythm and dancers to keep in time.  Piano has solo parts during the song, could focus of that during chorus. Sheet music, the music video has dancers showing off ballroom moves, so could style the song to include timings of a waltz. Perhaps combine waltz style with walking bass.

Idea 2: Rose, again showing the love and expression that should be created during the song. Use live instruments to represent this in the recording. Key chart, have the key in a different key to suit the style of the client’s voice. Water, the song is soft and music flows nicely throughout the song so keep this during the recording using the synth. Synthesisers, use this instrument to include arpeggios in the pre chorus, could add effects that sound similar to water to emphasise the flow of the music.

Idea 3: Guitar, client uses guitars more than piano. So instead of playing the chords on the piano, play on the guitar but keep the arpeggios and solos on the piano. Echo, reverb is the correct term, the original recording uses reverb. Use this effect more during the recording. Strings, the song incorporates string instruments so in the clients recording I suggest use an orchestra of strings to emphasise certain lyrics or changes during the recording. Speed, increase the tempo of the recording so that it is easier to add effects later in production.

Studio Research

Location;

FLIPSIDE Recording Studios
Suite 2, 20 Chelmarsh
Endeavour Court
Radford, Coventry
CV6 3LB

Contact details;

02477 674649

nath@flipsideaudio.co.uk

Personnel;

• Nathan Morris, head engineer
• Matthew Cotterill, producer
• Pete Dowsett, engineer
• Paul Kent, studio manager

Equipment;

• Mac Pro desktop computers
• Rode NT1A microphones, designed for vocals
• AKG C1000, designed for piano or guitar
• Selection of guitars, keyboards, synthesisers and drums

Services;

• Recording
• Mixing
• Mastering

Rates;

• 4 hours £100
• Mastering £40 per track
• Minimum deposit of 25% required for all bookings to be confirmed

Personal notes;

• 3 days recording, £300
• Plus, mastering, £340
• £85 deposit to confirm booking
• Travel time estimated 45 minutes
• Phoned Nathan, mentioned client, happy to give 25% discount based on previous collaboration
• Offered to start recording week beginning 25^th Jan

Overview:

The recording studio seems to be of good standard with reasonable prices. The staff all seem friendly and easy to work with as they have positive reviews from several of their clients. The location is further than I intended but with the quality of their work and the recommendation from the client this should not be a problem.

Recording Idea

Notes:

• Clients can sing, play guitar and drums
• Need to incorporate drums or percussion into song
• Include mixing effects and Direct Input instrument
• Speed up original to 126bpm
• Inspiration of effects from Tiesto remix

Recording:

• Use simple piano chords for client to play
• Record each instrument separately to ensure no instruments spill into other microphones
• Record piano first using 2 C1000 microphones
• Use a 12 string acoustic guitar
• Record guitar using 2 C1000 microphones
• Record vocals using Rode NT1A microphone
• Use simple arpeggio on synthesiser for client to easily play
• Record DI synthesiser
• Create a walking bass pattern for the drum
• Record the drums
• Adjust drum levels to make the sound softer to suit the rest of the recording
• Balance tracks
• Show clients track before mixing effects are added
• Add effects like reverb and additional synth sounds to recording
• Show final recording to client

Copyright Laws

Cover song clearances
permission from publisher
MCPS for royalties
PRS for copyright
Mechanical licence needed to remix cover
Sync licence allows music to be used for advertisement




Recording a cover song requires a lot of clearances and licences in order for it to be legal. To begin with we need permission from the songwriter as they have the copyright to the song. In this case we need to contact John Legend and Toby Gad before we even begin recording.


Next we need to work out royalties, which is where MCPS comes in. MCPS stands for Mechanical Copyright Protection Society and it is there job to make sure the royalties go to the correct people. Because this is a cover song all royalties will go to John Legend and Toby Gad. PRS (Performance Rights Society) give licences to their members to allow them to play music and distribute CDs. With this licence the client will be able to sell CD's without the worry of the original songwriters


A mechanical licence is a licence that allows other musicians to edit the original track. Our client will need to buy one as they want to remix the track as well as record live instruments. The sync licence is also needed to distribute and sell the final product.

Recording Schedule

Demo Track: https://soundcloud.com/user-416631632/jon-all-of-me

Risk Assessment