I'm going to be recording an acoustic cover track soon! So I thought in the interest of producing and recording an excellent cover I'll delve a bit into one of my favourite acoustically recorded tracks - All time low by Jon Bellion. This track was recorded mostly live using acoustic instruments and a sampler that is used to play pre-recorded vocal samples. Dissecting it will likely give me ideas and creative options for the entire process of recording my new acoustic track to mixing and mastering it. Let's get into All time low!
Artist:
Jon Bellion is best known for his single 'All Time Low' (the original version). JD Thomson created an awesome and informing video essay on Jon Bellion as an artist and his inclination towards vocal samples, I really recommend checking that out!
“Did he just say, like, Masterbate on a record?" - Jon Bellion - Behind the scenes of All Time Low.
This quote is JB talking about his reaction to Billie Joels lyrics on record 'Captain Jack' which did inspire lyrics on this song. In the video he also talks about Simon and Garfield as lyrical inspirations too.
Track feel:
In an interview with Idolator, Bellion described the song
"It’s an illustration of what it feels like to be three days into a break up — the really heavy, emotional, “I don’t even know if I want to continue living at this point.” I’m just being majorly honest and letting you know how horrible everything’s been since you left. I don’t think it’s a specific situation but I want it to be broad so everyone can relate to that. I think everybody’s been in that situation at least once in their life. Your first love… when that ends that’s a devastating thing to feel".
To me this accurately describes the lyrical content, however the overall feel I have when listening is one of uplift and energy (at least once the chorus comes in). With lyrics like this:
"Now I'm a ghost, I call your name, you look right through me, You're the reason I'm alone and masturbate"
It really rings of breakup and being alone, while the chorus chimes in after with an uplifting beat of acceptance. A beautiful combination of knowing, understanding lyrics paired with an uplifting vibe.
Production:
All Time Low (Acoustic) was recorded and released in February 2016. The film clip is the group recording the track live at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles California. Jon produced and co-wrote the track with Mark Williams, Raul Cubina, and Travis Mendes.
It's recorded in one take with JB singing lead, three more singers for harmonies, beatboxing and backing vocals, and one acoustic guitarist sitting in the back! Jon adds an extra layer to it by using a vocal sampler throughout the choruses.
Arrangement:
I used ProTools 2018 to help me work out the arrangement of this song using markers. The song follows a tried and tested or 'well used' arrangement that you can see below!
You can also see here the tempo mapping I've done. I found that the choruses are 10bpm faster than the rest of the song, and the first half of the intro is slower than everything else at 70bpm. This is an excellent way to build the song up from the slow intro, to the faster hook in the chorus.
Sonic Content:
(a brief visit) - BPM: 70 - 98. Key: A Minor (Use of Blu Cat's frequency analyser in Pro Tools for this analysis) Jon Bellions vocals are the most prominent part of this track, and we see him in the music video 'working the mic' to control the volume being recorded. What kinda mic is it though? I've been unable to confirm my guess here, but I think it's something like a Telefunken M80, which is a super cardioid dynamic mic. This kind of mic makes sense for a live recording where other sound sources are in the room, the polar pattern super cardioid will ensure that bleed is minimal, while the 'condenser like performance' ensures clarity and depth to the vocal recording. I'm also guessing that a sensitive condenser room mic - like a Rode NT2A - is present (perhaps on the mic stand in front of the wide camera?) to pick up his louder singing when he takes his voice away from his main mic. There are other possibilities that I have considered like his mic being a cardioid condenser however I've been unable to find any mics that look like this one that are not dynamics. The three other vocalists it seems are recorded with SM58 dynamic mics, again to reduce bleed and they are panned accurately to their positions on the video. For most of the track his vocals are paired with a warm reverb that has a tail of around 1 second, a delay is also present throughout the track at around 100ms that also is saturated with verb.
Sampled Vocals are present during each chorus that you can see Jon playing on the sampler in front of him. He uses it to play pre-recorded and effect-ridden cuts of his own vocals. They are occasionally pitch shifted, always EQ'd differently and I can hear a phaser working on some of them too. Check this out during the first chorus from 1:12 to 1:31.
Most of the time JB's vocals are sit between 500Hz and 3kHz, while the lower harmony sits from 100Hz to 500Hz and the higher harmony sits around 2 to 5kHz. It look like the vocals have all been EQ'd to sit together without much conflict.
The Guitarist has been place din the back to avoid spill into the vocal mics, and he has been recorded using an x/y stereo technique (check out this article by DPA for more on this technique), where two small diaphragm condenser microphones are placed with their diaphragms close together to avoid phase issues, and angled at from 90 to 120 degrees apart. This technique captures the body sound of the acoustic with one mic, and the acoustic neck sound with the other, the engineer then pans the two mics hard left and right and blends them to taste, providing a wide stereo image with the lone acoustic guitar! The mics look like AKG c451b's which I've had the pleasure of using before, in my opinion they really excel at recording acoustic guitars and ukuleles. They've also chosen to use a metal strings, and I think the sharp twang really gives the song the bite it needs.
Subjective Feel:
I really feel energetic listening to this song when the chorus comes in, I think this is because of the dynamics that the song has been given. The track has been mixed with a big build up to the choruses that you can see in the waveform above. I also really feel like I'm there with this track, in the room watching the guys jam. The video really helps with this, but it's hugely complimented by the panning and levelling of each musician to continue the illusion of presence, not to mention the room mic! The substantial reverb placed over Jon's mic has a nice and warm sound to it, perhaps around 40% wet considering the delay also. The sampled vocals really bring some fun into the mix taking you by surprise in this otherwise live performance.
Bibliography:
Thomson, J. (2018). Jon Bellion: Using Voice as an Instrument (A Creative Process). [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeerGXdyl0E [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
Wass, M. (2016). Jon Bellion Talks "All Time Low": Interview. [online] idolator. Available at: http://www.idolator.com/7647257/jon-bellion-interview-all-time-low?safari=1 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
YouTube. (2016). Jon Bellion - The Making Of All Time Low (Behind The Scenes). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLLX-r6dCD0 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
capitolstudios.com. (2018). Capitol Studios | New Online Mixing, Mastering and Vinyl Services. [online] Available at: https://www.capitolstudios.com [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
Recording Revolution. (2015). The Art Of Working The Microphone (Or How To Record Vocals Without Compression) - Recording Revolution. [online] Available at: https://www.recordingrevolution.com/the-art-of-working-the-microphone-or-how-to-record-vocals-without-compression/ [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik. (2018). M80 Dynamic Microphone - TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik. [online] Available at: https://telefunken-elektroakustik.com/microphones/m80 [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
DPA. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.dpamicrophones.com/mic-university/principles-of-the-xy-stereo-technique [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
Uaudio.com. (2018). Understanding Audio Phase | Universal Audio. [online] Available at: https://www.uaudio.com/blog/understanding-audio-phase/ [Accessed 10 Jul. 2018].
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