Project Jay Groovara

Project Background

I met Jay at a local songwriters group that I started in January 2026 and he said that he would be interested in me recording and mixing a track "Vomit" for him.

The Jay Groovara band are a 2-piece band. Jay plays guitar and bass and handles vocals while xxx plays the drums.

They are well rehearsed and have a number of original songs that they play in their live set at gigs locally. Both of the band members have some studio experience, so they knew what to expect before the recording session.

Studio Recording Session - Scheduled 13th Feb 2026

Planning

Before the recording session I discussed studio requirements with Jay. I particularly wanted to know what the drum configuration was so that I could plan what microphones to use for the recording of the drums.

Also it's important to know what type of music the band play as the recording setup can vary dependant on the musical genre.

Jay was able to send me a reference video for the drum setup so that I was able to plan what microphones I would use at the recording session and their placements. I could also make decisions on what amplifiers would be most suitable for the guitar and bass recordings.

For a recording session that is with a band, rather than a solo aritist, I like to have a track planning sheet set up before the studio session.

This allows me to determine what tracks will be used for each instrument(s) and is also useful as I can hand a copy to the studio technicians prior to the recording session so they can make sure that all of the required equipment is available.

Session tracking sheet

From this sheet, it is possible to correlate which input channel is being used for each instrument and to which track on the recording it is routed. For example, In the University Studio 1, due to the position of the drums, the drum microphones are typically routed from Input 17 onwards (dependant on how many microphones are used for the drum kit) In this session we used 7 microphones for the drums so I used input channels 17 to 23.

I also like to ensure that I have a recording project template set up before the recording session in the software that we will be using. For this project, I used Logic Pro. I was able to set this all up on my computer at home prior to the recording session and then load it onto the studio system at the recording session.

Both of the steps above save valuable studio time as the aim of studio time is to maximise the studio time available to the musician.

Recording

Our recording session took place on 13th Feb 2026 in the University Studio 1. This is my favourite studio to work in as the desk is a Neve Genysys Black that provides a great deal of analogue warmth to the recordings. The operation of the desk is perhaps more complicated than the other studios due to the complexity of the equipment but the more that I work with this set up the more comfortable I feel with it.

(Some photos taken during our recording session)

Mixing

Once the recording session was completed, I saved all of the recordings that had been made in Logic and transferred them to my own studio system for mixing. First I worked on the drums.

Working with a real drummer presents a new set of challenges for the producer. As well as choosing the most suitable microphones for each drum component, the producer needs to consider microphone placement and drummer style to achieve the best results.

(Owsinski, 2023a)

For this project I set up the drum recording microphones to capture the following drum components:-

• Kick Drum
• Snare Top
• Snare Bottom
• Hi-Hats
• Tom Toms
• Overhead microphones (Left and Right)

Once the recordings are captured and I am working on the mix phase, the first task will be to mix the drums. This is quite an art as all of the recorded inputs will have different characteristics and the objective of the producer is to mix the drums to sound like one instrument rather than a collection of individual drums.

Once the individual drum components have been mixed and balanced, they can be grouped so it's easier to mix the drum kit as a single instrument when the other instruments are introduced.

Next I worked on the bass guitar, ensuring that the drums and bass knit together tightly to create the driving rhythm of the song. The drum and bass parts of a song are know as a rhythm section and this creates the "groove" if the groove is tight then generally the other components will knit together better.

Rhythm guitar is next. An important part of the mix process is to ensure that all parts of the audio frequency spectrum have a place in the mix. If instruments have the same frequency range then the mix may become "muddy". It's important to mix as a whole, rather than individual instruments in isolation as a soloed instrument may seem thin on it's own but when it is combined with the other instruments, it fits in the mix perfectly.

After the rhythm guitar, I introduced the lead guitar elements and finally the lead and backing vocals.

One of my acid tests on a mix is to listen to the mix on a variety of different sound systems. The mix should sound good on a tiny phone speaker as well as an expensive set of studio monitors. I find that the "car test" works well for me, as generally if a song sounds good in the car, it will sound good elsewhere.

Listening in the car allows the producer to focus on the following areas:-

• Translation — does the mix sound good outside your studio or headphones
• Low‑end balance — cars often exaggerate bass, so problems show up quickly
• Vocal clarity — can you hear the lead clearly over road noise
• Overall vibe — does the mix feel energetic, muddy, harsh, or flat

This is why many producers do a “car test” before finalising a mix.

Client Feedback during Mix Process

During the mix process, I had regular communication with Jay as I wanted hime to hear how the mix was progressing and also take his feedback into account. I feel that it's very important to keep the client well informed at all stages of the process as that provides client "buy in" and there aren't any nasty surprises at the end of the process.

The following video is a short extract of our recording sessio.

The following video demonstrates me mixing the track and highlights how I introduce the different musical elements into the mix. I have tried to keep it brief but at the same time highlight each element.

Reflection

This was a fairly ambitious project regarding the amount of work required as we had a real drummer and drums take time and patience to record with the best outcome.

Careful planning was essential to ensure a smooth day in the studio and I was glad of the pre-preparation work that I had undertaken.

The musicians were experienced and professional and knew what to expect once in the studio and that made things run smoothly on recording day.

Although this was an ambitious project, it was also the project that I got the most satisfaction from as I managed to run and engineer a whole studio session on my own. It's quite daunting the first time that you do this but invaluable experience and I enjoyed being able to organise and run the session exactly the way that I wanted to.

There was good communication between myself and the band at the mix phase of the project and everyone was very pleased with the outcome.

Project Dave

Project Background

The brief for this project was to record, mix, and produce a song for local artist "Dave". Dave attends local open mic nights and has been aware of the services that I offer for a while. He has asked me before if it would be possible for me to help him record a song and produce it for him.

I met with Dave to discuss his exact requirements and suggested that as he was starting to write his own material, it might be pertinent to wait until he had an original composition to record rather that recording a cover version, to which he agreed.

Some weeks later Dave played me a rough demo of a song that he had composed himself, and I agreed to meet with him to plan what we needed to do to bring his project to fruition.

Planning

As this project just involved a solo artist, it might be considered that there would be less planning involved. However, this is not the case.

The first thing that I wanted to ensure was that Dave was well rehearsed and would have a clear idea of what to expect once he was in the studio. The other important thing that I wanted make sure of was that Dave was used to playing to a "click track" This ensures that the recording is in time and allows the producer to make a "composite take" at the production stage. This then allows the producer to assemble a track based on the best elements of each take.

Recording

We scheduled two studio sessions.

Studio Recording Session - 20th January 2026 - Completed
Studio Mixing Session - 10th February 2026 - Completed

When it came down to the recording session, it was difficult for Dave to play in time to a click track which led to a lot more work at the production stage. 

We did try multiple takes and I made the decision that I would have to work with the take that was most in time.

Had this been a project that the client was paying for, the project cost would have been substantially increased by the additional production hours involved.

(Some photos of Dave recording guitar parts)

Mixing

After the initial recordings I needed to grid them. This is when the musician has not played strictly in time, and by software manipulation in my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) I am able to snap the recordings to a fixed tempo. This is a rather tortuous process that takes a lot of time, so it really is important to try and get a tight in-time recording initially, as sometimes if audio has been time-stretched or time-shrunk, it develops characteristics that do not sound natural. 

As an example of the timing discrepancies, when gridding, I have to manually position a marker in the software at the downbeat of each bar. The software is then able to analyse the bpm (beats per minute) of each bar. This varied from around 93 bpm to 126 bpm where our benchmark was 120bpm.

(Gridding)

Once I had the guitar parts gridded, I was able to program some drum parts to the chosen bpm of 120bpm. Drum programming can be fairly complex as it is necessary to choose drum parts that will suit the song. There are also a wide number of software drum kits available so it is necessary to choose the right kit for the mix as well.

I also added a subtle hammond organ part to give the song some extra warmth.

On 10th February we arranged another recording session so that Dave could re-track some of the lead guitar parts that he was unhappy with. We recorded 4 takes of the lead guitar track. Once the gridding exercise has been done it is possible to make a "composite mix," which combines elements of the best take sections.

(Re-tracking some guitar parts and mixing session)

The following video demonstrates me mixing the track once everything had been gridded. It highlights the individual components being introduced.

Here is some client communication during the mixing process.

Reflection

In hindsight, this was probably my most difficult project to work on and all originated from the timings of the original recordings.

When it first became apparent that Dave was not able to play in time with the click track, I asked hime to re-record and try again, but after 3 or 4 takes when it became clear that he would not be able to do this, I should have clarified the situation, for example "I won't be able to program drums for you unless the guitar has been recorded in time"

My failure to do this meant that I spent a significant amount of time in "gridding" the guitar parts to a fixed beats per minute value and also resulted in a deterioration of audio quality as when audio files are stretched or shrunk they develop unnatural characteristics.

Having said that, I was pleased with the final outcome and the project highlighted some of the issues that a producer will encounter, although I would probably not include this track in a "highlights of my productions" portfolio.

Project Red

Project Background

The objective for this project was to record, mix and produce 2 self penned songs by "Red". Red is a local artist that plays at a number of open mic nights and has been working on his repertoire to include more original material. For this project we decided that we would focus on original material.

Planning

Studio Recording Song 1 - September 2025 - Complete
Mix and produce Song 1 - October 2025 - Complete

The second studio recording session was planned for 6th March 2026. Red was able to provide me with a reference video of the song that he wanted to record which is always very useful. I like to know what to expect musically before I go into the studio.

Reference video for Song 2

Recording

The first recording session for Red was in September 2025. We recorded one song "In The Wood" in the University Studios.

For the second recording session on March 6th 2026 we worked on the preface of recording one song "The Dryad Song" bust as we had some time left after recording that song, we managed to record another number "Rowan Berry Blues"

As Red has little studio experience but is used to playing live with a drum machine, I decided that it would be beneficial to record a track from his drum machine for each song. This enabled Red to feel comfortable when he was recording rather than playing to a metronome click track.

The benefit of this approach is that there would be no "spill" from the drum machine during recording of guitar and vocals, leading to a clean recording. In addition, the song would be recorded at a fixed tempo which would allow me to program more realistic drums at the mix phase.

("Red" recording the vocal track in the studios)

Mixing

We had a good strong set of recordings and also multiple takes of each song so I had plenty of material to work on. We agreed that i would program drum parts, play bass and also play some slide guitar on "Rowan Berry Blues". I am by no means an expert at slide guitar but I persevered and managed to record some acceptable parts. 

I was able to make composite takes of Red's guitar and vocals tracks in order to choose the best parts of each take which added to a more professional end product.

Once I had programmed the drums, and added the bass guitar and slide guitar, 

I also had an idea of adding a harmonica solo and ideally this would have involved using a real harmonica recording. However, as we were not able to do this,  dug into my sample library to see what was available.

The use of samples plays a large part in music produced today. I generally don't use samples, preferring to record real musicians playing real instruments but have nothing against them.

Some musician / producers will develop songs purely using samples and can produce very professional results, mainly due to the quality of the recorded samples and there is quite an art to working with samples as each sample must be matched with the pitch / key and time of the song.

I was able to combine a number of samples to produce a harmonica solo that I thought would fit the song, although I left the final decision as to if it should be included to Red.

I was then able to move on to the mix.

The following video demonstrates me mixing "Rowan Berry Blues" introducing each component part into the mix.

Reflection

The sessions with Red were very enjoyable to work on. Red was well rehearsed and although he had not had much studio experience, adapted quickly to the environment where sometimes it can be slightly overwhelming.

There was little need to re-take the guitar or vocals tracks, although we did run through a number of takes so I could make a "composite" take, consisting of the best parts of each take.

We discussed the post-recording process and exchanged ideas about what instruments to use and the feel of the final production. As an added bonus, we had some time left in the studio and were able to record an extra track.

A very enjoyable project.

Project Chris

Project Background

The beauty of working with a number of different artists on their music projects is that each project will be different in terms of requirements and skills required to bring the project to fruition.

Chris contacted me via The Songwriters united forum which I set up some time ago. He asked if I would be able to mix and produce his song "I Love You Etc".

As well as mixing and producing the track, there was also an additional requirement to add orchestration and backing vocals. He had already recorded a rough demo track as a reference.

Planning

The first step in this project was to get acquainted with the song and get Chris to send me the individual WAV files which are basically the individual instrument tracks.

This kind of remote working is a lot easier these days as it's relatively easy to share files via the wide availability of cloud based storage solutions such as Google drive and Onedrive.

Chris had recorded some vocal tracks for this song but was aiming to get a female vocalist to record the lead vocals at a later stage, but we agreed that I would start work on the mix before we had the female vocals.

My first task was to load all of the files that Chris had sent to me into my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). My preferred DAW is Reaper as I have been using it for around 10 years and have a good working knowledge of how it works. However, although it's possible to load files from other DAW's into Reaper, it's also useful to have a working knowledge of the other commonly used DAW's.

During my time at University, I now have experience with the following DAW's as well as Reaper

• Logic Pro
• Pro Tools
• Ableton Live

Once I had loaded all the files into Reaper, there is an amount of work involved to ascertain what is on each track. Customers will generally send all of the recorded audio, some of this might be partial takes or takes where mistakes were made. Although it's possible to fix the majority of mistakes, it is much more preferable to work with well recorded and organised  audio tracks.

Good labelling of tracks is also important. My job becomes a lot more difficult if tracks are named "Audio 1", "Audio 2" etc instead of "Guitar", "Bass", "Lead Vocals"

Chris's tracks were well organised but there was some duplication of backing vocals that took some time to sort out. In this respect, it makes sense to quote for a project once the initial audio stems have been received and evaluated.

Chris had also taken time to write me notes on what each track was and also indicated how he wanted the mix to "feel", which is very important information to have when delivering customer requirements.

Recording

Once I had all of Chris's audio stems loaded up into the DAW, I looked at what additional parts would enhance the song. I added the following:-

• Backing vocals to complement Chris's original backing vocals
• A string section using a VSTi (BBC Symphony Orchestra Virtual Instrument)
• Bass Guitar

Of course, communication with the customer is very important and after I recorded each part, I liaised with Chris to make sure that he was happy with the progress and I was able to make any minor adjustments as required.

As I have worked with Chris on a couple of projects in the past he knows how I work and gives me more or less a free reign to do what I want to do, but I feel that it's still important to keep the communications channel open as it's his song, not mine and I want to make that song shine.

Mixing

Once I had finished the recording of the additional parts I started to work on the mix. This generally starts off with getting an initial balance. I focus initially on the drums and then move onto the bass, as getting the drums and bass to knit together is the essence of the "groove" to the song.

I then start to bring in other instruments. In this case, it was a number of acoustic guitar parts and the orchestrated string parts.

Finally, I introduce the vocal parts, starting with the backing vocals and ensuring that they sit in the mix and then the lead vocals.

Vocalists generally feel uncomfortable hearing their own voice. This is know as the self voice confrontation effect where the brain acts negatively when the voice it hears is not the one that it expects.

(Kimura, M., & Yotsumoto, Y. ,2018)

Chris was keen to get the female vocalist to record her parts and he managed to send me the recordings around a week later.

The female vocals were recorded very professionally so they fitted into the mix with only small adjustments required. 

Although the lead vocal recordings were of a very good quality and professionally recorded there were certain things that I had to address before I could fit them into the mix. Some of the vocal tracks were duplicated and also some of the vocal tracks had effects applied to them (Wet) while others had no effects applied (Dry). This provides a dilemma for the producer as if I receive a track that is for example drenched with reverb (or indeed any effect), I am unable to remove the effect in the mix. With dry tracks, I am able to apply effects and achieve a better blend to the mix. In this case, I used the dry tracks and applied the same reverb on the lead vocals and backing vocals to achieve this blend.

The challenge for the vocals mix was to ensure that the lead vocals and both mine and Chris's backing vocals sounded like they had all been recorded in the same space and blended together well. I concentrated on panning / eq / compression to achieve this.

The following video demonstrates me working on the mix of the track.

Project completed - January 2026

Reflection

I always really enjoy working on projects with Chris. Firstly as I love the songs that he writes and secondly as he is easy to work with. We always have good project communication and manage to inject a bit of humour into our communications which adds to building a customer relationship.

With any mix / production project there is invariably work to do in organising the recording stems, evaluating and enhancing them.

Chris's music is heavily influenced by 1960's pop styles which are some of my favourites too so again, that makes things a lot more enjoyable when I am working with a genre that I love.

Although I really liked Chris's original vocals as he has his own unique style, the female vocals certainly added a different dimension to the final production.

I have found that a lot of vocalists are unhappy with their own vocals but I think that there is something unique an wonderful when a writer performs their own vocals on a song.

Chris was very happy and appreciative with the outcome and we have some future projects lined up to work on.

Reflection

 

Working with a number of different clients during this module has been a fascinating experience. It has also been interesting to work with clients who have different levels of experience with regard to studio work. A couple had no studio experience to speak of so it was important to make them feel comfortable and not overwhelmed in the studio environment, whereas the the others had varying levels of studio experience. The keywords to working in this way are "flexibility", "communication" and "organisation". It's important to set customer expectation levels before the project starts as well so they have a clear idea of what the final outcome will be. Of course this can be tweaked to suit the conditions of each project but it's important that both myself and the client know what to expect. I felt that by making sure that I had done adequate preparation for each project made things run smoothly. There are always unforeseen circumstances that have to be overcome, but good planning will ensure that when issues arise, they are able to be addressed in a smoother manner. Working with clients who have less experience means that my job will probably take longer and be slower, mainly due to the fact that I have to explain the process that I am going through at each stage of the project. Being flexible allows you to build better customer relationships but clear communication is the most important tool, even if that means making decisions that are difficult. I learned a lot regarding project time estimates which will stand me in good stead when I work on future commercial projects as I will have a better idea on how to cost them. I particularly enjoyed working with this group of clients as each one was different, both in terms of the material they write and their approach to delivering it. Working with a real drummer requires a totally different approach to working with a solo artist who may use a drum machine or requires drum programming input from myself. As well as adopting a professional approach to my projects, I also try and make them fun for my clients, and it's also worth spending some time buying a coffee during recording session breaks so we can discuss progress and agree future objectives. I also believe that reliability and punctuality are very important when working in any scenario. If I say that I will meet a client at a specific time, I will always be there before that time, and if I say that I am going to do something, I will deliver what I have promised. As highlighted in the "Behind The Scenes" section, not everything was plain sailing, and I did generate some unnecessary extra work for myself on the "Dave" project. Having said that, even though I generated extra work, I was able to learn from the experience. Over the period of this module, I worked around 70 hours to complete the 4 recordings / productions. The studio sessions are all about getting the best quality recordings possible, and the production sessions are all about applying the shine to the song. I genuinely enjoyed working with such a mixed group of clients and learned a lot that I will be able to apply to future projects. I logged the time that it took to complete each task on an Excel spreadsheet. It was interesting to observe how quickly the hours accumulated. When I work on future projects, I will ensure that each client completes a "Services Agreement." An example of this can be found in the "Resources" section. My client timesheet is here...

Outcome

 

At the end of each production project, I will have a fully mixed track that I can hand back to the customer and the satisfaction that I have helped to bring another song out into the light of day. I deliver a high-quality audio file to each customer for them to promote as they want. Obviously, as I am only providing audio content, I have no exact idea of how each project will move forward, although after talking to all my clients, they all indicated that they would be promoting their work, either by producing an accompanying video or promoting on social media. If any of this comes to light before the end of this module, I will add it to my blog. I take a great deal of pride in my work and my objective for this project was to provide for each client,  a professionally produced audio track that they can use as part of their artist portfolio. I have included here the fully mixed audio versions of all of the songs that I have worked on as part of this module. I Love You, etc., by 5 Guys named Lars Client Feedback "That's absolutely wonderful John..thank you so much. Don`t know what you did but it sounds so good.  Lovely to enjoy your own song without conversely wincing at the awful vocals or playing. It's a first for me. You are an absolute star.  Coventrys finest !! (apart from Bobby Gould obviously). (Chris, Denmark)" Rowan Berry Blues by Red The Dryad Song by Red Client Feedback "I came to the university to record 2 songs. John met me in the lobby and took me down to the studio, where he showed me which equipment we would be using and what I needed to do. I brought a guitar and a drum machine with 2 prepared drum tracks. John recorded one of the tracks to playback for me to listen to while playing the chords to the first song. This track was played to me through headphones while I sang. After this I listened to what had been recorded. The process was then repeated for the second song. We then discussed ideas as to how the songs could be enhanced and I left.  John then laid down an alternative drumbeat plus added bass, lead guitar and even harmonica. A few hours later the first mix of one song was sent to me. The following morning subsequent mixes of both songs were sent to me to see what I thought. Small alterations were made and I received final mixes of each song, which I was very pleased with. While at the studio John made me feel relaxed by explaining what was needed of me and I was impressed by his professionalism." Davesong by Dave Client Feedback "We went into the studio, the control room was quite impressive, however there where various technical issues * getting the recording going, which I honestly don't understand. However, when they were fixed the whole recording took maybe a little over an hour, with multiple takes for vocals, rhythm guitar and lead guitar.  We came in again about a month later to repaeat the same process and agree on mixing. This also gave technical difficulties, which after their resolution the process was quick and professional." * Please note that the "technical difficulties" referred to were not technical difficulties but pre-recording setup checks such as recording balance, microphone checks to ensure the best quality recording possible.  Vomit by The Jay Groovara Band Client Feedback "Sound Engineer John Bradley approached me to record and mix one of our songs called 'Vomit'. We spent a Friday afternoon getting it all done in less than three hours. He set up all the kit mics and we laid down drum tracks (played by Tyler Fitall) and edited together the best takes using Logic. I did all the guitar and vocals with John adding harmonies. He done a superb job of mixing the song. It was a fantastic opportunity and we are very impressed by the results. - Jay Groovara"