FOOTSTEPS IN THE PARK

Yesterday we discussed doing some recording for the backing track to our song. As we don't have any specific rhythm I thought we could use footsteps and the sounds of leaves. It would be cool to create different types of sounds and create the rhythm section from that. Nicola suggested using a Japanese instrument called a Shamisen, which Logic has as one of the GM instruments.We got the recording equipment and Jonathan helped us set it up. We didn't have enough batteries charged so just plugged it in and set it up ready for tomorrow. One of the channels that the mic was plugged into wasn't working. We thought it was the lead at first but Jonathan tried the different inputs and leads and it was the input socket.

Today we had all the equipment set up: recorder, gunshot mics, headphones, leads, etc so we went straight to the park to find leaves.We recorded footsteps on the path, slightly gravelly, on the grass, on leaves, fast and slow, tapped out a rhythm on leaves with a stick, scraped a twig across a steel bench, shook some branches and recorded a bird in a tree. There was a bit of a problem (as always when using Logic) with a stereo/mono conflict when trying to import the audio. As we heard the sound it was playing in half speed. They were being read as 4 tracks as opposed to 2. Jonathan changed the first 2 tracks to 'unused' and the second 2 to left and right. This still wouldn't work so Nicola fiddled around for a while. She converted the sample rate to 44.1 khz, almost half of what it was and it then played at the correct speed. Well done Nic!!!! We hadn't encoded the files before recording so apparently, that's why we had the problem. As this was time consuming we will bounce the tracks tomorrow.