Song Analysis: { By: Kristin Sompolski What is the name of the song, what is the genre, and what is the Song Structure?

• Song name - Losing my Religion

• Artist - R.E.M.

• Genre -

• Song Structure - Strophic

Performers/Artists

• The members at that time of the release of that song where also the songwriters: •

• Bill Berry

•

•

Producers and Engineers

• Assistant engineers and mixing assistants: Dave Friedlander, Ted Malia, Mike Reiter, and Tom Garneau.

• Engineer: John Keane was also played the steel guitar, overdubs, and pedal steel.

• Producer and Engineer: Scott Litt who also did loops.

• Producer: R.E.M

• Mastering Engineer: Stephen Marcussen.

Where are each of the sounds and vocals placed in the 3D reference ball?

• The Mandolin, Violin, and Viola are placed a little below the vocals

• The Drum set is placed to the back

• The Bass guitar is placed a little in front of the drums and slightly below the violin and viola

• The vocals are placed in front of all the instruments

• The acoustic guitar is placed a little below the mandolin and other strings Which sounds appear in the center and on the sides?

• The vocals, drums, and bass guitar are placed in the center

• The violin, viola, acoustic guitar, and the mandolin are placed on the sides

• The first mandolin (played during verses), violin and viola were panned more to the left than right

• The acoustic guitar, and second mandolin (played during chorus) were panned more to the right than left Do any instruments have a stereo spread?

• All the instruments had their own space and stereo spread none of the instruments were spread out to the entire span of the stereo field.

• The violin and viola had the widest stereo spread.

• The drums seemed to have the second widest stereo spread.

• The bass, mandolins and acoustic guitar had roughly the same stereo spread which was close to but a little less wide than the drums.

• The vocals seemed to have the width to their stereo spread. How do the vocals sit in the mix? Are they in the front of the ball or do they blend more with the music?

• The vocals sit in the front of the ball

• They blend with the other instruments well but they still have their own space. Can you hear the environment around each sound? Do all of the instruments appear to be in the same space?

• Yes, you can hear the environment around each sound.

• All of the instruments appear to be in the same space.

• The overall environment sounds like they are playing in a medium sized room.

What are the tones of the individual sounds? Are some sounds bright while others are dark or dull?

• All of the instruments have a brighter tone to them.

• The mandolin is the brightest instrument.

• Overall, the instruments have a somber tone to them. They are not dark sounding but they are also not very warm sounding, I do not hear an over- abundance of mid frequencies.

What is the overall tone of the recording?

• The overall tone of the recording was mellow but upbeat.

• I also noticed that this recording is very clean sounding. There isn’t a low frequency build-up and none of the instruments are fighting with one another.

• There is a good blend of the low, mid, and higher frequencies.

• All the frequencies and instruments were well blended and balanced well. Each individual instrument and vocals sound clear and up front. How does the recording affect your mood?

• The mood of the recording was upbeat but mellow, even though the lyrics did not fight with the mood of the song.

• The lyrics were more sad/depressing compared to the upbeat/mellow music.

Stereo Field

Lead Vocals Backing Vocals Mand Mandolin olin Acoustic 2 Guitar Violin & Bass Guitar Viola Violin & Viola

Drums