Hey everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve used this and I’m surprised it’s still up :p
anyway, check out my new blog at www.theautumwindow.com/blog (or just go to the .com if you want, it’s there too!)
also add me on myspace! myspace.com/theautumnwindow
I hope you all are lovin’ LVC as much as I didn’t! Good luck all and stay in touch… PLEASE!
Music Recording Technology - who would’ve thought I would be studying music in college after dropping out of music completely after the first semester of 9th grade? Not me! I knew I loved it, but the study of it I never liked and those feelings are still carrying on with me. I find some things I’ve been learning here to be silly and pointless, and while I think these things as unnecessary and unneeded, I begin to find myself using them in my daily life. For example, on the 7 hour drive back here from Thanksgiving break an unfamiliar song came on my iPod. It was country (my weakness), so I let it play. I found myself analyzing the melody into solfege. While I don’t normally do this, I then realized that this whole theory thing does have a slight application. I started out hating theory in general, and while I still dread it, I am beginning to accept, embrace, and even use it.
Okay, enough about theory… onto recording, my fears, my love, my end.
As the semester comes to a blissful (soon to be painfully loaded with cramming) end I begin to wonder about my life. I have a beautiful girlfriend back home who I recently gave a promise ring to show her my full intent of marrying her. This brought a flooding of thoughts, including my life after college, especially with her. I began to wonder if I’m really doing the right thing here. I want to raise a family, a larger one too (four children). Can I really support them with a job like this? I am still worried about whether this is really what I should be doing. I want to be a good, involved father to my future children and I am just scared I won’t be able to do that, or support them financially. Hopefully things will work out for the best.
Over this winter break I plan on starting and finishing the recording of my first real EP! I’m excited! Wish me luck!
Engineers: Troy Di Raddo, Jon Wolff, and Jeff Linn
Date: Friday, October 24, 2008
Time: 3:30 pm – late
Summary: This was, by far, the greatest time I’ve had here at LVC to date! I had made friend’s with Jon a few days before this and became very comfortable with being around him. When I asked Troy if I could come observe I didn’t know that Jon would be there. Having Jon there made things much more comfortable for me. Jeff was extremely good with knowing what was needed in almost every situation. From mics, to compressors, to limiters, to everything else there was to know! He just had all the answers!
When I first came into the studio I was assigned to help Jeff out with micing the guitar speaker. Jeff was trying out different mics while we waited for the band to arrive. He explained to me the 3:1 micing technique. Later on that evening he explained to me the uses for the LA-3A limiter as well as many other processors in the studio.
Jon was playing the role of producer and boy did he do a good job there! He has quite the ear for tone and knows what fits where in the song. His suggestions to the guitarists and bassist were very insightful and definitely helped make the parts fit the overall song much better. Also, his personality was both friendly, but assertive which made him a great producer!
I learned a lot from this experience, more than I have written, and more that I cannot write because it’s not possible to put into words. Certain things you just have to experience to understand, and watching those songs just come together with such elegance is something you need to experience to understand.
To check out the band we recorded, check out Cinder Hill.
Note: we did not record the songs on their myspace as of October 27, 2008.
I recorded, mixed, and whatever elsed this song.
I did the best I could with what I had, which wasn’t much.
Enjoy!
Engineer: Shannon S. Streifeneder
Date: Friday, October 24, 2008
Time: 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Summary:
This was my second time in studio C with Shannon and I really enjoyed seeing some mastering being done, instead of just fades like last time. Shannon was given 3 rap/hip-hop songs to choose from and she chose to do a song called “Hold Up”. The words were a little ridiculous and slightly offensive (to me at least) but the beat was pretty good and the hook was tight, so it was a good choice. She was given three parts of the song: the vocals, the “mix” (all the little melodies and sounds), and the bass part (not sure if it was supposed to be a drum or not). From there she was able to EQ, limit, and compress the parts, plus the overall mix.
I learn that subtle EQing and limiting can really make a difference in the overall mix. I was impress and I would like to do that again very soon.
This is my first attempt at designing a live intro for my band.
(this is not done yet)
Engineers: Valerie Augustine & Lauren Lange
Date: Friday, September 19, 2008
Time: 3:00 – 5:00
Summary:
Valerie and Lauren were very welcoming and seemed to know what they were doing. Their song choice, #3, was interesting to listen to from “scratch” to their interpretation of how the song should sound. The transformation was very essential so the track didn’t sound second-rate. A little compression, some gating, and a little EQing can go a long way in cleaning up a song.
Lauren and Valerie also made sure of one thing, that I learned how to PROPERLY turn off the radar system, starting with shutting down the radar computer system before turning off the extremities, like the processing rack. They stressed that this is extremely important to help preserve the system. Overall, I
learned a little about processing signals and how they can improve a song’s quality greatly.
Engineer: Shannon S. Streifeneder
Date: Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Time: 3:30 – 5:30
Summary:
This was my first time in Studio C, or a Mastering studio in general. Shannon was extremely friendly and engaged me the fading in and fading out process by asking me for my opinions on the fades she did and what I thought could be altered to make them better. It was an exchange of thoughts and knowledge.
I learn about the program Waveburner and how its fading options worked. The program, as it seems now, is fairly basic and simple to use, if you kind of know what you’re doing with it. The one thing I learned was that programmers, when making editing programs, need to leave a space between the final audio recording and edge of the program. This is needed because when trying to shorten the last audio file, Shannon kept grabbing the edge of the screen and shrinking the program’s window.
I’m teaching myself flash now so I might make the buttons clickable and maybe make the screen change.
I dunno. Only time will tell. It’s projects like these that make me question my major.
