Day #26

Today Jim held a training session for the employees/engineers at Allusion Studios. We began in the live room where Jim talked about how to tune a drum kit. He showed us all of the steps and we each got to tune a drum by ourselves. It was so helpful for me to actually be able to physically do. I feel like I learned it better and retained the knowledge for the future. We also cut a hole in the front head of the kick drum so a microphone could be placed inside for a different sound. Before miking each individual drum, Jim taught us about the specific polar patterns a microphone can have. As well, he explained which microphone would be a better sound for a certain instrument. As an experiment, we set up two different types of microphones on a single drum to see how they would sound in comparison. Once that was completed, we went to the control room to set up a new file in Nuendo and created new tracks for each specific part of the drum kit we just miked. We recorded Jim playing the drum kit so that we could listen to how the mics sounded. For the drums with two microphones, we decided which ones sounded better in quality. I realized that the more expensive mic doesn't always sound better. It depends on what instrument it is being used for and where it is positioned. Additionally, Jim explained in detail about how the patch bay works and how to use it. I really dreaded this part because last time I tried to learn how to use it I was confused. After listening again and successfully completing a signal chain scenario, I was thrilled! I love that Jim gives his employees and interns an opportunity to try things because it is exceptionally beneficial. For extra practice and to become more familiar with the patch bay, Jim let us take home a copy of the patch bay map, which is basically a labeled diagram of the patch bay. I learned a lot at the training day and felt more comfortable being at the studio knowing I could apply the things I have been studying to the process of an actual recording session.

Day #25

The client today was a girl who sang in the vocal booth while she played the guitar. She is in the studio to "test the waters." She wants to be a musician, and before she came into the studio she had recorded some on her computer. Jim began the session by asking her essential questions that start the recording process. For example, he asked her if she liked her mix and if it was loud enough, and what the name of her first song was so he could make a file for it in the software. While she played the guitar part for her first song, Jim noticed that it was off key, so he gave her a tuner to try and fix the problem. As she played through again, Jim marked a few places that he believed needed to be recorded better. As well, he controlled the volume and heard a "string buzz" coming from the guitar. They listened to the whole guitar recording back with her mic on just in case she wanted to say a comment about it. At the very end of the song, Jim added a fade.

Before she started the second song, Jim had her retune her guitar. I observed that she was a talented and obviously experienced guitar player. There was a specific part of the recording she decided she wanted to take out, though, when she tried to explain it to Jim, he wasn't exactly sure where she meant. They continued working together and talking through it to make sure she got what she wanted. She still had vocals for the songs, so she had to check the timing with her guitar which is crucial. If the timing was off, I would assume that it would take a long time to try to fix everything once the vocals and guitar parts were recorded.

For the third song, Jim let her know when a note sounded sharp to him. It seemed to me that, for this client, it takes less time to play through an entire song and mark the mistakes rather than stopping every time and starting over. But it might not be that way for every client. As people say "time is money," and that is definitely true when you are in a recording studio, so to make things easier for everyone it is important to know how to save time. Although, I can tell Allusion Studios is not quick-paced so that the client feels pressured. Jim is efficient at making the client's quality sound great and the way that they want it to sound, while also staying aware of the time.

Once, she concluded the guitar for all three songs, she moved on to the vocals. Jim had her practice to warm up her voice. At the beginning, her voice sounded a little shaky. But when she began to feel more comfortable, her voice sounded more powerful and strong. Jim stopped for a second to discuss how much time she wanted to spend in the studio. He said that he didn't want to mess her up while she was "in the zone." He wanted to nurture what she was doing because it is about the client. She listened back to what they just recorded and wanted to redo the whole thing. I could tell that she was having a good time singing and recording. Yet, she remained focused and professional, which was admirable to me. It is apparent that Jim was producing with a bigger voice compared to when they recorded the guitar. He did "punch-ins" with her, which means he had her sing along while he recorded over the places that he needed to be redone. Jim saw that there were a few sharp notes. He explained to me that it takes a long time to notice pitches. I felt more comfortable after he said that. Many times, Jim's client asked him if her singing improved as she kept recording. It was difficult for Jim to say because he wasn't that familiar with the lyrics yet. She wanted to put echoes in the song and add harmonies. Jim blended the harmonies by adding a fade at the end of the song. Then he added a concert hall sound to the guitar, rendered it, and did the same for the other two songs. Lastly, he went into a different program to master it and make the CD. When the client asked what she could do to get better, Jim suggested that she practice and possibly go to a vocal coach, which I thought was extremely helpful information.

Day #24

I finally finished all of the website corrections for the Pure Wave Audio site. It took me quite a long time, however, it was an essential task to complete. I believe this because potential customers who are considering buying an item from the website could be turned off from it if they see an accidental mistake. By doing this assignment I learned more about how to thrive and look professional while running a business.