Day #28

The Studio Edge Recording Series Vol. 2 is the second educational video that Jim is currently in the process of shooting. He’s spent a lot of time writing the script and reviewing it over the past few months. When it came time to start taping it, there were many things that needed to be completed. The most difficult part of the day was that the process was very time consuming and many little details had to be considered. This included the lighting, the positioning of the camera and the sound. When Jim taped a scene in the live room, there was a camera angled at his face and also another one pointed at him from a different angle. There were tall lighting stands that were positioned so that the scene looked good on camera. In addition, Jim wore a microphone that was attached to his shirt. He was reading his script from a teleprompter that covered the camera lens. However, it didn't interfere with the shot that the camera got; it was only visible to Jim reading the screen when he was standing in front of it. This is beneficial because it wouldn't appear pleasing if Jim was reciting lines and the viewer saw his eyes moving back and forth. I believe that could potentially be distracting.

When he was finished shooting what needed to be shot in the live room, everything had to be moved to the control room for the next scene. To begin a different section of the film, the first thing that needed to be shown was the chapter that Jim was going to be speaking about and what that chapter was called. My job was to write the chapter, its name, and which room he was taping in on a white board so that it could be filmed. The purpose of doing that was for when Jim went back to edit the film and put scenes in order, he would know which scene was which in case some tapes were out of order or the scenes were filmed out of order. I was grateful to be able to experience the taping of the video because I had never seen anything like it! It is a rewarding but tedious project that is not yet finished. Yet, I know that the end result will be great!

Day #27

The new acoustic panels for the live room, amp room, and bass room arrived at the studio. I was excited to see them and the newly painted rooms! We even held up the three different colored panels just to get a feel for what they would look like. It looked amazing and I can't wait for them to be put up. Jim, Joe, and Chase discussed what they were going to do about filming Jim's new educational video. There are some complications because it takes a lot of people to make a good production and it seems like there weren’t going to be enough people to help. Also, Jim normally films back to back, but it might have to be broken up for scheduling purposes. It is a challenging process but I can see why it is important that it gets done.

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.

Day #23

The final show for the 2011 Battle of the Bands was at the Rialto. Allusion Studios was the sponsor, in fact. The six finalists were all talented bands, including Alisha Peru who recorded at the studio. She sang amazingly and I was impressed hearing her sing live! During the last band’s performance, Jim took me backstage so I could see what it was like and what went on. I thought it was the most incredible thing! It is a completely different feeling when you view the musicians from the side rather than from the front. Jim showed me the individual monitors that each band member had on stage. They each had their own mix of what they wanted to hear while on stage. Also, there was a monitor engineer who had control of what sounds would be heard in the monitors and occasionally he used his own monitor to achieve the sound the band wanted. I will never forget that experience!

Day #22

Vera Farmiga was in the studio to record voiceovers for the movie Source Code. There was a live mic in the control room and Jim used the phone patch so the producer of the trailer could be involved even though he was in another state. Vera had several lines she went through, and she said them in many different ways. Sometimes the producer for the trailer company, Adam, would tell her to say things faster and let her know when she could move on to the next line. She was polite and did exactly what he asked of her. When Jim heard her lips smacking, he gave her water to drink. It made a huge difference. When Adam was satisfied with the way the lines were said, she left the studio after being there for only a short time. Vera was polite but very direct; her visit was all business. Jim explained to me that she was probably in town for some reason and when they decided to redo her lines for a new trailer, they looked for a local studio and put her in it to work. He truly “mirrors” his clients. If they are like Vera, and are just strictly all business, he accommodates them. Yet, not all clients are like that. Some will talk for a while and hang around the studio. Jim edited the recordings and made the edits really obvious. I believe he did that because someone else would continue to edit it for the trailer. As well, he made it stereo 48kHz, 16-bit, which he told me was the number you use for video. I asked Jim if he always took clients who are famous, like Vera, even if he was busy. He said that if he can’t fit them in, then no, because he can’t do everything which I think is completely understandable. I have already seen the trailer for Source Code on television and it is extremely cool to think that I was there when she recorded those lines! I didn’t think I would have an experience like that!

I continued to work on the website like I had before. I fixed any words that may be wrong or something other than they should be.

Later, Jim told me that he wanted to put a grand piano in the live room. He has been looking for about two months and wants to find a really good one. So, Chase, Jim, and I went in there to measure the space it would take up just to see if it would fit. In addition, we measured specific places in the live room and guitar room because he is getting new acoustics. This is part of Jim’s new educational video, The Studio Edge Recording Series Vol 2.

Day #21

It was fun for me to post updates about new gigs that Jim’s band, Domingo DeGrazia, is going to perform. I posted them on his website and also on his Facebook fan page. I enjoy working on computers because I pick things up quickly and don’t really struggle to get work done. Jim also had me go on the Pure Wave Audio website to fix specific words. When creating the page, sometimes the letters show up as something other than they were intended to, so I basically changed them. This process is time consuming but it doesn’t bother me at all.

Day #20

The NAMM show is an enormous trade show that many people attend every year. It is a place where companies have booths to show new products to musicians and studios. In addition concerts are held and there are shows for people to promote business and fun things for people to do to be entertained. Jim, Joe and Chase recently went to it! When I talked to Chase, he said NAMM was so much bigger than he expected. They walked around for 3 days and still didn’t see the whole thing. Joe explained that NAMM has roughly the same number of people in attendance each year.

Chase has been working as the engineer on some projects, and he said it’s intense. After focusing for 8-9 hours, your brain is exhausted. I believe that concentrating for that long is something you must get used to. Chase also showed me some new products from the NAMM show that Pure Wave Audio is now selling. The advertisements were mainly for microphones and some were headphones. I was interested in learning how they attempted to sell to potential buyers. What did they say to make people want to buy their product? Obviously, they know that their buyers are educated in this business and know what a good product is and what is not. In the microphone ads, it talked about polar patterns and I wasn’t sure at first what that meant. Chase explained that it shows where the microphone picks up sound at a certain frequency. A bidirectional mic is good because you can have two people singing on two sides of it and it pretty much cancels out all other noise on the sides. I noticed that the ads didn’t have any prices listed. While at NAMM, Jim had meetings with his manufactures. They have a good relationship, which includes them expecting sales and Jim giving them feedback on marketing and quality of their gear. Jim’s plan going into NAMM this year was to seek out an acoustic guitar. The studio recently added instruments for clients to use, and the acoustic guitar was still needed. Since Jim doesn’t play the guitar, it has been a long, difficult process. He simply wanted the greatest guitar for the studio and saw a few that he liked. They are still looking and will hopefully find one soon! It has been a 4 month process.

Later, Jim showed about four people around the studio. I think that he basically has to sell his studio, equipment, and education all at the same time. I figure that the people are eager to see what he knows and what he has to say about recording and producing their unique sound. Jim explained to me that some studios may have equipment and no education and little experience. So a client could work there for 20 hours for maybe half of the price per hour of Allusion. Allusion may have a higher price, but it comes with 25 years of experience, the education, equipment, and instruments. The same job might only take 5 hours to finish in a proper facility like ours. Jim said “We never get in the way of the client achieving their goals like home studio does. Sometimes people are looking at price per hour which has nothing to do with realizing their vision. The home studios will never be able to realize their vision correctly so it is just money thrown away since the audio does not represent the artist.”

When I think about the business aspect of this profession, I conclude that you have to be polite and organized. You may have to make difficult decisions wisely so that they will benefit your company. It is important to know what move to make and how to handle specific clients. At the end of the day, Jim and Joe had a meeting, which I think is important. In order to stay on track with your company, you have to keep up with your competitors. Owning a business is complete dedication and determination. There is so much to think about such as new products, clients for the week, ways to promote the business. At this point, even thinking about that stresses me out. I wonder if when I am older I will be able to handle stress better. At least, I hope that is the case.

Day #19

I spent most of my time in the office. For a while I explored the Allusion Studios website to learn more about Allusion Studios. I enjoyed reading its content and seeing the pictures of people and events the studio has been a part of. Jim and Joe were extremely busy taking calls and working on the computer. What I like about this business is the fact that your mind never stops processing and thinking; I never become bored. I would dislike being at a workplace that deals with things I am not interested in. I love that music is the biggest part of a recording studio. Also, I checked prices on the Pure Wave Audio website, and made sure that they matched the real, current prices for specific products.

Tomorrow, Jim will have a session with a producer who will be in a different state. Jim will need to patch in the phone because the producer has to be heard through the computer. He needs his own file/audio track, just like all the other people involved in the project would need their own file/audio track on the program. I was able to create those files, with Jim’s help of course. In order to make sure that you could hear the person calling in, we tested it and called. The voice then came through the speakers, so it worked! As well, we checked to see if you could hear the caller through the headphones in the vocal booth, which you could. It was funny to me, when I talked back to Jim through the microphone. I wasn’t used to hearing my voice and it sounded a lot different than I had expected it to be!