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!

Day #18

The band Ten Times Gravity had been in the studio to work on their album. Typically Jim is the engineer, however, Jim allowed Chase to gain experience as an engineer during the session since Jim was hired to play drums. The bass guitar player, Brian, was playing in the control room. He played different notes and measures because they were trying to figure out the bass part to the song. Throughout this time, Jim stopped him when he noticed that the bass was off key. Therefore, Brian tuned his bass and checked if it was on pitch again. Hearing many notes that are out of tune can actually de-train someone's ear, I learned. I believe that there are many reasons for guitars to go out of pitch. For example, if the player uses the guitar for a long time or if the player strums too aggressively on the strings, the strings could loosen and change the sound. Jim listened back to the song to "punch in" a few parts. In order to get the sound that you want, it takes a lot of playing and listening back to recorded pieces of the song. I wasn't aware of this, but there are several ways you could hit a note on the guitar. It might sound different than what you desire if you hit it too hard or too soft. Brian hit a note in a way that was different than what Jim wanted so, Brian cut his nails. I thought that this was kind of funny, but I understand now that it could make a difference in the way he played a note. It was interesting to me to see that if Jim couldn't find the notes he wanted to hear, he would sing them. In return, Brian would play the note Jim was looking for on the bass.

Chase spent hours adjusting and adding microphones to the drum kit that they used the previous day when the entire band was in the studio. He also made files, which means he named all of the instruments that they would use in the session into the appropriate computer program. In addition, he made the mix for one song, and copied it as a template into all of the others. Chase also was the engineer for that day while they recorded. He explained to me that it can get frustrating because there were guests in the studio talking and observing the session, so sometimes it was difficult to hear Jim when he spoke behind the kit.

Jim clarified to Chase that in order to save time editing later, now Chase could be very precise with the "punch ins." The bass player continued to play and even when he messed up Jim allowed him to keep on playing to get the feel of what he wanted. Sometimes the musician will play parts that he thinks of on his own. Other times, he does things over until he gets the "right" sound. As I have mentioned before, in order to succeed here, you must be creative and unafraid of failure. A musician will never be able to please everyone, but you have to be persistent. In addition, I observed that you have to be responsible and aware while in a session, no matter if you are the musician, engineer, or producer. All through the session, Jim was alert of the constant key of the bass, it was "off" to him. In my opinion, he is very observant and notices small things that could ultimately affect the song in a negative way and tries to fix them immediately. However, it seemed that there was nothing they could do as of that moment that could fix the issue with the bass. Jim wouldn't add tuning and noise reduction to the song, because he doesn't like how it sounds and said it "doesn't sound right." Since there was a recurring problem with the bass, Jim and Brian decided not to continue on with the bass part, after working on it for many hours. Jim says all the time that the bass is the most important part of the song, so he wants it to be perfect. They both wanted to continue but they preferred a five string guitar and not a four string, which is what Brian was using for the session. It appears to be an exhausting process but the outcome is the significant reward! I enjoy watching the process, honestly. It truly makes me appreciate a song more just knowing how much dedication, hard work, and passion goes into it. I always knew that before coming to the studio. However, being able to view it in front of me gives me a whole different perception. I was expecting the part of the process where the artist writes the lyrics, comes up with the instrumental parts, including guitar, drums, vocals, back-up vocals and more. Yet, I knew very little about the actual recording process and how much work goes into that!

Day #17

Instead of recording in the studio like bands usually do, Jim recorded a mariachi band at a church. It was a completely different experience for me, but I thought it was so incredible! Even before arriving on the location, Jim, Joe, and Chase had to pack things they needed from the studio into their car to bring to the church. They packed microphone stands, chords, a laptop that has the recording programs on it, and headphones. First, everything was taken out and set up. I got to set up microphone stands and plug in the chords that connected them to the computer. Jim and Joe set up the laptop and made sure the microphones set up in front of them corresponded to the placement on the computer. There were specific placements for all of the microphones. They had to be positioned in a way that would be best to hear the sound of the specific instrument. Each section of instruments either had their own microphone or a shared one. For example, the violins in the band shared a pair of microphones, while the three types of guitars each had their own. It was so interesting to see them warm up and practice! They were an extremely talented band. Sometimes one person sang lead vocals, and sometimes they would all sing together. There were about ten people in the band altogether. While they readied themselves, Jim was doing a sound check. I stood at one microphone and said “check, 1, 2, 3, 4” over and over until he was satisfied with the sound levels. I wondered if they had to be the same for each microphone. Jim also set up two microphones toward the back of the room. The band wanted to record here in the first place because they like the sound they hear when they play in the church. It was such an exciting thing for me to see! I loved every part of that experience!

Day #16

A band that I had observed before, Mercury Transit, was in the studio. Jim was having them listen to the song to see if there was anything they wanted to fix or add. At the same time he put in effects and delays. He mentioned that there were two lead vocals and that she, the lead singer, must have sang it twice. Jim asked her what vocal she wanted. Her voice sounded distorted and she liked the way it sounded. Jim explained that he thought it was too loud because it “cuts through” easily. She loved the setting of her voice; however, she was concerned with the fact that maybe she only liked it. I wondered if this came up with many artists. Did they make a decision simply because they liked it and didn’t care about how it truly sounded? Maybe sometimes you have to make a decision like that because you like it and hope others do too. Jim brought some of her original voice back in and the decision was that they liked the way that sounded better. She was concerned that when she sings this song live, if it would not go with the rest of the album. This made me curious as to how artists sing their songs live when the songs have effects on them. How does the audience hear it? I have noticed at concerts and performances on television that the effects are played on the speakers so the audience can hear. And the artist usually sings lead vocals, however they might play with their band as well.

Once Jim archived the virtual instruments, he rendered the song. For the second song, Jim and Mercury Transit went through the song and made more changes. He put a setting on the drums and a delay on the guitar. Also, she wanted to hear a warm sound with the reverb, so Jim brought up the bass. At one point in the song, there was a certain effect that sounded too much like the other parts. I realized that you have to pay attention to the entire song, as well as focus on smaller, more specific parts. I wonder if it is ever hard, as the engineer and producer, to stray away from doing something that you like. I believe that Jim doesn’t do something just because he likes the way it sounds. I know that he expresses his opinion but wants his clients to produce their own sound. After they finished editing, Jim had them listen to the song. When they were happy with it, he rendered it and made a CD.

Day #15

Jim was in the process of mastering for a client, Robert. This means that he was making the songs the same volume, deciding how much time there was going to be between each song, the order of the songs, adding fades, maximizing levels, and he turned up the bass in one song. I wondered why it shows the song in blue above the same in red below on the mastering program that Jim uses. I imagine that there are probably many different types of software. As an engineer, do you have to be familiar with more than one program?

Jim explained to me that he has more of a mellow song of Robert’s so he physically made it a mellower volume on the CD. Jim made Robert two masters. There is only so much that Jim can do when he is not part of the tracking or mixing process. He said that Robert recorded in a home studio so the music image was very small. The band recorded the tracks and did the mixes elsewhere. Lastly, Jim printed the name of the band, the title of the record, the date, and Allusion studios on the CD with a CD labeler.

A lot of the music industry is about image and not about the music. Even though I wish that people liked music because they actually liked the music and not just the person singing it, I know it won’t ever change. However, it is cool to think about how each city pretty much has its own music scene. In Tucson, I think it has changed negatively. I wonder what influences the changes. I also wonder how the music scene in Tucson differs from a city in California.

Day #14

Jim, Joe, and Chase discussed major business ideas. I realized just how much Jim does with balancing his engineering career at Allusion Studios and managing Pure Wave Audio. It has to take up a lot of time, work, and energy in order to keep up with it all. It is motivating for me to witness Jim’s eagerness to always be moving forward and prospering in a positive way! I can’t imagine how complex thinking of business ideas could be, it definitely requires creativity. Something I have observed while interning at Allusion Studios is that Jim often says things are “a learning process.” I am comforted by that because I don’t feel as intimidated coming into a different environment. It makes me believe I can make mistakes and not be looked down upon for them. Jim states that he wants to progress and move forward to be the ultimate, but at the same time, he has to be cautious and think about what he is doing. For instance, money is always a burden on someone’s shoulders, and I bet even more when you own a business. However, when Jim believes in something, he says he will put money behind it. I am confident that he is a strong business owner and knows how to run a successful business.