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Javier Melendez
Another chapter done, and more good days spent at Audio Mix House. On Monday, Luis and I did a quick chapter review and talked about how good basic knowledge of electronics was useful in the studio. We spent a good amount of time in the equipment storage area, and had a chance to see different pieces of audio equipment with different power requirements. Some examples of equipment I saw and we talked about were power conditioners, microphones with a separate power supply, a Studer multi channel tape recorder, and a Neve pre-amp/Equalizer. I also had the chance to see different power and signal cables and we talked about wire/cable repair. After the equipment storage area, we went into one of the studios and I had the chance to set up a microphone, ready to record vocals. I placed the microphone stand, adjusted the height, attached the microphone, and connected the cable from the microphone to the pre-amp. Once that set up was complete, I had the chance to wire the patch bay where I made the connections to create the desired audio path. It was a simple path from the microphone, into a compressor, then to pro tools, but it was really cool to see the process of of how sounds and signals get to a DAW, then creating that path myself. One other useful thing we went over was how to properly coil up a cable, with an over hand-under hand technique, so it won't "form a memory" and become a twisted and tangled mess. It took a few attempts to feel like I had the technique down, but I think with a few more practice runs I'll have it down.
The next time I went into the studio, was Thursday afternoon. I had the opportunity to sit in on a recording session with a young singer named Tyler Ross, who was being coached by Billy Hufsey. Sitting in on this session was a great experience. Billy Hufsey had a straightforward and successful coaching style that brought out Tyler's full potential. Billy would hear one syllable that needed to be stressed or pronounced slightly different, in order to fully and properly engage the vocal cords, and explained it to Tyler in a way that got the point across. He would make the line go from sounding good to great! Luis once again seamlessly captured all the voice and audio required for a great track, while taking the time explain things to me or get me involved in the process. My involvement was minimal, adjusting the microphone stand, bringing in headphones or cables from the storage area, and helping with clean up, but I felt like just being there watching the whole process was a good learning experience. I can't wait to be more involved in these recording sessions.
Pictures from Monday:
Studer multi channel tape recorder
Power conditioner
U47 microphone
Neve pre/EQ
Jam of the week: Skrillex and Diplo - Where Are Ü Now (feat. Justin Bieber)
