Music Recording
For this music recording project, we swapped our roles from last time from musician to recording engineer. I asked a musician I know to play for me in order to practice my recording skills. This was my first time in the booth, using the equipment and computers that the recording engineers use.
My musician was the same musician I played with during my last time in the recording studio, Vee Lee. They have been playing guitar for around 6 months now, and have made significant progress in their skills. During this session, they played along to Vodka Cranberry by Conan Gray.
▶ Vodka Cranberry
⏸ Vodka Cranberry
Artist Statement + Reflection
For this project, I brought in my good friend, Vee, to the recording studio. They were excited to perform, having practiced for months. This song was chosen because it was one of the first pieces they learned on guitar, and one of their favorite songs by their favorite artist.
Mr. Flo started off by asking if we wanted to record in separate rooms or in the same room, since we weren’t recording vocals. We opted to record in the same room for easier communication. Then, he taught me how to use the various tracks and interfaces involved in recording. I learned how to create a new take, start and stop recording, adjust playback volume, and adjust the volume of the recording. Then Vee started their first practice run through. While they played, I noticed that they were having trouble keeping time, so I increased the playback volume, then added a clicker track, which helped a lot.
Overall, this was an enriching experience. I got the opportunity to hear Vee play guitar and learned what it is like to be a recording engineer. Although I was nervous my first time in the recording studio, doing it with friends made it much more fun. The technology in the recording studio can be complicated to use, but this was an enjoyable first try.
I had a lot more fun doing this project than I first anticipated. It was a very cool experience to swap roles and be the one doing the recording, unlike last year. I never thought that I would be capable of using all the sliders and equipment in the recording studio, but it turned out to be really fun and I learned a lot.