Introduction
In the previous year, all of the students in the Digital Media class were learning how to be recorded in the recording studio for the Experimental Music project, but this time, the students are now recording instead! So they have to pick a musician who has been experienced playing instruments so they can record them for this music project.
My musician was Fiona Lau. She’s a talented musician who’s played the piano, flute, and accordion. She also has a diverse background spanning in three countries; first born in Singapore, then raised in Vancouver, Canada, and now she currently lives in Mountain View. In her experience, she pursued a business degree and went on to hone her skills in the music industry, before returning to becoming a musical teacher again, where she’s now in a community orchestra and creates unique piano arrangements of popular hit songs.
Gallery
Final product
▶ Key-Pop
⏸ Key-Pop
During our recording session, I went in with Mr. Flo inside the recording studio. I was really nervous about how my skills will be executed because it was my first time doing a recording session, so Mr. Flo taught me how to record and make sure to remember the steps of recording a song. When I actually meet Fiona in person, I felt a lot once I was able to know the steps better that Mr. Flo taught me.
Artist Statement
For the music recording project, one of my choices was Fiona Lau, who has been experienced playing music through her career. The song she played on the piano was the hit song “GOLDEN” from the animated movie Kpop Demon Hunters. She enjoyed the song from the movie like many viewers, so she decided to create her own cover of the song for this project. She thought it has a catchy melody and its lyrics leave listeners with a sense of energy and optimism.
We’ve done at least three recordings of her playing the piano, and she played beautifully, hitting every single note that matched perfectly. Much of the editing took place in Pro Tools, where I have to choose which one is the best, and me and Fiona agreed that the first one was the best.
Using the tools inside the recording studio was kind of a hassle for me to understand, as it was only my first time doing a recording. But once everything was settled, I felt a lot better once we finished it. One thing I would get rid of is my anxiety early on.
Reflection
Once we got through our session, I’ve learned everything I need to know from Mr. Florendo inside the recording studio (headphones, speaker, etc). Sometimes it’s hard for me to remember on learning something I’ve already tried once just because I don’t do them again. Once we were able to do the session with Fiona, I’ve gotten more confident on knowing the equipment and we’ve succeeded in the end. In the future, I hope I’ll get to do this again and I’ll remember that the song she played is what got me into watching the movie.