The Senior Music Recording Project in Digital Media was an amazing opportunity to learn the basics of music production in a complex studio setting. We were tasked with reaching out to local musicians and recording a song using the music recording studio at Freestyle and the Pro Tools music production software. During this project, we learned how to operate the studio and work with musicians properly, ultimately mixing together a final song in Pro Tools as the product of our efforts.
Meet the Musician!
Karen Chien is a senior at Mountain View High School and a film student at Freestyle Academy. She is in a band, has been a dancer for 14 years, and has explored theater performance in more recent years. She likes oranges and the K-Pop group Cortis!
Karen was generous enough to be my musician for this project despite having her own pile of Digital Media work to do. Everyone say thank you Karen!
Take a look at the final song and album art below!
▶ Superscar
⏸ Superscar
Artist Statement
When we were first introduced to the Music Recording Project for our senior year, I immediately wanted to produce a cover of “Superscar” by Adéla, which is a song I have recently been listening to on repeat for weeks. I also knew who I wanted my musician to be: Karen (huzzah)! I had watched her performance as Persephone in Hadestown during junior year and knew that she was an amazing singer/performer, and I was able to get to know her more after she joined Freestyle this year. Thankfully, she agreed to be my musician and even liked the song I chose! When it came time for the recording session, everything went very smoothly. Mr. Flo taught me the basics of operating the studio: adjusting various volume controls, recording, adding new takes to a playlist, etc. I was able to gain a much better handle on Pro Tools and feel more comfortable in a music producer role, especially when working real-time with a musician. We recorded one section at a time, then added backup vocals and experimented with harmonies. At first, I was a bit clunky with starting up recording on the track (muting the booth and enabling recording), but I gradually became smoother and faster as I gained more practice.
Though I love how the final song turned out, if I could change anything, it would be to add even more vocal layers. Due to time constraints and difficulty figuring out several harmonies, we weren’t able to record all of the backup vocals from the original song—so if we were to hold another recording session, I would focus on adding those missing layers. What I’m most proud of in this project is the polishing of the final track. I sifted through each take to find the best clips and pieced them together very smoothly, adding panning and volume adjustments to the harmonies and separating specific sections with extra reverb. Because Karen’s vocals were so strong and clear, I also decided to put in the extra effort to tune them slightly with a free trial of Melodyne. This step allowed me to push any notes that were slightly off into perfect place, helping Karen’s vocals shine even brighter. I was also able to create some extra harmonies by artificially tuning duplicates of specific sections into a new melody.
I will use the skills I learned during this project for any music editing, mixing, or producing I may do in the future. I can comfortably work with musicians in a studio setting and operate complex music production software to produce a polished song, using various tools and plugins to achieve the desired sound. This entire process has given me a heightened appreciation for professional music artists and producers, knowing that they have such a level of mastery over these complex tools that they make it look effortless. Achieving a professional-sounding song is far more difficult than one might assume, and I am now acutely aware of just how skilled a producer has to be to make their music sound so clean.
Personal Reflection
I really loved this project as an opportunity to work with music again at Freestyle, and to work with with my friend Karen! Music as a form of self-expression is very important to me, and I really enjoy projects that allow me to share music I love with others. From recording the vocals to mixing the track to drawing the album cover, the Music Recording Project was excellent practice for working within the realm of music. Working in the Freestyle music studio is always fun, and I hope to do more projects like this one in the future.