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Oscar Galvan
I am writing this way after the actual week of relevant events.
On that 2nd week with John, I learned quite a bit and was witness to 2 more clients/artists.
I don't remember either of their names, but one was a tall, easygoing, amicable guy who was recording vocals for a few of his tracks. His music was different from what I had heard before in the studio (which was all rap and hip hop) so this was a welcome change of pace.
The artist was a cool guy. Greeted me, shook my hand, and for some reason asked me for my input on his vocals numerous times. I told him I was just a student, but he wanted my opinion nonetheless. He actually sang pretty well. He has talent, in my opinion. And his music was more on the jazzy, easy listening side. Great, great to hear as opposed to what I heard the week before. He wasn't happy with his vocals a few times and so he re-did them until he heard from John (and me) that they were good. He was very energetic and lively. I liked this guy. I could tell he was being himself too and not holding up an unnecessary facade some artists seem to be doing.
The 2nd artist that day was doing rap/hip-hop, so it was fun while it lasted, but we now went back to what I heard the week before. In case I didn't make it clear in the 1st blog post, I am no fan of rap or hip-hop. No offense to those who like it, it just isn't for me. The musical content in this 2nd artist's tracks was actually pretty well done. I liked some of the pads and bedding he'd used. The lyrical content was silly, but it had a good beat. One thing I noticed though, is that this artist was really good a keeping his tempo. He was never late or early with his lyric insertion. Always got it spot on, so we flew through the session recording his vocals.
These 2 artists were on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of their personalities and their style of music. Completely different walks of life. Lots of diversity out there.
While recording, John gave me a walkthrough of the signalflow of the studio and what kind of equipment was used. I noted the clarity of the vocals coming through the speakers. He told me the mike was a Sony C800g. I looked it up when I got home and found out it was a $10k mike. No wonder it sounds wonderful. He explained the flow of the preamps, the compressors he used for levelling the vocals, and a bit of the workflow on ProTools.
Just as the previous week, this was a productive lesson. I learn simply by observation alone, but John always makes an effort to walk me through what he's doing so I can keep up. I'm glad to have John as my teacher in all this. He really knows his stuff, and I've come to realize that even though I know a lot about music now, there is clearly a vast ocean of information for me to explore instead of the mere lake I thought it once was. Looking forward to more later.
