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Oscar Galvan
On this lesson, John continued touching up the mix for my track. It's coming along nicely. There were a few hoops to jump through and some kinks to iron out that we hadn't noticed before. But we're tackling it one step at a time.
The event of note here for me though was John's walkthrough of the signal flow for the studio. I was not familiar with, nor had I any experience with, patch bays. He explained to me the conventions that exist in most studios as well as the intricacies of the internal wiring of the studio itself. From beginning to end, he explained several scenarios, such as a vocalist in the isolation booth, where the signal travels, how it reaches several pieces of gear in between and how to patch them through the patch bay using the outputs and inputs. He gave me a quick real-world task since it was for an actual client and he just supervised to make sure I got it right. He wanted me to set up the Sony C800g microphone for the client from start to finish, as in from setting up the mic itself to the connection routing to Pro Tools using the patch bays so that the signal goes through the pre-amp and compressor.
It all sounds very complicated when only explained, but everything John told me was clicking while I was actually doing it. I've wired home theater systems before so it wasn't completely alien, but of course, since I didn't set up the studio myself, I do not have intimate knowledge of the studio, despite my extensive background in computers and wiring. It was an interesting thing to experience as I slowly solved the puzzle. There's obviously much more to it as I only covered one scenario, but I'll learn how to do those as the situation arises. It isn't that difficult actually. I just envision the signal path in my head and then translate it into the messier, real-life cables and patches to make it happen.
There was one rap artist that came in today as well.
We would finish up my track next week and I already have another one in the works that is nearing completion.
