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Desiree Holiday
Having entered into the Master’s program of RRC has allowed me to go deeper into the art of recording and producing. There is a big difference between recording a solo artists and recording an entire band. I brought in a band that a few of my college classmates formed several months ago to record “You Are Beautiful”. I was very confident in their musicianship because I have experienced it first hand from being in multiple ensembles in college with them (Marching band, concert band, Sinfonias, and so-on). I met a vocalist who was on the rise and who was willing to work with me on my demos as I was willing to work with her on her songs and recordings (I found this is often the trade in this industry, talent for talent: I do that for you if you can do this for me). There were so many things I did wrong in this session; I’m too embarrassed to explain. The musicians couldn’t tell, but I could and that was enough to feel like a failure. All in all, it was a good session and the musicians and vocalists enjoyed tracking the song. The biggest mistake I made was not being in the mood to record. It was a Sunday night, we didn’t get started until about 7pm, and I had to be at work the next morning (my weeks often include 12-14 hour days, even on the weekends). Needless to say, I was just too tired and ready to go even before I hit the record button. Not good. We did about 7 or 8 takes all the way through. I did not take the time to listen for any obvious mistakes, the biggest of which being that it was waayyyyy too slow. SMH. The drummer and bass guitarist (played on keys) were not in time, the drummer was far to laid back causing the entire band to lag, and my photographer who was supposed to be capturing this glorious moment in my life took terrible photos. Most of the editing process for this track was correcting the timing of EVERYTHING! It. Was. Exhausting. And excruciating. I started to say to myself, “These guys suck Holy %&$!*” (mind you, I paid all of these people). Speaking with my mentor about it, he explained how you have to realize who you are dealing with in order to know how to steer the session or progression of a project. You have first timers, amateurs, people who think they are professionals, and professionals. This is not spin a negative connotation on the term “Amateur”. All of us in that room were amateurs that day. It took me realizing that to realize why I didn’t get a good recording, or at least recorded as I heard the song in my head. First Timers and amateurs need constant guidance and close critique. Mr. Web offered to stay, but I said “Naw, bruh, you good, I got this!” I did have it, but not as much as I thought. After correcting and adjusting all that I could, I realized my vocal was not up to par for a demo, even after all of the pitch correction. So I had to, for the sake of my project, find another, more professionally trained, vocalist to sing for the demo, and just allow the first artist to have the song for her personal purposes. According to my Mentor’s critique, even she wasn’t the most professional in terms of vocalism. So what I learned was this: You get what you pay for. Either you spend the time and patience guiding everyone to the tier of performance you need, or you spend the money to get the performance you need. I just have to decide which of these I’m willing to spend moving forward.
Mics used:
MXL R-77 for Drum overheads
AKG c-451 for HighHAt and Snare
Telefunkin U-47 for Vocals
MXL A-55 for Kick
http://recording.rrfedu.com/images/desireeholiday/20171029_181923.jpg
