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Desiree Holiday
Square 1a
Essentially, I have been tracking live instruments with my mentor since before entering the master’s portion of this program. Each time lends itself a new lesson and understanding of how to record, the etiquette of recording with artists, and the strain of dealing with equipment in a creative atmosphere. I would swear that I have witnessed all there is to witness when recording live instruments, but no matter how much recording I do, there is always something new to be learned or some idea to be experimented with. I have recently joined in the tug-of-war between sampled sounds (like drum kits) and live sounds. Sampled sounds today are very lifelike! With proper EQ, Compression, and imaging, I can make a MIDI sample sound like the real deal. This has only been on my mind because paying for musicians or bands is very expensive, when you yourself are not one (fully anyway, I know how to play piano, but I am by no means a “Piano Player”). While I do have many musical friends who are willing to record songs with me, they usually want to record their own stuff, to have it mixed by their engineer, and to be released on their own terms. Which is totally fine and understandable! However, it leaves me in a bind for I have a great desire to record the songs I have written and composed for me to mix and send off to publishers and other interested parties in order to gain credits, and get placement for one of my songs (by a major or up-coming artist, TV show, film, or commercial). So I am left with the option to either save up some good money to pay these folks to record my songs for me (which is usual practice in the industry), or learn to play these instruments myself. What I have done is spent considerable money on the best of the best production instruments, namely the Roland FA-06. And I am in love! My hope is with this equipment I would only use live musicians when necessary while creating very lifelike demos, for the companies looking for my music will want to hear a completed project. It can’t sound like the demo or rough draft it really is. So all that to say, I feel like I’m back at square 1. Though truly, I’m really at square 1a- I’m starting anew on a whole nutha’ level, as they say. Between my beats, my compositions and songwriting, and my overall production skills, I hope to have placement with either a beat or song within the next couple of years.
