Perussion tracking - Posted on 2015-12-14 by Steven Esposito

So I haven't posted a blog in a while, but this past week I had a really exciting opportunity that I definitely wanted to post about. On Friday 12/11/15 there was a tracking session going on that I, not only got to observe, but be involved in. A local artist who I had met and seen around the studio often is working on recording an album and my mentor is producing it. So on Friday they did some percussion tracking and myself and a few other Recording Connection students got to observe. The artist, TJ brought a buddy with him to do the bulk of the tracking, but after a few hours he had to leave, and we still had 2 tracks to go. So I offered to jump in and play because I also play percussion. TJ, Dave the engineer working the session, and my mentor were all down, so I got to track some shaker, tambourine, and triangle parts. We also had an idea to add group claps for two tracks. So all of us RC students got to record some claps. It was a fun time, and it came out sounding really good in the mix. And while it might, in the grand scheme of things, seem like something small, it just goes to show how far building rapport and relationships can go. If I hadn't built any level of rapport or relationship with TJ, Dave the engineer or even my mentor, they probably wouldn't have let me do anything. After all, we students are supposed to, in a way be wallflowers- especially when it comes to observing sessions. But they trusted that I would do a good job, and so they gave me an opportunity to do just that. 

This past week also marked the halfway point for me in this program. I did well on my midterm, and I'm really enjoying using the knowledge I've learned in pro-tools. This second half I'm really going to push myself to become well aquainted with pro-tools so that I can set myself up to be able to have a job once I graduate. I feel like I've started this program behind the game a little bit, having never really worked with a DAW and having done little related to audio engineering in the past. Fortuntely i'm catching on fast.