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AJ Delmonico
Technology. The ever increasing demand for human ingenuity has progressed mankind forward leaps and bounds in terms of the possibilities for the recording industry. These days just about anything can be controlled from the palm of your hand via a nifty iPhone app. At some point in the very near future, Apple will probably develop the device which will allow a misunderstood individual to exact his revenge on an unsuspecting population and construct means for global domination. Hopefully that future is not too close however as I still have my own plans for pop culture infiltration, none of which would be possible without technology, specifically Electronics (which just so happens to be our Chapter 2’s focus).
In the old days, the extent of recording technology available to studios consisted of a small species of dinosaur that would effectively repeat back whatever noises it was within hearing range of. Thankfully, with the help of electronics, we no longer have to deal with those pesky beasts crapping all over the nice hardwood of the control room. Now we have cool things like microphones that can be placed near the source of a noise to capture and playback the sound as it was originally produced. Of course anything that uses electricity involves complicated machinery and processes for which that machinery can run properly, all of which is covered in this chapter of the curriculum. Here we find everything from velocity to resistance and the measurements for each as we begin to study the way electronic signals effect the way we record and manipulate sounds in the studio.
So how does this history lesson effect the real world application? Well, when an ambient pianist meets a practiced singer/songwriter on a local church worship team, the two can combine influences and talents to create a Gospel record that has healing intentions. Electronics will help us control the levels of audio and the arrangement of differing instruments to the point that we can construct an audible piece of music (or soundbed) that offers the perfect respite for the soul in much the same way a nice Serta mattress does for the weary human body. By the way, this actually happened, I know because I witnessed it.
Another leg of the journey finds our hero once again in the control room at Audible Images Recording Studios, this time accompanying the session of vocalist Mary Phillips as she records a soul lifting album of healing messages with ambient pianist Ken Townsend. The duo are duetting on the piano as Sound Engineer and Mentor extraordinaire Hollis Greathouse records both the piano music and the vocals for two new songs. From there it is on to mix and master as Hollis adds String Orchestration that Ken has brought in via jumpdrive to 12 of the duo’s already existing tracks and the entire arrangements are mixed until they sound as beautiful as audibly possible. The album creation process is careful and concise and is an exemplary hands-on situation to apply to the course material. Again I got to witness the working relationship between Engineer and artist as well as some of the creative intricacies of how artists work inside a professional studio.
It wont be long before our hero is engineering his own albums with grace and virtue that is only afforded to those who are truly meant to be great.
