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AJ Delmonico
Along every hero’s journey there are always pitfalls that hinder the pursuit of excellence.
Pitfalls are something that cannot be avoided, that is unless you have a really cool jetpack. Unforatunately however, in the world of professional Audio Engineering, there are no jetpacks (at least not that my mentor has showed me yet anyways). Therefore I must persist through all of the obstacles in my way to ultimately reach my goal for world domination. Without a jetpack. *sad face*
So here I sit with the worst common cold I have had since I was six years old and still playing Sega with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle whitey tighties on. My nose is rawer (I didn’t get a spell check so I guess that’s a real word) than a kilo of Columbian Bam-Bam and everything I eat tastes like it was stored in the same plastic container that’s in the fridge. Before I lose the sympathy of 1 of the 7 people who will probably read this I want to add the fact that Pennsylvania (and thus me, since I live in this happy place) has just endured its coldest February week of winter EVER. And for that I have a leaky faucet nose and a deep seeded hate for everything winter at this exact moment. I will be sure to include plans for speeding Global warming in my plot for conquering the planet. In the mean time, I am on chapter 3 of RRF’s curriculum which was centered around Digital Audio, specifically different types of Audio Files.
In my illustrious background as an aspiring music industry proletariat I have come across various forms of audio files, all of which I have logged and categorized thoroughly into the supercomputer that is my brain, so this chapter was basically review for me (special thanks to Napster, Limewire and Piratebay). The session which accompanied the lesson however provided a great chance for me to meet and connect with a former Recording Connection student who has similar interests in terms of music genres and producer/engineer goals.
Chad Cadet, who labels his hip-hop fused pop productions with the moniker theSpaceCadet was in studio with my mentor (and his mentor) Hollis, working on a project called “Dance with Me”. During the course of the session I got to participate and give input on the mixing process as Chad and Hollis manipulated different tracks of the song to give it that professional sound. Vocals were doubled and compressed. Pitches were shifted so that singers would be on key. Drums were panned left to right given more bass so that the track had low end and filled the entire stereo field. To date it was the most intricate mixing I have heard since entering Audible Images and the entire process was done from a teaching perspective so that both Chad and I could follow along. The most exciting portion of the session came when I learned that Audible Images plans to use Chad as an in-house engineer/producer as they add on a smaller vocal oriented hip-hop recording booth to the first floor of their studios. This will give me an opportunity to not only see the construction of a new room in the studio, but to connect with a professional engineer/producer who I can possibly collaborate with in the future. *maniacal laugh*
Until then, I will continue as planned and contemplate buying stock in Kleenex to finance the future construction of my own evil lair (read “Studio”).
check out the Space CADET on Soundcloud!
