Saturday, November 29, 2014

Studio Tour

Well this post goes back a long way. It's been sitting in my draft file for four years - from when my son, Alex was about to graduate from Metalworks - the production company which has kept him employed ever since.

One evening in December of 2010, Alex helped a friend who needed to complete a project for his sound mixing course at Metalworks.


metalworks window
He needed to record a song and do the post production work on the piece.




soundtest
Alex doing a sound test.




danielle
Alex was to play guitar for young songwriter and vocalist Danielle. She's a very talented young performer. The song was her own composition, Say Goodbye.




digital processing units2
Some of the equipment in the mixing room. Alex tells me these are called digital processing units.




mixing board diff view
An overall view of the mixing board..




mixing board3
.. which can also be seen here.




Alex testing
Alex hadn't laid eyes on the music before that night, and they were just going through it for the first time.


Here's a video of their very first rough go-round. Alex's guitar was the only sound actually being picked up and recorded. Danielle's voice and the metronome you can hear were just to keep him on track, and the vocals were to be added once all of the tracks had been successfully recorded. Ultimately, Alex played rhythm and bass.



I'm told it got much better with a bit of practice and eventually the other tracks were recorded. He never did get a copy of the finished piece.

I've searched online for it every now and then to see if I can complete this post with the more polished recording but never found it. I did recently find a video of Danielle singing her composition in front of an audience. She accompanied her own self on guitar. She's a talented girl.

That's it for your mini-tour of a Metalworks mixing room.

47 comments:

Cloudia said...

Thanks for inviting us to sit in!




ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^=

ADRIAN said...

My this makes my struggles with Audacity pale to insignificance.

Anvilcloud said...

You do let your posts ripen. :)

Out on the prairie said...

Lots of knobs and buttons, fun to play with all this I bet. I have a computer program that one can put 24 tracks together called Sonar.

DJan said...

I've never been inside a studio like this before, so it was educational. Happy Thanksgiving! :-)

Gayle said...

OMGosh, this is just PURE fun! Loved every bit of it.

If I were a teenybopper babe, I can tell you right now that I'd be a groupie and follow that gawjus son of yours! What a CUTIE!!!!!

TexWisGirl said...

how very cool! a look into a world so many dream of but few succeed in. such talent - both instrumentally and vocally!

Linette said...

Awesomeness; I really hope she didn't throw away all that beautiful talent and your son as well.

In my honest opinion cold cut music is the best anyways too much gets doctored and cut out along with photoshopping showing the artists for what and who they really are is the very best because I can hear the music come from their hearts. ♥

Brian Miller said...

nice...love live music...been forever since i was in a studio like that though...since my band cut their album in college...ha....fun times...thanks for reviving those memories....

messymimi said...

Those studios always amaze me -- how they learn all the buttons and knobs and switches!

It's great to hear such talented young people doing their thing.

Red said...

The equipment available today for recording is mind boggling. They can do many detailed changes. This is a different subject for you.

William Kendall said...

I haven't seen the inside of a studio before, so I did find this informing. Excellent shots!

Tabor said...

Ah, so your son does the same stuff my son does!!!

Scott Law said...

Cool tour. Thanks.

ellen abbott said...

great post. I'm glad you finally published it.

Rita said...

A recording studio! This really brought me back. I lived with a part-time country singer for 7 years (that was a quarter of a century ago!). The last three years we were together--we were building a home recording studio in an outbuilding (lived in the country). I spent those seven years listening to jam sessions, copying down words to songs for his band, learning about tracks, writing songs with him, traveling on weekends to various smoke-filled bars, and I even got up to sing a couple Patsy Cline songs a couple times. OMG! Another lifetime!

That girl can sing! And your son Alex is a talented and handsome young man. Thanks for the memories. ;)

Liz Mays said...

For an early run-through, that came out pretty darn good! It's really neat to see that in the beginning stages. It would be awesome to hear the finished piece!

Bob Bushell said...

Lovely piece of music, and it ain't finished it!

holdingmoments said...

Really enjoyed this Hilary.

stephen Hayes said...

I've never been this close to music being created. Thanks for the experience.

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

enjoyed

string work was nice

Rob-bear said...

Amazing talent. Both of them.

Blessings and Bear hugs!

Jackie said...

Interesting to see all this equipment used to mix music/songs.
I guess it's the "Photoshop" of music..eh? :)
I have no idea what goes into getting a musical piece into production, but it looks complicated. My hat is off to all involved.
Your son is a talented young man.
Hugs to you and yours.
J.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing with us about your son and all that goes into the production.

sage said...

I like her music and am glad you son is doing what he enjoys.

Anonymous said...

Very cool! You have a very talented boy!!

Anonymous said...

What a cool tour!

Magia da Inês said...

·.✿✿ミ
Muito interessante todos esses equipamentos!

Boa semana!
Beijinhos do Brasil。♫° ·.
✿⊱

yaya said...

I thought this would be about a metal work company...you know, real metal! Ha! I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear really good talent! A neat look into a recording studio! Thanks!

Mage said...

It was just what we needed. Thanks.

EG CameraGirl said...

Oh my goodness. Mixing rooms looks way too complicated for me!!

Daryl said...

what a neat post … music and mixing and all that jazz need math .. math is my enemy so i never did take those piano lessons i thought i wanted to take as a kid

L. D. said...

It really was a very interesting tour. Thanks for sharing it.

Gail Dixon said...

Fascinating! All those knobs and buttons would put me in a panic. Danielle's voice is quite beautiful. Alex plays the guitar with such poise and confidence. That long hair --- that's what type of boy I went for back in the day. Haha!

Wendy said...

What an impressive recording studio! Lots of knobs and thingys.

Nice voice and guitar playing. They make good music together.
Hugs

Indrani said...

Great music, she is talented. I wish her success! :)
Alex looks great in those long hair.

Shammickite said...

Great stuff! My son would know what all those knobs and buttons are for, he is a techie at a sports TV station.

Maggie May said...

A talented family with your son"s music and your excellent photography.
Maggie x

Friko said...

Metalworks,

I thought you were going to show us a foundry.
Instead we see the hitech world f music production.

Interesting.

Optimistic Existentialist said...

Thank you for the awesome tour - I am definitely a lover of music.

Jenn Jilks said...

Isn't that a fun memory! I'm sure you're grateful for this one!

My son in Ottawa plays guitar just for fun. He goes or used to go (?) to open mics. I don't see him often, though. I don't have any recording of him at all.

He's now a civil servant, works for StatCan!
cheers

Linda said...

Four years in draft...you do manage to keep things under wraps. Much talent here. Thanks for sharing this complex musical world.

Sharon Wagner said...

How fun. It sounds great already. And what an oldie but goodie. 4 years is a long time!

Unknown said...

How nice. Everyone sounds amazing.

Barb said...

This was so interesting, Hilary! Your son looks very much like you. Is he still playing professionally?

Unknown said...

Hilary: You gave me a laugh when you wrote: "Alex tells me these are called digital processing units." You're a rocker Mom. I can see you sitting at the mixing control board! Danielle is a talented girl, and I went on to hear her performance of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. So nice!

Anita said...

They seem to be enjoying their youth, which is great! Best wishes to them because they are indeed talented.