Layin' Down The Tracks
One of the things I never had any desire to do in my music career was to go into a recording studio. I'm the harshest critic when it comes to my voice so it can be difficult to sit and listen to myself objectively and not hear all the qualities of my voice that I don't like. But alas everyone else seems to enjoy listening to me sing so I digress.
As the church was starting to plan for the new services and the new worship teams they came up with the idea to create learning CDs for the songs we'll be singing. That way people can listen to these CDs ad nauseam in order to learn their specific vocal part, be it soprano, alto, or tenor. Sounds like a great idea in practice... if you have enough lead time to get the CDs put together before each team has to sing the songs. Unfortunately time tends to fly by quickly when major changes arrive so the CDs are still a work in progress much to the frustration of the vocalists. I must say though that they have been very good sports in trying their best to learn and remember parts without the CDs.
So last night I had my second recording session to help lay down a guitar and vocal track for some of the songs, some of which only I really know out of the leaders. One of the leaders in the church, Shawn, has an actual recording studio so it's been a pretty interesting experience as I sit downstairs in the booth and he sits upstairs at the board. He's got a camera system set up so we can see each other so we're not just disembodied voices as we talk to each other.
Probably the most humbling experience of it all is watching him put my voice through the computer and start correcting the mistakes I make. With the software he has he can map my voice straight to notes and waves and make any changes he wants. He can change a note, make the note shorter or longer, remove any vibrato, fix any scooping or wavering... the list goes on. It's definitely humbling but once you put your ego aside it's quite amazing to see the program in action and kind of fun to be able to fix the mistakes this easily. I didn't quite make the C# in that phrase? No problem! Double click the wave representation of the note to select it and drag it up till it snaps to where a C# is. During playback you'd never know, but sometimes the fixes are audible if not done right.
I'll be going back tonight as there are a few more songs Shawn needs some help with. Hopefully I won't have to stay too late again as I'd like a chance to see Lesley, but she'll be done her field school tomorrow so we'll have the weekend at least. And then next weekend is the May long weekend so Lesley and I will be going to visit Dana and Andy. I'm definitely curious so see what they will think of Lesley, but I know they will love her the minute she steps through the door. I'm looking forward for a chance to get out of Sudbury for a weekend and relax with my closest friends. I pray that Lesley will be able to relax over the weekend as well despite being around so many people she doesn't know yet.
Matthew.
As the church was starting to plan for the new services and the new worship teams they came up with the idea to create learning CDs for the songs we'll be singing. That way people can listen to these CDs ad nauseam in order to learn their specific vocal part, be it soprano, alto, or tenor. Sounds like a great idea in practice... if you have enough lead time to get the CDs put together before each team has to sing the songs. Unfortunately time tends to fly by quickly when major changes arrive so the CDs are still a work in progress much to the frustration of the vocalists. I must say though that they have been very good sports in trying their best to learn and remember parts without the CDs.
So last night I had my second recording session to help lay down a guitar and vocal track for some of the songs, some of which only I really know out of the leaders. One of the leaders in the church, Shawn, has an actual recording studio so it's been a pretty interesting experience as I sit downstairs in the booth and he sits upstairs at the board. He's got a camera system set up so we can see each other so we're not just disembodied voices as we talk to each other.
Probably the most humbling experience of it all is watching him put my voice through the computer and start correcting the mistakes I make. With the software he has he can map my voice straight to notes and waves and make any changes he wants. He can change a note, make the note shorter or longer, remove any vibrato, fix any scooping or wavering... the list goes on. It's definitely humbling but once you put your ego aside it's quite amazing to see the program in action and kind of fun to be able to fix the mistakes this easily. I didn't quite make the C# in that phrase? No problem! Double click the wave representation of the note to select it and drag it up till it snaps to where a C# is. During playback you'd never know, but sometimes the fixes are audible if not done right.
I'll be going back tonight as there are a few more songs Shawn needs some help with. Hopefully I won't have to stay too late again as I'd like a chance to see Lesley, but she'll be done her field school tomorrow so we'll have the weekend at least. And then next weekend is the May long weekend so Lesley and I will be going to visit Dana and Andy. I'm definitely curious so see what they will think of Lesley, but I know they will love her the minute she steps through the door. I'm looking forward for a chance to get out of Sudbury for a weekend and relax with my closest friends. I pray that Lesley will be able to relax over the weekend as well despite being around so many people she doesn't know yet.
Matthew.
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