Behind the Soundboard: A Journey Through My Recording Studio Internship
Introduction:
Through the latter half of my final year in university, I have extensively increased the number of hours spent at my work placement. After the Christmas break, I was very eager to get more time and experience in the professional studio setting and work with George on a variety of different projects to get a balanced perspective of all the work carried out in a studio.
From engineering and recording smaller traditional Irish music sessions, mixing days with irregular work schedules, recording voice-overs, and larger recording projects, my wider readings around the topic, I have gained a much deeper breadth of knowledge on the different processes that occur in a studio over the last 3 months.
There were some different readings from the recommended readings and other sources that I found very useful, in particular, Chapter 6 of Paul Rutter’s “The Music Industry Handbook” was also incredibly useful for learning about the recorded music industry sector. It was very informative for outlining the responsibilities of an independent artist and the pros & cons of signing with an independent label or a major label (Rutter, 2016)
The Boud Model of Reflection:
In this section of my blog, I will be extensively using the Boud model of reflection to learn from the toughest challenge that I faced during my work placement.
This method of reflection was developed by David Boud and contains three key stages: experience, reflection, and outcomes. I aim to use this mode of reflection to enhance my learning and develop a deeper understanding of my experiences.
To gain a firmer grasp on how I could utilise reflective learning for my placement and the writing of this blog I examined the recommended reading document and found a few particularly useful sources. “Reflective Practice enables you to develop your knowledge and skills towards becoming a professional practitioner and to continue to learn and develop through your career” (Jasper, 2013).
The Big Day:
Returning to the Experience:
On one of the most recent and most challenging sessions in the studio, George set me the task of miking the drums correctly and being in control at the mixing desk for the majority of the recording session. Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Miking the drumkit involved 4 important considerations that I had to be very conscious of. This included; the placement of 9 different microphones, which microphones would be selected, making sure I had the correct phase alignment, and gain-staging them correctly in ProTools on the mixing desk. While I found the concept of this task exciting and I had confidence in my ability to perform it effectively, I also experienced a significant amount of anxiety due to its magnitude.
Thankfully, the day before this session the particular pieces of the drumkit had been chosen for the demo tracks the band had run through. From assisting and overseeing George do this on multiple occasions I was aware that I wanted to use the Neumann KM184’s for the overheads, 2 SM57’s for snare top and bottom, an AKG D12VR on the kick, another KM184 on the HI Hats, an XY placement of 2 AKG C414’s for a room microphone, 2 Sennheiser clip on mics for the Toms and finally George tends to place a dynamic microphone through the doorway of the live room to get a much larger & atmospheric room sound to add colour to the recording. Although I required assistance in refining the overhead placement to prevent phase problems, George provided me with reassurance regarding the other microphone selections and placements.
After the drum kit was set up, George gave me a quick run over the console and the digital audio workstation, showing me some of the quick functions buttons before letting me take charge. Since I didn’t know the band previously, I was slightly awkward and nervous about using the talkback but after using it I grew more accustomed to it, remembering how George usually talked through it.
Thanks to the drummer’s skill, we smoothly completed numerous different takes of each of the tracks. However, we encountered a hurdle with one particular track that necessitated a revision to the drum arrangement. Since everyone in the band participated in the discussion, I opted to take a backseat during this section, feeling slightly out of my depth. My workflow for tracking ProTools was much slower than it would normally be in Logic but I found this experience to be very useful for my other modules.
Reflective Process:
After re-evaluating the events of this session, from the start of the recording, I could feel that I was a lot more anxious than normal. This anxiety most likely came from the idea of being in the hot seat & this made me put a lot of pressure on myself to perform in front of people that I didn’t know. There were also added nerves the excitement of finally doing something I had dreamed about for a long time. I believe George could tell I was nervous and was ready to help me with any issues I couldn’t figure out but he also knew that I was more than capable of the task & it wasn’t a high-pressure situation (Haslam, C 2005).
Though some minor changes needed to be made to some microphone placement, I felt that I carried the task out successfully and this success helped me carry more confidence for the rest of the day’s work. I noticed that previously, in the studio, rather than asking questions, I would often sit and nod my head at anything I didn’t understand but I’ve grown over the last few months to care less about the show and care more about
Since I had previously only observed George do this before, I faced some difficulty gain staging the preamps of the microphones on the drums on the mixing console. Being a kinaesthetic learner, the information hadn’t been absorbed that well but after trying in on a few of the microphones on the drums I grew accustomed fairly quickly to the practice. (Mobley, K, 2014)
New Perspectives/Outcomes:
I think through this day and my overall time spent in a professional studio setting I have been able to change my perspective on many different things:
Generally, I would refer to myself as a fairly socially anxious person and I think there is an anti-social stereotype that comes along with the idea of social anxiety. Over time (but particularly throughout this placement) I’ve come to learn that I enjoy meeting new people (especially musicians) and building relationships with them that both function as friendships and professional relationships. I’ve come to learn of a special bond that is formed between producer and artist in the realization and creation of their art (Muikku, 1990).
I have also gained a new perspective on my career goal of becoming a producer or engineer in a studio. Due to the size of Belfast, there is a fairly small number of studios that I could work in and the positions in these studios are both sparse and competitive. I would probably have to move away to a larger city to find work of this nature.
Though I am still very attracted to the idea of owning my own studio, the investment required to get it off the ground, building the client base, and attempting to break even would take an absurd amount of money and time (the former I do not possess). I do believe the boost in confidence I received from this recording session has given me a broader realization that I am more than capable of the job and my creativity and problem-solving nature would enhance my skills as a producer.
Georges, unconventional approach to microphone placement (placing a cardioid microphone in the stairway beside the live room) helped change my creative perspective that although something might be an abnormal technique, it might add the unique edge or atmospheric colour that a track needed. I have already been trying to maintain and apply this change of mindset to the engineering and production I have been working on for the EP, as part of the professional practice module.
Having almost reached my benchmark of 100 hours, I can say with a high degree of certainty that the work placement has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. From the outset, I had hoped to gain a deeper level of understanding of the workings of a professional. Not only have I achieved this but the experience has also managed to develop a broader knowledge of the technical equipment, an insight into the relationship between the producer/engineer and the client & the creation of more relationships with people in the grassroots part of the music industry in Belfast (in particular, George).
It has been incredibly validating to learn that my voice is worth listening to in this context After a few discussions with George, we have agreed that after the completion of my 3rd year, I will continue to spend time (when I can) in Half Bap with George to continue, what has been a fantastic learning experience.
Extra reading & Bibliography:
Rutter, P. (2016). The Music Industry Handbook. London ; New York: Routledge.
Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. 2nd ed. Andover: Cengage Learning.
Mobley, K. and Fisher, S. (2014). Ditching the Desks: Kinesthetic Learning in College Classrooms. The Social Studies, 105(6), pp.301–309.
Haslam, C., Atkinson, S., Brown, S.S. and Haslam, R.A. (2005). Anxiety and depression in the workplace: Effects on the individual and organisation (a focus group investigation). Journal of Affective Disorders, [online] 88(2), pp.209–215.
Muikku, J. (1990). On the role and tasks of a record producer. Popular Music and Society, 14(1), pp.25–33