Thomas W. Bethel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2001
Yesterday was the first day of a five day remote recording session. This is a log of that session.
7 am Wake up get some breakfast
8 am Start checking over equipment for the start of the recording session. Check the software and the computer, check the microphones and the headphones, start getting together all the equipment needed for the recording.
12:00 noon Break for lunch
12:45 pm back to work on checking everything. ( I am known for hardly ever having an equipment problem and would like to keep that reputation.
3:30 pm start packing the van.
5:00 pm arrive at the client's residence where we will be recording.
The producer and the talent help unpack the van and we get all the equipment moved into the house. I start setting up. The recording will be of a solo voice and piano accompaniment. I am using the Mackie Onyx console with the firewire attachment into my Sony Vaio computer plus I am recording direct to a Tascam disk recorder. The microphones are two Blue Line AKGs on the piano and a hand held C-1000 for the talent (her idea not mine). Everything gets set up in short order and we do a test of the piano. It works great. The producer is pleased and so is the talent. The singer, who is the producer's wife has not arrived.
We break for tea and cookies and wait for the singer to arrive. (Looks like NO DINNER tonight)
7:00 pm the singer arrives and we all listen to the piano recording. Everyone is ready to start. We all get into position and then the singer decides that she does not like the mix in the headphones so we try a couple of different things but no luck. Then the producer, who is a amateur audio engineer, decides to go get a headphone amplifier from the church where he works. He is gone for about 30 minutes and comes back with a patchcord and a 300 watt amplifier with a fan that sounds louder than the piano. We plug it in but now have a hum in the headphones. OK so we try a bunch of other things and no luck. Finally after lifting some grounds and going from unbalance to balance everything works but the singer is now complaining that the headphones are distorting. So we do some other things and still no luck. The producer is pushing to get the recording done but we are out of options. I tell him that I can bring additional equipment tomorrow but not today. We end the session at 10:30 pm. The producer says that today we will need to have reverb in the singers feed so she can have something to make her voice sound larger but does not want the reverb printed to tape. No problem. I will bring another mixer tomorrow and do the headphone feeds with it with a reverb unit attached. I drive home and hit the bed. Before I leave the producer tells me that he cannot pay for this whole session in one lump sum and will have to pay me if monthly installments. I agree to three months but this is NOT what we agreed to originally. Why is it always AFTER the start of a session that they tell you things like this. Today (Monday) will be interesting as we are suppose to get a major winter storm with sleet, freezing rain, snow and wind. The remote recording site is about 20 miles from my house over mostly rural roads and some interstates. Should be FUN coming home tonight!
More to come.
7 am Wake up get some breakfast
8 am Start checking over equipment for the start of the recording session. Check the software and the computer, check the microphones and the headphones, start getting together all the equipment needed for the recording.
12:00 noon Break for lunch
12:45 pm back to work on checking everything. ( I am known for hardly ever having an equipment problem and would like to keep that reputation.
3:30 pm start packing the van.
5:00 pm arrive at the client's residence where we will be recording.
The producer and the talent help unpack the van and we get all the equipment moved into the house. I start setting up. The recording will be of a solo voice and piano accompaniment. I am using the Mackie Onyx console with the firewire attachment into my Sony Vaio computer plus I am recording direct to a Tascam disk recorder. The microphones are two Blue Line AKGs on the piano and a hand held C-1000 for the talent (her idea not mine). Everything gets set up in short order and we do a test of the piano. It works great. The producer is pleased and so is the talent. The singer, who is the producer's wife has not arrived.
We break for tea and cookies and wait for the singer to arrive. (Looks like NO DINNER tonight)
7:00 pm the singer arrives and we all listen to the piano recording. Everyone is ready to start. We all get into position and then the singer decides that she does not like the mix in the headphones so we try a couple of different things but no luck. Then the producer, who is a amateur audio engineer, decides to go get a headphone amplifier from the church where he works. He is gone for about 30 minutes and comes back with a patchcord and a 300 watt amplifier with a fan that sounds louder than the piano. We plug it in but now have a hum in the headphones. OK so we try a bunch of other things and no luck. Finally after lifting some grounds and going from unbalance to balance everything works but the singer is now complaining that the headphones are distorting. So we do some other things and still no luck. The producer is pushing to get the recording done but we are out of options. I tell him that I can bring additional equipment tomorrow but not today. We end the session at 10:30 pm. The producer says that today we will need to have reverb in the singers feed so she can have something to make her voice sound larger but does not want the reverb printed to tape. No problem. I will bring another mixer tomorrow and do the headphone feeds with it with a reverb unit attached. I drive home and hit the bed. Before I leave the producer tells me that he cannot pay for this whole session in one lump sum and will have to pay me if monthly installments. I agree to three months but this is NOT what we agreed to originally. Why is it always AFTER the start of a session that they tell you things like this. Today (Monday) will be interesting as we are suppose to get a major winter storm with sleet, freezing rain, snow and wind. The remote recording site is about 20 miles from my house over mostly rural roads and some interstates. Should be FUN coming home tonight!
More to come.