In the Studio

Through my relationship with my ELI mentor and friend, Cooper,  I was allowed to obtain the incredible opportunity to record an original composition in a professional studio. Bart Budwig’s studio where he produces and mixes songs for musicians around the northwest is labeled under Woolly Records, and through collaborating with him and Cooper, I gained enormous insight into how songs are recorded and the best methods of recording them in a professional studio.

The process of recording in a studio consists of layering multiple tracks of different instruments, effects, and sometimes voices over and over again until the desired sound is acquired. The one song I recorded in the studio consisted of five tracks including organ, drums, piano and two voice tracks. I recorded the voice tracks, and piano, while Cooper recorded the organ and drums.

The greatest information I gained from recording in a studio was having a vision of the song or album fleshed out before entering to record. Bart asked me questions about the song that I hadn’t even thought of, and when he asked for a specific image of the song so he could edit it to correlate with the image, I had no idea how to respond. He showed me a standard edit of the song without my imagery implemented and I hated the mix. After recording for four hours, I finally put the auditory work into visual work, and sketched out an image that I wanted the song to parallel. I received the second mix later and realized the obvious difference between the two.

While in the studio, my biggest issue was ridding myself of being self-conscious. I was working with two musicians who have more experience, training, and musical abilities than I do myself. Singing my song without any music in the background proved to be very difficult, as did matching my piano rhythm with the  continuous clicking of the metronome. The only other recording experience I had ever had before this was looping myself with multiple instruments in the basement of my house through a cheap recording interface. Everything was overwhelming, so I relied heavily on Cooper for advice and guidance through recording all of the instruments I desired and helping create that image I needed.

~Henry