Bittersweet Transition

darunia

United States139 Posts

August 24 2011 22:47 GMT

I have been trying to become a successful audio engineer for a couple years now. During that time I have met a lot of really cool people and done some very interesting jobs (good AND bad.) Recently I have realized that in my current situation, my plan isn't working. I am forced to change gears and it is hard to not think of it as abandoning a dream. I know that I must do something drastic. I say drastic because drastic changes only come from drastic actions.

Liquid`Tyler's vlog was interesting and encouraging and the depression topic hits home for me. My change will not spawn from televised marathon madness, but one event does represent my change.

This is the event:

I have a friend that is an amazing photographer and runs a business doing wedding photography. During my audio engineering journey I have looked up to him and received a lot of great advice. Freelance audio production and photography are very different in many respects but the lessons he has learned applied to me usually. This guy is a devout Christian, avid surfer/skater, and a singer/songwriter.

He asked to meet with me in the spring of this year to talk about something big in his life. We met at a coffee shop and he asked me to record an album for him. He wanted to use this album to raise money so that he could move to Australia to do photography for a ministry our there specializing in wake boarding.

We have been tracking for a couple months now and it is the most fun I have ever had on a project. One challenge being a homeless engineer (fortunately I have a place to sleep ^^) is that I am always stressed to find places to record that won't sound like complete crap. For this project I found the perfect place.

I don't know if any of you watch the DVD that came with the special edition SC:II game, but it had some great footage of the band that played many of the Terran tunes. They tracked at a chapel that was converted into a studio, I believe in New York somewhere?? When I first saw that I thought it would be very VERY cool to record in a chapel!

After some research and asking around town I heard of a chapel near a college that is open to the public at all hours. Ever since learning about this place I have done all my recordings there involving vocals or single instruments.

We recorded with very low lighting so the artists would be comfortable and I used my phone to take the pics, that's why the suck :o

[image loading]

There are two double doors that you go through to get inside. As a rule, any important take is ruined by some motorcycle driving by lol.... but seriously motorcycles are loud.

[image loading]

Tin whistle = baller!

[image loading]

Even with a single mic, the banjo really livens up due to the room ambiance.

[image loading]

Room mics

They lock the door to the bathroom at night so I have to pee in a bush outside. I can't help but to think "Why are churches so creepy at night?!"

One of the funniest things is to see a person walk in the chapel while we are recording and freak out, then try to quietly leave. I'll keep you guys updated with pics and rough mixes as they happen.

This is my last project for quite some time probably. I am tempted to get depressed about it but I must look at the things that lie ahead. I could teach English abroad, get into web application development (thanks to smart friends for teaching me!), and I have brainstormed ways to involving my skills in the SC community.

Things are not looking up or down for me at the moment, just different.

MisterD

Germany1338 Posts

August 25 2011 00:21 GMT

Ohh memories

constructing some tech stuff in churches is a funny thing, i did that too a while back for a sort of hobby musical

i took the role of light operator, my favorite job (keep that audio mixers and stuff away from me!). those were good times. (We did however do all this in the course of a maximum of two days, and coordinated with the local staff, so we didn't scare of any people except for one or two over the course of three or four different locations i think).

The folks playing there were all awesome people, and hauling tech equipment around and playing with it always makes me happy x)

so you really just go and "claim" the chapel? sounds .. weird Oo i probably wouldn't do that because i wouldn't want to destroy some persons routines. Especially old people easily suffer quite badly from that i guess. But then again, a chapel is not a church.

darunia

United States139 Posts

August 25 2011 00:49 GMT

That looks cool!
We go in there knowing there may be other events. If that happen we go grab a beer or coffee then come back and continue lol

Please or register to reply.

Bittersweet Transition

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming