Featured Student:
Melina William B.Mus(Hons)
in Music Production & Technology
Until
the time I graduated, the last few years of my life had
been equally divided between my studies and my band. I think
having played in rock bands since the age of 15 showed in
my college work; from my earliest endeavor with MIDI sequencing
(Ava Adore by the Smashing Pumpkins) right up to my Graduation
Portfolio thesis topic (local underground bands). When it
came to my band’s first proper recording effort, I
was able to anticipate the procedure with some level of
confidence, as I had the opportunity to experience hands-on
studio work from the viewpoint of sessionist, engineer and
producer several times in the course of my studies.
Prior to entering the studio we made a
demo and finalized the track listing. We were pretty confident
laying down the basic tracks because we had been performing
them for at least a year already. The recording was done
on Pro Tools at Sonique Studio with Nick Lee as co-producer
with us. We were quite happy with the results because it
was easy to get across to Nick about how we wanted to sound.
We recorded 5 songs and two filler tracks. I was able to
be very specific about what I wanted, having done this myself
before and it was great having a producer who is also a
great musician with whom I could bounce off ideas with.
My band’s most recent recording,
a cover of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen for a Christmas compilation
album was approached a bit differently due to time constraints.
This was done at Synchrosound Studios with Greg Henderson.
I did not have the luxury of really experimenting as much
in the studio as before, so to give the band and the producer
an idea of what I wanted, I recorded a demo on my PC with
SONAR. Two of the tracks (strings and piano) from the SONAR
session were used in the actual recording itself. Again
we were quite happy with the final result as Greg is really
easy to work with.
Besides playing in a band, I do music programming.
I learnt a great deal from working with arranging major
students on projects which opened me to a lot of avenues
for creativity. Having majored in Music Production and Technology,
do I see myself as an engineer? No. As always, I see myself
as a musician equipped with the knowledge I gained, to do
what I love most: making music.
Click
here to know the latest about Melina and her
band.
www.temperedmental.com
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