Recording the Electric Guitar

Today, the students of the Recording Arts class learned about the signal flow through an electric guitar amplifier, and how to mic it for recording.  In addition to the close mic (pictured), they also used a DI box (pictured) to record the dry signal directly from the guitar.  This is useful for amp emulation during post-production, and also for re-amping.  Furthermore, we setup two ambient room mics at different distances to capture natural reverb that may be used in the mix.

Pro Tools and the Recording Studio

Students of the Recording Arts program are hands-on while practicing studio mic techniques, multichannel recording, and diving deep into the world of Pro Tools.  With plenty of experience mixing full-on multitrack sessions, and a comprehensive understanding of sound fundamentals, editing, and music theory, they are about to begin producing full band recordings from scratch.


The first full-scale music production will be their class song, written and performed entirely by them.  Last year we had a heavy metal/country/Christmas tune, so let's see what we come up with this time!

Welcome to the world of music mixing!

The students of the Recording Arts class have been hard at work learning about sound behavior, music theory, editing, routing, and much more.  Through numerous varied projects, they've been practicing all of these new techniques, but are now extremely excited to enter the world of music mixing!  Using Adobe Audition 3, the classes have begun mixing musical recording sessions to explore depth and balance in a mix.

Skeletons in the Piano - Recording Session

 

Recording Arts students Amanda C. and Mike R. create a live mix of the band as they play in the other room.

Sean M. and Mike R. successfully troubleshoot at the monitor mixing console.  This is one of the more challenging roles in professional audio production, and they solved the problem without the band even knowing there was one!

With the session well under way, the students take turns running each of the consoles for recording, live mixing, and monitoring.

Skeletons in the Piano lead singer Eli can be seen in the live room recording parts as Amanda, Nigel, and Neil track the performance in the studio.

Matt R. adjusting the monitor mix for the new violin part added to the production.

 

Neil S. shows us what perfect levels look like as he multi-tracks the Skeletons in the Piano session.

Recording the Ampersands

Recording Arts student Matt R. makes a live mix of the group as they perform in our studio.

Gail C. of The Ampersands brings a very unique instrument to the recording session - a hammered dulcimer!  The students setup a mid-side mic pair to record this beautiful instrument.

Dick and Beth of The Ampersands strum and pluck at acoustic guitars and banjos for the class.

Dick playing his banjo, while we achieve some isolation with Gail in the "drum room."  They can hear each other just fine thanks to the monitor mixes in their headphones.

 

Recording Arts student Mark E. records The Ampersands into a multi-track Pro Tools session in the school's recording studio.

 

Welcome to Cotton Hill Recording Studio in Albany, NY!  The students of the Recording Arts program spent the day with Aaron Scher, staff engineer at Cotton Hill, and learned all about studio routing, the modern business of commercial recording, and got a very cool inside look at some ADR (automated dialog replacement) sessions from some of their favorite TV shows!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States of America

When the President came to visit the GE plant in Schenectady, NSRT students were there standing alongside all the other major media outlets.  It was the opportunity of a lifetime to see our nation's President right here in our hometown.  A few even braved the cold weather with all their gear in tow to await the arrival of Air Force One.

Adam and Kayla

Saskia and Jeff