I recorded my very first CD containing my original songs with the help of a friend who happens to own his own recording studio. He asked me to take all the time that i required to record my songs and to gain more experience he also offered to mix the music for me.
I had recorded simple demos before using an older four-track cassette recorder, but this was my first official recording encounter. My friend was one of the few individuals who got their hands first on the innovative concept called digital recording and this friend of mind had one of the first sets ups used for recording straight into the computer hard drive. It was an incredible learning encounter for me. I observed how my buddy did microphone placement for vocals, guitar amplifiers and drums; how he placed instrumentalists in different rooms so they could play live “together” and he could record several tracks without audio bleed-over; how he solved problems on the fly when things didn’t go as he’d planned. While my friend is engrossed with the mixing and editing I observed and paid interest to what he is doing. He would clarify different parts of the procedure to me, answering my continuous, pesky questions. And together, we made a record we were both very pleased of.
I never thought my first recording encounter can be of great help until I was placed in a scenario where I need to use my know-how on digital recording. First, as a small-time musician that hosts events with no sound engineer I need to rely on myself in order to make the audio sound good. It was actually astonishing when I was able to manipulate the sound equipment and manipulate the sound mixer with ease. My first recording experience provided me with all the basic knowledge that I need.
The other scenario that drew on my know-how was when I became the audio engineer and wrote the music score for two short movies my son wrote and directed. By my own criteria I believed I was not competent, but with the knowledge I gained from my previous experience I was able to manipulate the sound elements in order to create ear friendly music and sound effects. I even discovered out how to remove unnecessary noise from the audio of the film itself, when background noise affected the quality.
These projects made me realize that my initial recording played a huge role. I also realized from that encounter just how much we actually learn things by simply doing them.
