Sigh of Relief

I didn't get to blog last night because I was busy working on my mid-term paper which was due today. So here's the recap from yesterday.

We spent two hours rehearsing "Kokomo" in the studio trying to really nail down the vocal harmonies. I don't know if I ever thought that's how I'd be spending part of grad school. But that's what we did. My responsibilities for this tune are as a performer. I'll be taking the high harmonies (which is weird because I don't think my classmates know my history of being called ma'am on the phone and at drive-thrus). I'll also be playing the sax solo on my t-bone, which is the first time I've played all semester so I needs to get practicing.

Tonight in Context, Structure, and Style I had to turn in my mid-term paper which was probably eh. It wasn't my best work but the timing of the paper and our move didn't really help. Making excuses. Just as I was relieved to be done with that paper, we got homework for over spring break! So next week while I'm chillin' in Florida with my bro watchin' the Cards I'll also be busy transcribing the harmonica part to this recording.

Tomorrow's a big day as I'll be engineering my first recording session! Tune in to see how it went.

Today's T: Blue/Blue Ringer

Let there be internet!

So Emily and I are finally "moved in," moved in being in quotes because there's still a lot of unpacking to be done. We do have the internet working now so why not post? Pictures of the apartment will be up as soon we're a little more composed.

Monday was Recording Studio Ensemble. We started by discussing last week's session and I got glowing reviews for my work as the assistant engineer. I didn't have that much responsibility, but it was nice to know I handled it well. The rest of class was spent learning how to program drums. Since there's not a drummer in our class we've decided to program drums for our next song. What's the song? Here are some clues:
1. It was featured on the soundtrack of the 1988 movie "Cocktail."
2. A special performance of the song was aired on an episode of "Full House."
3. This Muppets version of the song was the reason my classmate Shauna, she'll be producing, picked it for this project.
It also helps that we have plenty of guys in our class to do all the harmonies associated with that particular group.

Tuesday was Structure, Context, and Style. Our midterms are due next week so we spent some time talking about how to best go about completing them. We have to analyze short piano pieces structurally, harmonically, melodically, and rhythmically and then write a 10-12 page paper about what we found. I'd tell you what my piece is, but I don't know. Our professor deliberately left off titles and composers so that it wouldn't influence us. Or so we wouldn't look up stuff on the internet about it.

Yesterday was Advanced Multitrack Production. I had a presentation with my classmate Brandon called FXpertise. We researched all the gear in the studio that handles this aspect of signal processing. As it turns out, some of the stuff we have is really good, and some of it not so good. Hopefully the information we shared with our class will help them out. I learned a great deal about distortion, and also a little bit about compression (I'll hear the rest of that next week).

Cards played today. Only 2 weeks until I see them live in sunny Florida!

Today's T: Kevin Garnett jersey T