Today I recorded my commissioned choral work at a studio in Arizona. It was an evening of lessons, revelations, and serious music-making. Upon starting the session I began to realize that my seemingly straightforward choral piece was in fact rather difficult. On paper it looks totally reasonable, but when it comes time to actually assemble the harmonies and transitions, it is another beast entirely. Luckily the choir was in the hands of my dear friend Rob, who was able to mold their performance into something truly amazing.
The lesson I (re) learned today is that recording a choir, particularly in a studio space, is really tricky. There is no wiggle room for tuning and nuance - every detail is exposed. It can be frustrating, but when you have a group as good as this, it's very doable.
My revelation came at around 11pm when we were well into the editing/mixing process. Rob was at the computer molding all of the audio, while my travel companion and always supportive friend Sherri Chung was standing by with all of the notes she had taken on all the different takes and bits of music we had recorded. I began to swell with love and appreciation when I realized how unbelievably lucky I am to be surrounded by people like Rob and like Sherri who, without hesitation, rally to help me make this happen. This is precisely how teams are formed. I can't wait until we are sitting together at the Sony recording stage with a huge budget being paid to score a big feature film.
This day was definitely one for the record books. Sherri and I left at 7am, got to Arizona at 2, recorded from 730-930, mixed till 2am, then got on the road and got back to Los Angeles at 930 so I could take care of other pressing work. Four days later I'm still recovering. Worth it? Absolutely.
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| Rob in hour two of editing |
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