For a recent "Session & Mixdown" class, we invited the a cappella group, Musicopian, to perform a song for us to record. Student Ryan Lindley helped to organize the recording and chose the song "Hymn of Acxiom" by Vienna Teng.
The project was a great way for students to practice setting up microphones for groups of musicians and understand the intricacies of microphone placement and spacing. It also required us to run cables between the studio and choir room, which presents new challenges with both setup and communication. We were all very pleased with the final results!
Multimedia projects involving audio and video recordings are produced in the Admissions Office at Oshkosh on a regular basis. Being one of the number of Music Industry and Radio-TV-Film students expressing interest in music videos, working together as a team of social media representatives has helped sustain several years of a music video making tradition. In 2012, we used the ProTools studio to record the vocals for a cover of a Carly Rae Jepsen & Owl City song:
The most recent project done in the Spring of '15 was my biggest project to date and uses a mixture of popular songs done in different styles with a variety of acoustic and virtual synth instruments. The challenge of producing a mockup with songs in different tempos meant that transitions had to be planned out in advance then transcribed for the corresponding instruments before being recorded. Students of the music program stepped in to perform violin, trombone, trumpet, drum set and bass while members of the Admissions Office performed on acoustic guitar, ukulele, vocals, clapping, saxophone, electric guitar and MIDI keyboard.
In 2013 UW Oshkosh Admissions did a collaboration with Mario MA Johnson and Alexander Jay in an Admissions original entitled "I Am A Titan". The vocal mixing was taken on as a Recording Practicum project and additional vocals were performed by Ashley Valentine of the Recording Major. I organized a lot of the locations and backdrops for this one.
"Best Day of My Life" was recorded, mixed and mastered by Zach Schimenz in 2014. He also arranged a few parts of an instrumental track beneath the vocals, drums, bass, guitar and banjo. I contacted the copyright holders, Sony and Roundhill Music, and got permission for UW Oshkosh to officially release the video as a cover of the American Authors’ song which reached Number 1 on the US Billboard Adult Top 40. Brady Lee emulated the vocal style of the lead singer Zac Barnett, Megan Clarke performed on the drum set, office staff performed the bass/guitar and recruited a member of Greek Life to perform the banjo.
All videos contained are publications of the UW Oshkosh Admissions official YouTube channel and are shown at University Preview Days.
Each Spring semester, we have a group recording class that focuses on taking the skills we have learned and transitioning into full studio tracking and mix projects in a variety of genres. Our first project of the semester has tasked us with recording a song by the band "The Present Age", which consists of students Isaac and Logan Lamers.
Photo by Jason Dordel
Recording this new and original song has tasked us with recording a full drum kit, followed by bass and electric guitar, and will wrap up with adding keyboards and vocals next week. Just a few of the skills that we discuss are understanding signal flow, setting proper gain at the analog mixing console, and routing digitally into Pro Tools.
Photo by Jason Dordel
Each session presents us with the inevitable problems that require us to troubleshoot and determine the source of the issue. Once we have gotten things sorted out, the results have sounded fantastic! Isaac and Logan have impressed us with their musical skill and ability to lay down tracks in a short timeframe. We are looking forward to finishing the tracking and starting work on the mix!
There has been a lot of work done during the past semester in working toward completing a $14,000 upgrade in the recording studio! The students helped a lot with painting and a number of other projects intended to increase functionality and take advantage of the latest technology. The upgrades in the studio include:
An Apple iMac with a dual screen setup
Updated software including Pro Tools, Logic, and the Adobe Creative Cloud
An Antelope 32-channel audio interface and converter
Upgraded fiberglass and foam acoustic wall materials
Various new microphones, headphones and cables
New studio furniture, curtains and repair tools
Projects thus far have been very successful, and we are looking forward to doing more updates and tweaks in order to turn the studio into a recording powerhouse! Video tour soon to come.
