A-12 THE FREEMAN’S JOURNAL & HOMETOWN ONEONTA
THURSDAY, mAY 5, 2022
SUNY Oneonta music biz track matches science and art in music
middle of the take. Writing as someone who flinches with every notice Andris stopped and looked that it’s time to update my computer or telephone, I’m to his students. “Any ideas?” endlessly impressed by the students’ ease with the advanced he said. technology at their hands. I’m impressed, too, by the way Class participation fired Andris encouraged his class to take control of our session; on every cylinder as the it was their job to recommend changes to the mix and work students bounced ideas back with us. and forth. They determined In the end — an outstanding example of world-class that the microphone from the education opportunities happening in Otsego County. I can piano — not just the mikes speak confidently for the band — we’re all proud of the end they had so carefully placed product. The students made us sound good! around the drum kit — had [We’ve posted the final product on our Facebook page: picked up the drummer’s https://www.facebook.com/thedriftwoodscountry]. error. A simple fix might not be so easily found. Free BiBle Students jumped at the opportunity the professor We are offering free of charge afforded, calling out possible an easy-to-read Bible. It’s the high-tech solutions the stateGOOD NEWS BIBLE in of-the-art computer techtoday’s English. The volumes Andris Balins, left, instructs students at SUNY Oneonta on the fine art of recording we distribute contain the Old nology afforded. None of Kut & & New Testaments, maps, and them did the immediate trick Ted Potrikus Style helpful features to assist the until one student recognized the piano chord at the top of reader. If you would like to [Editor’s note: We offer this story from a first-person the measure matching one played earlier. NeW LoCatioN, receive a copy, simply write to NEW YOU… perspective, as your correspondent participated in the “Punch the measure from that piano mike into the one he us at the address below. This New You, New Style NEW STYLE! classroom and recording sessions about which we write.] wants fixed,” he said, and it worked. The fix was in. is a free offer. There will be no Perms Think of it as STEAM — Science, Technology, Engi“They’re using their ears as much as they’re using the follow-up correspondence. We neering, Arts, and Math. All come together in Andris technology,” Andris said two weeks later, when band and do not ask for money. Wash, Cut Balins’s Audio Arts Production class at SUNY Oneonta, students met again to mix the raw recording from the first Gift Of The Word & Style a hands-on four-semester course taking students through night. Class began that second evening with a wide ranging P.O. Box 307 what the class description calls “a more in-depth under- discussion among students and teacher covering everything 6208 State Highway 28 • 547-7126 Avon, NY 14414 standing of acoustics and sound design, as well as a modern from sine wave identification to Bach’s Well-Tempered (On the Corner in Fly Creek) theoretical approach to technology in the industry.” Clavier, from physics and math to nanoseconds and the Andris invited The Driftwoods — a band in which I play impact of comb-filtering. A deep discussion how far — if at the drums — to the university’s recording studio in early all — to adjust an echo on the lead vocal. A review on the April to give the class first-hand experience in setting micro- microphone-placement technique, the band’s playing, the MANY COMPANIES. MANY OPTIONS. phones and instrument placement for a live band in a studio balance in the room among live musicians, playing live. setting. It’s a process that doesn’t necessarily happen much Bieritz insurance agency The students — most unfamiliar with the classic country Real people who truly care... these days in a recording industry dominated by laptops and song we performed — tuned in as the playback rolled. your hometown insurance agency! computer-generated loops. Pull back on the bass drum and focus more on the track 209 Main Street, Cooperstown The class had two hours to set up and record our basic from the overhead mike. Look for a tonal balance on the 607-547-2951 across from Bruce Hall tracks and overdubs. Driftwoods leader and Advantage snare drum. Bring the bass forward in the mix; experiment 607-263-5170 in Morris Celebrating our Maytag co-owner John Thompson selected Willie Nelson’s with the delay on the vocal to make it resonate. The most nd YEAR! “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” for the evening’s subtle of adjustments making monumental difference as the Ben Novellano 1990-2022 track — a song we’d played enough to know we could give two-hour session progressed. the students a basic track in one or two takes. The students Andris said he has taught this fascinating class at SUNY collected sound levels for each of the instruments, settled Oneonta for more than 15 years as part of the school’s innoin to a control room dominated by a massive mixing board vative music industry major. He got his start as an audio and and multiple computer screens, and off we went. recording expert in a recording studio owned by Oneonta’s Two takes later, we were done — the band in the Wayne Carrington, moving on from there with studies and studio and John in the control room for his vocal and lead teaching at Broome Community College. Today, he has guitar; John and SUNY Oneonta Music Department chair more than a decade under his belt working with artists Rob Roman followed up with overdubs, and the recording including Sean Lennon, Lana Del Ray, and Nels Cline. was done. “Working with live musicians lets the students take Timothy McGraw 607-432-2022 The band joined the students and Andris in the control themselves out of just running a program through another 22-26 Watkins Avenue, Oneonta room to review the take. John asked for a few adjustments program,” he said. “They’re thinking about the song and Monday through Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm that the class fixed quickly with a few computer strokes; the notes. They’re making the musicians comfortable and I asked if they could edit out a mis-struck cymbal in the bringing out a performance.”
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