It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a recording studio. Boy, did it bring back memories, like creating playlists and listening to demos during my early days at WSKB (my college radio station), when I sat in the booth for the first time. The first minute on the air felt like an hour but I quickly adapted. My radio career continued in my early twenties as I went on to another college station and then auditioned for a professional station, WLYT: “light” radio. My audition went well, though I must admit that hearing my “night-time” voice on the playback sounded pretty cheesy to me. I would have taken the light radio gig if it hadn’t been an overnight shift beginning at 11:00 PM. Back then, that was prime nightclub time and I just couldn’t give up dancing to live music with my friends instead of playing tracks to a faceless audience. After that, I did some voice work for some local politicians, commercials for a variety of businesses, and most recently a series of live TV spots for Staples: Stick-to-it Business Challenge.
Currently at PSG, we’re producing a multi-level, educational Spanish audio project for one of our repeat clients. We completed the written translation, prepped the scripts, chose the voice talent and now we are in the studio managing the recording a few days a week for the next 4-5 weeks. Since we have so much studio time booked, I decided that I would take my interns into the studio with our engineers & content managers for a field trip. The interns loved the idea and signed up right away. The funny thing is, so did the rest of my staff. They all wanted to be a part of the training and the audio portion of the project. So, off we went to the studio with scripts in hand. We waited in the green room with several teen pop hopefuls and a few Berkley College of Music seniors who were finishing up their demos. Once the voice “talent” arrived, we headed to the studio for the first of many sessions. What a GREAT experience, both from a content and a technology perspective! The “field trips” were a great learning experience for the staff and our interns. We all felt a great sense of accomplishment when the sound engineers officially “called it a wrap.”
Though my radio days are over, my love of technology continues. I may not be behind the mic, but I enjoy watching (and listening!) as our work takes shape. These days we’re in a studio more often since many of our clients are looking for audio tracks for interactive and multi-media projects. And fortunately, for me and my clients, I have a staff that is becoming more and more talented with each new opportunity to put in studio time.
That’s a wrap!
