A Surreal Experience: Recording in A Professional Studio

It was the 15th of June, and it was the day when I felt like a star!

Days before this happened, we looked for rooms that are not noisy enough, ones that would be good enough for recording audios. Having 3 dogs at the house, and with my bedroom made of concrete, Gifter knew it would be a bad place to record the vocals of our songs.

Me and Gifter in a motel room – Good idea? Or a bad idea?

To simulate the area of a quiet studio, Gifter thought of renting a room in a lodge, or a motel. We even thought of looking for an inn, where ‘horny people’ do that thing they call “short-time.” To be honest Gifter hated the idea of knowing that people would look at us “in a wicked way” the moment we do that.

When a boy and a girl enter those kinds of rooms, it only means one thing right? But we know we have to find ways for the sake of perfecting our music, so we got on with it.

I was really amused at how Gifter would over-explain defensively to the receptionists: “We’re Youtube content creators and we want to be in a near sound-proof room, that’s what we aim to do… blah, blah, blah.” But I guess we needed that too to clear things up. We know how pure our intentions were.

It’s kinda funny seeing and hearing him that way, haha. But he then explained to me that it’s in his best interest that those receptionists not think of me like the usual women who check in with guys for a short period of time. That's pretty obvious.

There are moments when Gifter gets too overprotective of me, I like it that way. Sometimes though, I think it’s kinda annoying.

How we landed in a real music studio

We were able to look for three rooms for recording but we were doubtful of the possible outcome. After some little arguments, we decided to look for a professional studio, which he hoped would be existent in the humble city where we live.

Weeks before that, we already recorded 9 of the 10 songs of our planned album. But being the meticulous music Nazi, Gifter decided we should tap into the services of a real studio for the 10th song.

He admitted his knowledge about this whole thing is quite limited.

We looked again for a studio and surprisingly, we bumped into a music shop whose nearby establishment used to be a professional recording studio. Luckily, the owner approached us and suggested a studio that we might wanna consider to visit.

We visited the location and there we met a professional sound engineer working in it. We made some inquiries and the talk lasted for almost an hour probably. After several days, we texted the sound engineer to set a schedule and finally made one.

Anxiety and hyperacidity – the villains of the day

That’s what I thought when the day of the recording session came. I know in myself that I'm anxious and nervous because my hyperacidity got triggered again. I have so much on my mind. I was trying my best to divert my attention but it just finds its way to go back to where my mind is most attentive to.

I tried to practice the breathing technique that I used to do but it was not effective this time. Maybe because this is some kind of a big deal now. Even my techniques were not working, it seemed.

When we finally got inside the studio, the sound engineer was still entertaining a client and so we have to wait for our turn. We made use of the time to study everything in the studio, as closely as possible.

Sounding like a strangled cat

That’s what I thought at first, really. What happened was that typical activity in a recording studio, the singer would put on the headphones, stand in front of a microphone, and sing. What we recorded was an acoustic track, but I can hear some loud beats. Not literally though, because it’s just my own heartbeat.

We recorded the instrumentals first, which means it was Gifter’s turn first because he is the guitarist of the duo. We were given a few takes of it and we proceeded for the vocals. I got extremely nervous when it was my turn to record.

We recorded one full track and I got a couple of flats and so I had to retake them. I enjoyed recording the second time around and so I got comfortable singing. I have to give credit to the sound engineer Mark, for being so patient with that strangled cat named Jeaneth.

We finished exactly after an hour and were told to come back after a week for the output. While walking home, I asked Gifter, “Did I sound like a strangled cat?”

Gifter answered, “You didn’t. You sounded like a drowning dinosaur.”

He smiled and reassured me that for a studio first-timer, I sounded fine. It was a fun experience.

Have you tried recording in a professional studio too? How was your experience? Was it music related? Voice overs for advertisements? Or school presentations?

Thanks for reading.

Keep safe everyone!