1. We all listen to music on a daily basis. Whether it is on an iPod, waiting in a lobby, or on the
radio on our way to work. But how is music created and published? Hello my name is Jake Kirby.
Since I was very young I’ve enjoyed music and wanted to make music for others to enjoy. I decided to
base my senior project on recording songs and understanding what has to be done to record a song. I
spent hours with my project facilitator and local bands to learn about music recording.
Recording has changed a great deal since it was first invented. Recording used to be live and
put directly onto tapes with no room for error, now most recording studios use a DAW or digital-audio
workstation. DAW's use sound files of recorded instruments that can be manipulated and inserted into
the final song.
My product is a song I recorded of the local band anonymous. I am a musician and have always
wanted to be able to record myself, friends, and for bands I've been in. Music is a large part of my life
and I will always love listening and playing it with instruments.
I went to my project facilitator’s studio and became familiar with all of the equipment we would
be using. I set up the microphones we would be using and configured the patch bay. The patch bay is
where every signal goes to and from the computer and through effects and hardware. During my next
visit we had Jimmy's band, fifty-million fables wanting to record a new song of theirs. This was the
perfect time to learn to use all the equipment and see how a song comes together. They recorded a song
and jimmy spread it out so I could listen to each instrument and see why he chose the effects he did for
each instrument. The next time I went to jimmy's the local band anonymous was there to record. First,
we set up all the guitar amps and the drum-set. Then we set up the microphones. The drum-set uses 8
microphones in total for the kick drum, snare, hi-hat, rack tom 1, rack tom 2, floor tom, overhead left
and overhead right. The guitars use 1 microphone in front of their corresponding amp. The singer also

2. uses a microphone that sends a signal to their speaker so the whole band can hear them. After setting up
we tested each microphone on the drum-set and used the control board equalization knobs for treble,
bass, high and low mid frequencies to get a good sound. We then did the same thing with the guitars
and were ready to record the entire band at the same time. During the recording process a signal goes
from each microphone to the computer as a file. The file can be manipulated and played back on the
digital audio workstation. After doing a full band recording we put the singer in the vocal booth to get a
good quality vocal track. This took 5 tries until everyone decided which sounded best. After we had all
of our sound files the way we wanted them to sound we played the entire song to see how it sounded.
We then mastered it and added a few effects to the vocals and guitar. We saved the final draft as a wav
file because it gives the best audio quality We then burned some CD-ROMs for the band to listen to and
give out, After 10 long hours the band had 2 songs fully recorded to be proud of.
My project facilitator was Jimmy Anderson. I chose him because he owns a recording studio he
built in his downstairs by hand. He worked as a studio engineer for almost any popular band in the 80's
including Poison, Bon Jovi, and Aerosmith. He currently is in the Jimmy Anderson blues band and
local rock band Fifty-million fables. Jimmy was very helpful and explained things then challenged me
by making me execute the task he had just explained.
The biggest challenge about learning to become a studio engineer was getting a good sound
from each instrument and interpreting how the band wants the song to sound and feel. Getting the
drums to sound good was the biggest problem because drums use so many microphones that the signals
can become mixed together and create feedback and you will get sounds you do not want in your
recording. To capture the best sounds from each instrument, having experience is the only way to do a
professional

3. Recording and have a great sounding CD for the band.
I am already pursuing what I learned further by recording my band and other singers and local
bands. I want to continue what I learned in my senior project as either a full or part-time job. I enjoyed
all the parts of this experience and am glad I chose this topic.
Thank you all for your time. And I will be happy to answer any questions.