"If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it." -Toni Morrison

          This week at Devil's Rope Studios has been a defining moment in the history of accomplishments. We installed our customized console that looks pretty sick, if I do say so myself. We have 4 Equinox boards, 3 of which are 8 channel faders and the the last one is the main control with full touch screen.  Custom building a console/work desk for a happening studio is quite a task. We had to get the ends and support custom cut at a cabinet shop. Then we wood puttied them,  sanded them down and painted them black. Over the armrest of the entire board were running black leather over it, too. Basically, it's awesome. I am such a lucky girl to get to work with such and intelligent amazing people.
          I've  been learning more about Sonar. The program is becoming more farmiliar to me so now it isn't as scary. In a nut shell, we've been busy with 5 or 6 projects a day and working 15 hours isn't something that gives you time to do much else so I'm calling this quits. Business is good!

"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more." - Tony Robbins

              Innovation, exploration, experimentation and manipulation are all traits that a producer must possess.  I'm so thankful to be learning from a person who has been blessed with all of these things. We've spent the past couple nights laying down vocals, mixing and "melodyne-ing" the already laid tracks and I've been personally working with the singer on vocal lessons and breathing exercises. Last weekend we finished part of Ken Turner's  album and I actually got a chance at the driver's seat. Jonathon had me take charge on tracking one of Ken's songs and THAT is an awesome feeling. I did pretty well too, It's just learning the software through and through. We've also been working with Seven Miles South, a Texas country band who have been working on a full-length album as well. I'll be taking pictures for Ken this weekend and Seven Miles South in the next week or so. Things are rolling quickly and I couldn't be more happy about my current situation. 

              Last night Jonathon and I had a conversation about me sticking around and he said that if things keep going the way they have been, he wants to make me his studio manager. (HUGE DEAL) Things are moving on up and if studio manager thing doesn't happen then I'm sure I'll stick around as an intern anyway. No complaints! :)

"You can't polish a turd." - Randy Ray

        This weekend was spent hammering away at a full album for a local band named Wrecking Romance. Friday was entirely spent on tracking drums and bass. Once everything was laid for both parts, the band realized that one of the more complicated songs had been played wrong. That took another hour to get it right. Saturday was send laying vocals and guitar. This was definitely a smoother process but it definitely takes a lot longer to polish something when the entire band is on a different page. The band decided another time that it needed to change how a song was played so we had to re-track a second song again.
          When a band isn't polished or ready to record in a studio, it definitely makes things difficult in the whole "getting things done" department. Working at a recording studio has made me realize just how prepared you have to be to use your money and time wisely. If you pay for a certain amount of time in a studio and spend it trying to perfect what you should have already known, that's more money out of your pocket. So, I didn't know that this would be included in the package, but I've definitely been learning the financial/business side of owning a recording studio. It's a tough gig.

“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” - Isaac Newton

          The past few weeks I have maintained a healthy schedule. Devil's Rope Studios put on a super secret show for a local folk artist that performs by the name of Daniel Fordham. He had written tons of new material lately so he wanted only his closest fans to be present in his first showing. It went off without a hitch. I'm still networking and meeting people left and right. I've definitely improved on my self promotion skills in the sense of being able to sell my person or my show. We have been working with a local christian rapper named Ken and another local rapper named Dreamakid. We've also spent some time with Five Floors Above, Tracking The Monolith and Daniel Fordham in the studio. I'm very impressed with Jonathon's ability to flawlessly jump from genre to genre. He has a gift to make each thing he touches sound completely different and in all of the right ways. I'm learning so much. We've also had so many new pieces of equipment come in lately that we're in tech heaven. Things are definitely looking up for this studio and I couldn't be happier with the relationship that my boss and I have. He is patient, polite and we work very well together.
         So, it's safe to say that I'm having a really nice time getting to know this industry on a deeper level. Career, here I come.