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Debbie Osborn

THE OSBORN FAMILY TRANS-PACIFIC RECORDING PILOT PROJECT

Weekly Update #7, in which Rosie and James and Sonja and Eboy send their final tracks, and Tony and Russell and I think about maybe singing too.


We take our family reunion to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, January 4.


The Project: For those of you who are new to my blog, here's a rundown of the project.


OSBORN FAMILY because it involves me, my husband Tony, our daughter Rosie and her husband James, our daughter Sonja and her husband Eboy, and our son Russell.

TRANS-PACIFIC because Tony & Russell & I live in Arizona, Rosie & James live in South Korea, and Sonja & Eboy live in Malaysian Borneo.

RECORDING because we are not new to recording, but what is new is that we are attempting to create a multi-track record across the ocean using recording software and this thing called email.

PILOT PROJECT because this is our first endeavor with this technology.


COVID-19: Everyone’s lives have been complicated in one way or another by the pandemic. Son-in-law Eboy is on the front lines in Borneo. He is currently working seven days a week and he comes home exhausted. One challenge he has faced as he has been learning his parts is that he is an English language learner, so it is to be expected that it will take him a bit longer to learn his parts. The challenge is complicated by his working on the front lines and his exhaustion when he comes home. To take some of the stress off of him, I encouraged him to take whatever liberties he wants to when he records his part. He loves this song and he has been singing it for a long time. Eboy, being a bit of a comedian, takes liberties anyway. We are interested in what he sends, because he and Sonja are singing the first verse!


The Roadmap: Sonja & Eboy sing verse 1. Rosie, Sonja, & I sing Chorus 1. Rosie & James sing Verse 2. Everybody sings Chorus 2. Tony, Russell, & I sing the Bridge. Everybody sings Chorus 3, and then everybody double-or triple-tracks their voices on Chorus 4, so we sound like a bigger pack of wolves than we really are.


Tony, Russell, & me woodshedding our parts.


The kids in Asia have sent us their final tracks. I have laid down a rehearsal track or two, but they will not be included in the final mix down. It's time for us Arizonans to do our final takes. We should probably sit down together and learn our parts!


Done woodshedding. Jack is ready for a nap, and Rocky is apparently trying to get off my lap.


So after we do our final takes, then it's time to take out the microscope and examine each track. The first part is like M*A*S*H, where we analyze each track, identify glitches and extraneous noises, and remove them. The next step is to enhance the tracks with equalization (which you can see at the bottom of the screen in the video below). This is also where we add in reverb and other effects. Once we have done this with all 24 tracks, the mix down will begin. Each track will be assigned its own volume that will be painstakingly blended into the master track.


Tony provides a little demonstration of the Ableton software we are using.


Coming up: The Mixdown. Stay tuned!







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