Last week I had a recording studio date with Nicko P,. one of my musician friends, to record violin tracks for two of his songs. After getting off the dalla-dalla at the wrong stop, phoning a friend to get directions,and walking for 15 minutes, I found Fnouk Studios. No sooner had I arrived then Nicko phoned me to say that he had just heard from the recording engineer, who had to cancel the session because a big tree fell across the road in his neighbourhood and he had to help move it. Oh, Tanzania!
The recording session was re-scheduled for this morning. When I arrived Nicko P. and Katanga Junior (awesome drummer) were already there. Alex, the recording engineer, arrived soon after and we started recording right away. I first played over one of the songs Nicko had previously recorded -- I listened through the headphones and played along. Through the window of the sound booth I could see Nicko, Alex and Katanga talking and laughing and I wondered how it all sounded to them. I recorded a second track with the same song so that there would be more to choose from. Next Nicko played and sang another of his songs -- a very beautiful song titled Zena -- while I played violin. We were in separate rooms but could hear each other through the headphones and I could see Nicko, which helped me know which part of the song was coming next. We did several takes of Zena and then it was time for me to leave for work. I am really looking forward to hearing the recording once it has been mixed! I thoroughly enjoyed the morning -- I love studio work, and how wonderful to get to record in Tanzania, especially with such great musicians!
 |
| About to whack the microphone with my bow. Thank goodness for studio editing! |
 |
| Nicko P., Katanga Junior and me |
