This page is still under development. Check Back Soon!
For now, feast your eyes on some hardware eye candy....
What I Do
Make Music. Record Music. Edit Music. Listen to Music. I act as an engineer recording and editing sound, music, and audio using my own equipment or working for a studio.
Services
Location recording, concerts, sessions, voice/speaking, overdubs, editing, and light mastering.
What Makes Me 'Better" than Any Other Guy With Gear?
Better isn’t the correct word. I started early, and had time with mentors to experiment and gain experience with both low and very high-end equipment. I am trained in audio production and have work experience to back it up. On another level I don't consider myself a gear-head, but rather stay educated on technology to better match to music. Having a background in a diverse set of gear helps make better choices to make recordings sound better.
I urge you to contact me with further questions or comments and to get a better idea of my work, and style.
...and The List of Gear
Why is it last? Gear = Tools. The quality of tools can improve a project, but anyone can tell you great tools does not make a great carpenter, a painter from brushes or a mathematician from a calculator. Great works in any discipline have been made through less than ideal tools, and recording is no different. Though, tools remain important enough to be noted and so here's what I use:
What Is It?
Located in in Banff National Park in the mountains of Alberta, Canada is The Banff Centre. The audio program at the Banff Centre is a work/study program three times a year with about 8-10 associates/assistants. Its overseen by Theresa Leondard, and senior engineer John Adams. I attended the summer of 2007 from May through August.
About:
The Banff Centre's audio program enhances skills in jazz and classical recording, editing and mastering on industry-standard gear. Recording is done through high-end microphones, preamps and converters including Schoeps, Neumann, DPA, Lavry, and Meitner. Training in post-production and editing is done on either Pyramix or ProTools, with the main control room housing an array of classic analog gear, and a Euphonix digital/analog mixing board. Banff's Pyramix systems are housed on location in a beautiful acoustic concert hall, and in a critical listening room equipped with Cedar's Retouch, and 5.1 surround. Two Protools HD systems reside in the main recording studio and in a post-production/soon to be surround-capible room.
My Experience:
Recording jazz was not a strong point for me, and being exposed to several weeks of intense jazz training as well as meeting other very talented young engineers helped build more confidence towards the genre. I tried several new mic placement techniques in classical recording, as well as try new gear, particularly high-end analog to digital converters, and outboard analog gear. Throughout the term I remastered older orchestral recordings from Michigan State for surround, and try various surround rigs. For concerts I assisted on, and after getting permission I made mixes of concerts and sessions for practice.
Quotes from Master Classes
David Horrocks, mastering
Make my record sound like "this"... what that really means is "I like the songs on this record."
Music is wallpaper to young people lives.
Mastering engineers are only as good as the content they are sent, and the top 10 mastering engineers get the best content.
Sending a pre-compressed track to me "just limits my choices"
Graemme Brown, mastering
Making clients feel like your stuff is good.
Recording is a presentation of the music, Mastering is a presentation of the mix.
Jim Anderson, recording engineer
PCs are good, Macs are great.
Joe Furla's to come...
Background:The Okemos Community Church is a Methodist church on the east side of Lansing where I contributed my talents since 1998. In high school I began running live sound for worship services, and expanded the audio system, trained students and began to experiment in recording through albums. Because of the outstanding music program not only at this church, but on the east side of Lansing, there was a large demand for recording support, and with the small amount of equipment and access to space... I found a job.
My Role:In addition to taking on the a website administrator role and co-leader for the Youth Group. The church supports the production of the yearly Christmas Cantata service into small-run albums, and I have also brought in equipment from Michigan State University (and other places) to support Coffee House shows and other activities.
Album Production:
2005 & 2006 Coffee House
The final push for the church's massive organ project, I was asked to provide live sound and possibly a recording for a "Coffee House" style gig. Mostly youth, and some professionals sang and danced in front of a full social hall. The rig consisted of a Digi 002 for recording AND live sound. This allowed me to feed real-time reverb and other effects for the show. Digital imputs and outputs provided video and CD capibility, while iTunes was routed out the Powerook's soundcard and back into the Digi002. Mackie Active speakers were used with Shure Beta 87 and 58's.
From 2004-2006 I worked for Michigan State University School of Music's Recording Services. My primarily job was to record, edit, mix and master concerts and sessions from start to finish. I also facilitate recording sessions with students and faculty, maintain equipment and other side projects such as the office's website with the guidance of the chief engineer Jennifer Shangraw. Most of the gigs are live to 2-track, with larger ensembles using either 4-6 tracks and special projects in upwards of 16 to 24 tracks.
I personally have experience with the majority of the microphones, preamps and computer systems on this list of gear avalible for use. Thanks to Jennifer, was able to use any of the equipment, especially the microphones in recordings giving me valuable knowledge to how the high-end gear sounds.
The service records concerts at locations on campus, such as the large Wharton Center to local high schools and church's. This is a truly unique position and I am very fortunate enough to be so extensively involved in the production process.
School of Music events include:
- Ensembles: Symphony Orchestras, Chorale, Percussion Ensemble..etc all perform on a set schedule usually several times throughout the year
- Faculty: Members of the School of Music teaching staff and in-house musicians perform regularly
- Special: Operas and Musicals, Date-specific events. These require unique approaches for good recordings and can involve connections with other media
Please contact Recording Services with CD requests or more information on this division and their policies
This October I will be starting as Manager of Recording Services at the University of North Texas. ....I'll have some updates to make to this page shortly!
In real life I am a recent graduate of Michigan State University, and continue to work in audio production as both a pleasure and a career.
In the last several years I have worked for studios, mostly classical music in nature, recording ensembles in mostly live concerts settings as well as a plentiful amount of studio work. Recently I have acquired my own equipment and work locally in the Colorado Springs area. I personally like maintaining low, affordable rates in order to continue making quality recordings, and allow musicians to thrive in an otherwise not so great time in the history of the recording industry.
I browse through my considerable library of film scores, classical music, jazz, rock and podcasts daily. I wear custom-molded earplugs to concerts and the bars, and always yell at DJ's for playing music too loud. I live on a 2005 Powerbook, and a Mini running Server, though still keep a tweaked XP box (and play on my wife's Macbook Pro), and carry Apple certifications.
In December of 2006 after graduation I married a lovely woman, loaded the soccer-mom van and moved to Colorado Springs. We have a young Shih Tzu who was featured in The Daily Puppy in September of 2007.
I am available [for hire] in audio and web-related things while I currently work for Apple Inc.
See images on Flickr
How did I get into recording?
Early in High School I felt the need to listen to recordings of concerts I played/sang in. Getting involved in the tech program at my high school was key. In college I took a very influential audio course. I got around many college's audio majors, and found working in the field was the best experience.
What is My Favorite Recording?
My Own of course! Telarc's Vespers, Dale Warland's albums, and Tool. I have a lot really....
What makes me better than any other guy with gear?
Better isn’t the correct word. I started early, and had time with mentors to experiment and gain experience with both low and very high-end equipment. I am trained in audio production and have work experience to back it up. On another level I don't consider myself a gear-head, but rather stay educated on technology to better match to music. Having a background in a diverse set of gear helps make better choices to make recordings sound better.
Where Are All The Photos Coming From?
I take a LOT of photos, and every one on the site I took either from a small 2megapixle or newer Nikon D40.
Why did I make this Site?
The majority of hits are coming from people interested in microphone choices for classical ensembles. I did some research, and found very little information out on the Internet about classical recording. The little information I found was hidden in poorly designed and difficult to navigate websites. I decided to expand my portfolio beyond just lists and pictures of work, but to provide useful information for musicans and non-classical engineers… or anyone interested in the profession......And then I got carried away and ride on version 5 of the portfolio design. However the focus will always remain a portfolio for future employers.
The attention I have received from my portfolio site gave me reason enough to build a second site open to the public to post audio work at http://www.recordingvitale.com.
Contact me at contact[at]blairliikala[dot]com. I would love any commnets on the site, or questions about what I do / the business I am in!
For the summers of 2004 and 2005 I was hired as a recording engineer for this music camp. Under supervision of the chief radio engineer, Jack Conners, and engineer Brock Mormon, I along with two others provided audio recording support for the 8/6* week camp, Interlochen Public Radio, and other departments as required. This involved setting up and recording music concerts and recitals, studio recording sessions, live radio broadcasts and audio duplication using digital recording, editing and audio compact disc mastering hardware and software.
This was an incredible experience. Working in such a beautiful and well-designed studio with amazing staff, good working pace and talented co-workers gave me skills I could not get anywhere else; especially a classroom. Although I won't talk about how many times I lounged at the Lake Michigan Beach, the experience helped me tone my ears to classical and jazz recording. I learned techniques for studio recording, broadcasting, and live concerts that I still use today.
Interlochen Public Radio
Established in 1963, Interlochen Public Radio (IPR) is owned and operated by Interlochen Center for the Arts. The public radio service is home to two distinct radio stations broadcasting continuous classical music (88.5/88.7/100.9 FM) and news (91.5 FM) to northwest lower Michigan. For those outside of the regular broadcast area, IPR streaming is available online. The IPR building has eight offices, five control rooms, five studios, an engineering area, and a music library containing more than 10,000 recordings.
Official Website
Brenden is first a best buddy, and second an exceptional tenor, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and now a member of the Netherlands Opera Studio. Back in the day, when he needed high-quality screening discs for college and auditions I began to record.
The first recordings were done using Audio Technica condensers, then included a Shure Beta 87. His entire portfolio for screening discs were made with 2 AT3xx condensers and a Beta 87 with some reverberation from Sound Forge live to 2-track.
Two years into college (2004), I was able to use a Shure KSM32 and an AKG C414 in addition to two borrowed B&K 4006's. We recorded "for fun" a marathon of 8 pieces with pianist Georgia Fragale.
Later that year Brenden treated his hometown to a private concert which I was asked to record audio at the Riverwalk Theater in downtown Lansing, Michigan. Brenden dazzled his friends and family with an exquisite concert which was later cherished on DVD with 24-bit 96khz master stereo and high quality all digital video. Randy Frey provided video support through DVD authoring while I provided images and all menu designs. The video was recorded live-to-DVD on a... not so great.. consumer camera, but regardless this was my first experience combining audio and video.
The funny story behind this concert was during the setup of the 414 M/S, one of the 414's fell onto the concrete breaking the grill off. This mic was on loan from MSU before I had a strong relationship with my current boss. Needless to say, things were rocky with her and me until a student teacher, Jim Miller, had us sit down for lunch and I was hired in the summer of 2004.
Over Christmas break of 2005, Brenden performed at the M.S.U. music auditorium for a recording session. Voice faculty, Melanie Helton was on the scene to provide tips, tricks, and lovely criticism and thus giving me a chance to focus more on the recording than completely on Brenden.
I still provide support for him when recording or editing is needed. With his traveling between Philadelphia with his wife and son and Amsterdam to perform we have had to be creative in our communication and digital music making. I also built and host his website, adding another dimension to our "collaboration."
