D
Dijoux
New member
Recording in Niger
cerealchamp2000,
Sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm not a full-fledged engineer, just a passionate rock-pop music lover which with this expatriate contract was able to buy himself a small project studio. At days as Dr. Jekyll I work for the german development, and at nights I turn into Mr. Hyde and record african artists.
I'd love to be full-time engineer (and I'm not allowed to carry that title, am I?), but there is simply no market here. Niger is according to UN-stats the second poorest country in the world, and it shows in the musician's qualities: Who can bother about seriously learning an instrument when you have to feed yourself. Less pay studio rates.
Sierra Leone is last on those statistics, mainly because of the civil war - is there music production going on there?
The upside of my situation, is that in europe I would have never been able to choose the artists nor dictate my conditions. So at the moment I am recording and producing Niger's most famous rap-group and having the hell of a time doing it. I just asked them for a more or less symbolic (for me, not them) fee.
Another positive aspect is that my recordings run through all radio stations and discotheques here, so my credentials build up, in the hope that one day I can make a living out of it.
My home-studio is one of only two places to record: the other being the state-managed (depressingly run-down) Music-Centre with an old Fostex D-8, and QY-700 for sequencing, plus "engineers" that get payed per day and don't care what the end-product might be. Just imagine how dusty THAT place is...
My Home-Studio in my living room:
PIII 450
SW1000XG Card
Event PS-8
Behringer Mixing console (24ch)
Cubase 5.0
Roland XP-80
Yamaha CS-2X
AKG 3000B and 1000C, SM Beta 58, SM 57 mics
dbx 286 pre-amp
Behringer outboard effects
Diverse electric and acoustic guitars and basses
and your typical assorted african instruments: Djembes, Kalangou, Kora, Gurumi, Algaita...
I have NEVER had a single problem with my gear in these harsh conditions, even though I expected it. I thought that my guitars (at least Ibanez' ultra-thin neck) would bend to the heat, but nope, everything still fine.
For the sandstorms and thunderstorms as well as the power breaks we just turn everything off and wait for them to pass. We sit on the terasse and enjoy nature.
Saving all data has become a second nature for me...
It's the heat that sometimes bothers us: We sit without shirts, sweating profusely, and hope that THAT last one was a good take so we can turn ventilation and A/C back on again.
Another interesting thing I had to get used to, is that some artists, having always sung traditional music, only have an ear for pentatonic scales. Suddenly they want to do a 'modern' song and wonder why they can't follow the melody I suggested. Or "dynamics": What the hell are "dynamics"? I still have to find a girl that can sing western style. Up to now, it is me and a male tenor friend going "shoop-di-doop!" for backing vocals.
Glad you're interested - there aren't lots of people I can talk about recording/mixing around here, so this list is really a treasure to me. God bless internet!
Regards
Hans
cerealchamp2000,
Sorry to dissapoint you, but I'm not a full-fledged engineer, just a passionate rock-pop music lover which with this expatriate contract was able to buy himself a small project studio. At days as Dr. Jekyll I work for the german development, and at nights I turn into Mr. Hyde and record african artists.
I'd love to be full-time engineer (and I'm not allowed to carry that title, am I?), but there is simply no market here. Niger is according to UN-stats the second poorest country in the world, and it shows in the musician's qualities: Who can bother about seriously learning an instrument when you have to feed yourself. Less pay studio rates.
Sierra Leone is last on those statistics, mainly because of the civil war - is there music production going on there?
The upside of my situation, is that in europe I would have never been able to choose the artists nor dictate my conditions. So at the moment I am recording and producing Niger's most famous rap-group and having the hell of a time doing it. I just asked them for a more or less symbolic (for me, not them) fee.
Another positive aspect is that my recordings run through all radio stations and discotheques here, so my credentials build up, in the hope that one day I can make a living out of it.
My home-studio is one of only two places to record: the other being the state-managed (depressingly run-down) Music-Centre with an old Fostex D-8, and QY-700 for sequencing, plus "engineers" that get payed per day and don't care what the end-product might be. Just imagine how dusty THAT place is...
My Home-Studio in my living room:
PIII 450
SW1000XG Card
Event PS-8
Behringer Mixing console (24ch)
Cubase 5.0
Roland XP-80
Yamaha CS-2X
AKG 3000B and 1000C, SM Beta 58, SM 57 mics
dbx 286 pre-amp
Behringer outboard effects
Diverse electric and acoustic guitars and basses
and your typical assorted african instruments: Djembes, Kalangou, Kora, Gurumi, Algaita...
I have NEVER had a single problem with my gear in these harsh conditions, even though I expected it. I thought that my guitars (at least Ibanez' ultra-thin neck) would bend to the heat, but nope, everything still fine.
For the sandstorms and thunderstorms as well as the power breaks we just turn everything off and wait for them to pass. We sit on the terasse and enjoy nature.
Saving all data has become a second nature for me...
It's the heat that sometimes bothers us: We sit without shirts, sweating profusely, and hope that THAT last one was a good take so we can turn ventilation and A/C back on again.
Another interesting thing I had to get used to, is that some artists, having always sung traditional music, only have an ear for pentatonic scales. Suddenly they want to do a 'modern' song and wonder why they can't follow the melody I suggested. Or "dynamics": What the hell are "dynamics"? I still have to find a girl that can sing western style. Up to now, it is me and a male tenor friend going "shoop-di-doop!" for backing vocals.
Glad you're interested - there aren't lots of people I can talk about recording/mixing around here, so this list is really a treasure to me. God bless internet!
Regards
Hans
