Several lucky Nimbus students were chosen to join the team up at the Peak Performance Project Bootcamp this week. Here are their initial reports!
Matt Beebe
Here I sit at the beautiful Rock Ridge Canyon Resort in BC’s majestic interior and I begin to contemplate the significance of this new journey myself and 7 of my Nimbus School classmates embarked upon mere hours ago.
Since leaving Nimbus yesterday at “10 in the morning” we made the 4ish hour journey through the rocks and twists ever climbing to and for the Peak.
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We arrived early evening and immediately began unloading all the computers, interfaces, hardware, microphones, monitors, headphones, cables and various toys Nygel got from Long and McQuade and jumped to turning 8 rooms in a cabin from camp style bunk beds for the kiddies in to 4 control rooms and control rooms for the kiddies in all of us bursting at the seams to capture some amazing sound which undoubtedly will come soon…..oh so soon.
Today we put the final touches on our rooms building drum caves out of bunk beds turned on their ends, mattresses, blankets and even sticks in some cases. Testing the signal flows and insure we are ready for the inevitable audio onslaught coming our way tomorrow.
Day 2
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Spirits remain high and sleep deprivation is not yet a factor. Last night’s showcases were awesome and the post show hockey game proved to be a comradery building experience as the faculty and the artist squared off in a very close game of late night orange ball play.
Today the real work begins as the Nimbus team and our respective producers begin gearing up for our late night sessions with the band pairings.
Tonight, Howard Redekopp and I will be recording beds for Little India and Two Bears North’s collaborative effort and I am definitely excited to get this musical train on the tracks.
Jordain Culpepper
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We arrived to a smoke filled Rockridge Canyon Yesterday and immediately started setting up the studios. With everything in order, earlier than expected, we got a pretty good sleep. This morning we got sound and power in all the studios, tested gear and basically got familiar with everything we are going to be using for the next seven days. Today has been pretty calm as we and the bands get settled in, The water on the lake reflects that…it makes a good mirror.
Audrey and Jana (Floaters)
Day 1
Jana and I knew we we’re going to be best buds by the end of the week, as we’re both floaters and have the same job pretty much everyday. I like it. It’s like working with a little sister. Exciting!
We hit the road, and man did we take a ton of stops (Subway, DQ, Liquor store, even at a river creek) which was pretty fun. Jana got DQ ice cream, but didn’t share. It was quite upsetting.
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Jana, Audrey and Stephanie
We got to Rockridge, and the place is MASSIVE! Lodges are so beautiful and big with the what I call, “man maintained body of water” (man made lake), sports courts, launch blob, a zipline, and many more exciting activities.
We loaded gears and equipment into the recording lodge, and Nygel was like our Santa Claus as he distributed microphones, cables and many more awesome gears to each room. We were all drooling.
We started setting up 4 bunk rooms and transformed them into 2 live rooms and 2 control rooms. The 8 of us Numbuds had a BLAST! We we’re having so much fun goofing around and bonding while getting stuff done. Which apparently was in record time, so yay us!
After the studios we’re all set up, Jana and I then headed to the hall to set up the stage. We we’re also with Connor. It was a long night, we finished putting the lights, trusses, curtains and video up around 1 am. We we’re soooo tired and it was only day 1.
We got back to our lodge and we saw everyone having a good ole time listening to Justin Bieber while sippin’ on some tea. Yes, including Nygel, Cody and Alyssa. It was pretty cute to witness.
The night was not over yet… After everyone got tired of listening to Justin Bieber, the 8 of us head up to our lodge, and as crazy as it sounds, and as tired as we we’re… We decided to play a crazy game of SPOONS, sober. Definitely brought us all closer together.
Then we all passed out at 4 am.
Day 2
Woke up around 6:30 am to get ready for the day. Jay and I started work at the concert hall right away to finish setting up lights, video and audio. The day started a bit slow as we waited for the rest of the staff to arrive, probably around lunch time it got super hectic. Sound and lighting techs running around finishing up audio and the stage and making sure the hall is all ready to go!
Sound check ran from 4:30pm to 7pm with the first 4 bands (Cow Puncher, Little India, Royal Foundry and Jesse Roper) which I was sooo stoked about. Jay and I have worked with everyone during the Khatsalano Festival at the Peak stage and I must say so far, Little India and Jesse Roper are my favourites!
After dinner, the first showcase started. The bands did well. Being the first night and first showcase, they were kind of like the “guinea pigs” as the technical side had to be perfected and adjusted during they’re showcase. The hall was huuuuuge, the room had so much room sound and reverb and delay and it was difficult to get a tighter sound and made the over all sound a bit washy and unclear. The bands handled it very well though. For the showcase, Jana and the rest of the Nimbuds did changeovers while I was appointed to man the slider video camera, which was a new experience for me as I was pulled aside just before the showcase and oriented how to use the system. It was really fun and I got creative towards the end as I got used to it.
By this time, Jana and I are closer than ever. We have realized that when we’re around each other, we get reaaaaally weird. Maybe it’s coz we’re both tired. Or maybe coz we’re just born this way.
Connor Head
Hello!
We’ve arrived at the beautiful Rockridge Canyon for what people have told me will be the most intense week of Nimbus. So far, so true. We’ve converted eight summer camp cabins into four fully functioning recording studios, set up in preparation for the artist showcases, and finished preproduction for all the singles we are going to be recording, and it’s only day two.
I’ll be assisting Russell Broom all week as he records singles for Jesse Roper/Northern Beauties and JP Maurice/The Wisers.
It’s been great seeing how he interacts with both the bands and their personalities, and most importantly their songs. After just the first listen to the songs he already knows the songs strong points and weak points, and how best to deal with both. I’m looking forward to seeing these songs come to life over the next week.
Caleb Hardy
Day 1 and a half at Peak Boot Camp
We wasted no time once arriving at the camp, we immediately began to tear down each bunk room – flipping beds, stacking dressers, piling up mattresses – all to begin forming each live room and control room. Soon after that we divided out all the cables, mics, and various studio equipment. Once taking inventory of the gear we had been given we organized, patched, and wired in our systems until it became a fully functional studio live room and control room. Lot’s more to come, bands and producers are just starting to roll in and get everything signed.
end post. Aug 27th, 12:50 pm
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After lunch I met with my producer Josh Gwilliam, he’s a super rad dude. We did Prepro with our four bands – Mindil Beach, Transit, Find the Others, and The Royal Foundry. Everyone was so talented, and the songs came together so quick, can’t wait to start tracking!
After pre pro we ate dinner.
After dinner Josh and I set up our room, we got Mindil Beach’s drums all set up as well as Josh’s gear.
After showcases there was a hockey game – Faculty vs Bands.
It was super competitive, and I forgot I was at a recording camp for that entire hour. It was great. So great. We won 5-4 and they even had this trophy for the winner. Nygel was surprisingly not bad, I’ve never seen him move so fast – he must really hate losing. Good job Nygel.
Tanner MidKiff
Day 1 — The Drive Up and the Studios
An adventure was beginning — one of service, one of experience, and one of very little sleep. Getting up and out of the city Wednesday morning was full of laughter, bonding, and – of course – nervous excitement. We made it up to Rock Ridge Canyon in Princeton by the late afternoon and straight away were put to work. Our job was to convert eight camp dorm rooms into five recording studios, complete with a control room and a live room, inventoried gear, cables run, and save for the construction and isolation aspects, most aspects of an actual recording studio.
The studios came along much more quickly than we had originally hoped or anticipated. We worked as a team to move furniture and beds against walls, tipping bunk beds on their ends and dragging heavy safe-carrying shelving units across carpet to try and create as much room as possible in the rooms, all the while trying to be contentious about proper baffling and isolation in awkward rooms filled with various reflective surfaces.
Following that, we split up with our huge piles of gear and spent the rest of the night unpacking it all, setting it up, flagging it all with each studio’s own coloured tape (I had red – Studio 4!) , and creating a detailed inventory for bringing it all back home at the end of the hectic week. All that was left was to check signal flow and that everything was working. The only problem was that we didn’t quite have power bars and power cables for our rooms yet, so checking anything wasn’t really feasible until the next day. Everyone finished off the night by vibing out their rooms a little bit before relaxing and heading to bed at 3am to be up the next morning for a full day of work.
Oh, and did I mention the view?
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