Our Nimbus Crew up at the Peak Performance Project (PPP Bootcamp) 2015, fill us in on what’s been happening up at the amazing Rockridge Canyon! Read on to hear from our students on their once-in-a-lifetime experience recording and engineering with Peak Performance Project finalists and world class producers.
Day 3
Connor Head
Things are going great here at PPP Bootcamp. I think all of us Nimbus crew are a little tired at the moment, but there’s a strange hazy energy from everything going on around us. Unlimited coffee helps too, I guess.
Last night’s showcase went a little later than expected, and despite the fact that bed was calling us, we all made our way down to the hockey court for a faculty vs musician game. Things got heated. Knees got bruised, fingers got smashed, but in the end we took the win. All we could wish for was to make GGGarth proud. A GGGreat success.
Tonight will be the first round of studio sessions. I’ve spent the morning finalizing all the setup for one of the studios. Getting I/O sorted, drums mic’d, plugins installed, outboard gear routed, and everything in-between.Now the final touches of decoration before the artists come to record.
I’m blown away by the talent here. Northern Beauties/Jesse Roper and JP Maurice/The Wisers have paired up and written two seriously amazing songs. And for the rest of the bands – I’ll just have to wait until the last night to hear the final products.
Audrey Arellano
Day 3 started a little later for us all, which was quite nice and we all got to catch up on a little bit of sleep. After breakfast Alberta producer Josh Gwilliam, Caleb, the film crew and I hiked up to the peak of the mountain, and the canyon to record some snare samples, and it was probably one of the highlights of the camp so far. And the samples sound huge and awesome!
On our way back down, we took a longer route and maybe got lost for a bit.. (the moment you realize, that you all messed up and missed lunch). But good thing we got some pretty cool nimbuds back at camp and put aside TACOS for us. The tacos were the only motivation we had to get through the rocky canyon and get back to the camp.
After dinner, the showcase started rolling.. ON TIME! And all the bands tonight killed it. Everyone did really well. And I do have a new favourite band who caught my attention, Bed of Stars. Really talented young group.
After the showcase, 8 bands, 4 producers and 8 Nimbuds head to the studio to start recording from 10pm-2am. After the sessions, the studios were torn down and set up for the next producers and artists that are in session for the next day!
Then bed time for us for a couple hours.. and repeat!
Tanner Midkiff
The Recording Begins!
Today was a scramble — and only a taste of what was to come in the next several days. Every Nimbus student was busy all day with a mix of helping bring gear from where it’d being stored into the studios, setting up their sessions with their producers, and getting ready for the night’s showcase.
My day was pretty straightforward: set up drums and get the studio and session perfect for Jeff – the producer – and the artists: Joy District and Braden Gates. Aside from being called on by other things like gear loads and team pow-wow’s, my day consisted of setting up drums and bass and getting sounds.
By the time Jeff and I were getting ready to get the studio finalized and ready for the artists, we took studio vibe to the next level and created the ultimate white-sheeted fantasy studio, complete with giant glowing balls and mirror tables and – of course – all white… everywhere!
The artists arrived and were super stoked on the vibe that was happening. We got some bed tracks down and ready for overdubs the next day. It was great to see Jeff in action working alongside artists to create a musical masterpiece. I am definitely learning a lot just being here assisting and observing.
By the time 5am rolled around, the studio was torn and setup for the next day, the session cleaned up and ready for sample replacement and overdubs, and I was asleep in my bed.
Matt Beebe
On the night of day 2 we began beds on the yet to be named collaboration between BC’s Little India and Alberta’ Two Bears North. We laid the drum tracks with relative ease and promptly moved on to some sweet, funky bass lines.
With those low end lovelies in place and merely 15 minutes left before the ever encroaching 2 o’clock cut off, we fervently began to track the guitars. Conan from Little India laid down some swelly, chorusy guitar chords for the chorus and a couple small licks with a crazy loop distorted finish controlled by Howard on Conan’s guitar petals.
Shawn Cole, the keeper of time, let us know it was time to shut ‘er down but not before encouraging us to lay down another take. One last take. The room fell silent, except for the KRKs and the six-string slinger at his guns.
With the push of a command and a space bar the cursor began flowing down the timeline leaving a trail of red and transients in it ‘s wake. Was it magical? Were mouths left agape? Was the scent of accomplishment heavy in the air mixed with the inevitable musk of musicians and the ghosts of campers past? You will have to wait to hear the answer to those questions my friends.
I can, however say one thing: I woke up this morning with a song jammed in my head and a smile on my face despite only sleeping for a few hours on a mattress far too short for this Matt’s rest.
Caleb Hardy
Today was a very cool experience. My producer, Audrey, Jason and I took a portable Roland recorder and a snare drum and went on a hike up to the top of the Pinnacle Viewpoint to gather snare samples. We took samples from three different locations on the way up, and then went off the trail and staggered our way down into a valley to do the final samples. It took up about half of our day, but was so worth it! Later that day we spent time in our studio manipulating the samples in Pro Tools to create a large, echoing blast of a snare which we will use in the production of our songs.
Our first tracking session was tonight with Mindil Beach and Transit, and it went very well. It was cool to watch how Josh Gwilliam approaches the song and keeps the vibe going. All musicians and vocalists were absolutely on point with their parts, and we finished more than expected within our four hour time slot.
At 2am we were all finished and began cleaning out the room! It was a late night and an even earlier morning but it’s always a fun and exciting time!
Day 4
Connor Head
Here we are, day 4 already. Everything is going smoothly. Last night was our first batch of recording sessions in the cabins.
It’s very cool seeing the different work flows of the producers here. Getting great sounds and great performances is important, but keeping the vibe positive is no secondary task to them. It’s nothing but laughs and hard work going on in the studio, which is why all of us are pursuing this career – its a passion.
No matter how much you prepare yourself for the sessions, you can never fully know what it is you’re about to walk in to. Gear can malfunction, moods can swing, and great ideas can come out of nowhere. At the end of the day, we are here to capture the art these musicians have made, and are making. So there’s something to be said about being prepared, yet leaving room for unexpected moments to unfold themselves in the studio.
The track Russell and I are working on is starting to come together quite nicely. Last night we tracked the bed tracks till 2am, and got to bed around 4am. Tomorrow night we’ll be finishing off overdubs for this single, and then we’ll be moving on to tracking the next song.
Audrey Arellano
After a long Day 3, we are all running on close to no sleep as the recording sessions started on Day 2. Same routine, wake up early to the loud horn scream for breakfast, set up the studios for the next producers and bands, eat lunch, work, eat dinner, showcase, then studio session.
Today was a bit different for me in a good way. I got to run video for the day and night which gave me a pretty neat chance to sit in through workshops and seminars, and definitely gave me an opportunity to learn as an artist and meet a lot of the bands.
The showcase was really exciting for me tonight. All of the bands killed it. I really enjoyed everyone’s music. Northern Beauties and The Velvetines from Alberta were my favourite tonight.
After the showcase the producers and the bands head to the recording lodge and record until 2 am while the rest get to enjoy a night of karaoke! Connor, Jana and I were the floaters and spent the night editing videos, making/fixing cables and pedals, and helping out the 5 sessions.
Everyone hit the hay late after tearing down the studios and setting up for the next sessions the next day and do it all over again!
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