Recording Session with Hello Hugo

Asheville, NC - Sep. 25
Recording Session with Hello Hugo

What's up everyone? Last weekend I had the opportunity to record a sick, local band out of Asheville, Hello Hugo. I know the drummer Reid Weigner from my percussion class, so we made plans to track his band, with one of the songs being used as the recording project for my audio class.

As a student of the Music Technology program at UNC Asheville I'm spoiled with the wide array of professional recording gear for me to use on my recording sessions for whatever I want. For this session, we tracked the drums in the big rehearsal room above with the rest of the band members in the room to make eye-contact. The signals from the guitars and keyboard were sent out to isolated areas of the building and recorded using high quality microphones. We took up so much space in the building that I ran out of mic cables.

Prior to the session, I hadn't heard much of Hello Hugo's material, but I knew it was very dynamic and organic, with acoustic instruments blended with all sorts of Moog gear and analog effects. Sitting in the control room I was amazed at how talented this group of musicians played along with one another and how natural the music sounded. We recorded four songs total, and all of the songs were quite long, but very interesting, filled with meter changes, hockets, quiet sections, and loud sections.

Working with other bands and musicians is a great way to learn and get better at what you do. This was one of the first times where I wasn't the producer of the song, but strictly an engineer trying to get the sound the band wanted. It was a great experience recording Hello Hugo and I plan on working with the drummer, Reid on an IRD project for the future.

Check out their music at: http://www.myspace.com/hellohugomusic

For those of you who love music like I do continue to listen and create. We all play a part in the next generation of music and culture!