The Idea
It all started as an impossible, ambitious idea to try to combine my love for performing in the St Peter's jazz band and my passionate interest in production and studio recording. I had missed performing in an ensemble setting and wanted to take as much advantage of my college's facilities, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to push myself with a massive project, while providing something as a thank you for the music department at St Peter's High School. It turned to be a great experience for everyone, especially the musicians who had never stepped into a studio before.
How to do it
I first had to think about how I was going to pull this project off. There was a problem, the studio was not large enough to house all of the musicians in the jazz band to record live. I had to divide the band up into separate sessions, specifically focused on each element of the ensemble. By the end of the week, creating a complete band performance.
DAY 1: Drums, Bass, Percussion
DAY 2: Guitars, Piano
DAY 3: Brass Group
DAY 4: Vocals
The issue was the band up until now had never played individually before, they're conducted to perform in unison for the Cheltenham Jazz Festival every year. Therefore I had to first return to the school to catch them at one of their rehearsals. I recorded rough guide tracks of them performing each song, without any solo elements as they're most often improvised for each performance. This was to create an estimation of the feeling and response from playing with the band in the studio within their headphones.