When I was asked to begin a monthly column on the goings on around LIRS the first word that came to mind was BUSY. Busy, busy, busy!! What’s happening to keep us so busy, you ask? Well, let me tell you…

The Recording School is rolling along with more and more part time students making the move to the digital realm, where all the hard work and mixing in the analog studios really come together with more sessions and harder mix projects. The students enrolled in the full time summer session are nearing completion of the course and will soon leave the Long Island nest and venture out into the world to ply their newly acquired trade as professional studio and live sound engineers.

While we’re on the subject of the students and the digital world, I am proud to announce the opening of our latest digital mix room, MIX 001. It is fully equipped with the new Tascam digital mixer (with fully automated faders) and it’s companion recorder, the Tascam MX-2424 hard disc recorder. Now we are able to take tracks from our Pro Tools sessions in Studios A and C and transfer them to this new system for the students just beginning to learn the ins and outs of digital recording and mixing.

And that’s just the beginning. As you may or may not know, we are more than just a recording school. We are the largest fully functioning recording studio in Central Kentucky ! And with this comes recording sessions…lots of recording sessions! I’ll let you in on a few of the highlights of the past month…

Contemporary Christian artist Tony Stone finished the recording and mixing of his debut CD “Call Of The Cross” with yours truly behind the board for the recording of basic tracks and LIRCo engineer Erin Cheeks stepping in to pull it all together with a great mix. The CD was recorded in our main room, Studio A, and is currently in production with a release date in August.

Vocalist Chelsea Renee is also recording here debut CD, only she’s in our latest Pro Tools powered room, Studio C. Erin is at the board for the vocal sessions. She and Chelsea are deep into the process of recording the master vocal takes and I have to say the tracks I’ve heard sound great.

Local bands Flatlyne and The Singles recently ventured in to record their latest demos. Both bands used Studio A and The Singles were recorded by our latest LIRS grad Nick Oberg.

Studio A isn’t the only room around here getting business these days. Our ADAT room, Studio B, is seeing it’s fair share as well. Local alt. rockers Partly Cloudy, having finished production on their latest release “State Of Mind ”, have begun rehearsing for their upcoming tour. Kentucky’s latest entrant into the current country scene, Jensen Moore, has been utilizing the room to work with her backing vocalists on some new tunes before she hits the trail as well.

Whew!! So as you can see, there’s always something happening around here to keep us busy. But remember, no matter how busy we are, we are always willing to answer questions and give you complete tour of our facilities; so give us a call and COME ON DOWN!! Until then, keep dreaming the dream and I’ll be back next month to give you another peak the world of a recording studio.

Steve Nall
Head Engineer, LIRS