Author: Bill Lord, Executive Director

We had a successful test of our virtual recording technologies between Colorado and Maryland last night. Bradley was on drums at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs’ new and spectacular Ent Performing Arts Center’s. UCCS has a gorgeous recording studio in the Ent Center, and we are fortunate to have access to their facilities. UCCS IT folks worked with Brad and Dr. Jon to make sure the computers were able to talk with each other.

 

Bradley set up two overhead mics, a mic on snare and a mic on kick drum. We successfully recorded all 4 tracks virtually, yielding high-quality results. Dr. Jon and I were in Jon’s Live Room in Towson, MD, tracking the session and working toward a better a better understanding of how the virtual pieces fit together. There are a few minor issues to work through, but this experience positions us one step closer toward ensuring our recording sessions will be a smashing success!

Think about it… we just successfully recorded a 4-track session between two computers more than 1600 miles apart and achieved high quality results. How cool is that?!? This was great fun!

Special thanks to Bradley, Dr. Jon Cresci, and the folks at UCCS’ IT department, and the UCCS Visual And Performing Arts (VAPA) program.

This past weekend, we were hosted by The Hampton Inn & Suites on Opossumtown Parkway in Frederick, in order to test our virtual communication and recording technologies.

 

 

 

We utilized The Hampton’s Belmont Room as our session Live Room, and interfaced virtually to Dr. Jon Cresci ‘s Control Room in Towson, MD.

The session proved to be highly informative and – while a tech bug or two remain to be tweeked – was largely successful. Next weekend, we test between our Live Room at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs’ Ent Fine Arts Center, and Jon’s Maryland-based Control Room!

Many thanks to our gracious hosts for accommodating our tech dry run!

We are honored to have a new sponsor – The Hampton Inn & Suites.  A special nod of thanks to Reba Beaver, Director of Sales at the Opossumtown Pike, Frederick, MD location for working with Global Z! In my personal and professional travels, I always default to staying at The Hampton Inn, as I know I  can count on a great stay and exceptional customer service.

Here we go, folks! Recording dates are locked in!

We have a Live Room in Frederick, MD, one in Colorado Springs, and a Control Room in Towson, MD. We will be recording our Frederick-based sessions September 29-30, and our Colorado Springs session October 6.

Some very cool stuff evolving behind the scenes I will report on soon 🙂

It is so cool to see this project coming together! Now that our song is selected, we are actively recruiting the necessary musicians. In order to minimize complications, we are recruiting musicians from our networks in Colorado and Maryland. We have some exceptional talent lined up. There are still some logistical challenges to negotiate, but we are looking to schedule recording sessions late this Summer.

The Board Members listened to and ranked all song submissions using a 40 point scoring system. In the end, the tune with the highest tally was “Come Home,” by Maryland-based songwriter Seth Jernigan. There was some tough competition, but at the end of the day, Come Home came through as our choice for Phase I.

Many thanks to all songwriters who took the time to submit a song for us to consider. By taking the time to submit your fine works, you are supporting us and our ability to advance our mission.

Next up, we decide what musicians will be selected to include on our virtual recording sessions. This is about to get very exciting and interesting!

We have had some excellent tunes floated our way for consideration to be used in our Phase I Project! The reviewers have scored the submitted songs and we have indeed selected a song for the Project. We are waiting until the songwriter reviews and signs off on our single song agreement before we announce our decision. As soon as we have the agreement in hand, I will publicly announce the song and author.

Many thanks again to those who have submitted works, your suggestions and support. Stay tuned for more news soon…

I cannot tell you how happy and proud I am of the two student teams that were assigned to our organization this Spring. The teams were as follows:

Acoustics Team
Schylar Woods – Team Leader
Chris Breuer
Ben Dolph
Hayden Sinchak

Database Team
Eli Brainard – Team Leader
Leonardo Signorelli
Ian Giacomelli
Melissa Baumgardner
Jessica Bangs

Schylar and crew researched and developed strategies for how to treat  home and school spaces with commonly available materials to help  ensure musicians will achieve superior recordings in spaces not designed for audio production.

Eli and team researched, configured and installed a database on our DreamHost website that allows us to upload microphone characteristics data pertaining to mics in our mic locker.

Both teams did a superb job and went beyond the scope of agreement.

While I am not able to make the microphone characteristics database public due to partnership agreements, I can release a link to the work of the Acoustics Team.

DIY Acoustics

A special nod of thanks to the UCCS BI Profs. They are the master facilitators who ensure these projects happen:
Dr. Jenifer Robertson
Dr. Corrine Harmon
Dr. Nina Polok (Program Director)

I hope you derive benefit and enjoyment from the teams’ innovative and good works.

We have received some fine song submissions. Out of this pool of original  compositions, only one will be selected to be recorded as part of our Americana Phase I Proof of Concept Project. Our Board Members have begun reviewing all submissions and and will ultimately choose which song will be our Americana tune for 2018! The name of the songwriter and the song’s title will be announced May 21st.

Once the song is selected, next steps include determining what vocals and instruments are needed to help make our production the best it can be. Then, musicians based out of Maryland and Colorado will be selected. Finally, it is on to the recording, mixing and mastering. We will apply a hybrid recording strategy with the cooperation of musicians and supporting partner institutions! We are loosely scheduled to record the song mid-to-late Summer, depending on logistics.

Visit us over the next few weeks to learn more about our wonderful musicians, our unique recording strategy, and get ready to hear our first recorded work! 2018 is a big year for Global Z!

This Winter has been crazy with late March and early April snows. Spring has finally arrived in Maryland, and along with the promise of flower blossoms, fresh green leaves, and lawns that need mowing, Global Z has been busy with our partner institutions moving our mission forward.

Our two UCCS BI student teams have been doing amazing work that I am looking forward to releasing to the public in a month or so. Meanwhile, the FCC Audio Production students have been conducting more microphone characteristics analyses which have been revealing some surprising results!

We have also altered our Phase I song submission requirements in order to have access to a wider range of works to choose from by enlisting the assistance of the amazing artistic community at Just Plain Folks.

So, there has been lots of work going on behind the scenes these past few months and May through July promises to produce some exciting developments!

A huge nod of thanks to the staff, profs, students, and artists at UCCS BI, FCC Audio Production, and Just Plain Folks!