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The past ten days, I have sat down with Dr. Jonathan Cresci to assemble the final mix of our Phase I song, ‘Come Home.’ Folks, it is sounding really good! Jon is going to do work his magic to come up with a final mix/master. We are on schedule to wrap up the song by end of January! Almost done!

“Welcome” to Dr. Jonathan Cresci to our Board of Directors! Jon is officially our Director of Audio Production. Global Z has benefited from Jon’s production assistance over the past many months, and he brings a tremendous depth of knowledge and experience. We are thrilled to have him  as a member of our team.

We are once again thrilled to be working with a graduate student team from the University of New Mexico OILS (Organization, Information and Learning Sciences) program for the Spring 2019 semester.

https://oils.unm.edu/

Under the guidance of Dr. Damien Sanchez, these talented students will be working to further develop our Phase II Learning Management System and collaborate with our subject matter expert scholars to design related content.

When I think about December, I typically think about… well, all things holiday-related. Spending time with family, the year coming to an end, and the beginning of a new year filled with potential and possibilities. But I have to admit, this year was different. With the help of Board Members Bradley Plesz and Dr. Jan Dommerholt, I could not help but be thrilled with all Global Z achieved in 2018.

During 2018, we collaborated with our educational partners to produce some remarkable results:

• Frederick Children’s Choir – Lee Fuhr: Provided vocalists to deliver lead vocals for Phase I which provided an opportunity for them to experience recording a commercial-quality song virtually and face-to-face
• Frederick Community College Audio Arts Program – Dr. Jonathan Cresci: An FCC student wrote the song selected for Phase I; two  FCC student musicians were recorded on the Project;  FCC audio arts students received hands-on experience testing microphones and recording musicians; Audio Arts Director, Dr. Jonathan Cresci, served as Lead Audio Engineer and Associate Producer on the Phase I Project
• North Bethesda Middle School Chorus – Jason McFeaters: This award-winning chorus worked with Global Z to test microphones allowing us to discern which mics performed best while recording a middle school chorus;  students learned fundamentals of digital audio production and related equipment; twenty six members of the chorus provided backing vocals in and experienced recording a commercial-quality production virtually
• The Academy for the Fine Arts-Frederick County Public Schools – Jonathan Kurtz: AFA provided two student musicians who were recorded for the Project
• University of New Mexico Organization, Information & Learning Sciences – Dr. Damien Sanchez: Graduate students researched and created a virtual Learning Management System (LMS) space that will be used during Phase II. Dr. James Honeycutt of Louisiana State University provided content was uploaded into the course for successful beta testing
• Matthew Podschweit – provided superb choral arrangements
• University of Colorado Colorado Springs Visual and Performing Arts – Dr. Glen Whitehead: VAPA sponsored our organization and provided a state-of-the-art studio space in the new Ent Center for the Performing Arts from which we recorded a drum kit and keyboards (thanks to VAPA staff, the UCCS IT Department, and Dr. Glen Whitehead – a longtime supporter of Global Z)
• University of Colorado Colorado Springs Bachelor of Innovation Program – Dr. Jenifer Robertson: Collaborated with four student teams resulting in four separate  outcomes.

1. Students produced an online resource that provides guidance with how to treat common spaces in preparation to record audio
2. Microphone database – students produced an online microphone database where data about the characteristics about each microphone can be stored including photos and audio samples
3. Microphone placement application – students produced an application that illustrates how and where to place microphones to record specific instruments
4. Event fundraising strategy – students produced an event planning strategy as to how best to plan for and manage a 5K fundraising event near our home base in MD

A special note of thanks goes out to our sponsors. DreamHost continued to provide excellent, trouble-free, and easy to use Internet hosting services. We had yet another year of collaborating with sE Electronics who provided us with exceptional quality microphones for our Phase I recording sessions. And a big nod of thanks to Hampton Inn & Suites (Ft. Detrick, MD) for providing a live room for our Maryland-based musicians to perform from.

I also want to thank the 32 musicians as well as their families for the trust and support you have extended us to work with your talented young artists.

The song is nearly done. Dr. Cresci and I are working through January to put the final touches on it, so look for a release toward the end of the month! We will also release exciting news about Phase II in the near future. It will be a very cool Project!

Happy New Year One and All.

Summer Grove teamed up with songwriter/singer Seth Jernigan to record a lead vocal duet on one of Seth’s original tunes and our Phase I Project song, ‘Come Home.’ They knocked it out of the park! Audio Production students at FCC did an excellent job making the song sound its technical best under the guidance of Dr. Cresci. Next up, mixing and mastering! We are so close to being finished!

I posted an article in LinkedIn, titled, “Synchronous Virtual Audio Production: Navigating Turbulent Uncharted Waters.”

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/synchronous-virtual-audio-production-navigating-waters-bill-lord-edd/

The article features virtual synchronous audio production tech-related lessons learned from our Phase I Proof of Concept Project. It seems to be generating quite a bit of interest on LinkedIn as well as on our Facebook site.

Upon review of our MD and CO recordings, we are incredibly please with our results. The quality is excellent. That said, we need to go a new direction with a couple of instruments. Hopefully we can knock this production adjustments out in a few weeks. Then, it is on to post-production!

Moving right along…

We had an excellent time recording drums, keyboard, and shaker October 6th. Our percussionist and pianist were based out the University of Colorado Colorado Spring’s Ent Center for the Arts, while Dr. Jonathan Cresci and I sat at the Control Room in Towson, MD.

Many thanks go out to the UCCS IT Team and VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) for helping us out with logistical stuff. Also, ‘hello’ to Dr. Glen Whitehead, Director of the UCCS Music Program!

Wow, this has been an amazing weekend! Saturday and Sunday, The Hampton Inn and Suites by Fort Detrick kindly hosted The Global Z Recording Project. Using virtual recording technologies stretched between Frederick, MD and Towson, MD, we recorded:

• acoustic guitar
• electric guitar
• bass guitar
• backing vocals
• fiddle
• lead male and female vocals

Hats off to Dr. Jon! Dr. Jonathan Cresci worked long hours with us to troubleshoot the virtual recording technologies and make this possibility a reality. Without a doubt, we learned a great deal and confirmed the model and technology of choice are capable of achieving excellent virtual collaborative recordings.

We are also thankful to receive several microphones to use during the project by sE Electronics, including their brand new sE2300 multi-pattern condenser mic. The quality achieved from use of the sE mics is top-drawer.

In addition, the musicians/vocalists did an incredible job recording their individual parts. The level of talent is quite remarkable.

Next weekend, we record the Colorado session. Hard to believe this project is finally coming together since it has been in the planning stages for more than a decade. The thing is, it has taken the talent and time of so many people to make it a reality.

Global Z is dependent on the kindness and  assistance of others. Heartfelt thanks to all who contributed your time and expertise.

We have all the musicians lined up for our first recording project and they are all truly exceptional. We are looking good to record our Maryland artists September 29-30, and our Colorado artists October 6. What a truly exciting event!

It has taken the contributions of a number of kind people and sponsors to get us here, for which we are incredibly thankful.