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Issue #221 – Student Successes
by Liya Swift
Recording Connection grad Nate Riley
“I wasn’t even finished with school yet…and he was talking about how he wanted to bring in more clients, and that’s when we started to have the conversation about what I have done in the past and I started bringing in ideas to sculpt and redo the website…So when we started talking about that [and] he could tell that I was really wanting to be involved. [Also], I was really motivated and picked up quickly with how his studio is wired. About halfway through my schooling with Recording Connection, I was able to effectively run everything pretty much alone, so that definitely made him excited. Once we started talking about the website, he was mentioning a staff page, and he said, ‘I would really like to take you on, if that’s something you would like, and I can get you some business cards’…And then we worked it all out. I take on my own clients, and yeah, it’s been a lot of fun.”
Have any projects you want to talk about ?
“I’m actually recording my own band in Anthony’s studio right now. It was this really big deal for the both of us. I was writing music for it for the better half of a year, and from the very beginning I said, ‘Yes, once it’s done I’m going to bring this in here.’ So we’ve been working on that now since August and just kind of fitting it in as the days go on, squeezing in between other clients and things like that. But that’s been a lot of fun because Anthony and I are really working together and really trying to create an art form. To me it’s fun because we’re not worried about the timeframe. It’s just all kind of this creative thing, and Anthony is a very strong music producer, which has also been very exciting. He knows music theory like no other, and he’s been bringing a lot of very strong ideas to the table. And it’s also just very exciting for me because I get to finally mess with all the things that I’ve always wanted to mess around with in the studio.”
So what’s your band like? What’s your sound?
“We’re like ambient folk rock. We have some heavy reverb on the guitar and the electric guitar backed up by acoustic and banjo, and then just really personal lyrics, I guess. It’s very melancholy sort of inspired stuff.”
So your folks, have they been supportive through this journey?
Yeah, definitely. My grandfather actually has been the main support through the whole thing. He’s really excited about it. It’s funny because I’m the only musician in my family entirely. I was always expressing the idea. They’re like, ‘Okay, awesome. You’re going to play guitar in the band, and maybe you guys will do something, but you need to find a way to sort of bring in an income or plant your roots,’ I guess. And when I took this decision, I’d always said, ‘Yeah, well that will be with audio engineering and music production,’ and I never really knew how I was going to get there, then I brought this up, and they’ve been very supportive and excited about the whole thing. They think it’s really cool. I think one of the big things is they’re like, ‘Okay, so the school actually puts you in a studio. That sounds very legitimate.’”
What’s your advice to Recording Connection students on how can they make the most of the program while they’re in it?
“Go to as many studio sessions that are offered to you as possible, always try to be present, and always be positive and motivated, and definitely pay attention because when you’re in the studio, time is valuable, so you need to be sharp and listen and be effective, and also just network a lot. I mean, the big thing is a lot of networking and a lot of expressing your interest and who you are and what you have to offer and yeah, then the rest just kind of falls in place like anything else…
It’s so vital to dig into your local music scene. It’s very important working in a studio, to get clients in and that aspect of networking…Go and support local music, local bands, go to local venues, and just look for the people in your area, get really involved with that and try to make an impact, especially offering to help. That sort of thing is really influential towards success.”
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