Written by Shan Zhi Liu 01/03/2024
Here at South Bound Records, we may act all put together and professional and scholarly and dignified and whatever-else-may-have-you, but a day in the studio does not come without our North's and South's. (or as normal people say, up's and down's... so sue me) Here's just a few examples written after the fact from just the first few weeks of our ventures.
Let it be known that this is not South Bound whining or looking for pity. We are merely human after all, and stories arise from conflict.
Starting off strong with Dallas, Chief Sound Engineer, head of all things audible and the sponge of handling audio headaches. These pains may not be caused by ear fatigue however. One of the songs that South Bound has taken on for our upcoming release features music with no fixed tempo.
Thats right, no bpm, just free time grooves.
And not to undersell the song in any way of course, the way that the ebb and flow of the song freely dictates the groove at any one given moment, with even a slow section to begin that speeds up halfway, makes for one of the most unique songs we've ever worked on. However as any audio engineer that has tried editing a song knows, without a fixed tempo and grid to work upon, fixing the timing of every beat of any instrument becomes a arduous task of trying to conform every instrument to each other without much of any reference.
James at tech desk also had to tell me "Make sure your artists wear shoes in our studios, it's a health hazard"
We must mention Rae, our graphic design wiz. A busy individual, with all 8 hands buried deep within multiple projects, there is a lot to do if your name is Rae. However this really is a story less of project logistics, but of an angry Melburnian rant. Melbourne has many great things; musicians; art; culture; etc; etc. A functional public transport system, it does not.
Just the other day, Rae was forced to reside in a bar near the sub-dominant Melburnian shoulder station loved by all as Richmond Station, as the train was delayed.
You’d think so but I’m surrounded by normies and mainstream R&B music lol
This is not just public transport hell, this is hell down South within a hell on Planet Earth that no living mortal should ever have to face... the wrath of soy normies... and main. stream. Arr. And. Bee.
Last but not least, it has been a constant uphill battle on the back end of South Bound to manage files, organise backups, and to maintain professional integrity in the work that we do... as professional as we can aspire to be.
As with any project upon this scale, we have backups of our backups. Two versions of each file on different locations at any given time, constant record of photos and videos, documentation of our work, I needn't tell you the rest. However, when your professional cloud backup plan is reaching its limit of 200 gigabytes (yes we are at that point), one cannot help but be slightly concerned. How else to battle this but to continue on? We are only a third of the way through our production timeline as well, how much more must we endure? When will we figure out solutions for our solutions? Backups of our backups of our backups? And when will anyone ever learn the meaning of life...
These are questions for the distant, but near, future. For now, I'm going to wrap up this mournful blog post. :)
Thank you always for reading this somewhat problematic blog post to the end! Your support and continued interest in our work is everything we strive for, so please provide your feedback for us by following us on our website and socials. Things are better down South, and it is only going to get better from here. Pessimism be damned!
As always, inviting you down under. 🇦🇺
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