rays and records: snow sessions vol. 2
5 min
Hello everyone, it's Aaron! One year later and I’m thrilled to be back to share a behind-the-scenes scoop for Snow Sessions Volume 2.
Throughout this blog, we’re going to dive into everything that went down the weekend we recorded the album. If you didn’t know, ‘Snow Sessions’ is an annual EP featuring unique, live, single-take performances by 4 rising artists, filmed at the RRA studio in Rahway, New Jersey. This project has served as a great opportunity to not only grow as a company, but also bring talented folks together to create a lineup of compelling work!
With every project at RRA, we really try to push ourselves to innovate while staying true to our core identity. This year, we wanted to emphasize the live feel of the performances, encouraging each artist to have at least one live element besides their vocal or lead. And with more hands-on production, we were also able to capture behind-the-scenes moments to build excitement for the album release.
Rohan (RMS) had the largest setup of the day. With three instrumentalists and RMS at the helm, we needed a total of 7 inputs to accommodate the whole band's setup. At RRA, our studio is typically only setup to handle 4 inputs at a time with the Audient iD44 interface, which typically is more than enough coverage. However, needing 7 for RMS, we ended up pulling out a second system to handle the extra load. Though it’s not as ideal to run a session on two separate computers, half the fun of a live setting is going with the flow and making everything work with what's on hand.
Our primary system tracked the essentials. We recorded RMS through the AKG C214, a staple at our studio. Then keys, bass, and guitar through Radial Direct Input boxes. The second system took another output of the keys for reference when syncing, and then backing vocals with a Shure SM7B and two SM57s for the band members.
Lydia Samuel’s session was a good break in the day for us as engineers. At this point, we had already tackled both the full band performances of RMS and Janaki. Lydia’s performance of ‘After 8’ wound up being the most stripped down and intimate. With previous sessions pushing us to have enough inputs to pull out a second system, the simplicity of recording just two tracks allowed us to pull back most of our gear and just enjoy the performances.
For this song, we just recorded Lydia’s vocals and the keyboard output. Outside of some really brief troubleshooting to figure out how to get an output from the pianist’s keyboard, this session was less demanding on the technical side, allowing us to spend more time perfecting our cinematography. On the mixing side of things, the keyboard was a very thin-sounding mono source. We beefed it up using subharmonic exciters like Waves RBass, as well as stereo wideners like Waves S1 Imager, to get to the sound you hear.
Shyam (AREUBLUE)’s setup, in the best way, shared no similarities to the rest of our lineup. Which gave me the opportunity to do my two favorite things - troubleshoot and experiment. AREUBLUE performed ‘Tidings’ with his handpan and triggered his backing track live with Ableton. Being the only song without a lead vocal, the handpan became the focus of our setup. To capture the handpan, I brought with me two Rode M3 microphones. After playing with placement a bit, we were able to find a sweet spot of where we felt the recording captured the unique image and detail of the instrument. One of these microphones was used in the first ever recording I did which I then used as a submission to college. Later on gifted to me, it's quite special every time I get to make use of it.
Since AREUBLUE’s performance was on the floor, we needed to play around with the camera placement. One of the most interesting aspects of watching AREUBLUE’s performance on the day of our session was seeing the improvised nature of his music. Because he is able to trigger live changes and elements of the arrangement, each take we did of his performance was completely unique.
Janaki’s performance, though the last in our release lineup, was the first recording of the day. And man, what a way to kick it off! As one of the Fellowship 2023 winners, we were excited to collaborate with her again and bring a live rendition of her hit song to life.
For her performance, Janaki was accompanied by both a pianist and a guitarist. We captured a direct output of the keyboard and the guitarist’s Line 6 Helix. To capture Janaki's performance, we leaned on experience from last year’s album, using our AKG C214 microphone turned on its side. That allowed us to get full coverage of her voice without covering her face. Arranging the band however was more difficult. After some experimentation, we found a way to feature Janaki while still keeping the band’s intimate feel.
Since the sessions were recorded back in November, this project was a great way for me to wrap up 2023 with RRA. Within the last year, I was lucky enough to not only be a member of SS Vol 2, but also join RRA as an engineer. Since then, I've had the opportunity to track in-person studio sessions, work in post-production for both film and podcasts, and help out with live sound events.
Like many incredible projects at RRA, it takes a dedicated village to put it all together because "If you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go far, go together.” Ravi, the mastermind behind the whole project, served as the executive producer and mix engineer for the EP. The full credit list can be found in the description of any / all of the YouTube videos — please show them some love.
If you haven’t already, go stream the album! And if you’re wanting even more, check out Snow Sessions Vol. 1 on Youtube and Spotify.
We hoped you enjoyed a behind-the-scenes view of the EP. Stay Creative, be empowered!
~Aaron
Edited by: Meera Tikku
