Resumé

Drew Woodhams

2693 Mary Lane

Seven Hills, OH 44131

Cell: (216)-789-5994

Email: dawoodhams@gmail.com

 

 

Summary of Skills

• Excellent at building and maintaining relationships with customers and employees

• Good problem solving and management skills

• Extensive knowledge in computer application

• Associates degree of Applied Science in Recording Arts and Technology from Cuyahoga Community College

 

Summary of Work History

Panera Bread Dec. 2008 – Present 

Shift Manager ( Dec. 2010)

• Responsible for providing daily working supervision of associates to ensure company standards are maintained and continually improved.

• Responsible for handling the day- to-day operational activities of the restaurant to ensure customer’s satisfaction in a positive manner

• Responsible for resolving customer and employee concerns

• Conduct procedures relating to restaurant security (i.e bi-yearly audit checklist requirements)

Certified Trainer (May 2009)

• Responsible for communicating proper procedures to newly hired associates in all areas including;

• food safety

• equipment safety

• cleanliness

• effective position operation

Associate

Learned and became proficient in all aspects of restaurant operation

 

This is a bad resume.  I know.  Don’t everybody tell me at once. . .

 

Shaun McGrath Benefit Recital 4/22/12

Shaun McGrath is a sophomore vocal student at the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in Berea.  His father passed away a few weeks prior to the recital due to cancer, I believe.  The event took place at the United Methodist Church in Berea.  Shaun heard about me from the fliers that I had posted on the bulletin boards at BW a few months ago.  His girlfriend, Jessica, and I were fairly good friends several summers ago at summer music camp, Credo.  So when he mentioned to her that he would like to contact me about recording his recital, she was all for it.  He then emailed me and asked if I would be willing to work the recital.  As this was a benefit event, he was hoping not to pay for it the work.  We agreed that if he would help me promote my business at BW through Facebook and other social media, and through face to face interaction with colleges, I would be happy to help him out.  Another facet of the agreement was that he would do a short interview for me so that I could post it on my website.  The product that I gave him was just a CD-R with the finished waves on it.  Totaling over 15 pieces (I think that there were 16 or 17..), the recital took me a short while to break up the two track into the individual selections.  I then applied a roll off and on the pieces that needed it, some slight compression.  I then took all of the separate audio clips, and normalized them.  (Normalizing is a process by which you take the highest peaks (or RMS) of the clip and raise the volume to a pre-specified amount, I used -.5db.  Basically it makes it louder.)  Below are pictures of the recital.

Here is a picture from the back of the hall.  The hall was fairly long and two pews wide until you got to the forward half of the room, then it was four pews wide.  Above where I am standing is a balcony which houses a few more pews as well as the organ keyboard.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the view from the side of the stage facing the back of the hall.  You may be able to see the extra pews on the left hand side here as well as the balcony.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here is a very limited picture of the stage.  Luckily, the talent did not stand on the stage while performing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the view from stage left and you can kinda see how the performers were situated.  All pictures were taken before the recital started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is where I left all of my stuff.  It was kinda like my home base, to borrow the colloquialism.  Everything I didn’t need with me, stayed here.  I’ll show pictures of how I had it set up in just a second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

My bench.  This is taken facing the back of the church, from the center isle.  This is only one pew from the front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mic stand and placement as seen from the stage.  I used a cardioid coincident XY position.  The mics used where a factory matched stereo pair of Oktava 012′s.  I used Mogami cables, and the stereo bar is a Shure A27M.  The stand is an On Stage Stands, with a telescoping boom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what my bench looked like after I got everything set up.  My interface is a MOTU Audio Express Hybrid 6×6.  I hook it up to my computer via firewire 800.  So I had my extension cord (almost spelled it chord), the interface, mic cables, the computer, and my headphones.  All cables were duct taped to the floor for safety and neatness, of course.  I only took a picture of one of the tapings.  Picture below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My beautiful duct taping job.  Oh yeah!  I seriously need to invest in some gaff(er) tape. . .Oh well.  I may put up some audio of the recital if enough people ask for it.

Quia Respexit

This is the sixth and final piece I did with my sisters.  Showcasing Jordyn, this piece was written by Johann Sebastian Bach as part of his Magnificat for Christmas of 1723.  Quia Respexit is the third mvt and second Aria of the piece.  Enough about the history, lets move on to the recording and editing.  As always, pictures below. . .

The edit window.  Like most of the other sessions, I have kept it simple, using only four audio tracks and an AUX track.  The reason that I put the AUX track above the 2 track is because I like to have the finished product at the bottom.  So because the AUX track is effecting the above three audio tracks but not the 2 track, it makes sense to put it where I did.  Other than that, again you can see that I didn’t consolidate the audio regions(or clips, as they’re now called) for Jordyn’s vocal.  I would if I was sending it off for somebody else to look at or edit.

 

 

The mix window.  Because this is Bach, I didn’t want to experiment to much with panning and other signal processing (EQ, compression, etc.).  As you can see, I kept the vocal panned center with the keys on either side.  Now in order to have a balanced piano sound, I wasn’t able to pan the piano hard left/right, but had to pan the left side only at 31 degrees.  But I did pan the verb hard left/right.  Looking back on it now, I should have kept the dry signals where they are, but put the right reverb 31 degrees to the right, instead of hard right.  It would have balanced out the mix better and made the it cleaner.  Oh well, it’s a learning experience.

 

Yay for plugins!  I’ve already talked about why I chose to use light compression over heavy.  And most of you know why I chose a large hall reverb for this piece.  That said, I don’t think I have much more to say about this.  Again though, looking back on it, I should have at least put a roll off on the vocal to filter out any unwanted low frequency garbage.  I’ll do better next time.

 

And the finished product. . .

 

The Melody Within

As many of you may know, this song is from the film Rigoletto.  Because of the character that sings this song in the film, it was an obvious choice that Diana would solo this tune.  So here are a few screen shots.

This is pretty normal looking.  Again, I didn’t bother to consolidate all of the audio clips in for Diana’s vocal.  But other than that, I don’t think I have anything else to comment on..

 

 

 

 

 

Again, a shot of the mix window.  You can see channel panning as well as AUX panning.  This time I was experimenting with keeping the vocal in the center, and panning the verb around.  As you can see, I decided to put the verb in the right side.  Interestingly enough, I panned the verb for the piano opposite of the dry signal, as you can see here.  Eh, I was trying new things.  What can I say.  As always, I used a medium hall verb here.  Again, I was not very experimental with it.

 

 

 

The famous plugin window.  Par normal, I used some light EQ on the vocal, (just a roll off).  Also some light EQ on the piano..Just boosted the mids and highs a little, to make it sound a little brighter.  Compression was normal, just a very small amount.  Something that I have not mentioned in any of my other posts is that I compressed each individual channel a small to medium amount, then once I had made a 2 track, would slightly apply compression to that as well.  The key is to take small steps with stuff like compression and EQ.

Here is the 2 track.

 

 

Where Shall I Go

Alright so this tune is in English, which I’m sure is a nice change for all of you.  Par the usual, here are some screen shots..

So here is the edit window.  Obviously I didn’t bother to make it look nice by consolidating all of the audio into nice neat files.  I don’t think have I much to say here…

 

 

 

And the Mix window..you can see panning, plugins, fader “volume”, aux panning, etc.  Aux panning is something that I got creative with.  As you can see here, I would have a voice panned slightly left, and have it’s verb panned to the right, and vice verse.  Then you can see I have the direct piano channels panned out as if you were sitting at the keyboard, and the verbs panned hard left/right.

 

 

 

So here is the window that is worth looking at..Where all of the useful information is.  Again, EQ was not used much, except for a roll off.  I’ve already stated the reasons why.  As I said before, I finally started experimenting with compression settings, as you can see here.  As you know, with this style of music you don’t want a heavily compressed sound.  So although I experimented a little bit, the compression is still light.  I also still used a Hall verb and still haven’t started playing with settings here.  Even though I haven’t gotten creative with all of the plugin parameters, if it sounds good, then I don’t see a reason to mess with it.

Here is the finished 2 track..

Laudamas Té

So this is another classical piece that the girls had ready to perform.  Here are a few pictures of the editing process..

 

 

 

 

 

The window shots above are just so you get an idea of panning and levels.  The shot below is much more informative, as it shows processing as well as AUX panning.

It finally occurred to me as I was listening to reference material that frequently, the verb is not panned center, but to one side, whether it be the same side that the vocal is on, or the other side.  So while I was playing around with (both dry, and AUX) panning for this piece, I found that it makes the mix much more interesting if you experiment with panning, which I did, and I will continue to do from now on.  However, I was not experimental with the compression, unfortunately.  As you’ll see in later mixes, I started playing with it more.  There was even a piece where Jordyn’s vibrato was slower than the compressor’s attack time was able to go, so that was a fun obstacle to overcome.  I think I just ended up making the release time for that portion very slow, so that you didn’t hear the mix “breathing”.  But back to this mix. . . As you can see from the verb I used, that again, I used a large hall reverb.  I have yet to begin experimenting in depth with different settings for this processing.  I also did very little equalizing (only low frequency roll offs) as the idea was to capture the performance as is, and not to edit the waveform, as this could effect the phase.  Because Diana and the piano were in the same room, there was bleed from the piano in Diana’s mic, so I couldn’t adjust it to radically.

 

Both of the girls wanted to overdub their parts in this piece, so we did some of that the same way we did earlier, so I won’t comment much about that.  I used the same setup, technique and room for all of the overdubs.  I wrote all of the details and included pictures of the process in the previous post.  Here is the finished product.

 

I think that just about wraps it up for now.

 

Bonne Nuit editing and overdubbing.

Alright.  So I’ve already accounted for how all of these pieces were tracked and included photos and such.  So there really isn’t’ much need to expand on that more.  However, I did discover that the EQ picture I posted yesterday was only for the lower register of the piano.  The other mic I did not eq, and that is how I got the piano to sit well in the mix, without it being to bright.  A few pictures of the editing…

As you can see from this shot, compression was very non-exciting.  At the time, ( I don’t know why) I was not very experimental with it.  I was more later on, as we’ll get to later.  Eq was only for Diana’s vocal (she’s the only one who sang), and just a low end roll-off.  As I mentioned in the previous post, this type of music requires that it sounds like it is in a hall, and in this case, I used a large hall (as apposed to a medium in Blessings).  As this is a classical piece, I’m sure it was sung in a hall.  As before, I tracked everything dry, and added processing later.  Many of the overdubs went the same way as well, in that they were recorded in my bedroom with a Rode NT-1 using a MOTO interface as my pre’s. Here is a picture of some overdubbing..

So as you can see with this photo as well as Jordyn during tracking, I have a problem with getting my talent to stand close to the mic, so that it is very direct sounding and dry.  My room is about 12′ by 12′ and is very dry do to the carpeting, a couch, and my bed.  The ceiling is made out of (ceiling) tiles as well, which tends to absorb a lot of sound.  My room is almost like a large closet.  As you can see from the picture, I have a Spider Man blanket which was attached to her stand with clothes pins, so that helped reduce ringy-ness and reverb off the stand, as this is a cardioid mic.  I am also lucky enough to have “mood” lighting in my room which reduces noise, as the “normal” lights are fluorescents and are very noisy.  So by using the “Christmas lights”, we are able to get in a mood, as well as reduce noise.  The problem with recording in my room is having the rest of the house be quite as well, as there are other individuals living here (um, my family..).  Another challenge is the HVAC.  There is ductwork almost right behind Diana’s head, so we had to record when the fan wasn’t running, as that would produce extra noise as well.  There is a plus side to my room though, and that is that it is very dry, enabling us to record and have it sound dry. (mostly)  And I think that covers most of it for overdubbing and editing this piece.  As I did before, here is the finished track.

Blessings

So as you all know, all of the tracking for the project was done at school.  I used KM 184′s as a spaced AB pair on the piano, placed near the hammers aiming at the strings.  For the vocals, I used 4050′s.  I had two, one for Diana and one for Jordyn.  I had Jordyn in an isolation booth, while Diana and the piano shared the main live room.  As you can see, it is obvious that Jordyn did not stand very close to the microphone.  Which presented a problem.  She unfortunately sounds distant.

  In the studio, Jordyn’s mic was patched into line 1, but in the iso booth, I think it was line 25..?  I don’t remember.

On the right, you can see how I had Diana separated from the piano.  Because of the tight space Diana was forced in, she had to be closer to the microphone than Jordyn, and that is probably for the best.  Diana in line 2, the piano in line 3/4 and the room mic in line 5.  You can see in the picture below how the piano was situated and how the mics were placed.

And then there’s Joy…

As you can imagine, there was some isolation between Diana and Joy, but it wasn’t great.

No external processing was used during tracking.  It was all done in the box, which I’ll expand on later.

So as far as editing this song, there was more editing and overdubbing in this than most of the others, as it is the most “pop” song.  Here are a few screen shots of the editing.  Of course, the pictures you see here are all after I was finished with the song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So as you can see from this shot, I only used three plugins.  In order to keep everything as close to original as I could, I used minimal compressing and used the same settings on both vocals as well as the piano.  Although I engaged low-end roll offs on the vocals, I actually only EQ’d the piano.  I know it’s a bit extreme, but it sounded good and cut out unwanted noise.  It also made the piano sound not so bright, as that sound isn’t what I wanted in this setting.  Also as you can see, I used a medium hall reverb.  With the type of music that this is, it has to sound like it’s in a large room.  Well at least that’s my opinion.  Honestly, I tend to gravitate towards reverbs of this type anyway with almost all of the songs that we tracked.  I know you’ve all heard it, but here is the finished track.

In Christ Alone

Hey all…

So the reason for no recent posts is the lack of capstone activity, unfortunately.  However, I was able to have my sisters work on a couple songs with me this past week.  So we have a little more work to do before I get them up here, but I was able to take some pictures of the “session” as well as a few screen shots of me editing/mixing…

And a few of the “session”…

And there we go…

Business Website!

My business now has an actual website!  I would love to have a link right here for you all to click on, but I can’t seem to figure out how to get that on there.  My sincerest apologies.   Most likely, the easiest way to get there is simply to copy and past into the URL space.  You should definitely head over to http://www.serioussoundproductions.com

I know it isn’t much yet, but it’s only a few hours old.  Give me a little while, and I’ll have much more information on there. . . more like a real website.  I’m working on it!