Listening to the professional sheen of Spacecamp’s new Grog’d EP, you’d swear these guys were major-label pros, rolling in a big advance reveling in heavy MTV rotation and airplay on modern-rock radio stations nationwide.
You’d be wrong. Spacecamp, composed of five Georgetown students, is a lot like many other garage bands—unsigned, little-noticed and hungry for success. So how can the band’s record sound so slickly produced?
Not so long ago, if a band without thousands of dollars to burn wanted to record, the only option was the portable four-track recorder, which uses standard audio cassettes and often results in hissy and tinny recordings. Now, thanks to digital technology, professional quality musical production is cheaper and more accessible to the layman than ever before. It is increasingly difficult to discern any difference between major-label bands and unsigned garage bands like Spacecamp.
That digital music revolution has finally reached Georgetown—Spacecamp recorded Grog’d in Lauinger Library. That’s right, the library: No sloppy four-tracks, no expensive studio time.
Spacecamp guitarist George Hwang (SFS ‘04) learned about the new facilities when he enrolled in a new class in studio production last fall. In the class, taught by composer and producer Robert Fair, students learn the basics of the digital recording process, from setting up microphones to using state-of-the-art editing software to adding special effects.
Over two recording sessions, one late last September and one last November, the band estimates it spent 25 to 30 hours recording basic tracks, and another 50 to 60 hours mixing the tracks. With professional studio fees running upwards of $75 per hour, singer Carl Lukach (MSB ‘03) estimates Spacecamp saved $2,000 in studio fees by using the campus facilities.
Spacecamp recorded in an approximately 200-sq. ft. recording studio at the Gelardin New Media Center located on the first floor of Lauinger Library, the largest of several available recording booths.
According to Nick Brazzi, a Gelardin Center multimedia specialist, the studio is available to any student who has taken one of Fair’s classes or has undergone a short training session to use the recording software.
“If you’re a musically inclined person,” said Brazzi, “it’s not that hard to get into once you’ve got the basics.”
Spacecamp recorded its songs one instrument at a time. For each of Grog’d’s six tracks, the drums were recorded first, and bass, guitars, vocals and effects were layered sequentially on top. The editing software, Digidesign’s industry-standard Pro Tools, allows a band to edit each track, apply numerous effects and mix them together.
Even with powerful software, Hwang said the recording process can still be tricky. “A lot of times you have to go back and do it over again,” he said. “Sometimes you’ll be off-key or something will be buzzing.”
“You have to know what you’re doing going into it,” said guitarist Bob Wiecezak (MSB ‘03).
For Spacecamp, the new recording facilities are one of the few perks the University provides for musicians. Like virtually all Georgetown bands, Spacecamp has struggled to find practice space and opportunities to play. Despite these difficulties, Spacecamp won last spring’s Hoyastock, later played several shows at Grog ‘n’ Tankard and is currently appearing in Adams-Morgan bars.
Since recording Grog’d, the band has distributed copies to talent agencies in hopes of gaining attention. With a band this committed and a recording this professional, that big advance and national airplay might not be far behind.
