ÀWORSLEY : Just in general , my first goal is to remove À À all the distractions possible from the recording situ-À À ation . So , when you take COVID into play for this , you À À kind of have to work with the artist and find out À À what ’ s making them the most uncomfortable . I know À
À some artists find wearing masks really restrictive and À
À if it ’ s a case of keeping them as comfortable as possi-À
À ble , sometimes I have to make the call as to whether À
À to wear masks and be in the same room , or to separate À
À into different rooms so that there ’ s not the restrictions À À that come with wearing masks .
À The first few sessions we had where I was wearing À
À a mask I felt super uncomfortable and felt like the À
À vibe was really difficult because you realize that when À
À you can ’ t see someone ’ s mouth , it ’ s hard to see what À
À they ’ re expressing . So much of communication is visu-À
À al and seeing people ’ s body language . But once I got À
À used to it and once clients got used to it , it became just À À a little bit more of a way of life for the next little while .
ÀZIMMERMANN : I feel like , aside from wearing a À À mask and not getting too close when greeting or saying À À goodbyes , not much changed . All musicians I worked À À with seemed happy to be around people and relieved À À to have some sense of normalcy during this time of unÀ À certainty for their career .
PS : Some studio owners , producers , and engineers have said the pandemic has helped them streamline their processes . What are the pros and cons that you ’ ve experienced in this regard ?
ÀDUFOUR : I think the ability to have Zoom sessions À Àand video chats along with streaming audio is a huge À Àplus in this current situation . I ’ m not sure this would À Àhave been doable or accessible for everyone , say , 10 À Àor 15 years ago .
À My good friend , producer / writer Michael Sonier À
À ( Noah Cyrus , Maggie Rogers ) recently had some À
À great Àthings to say on this topic : “ You keep it À moving . Zoom is not my favourite way of making À music but you do what you gotta do and make it À
À work . And it has its ups , like it ’ s much easier to À connect with a lot of artists across many different À
À areas and time zones . It makes for some cool combos . À
À I ’ m here in Toronto , someone is in L . A . or New York , À
À and the artist is in London , U . K . But what is missing À
À is the energy and vibe of the room . For me , I feed off À
À of the energy of the room . You still get a version of À À that from Zoom , but it doesn ’ t compare .”
À FALCH-NIELSEN : I don ’ t think I ’ ve experienced À Àthis . We took a big hit in our bookings in the first three À Àmonths , and it ’ s only really in the past couple months À Àthat we are getting back to regular numbers , although À Àwe aren ’ t there yet . Our process has always been fairly À
À streamlined , and the only pro I can really see is that we À
À don ’ t have people coming in wanting to party more À À than actually record music .
ÀMOORE : Definitely the pro that I ’ ve found is being À Àable to work more around my own timeline . When À ÀI ’ m in the studio , the session is happening right then À Àand there . Right now , people just send me their files À Àor their songs to get mixed and mastered and I can À
À kind of just lay out my day the way I want to … Also , it À
À gives me more time to really sit down and tweak À
À things a little more so there ’ s a lot less back-and-À
À forth when I do send the final files over . I ’ ve also À
À found a couple of ways to actually stream high-
À quality audio . So , there ’ s times when I will actually do À
À a live mix remotely and that has opened up a whole À À new world for me .
ÀVAN GO : I ’ ve learned to trust my own playing ! À ÀSince I can ’ t hire as many extra session musicians to À Àplay on stuff , I ’ ve had to quickly get better at play-À Àing instruments I don ’ t normally play , like drums and À Àkeys . I ’ ve also done a lot more hiring of session players À
À remotely – sending them a two-track and they send À À me back takes of their parts .
ÀWORSLEY : The cons are definitely that people aren ’ t À Àtravelling . I was so used to working with artists from all À Àover the country and even North America . The pros À Àare that people are way more interested in setting up À Àremote sessions . So , you ’ ve got people from New York , À
À Toronto , Halifax , Paris , and all over the world that are À
À wanting to set up these remote sessions . Before the panÀ
À demic , there was a lot less of that . So , that ’ s definitely À À been nice .
ÀZIMMERMANN : The pandemic has shown me that À Àcertain aspects of the production and recording process À Àcan indeed be done remotely . For remote sessions to À Àwork and ensure the outcome is what you expect out À Àof it , clear and proper communication is definitely key , À
À especially if a live video call is not possible . À On the other hand , the pandemic has shown me À
À that there is a certain element that just can ’ t be
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