Karen Pauley
Back to the Studio
Updated: Jul 5, 2020
Last week I was back in a recording studio for the first time since the state of emergency was declared. I had to travel via train to get there, though everyone on the train was wearing a mask. I was also wearing a mask and had extras with me, as it can be hard to tell how long it will take to record harmony parts. I brought hand sanitizer, and was very careful about the things I touched.
There are issues with recording studios. I had forgotten how poorly ventilated they can be in order to keep down external noise. I have to sing into a mic with pop shield, and I couldn't help but wonder how these things are cleaned. I didn't touch them with my hands, but I am covering them in water droplets when I sing. I brought my own printouts of the music, though a new system had been put in place where the music was positioned for me and clipped in to position, so that I didn't have to touch the music the studio provided. I was never overly close to the sound engineer, but it did feel like we were doing a strange awkward dance to avoid coming to close to each other during the breaks.
It is going to take me a while to get used to going out to work. I will be at a different studio this week, and will be looking for any differences in how they are working. It's going to be a long time before things feel normal again.
