As some of you may know, I’ve been studying the last four years at UMBC, getting my music degree, with an emphasis in music technology. A requirement of this degree is that I must complete a senior project that encompasses all the skills I have learned in my time as a music tech student: recording, mixing, mastering, video editing and 5.1 surround sound mixing.
With this, I decided to tackle an incredibly ambitious project. I decided to try and cover one of my all time favorite albums from start to finish: Queen’s “A Night At The Opera”.
This album is a quintessential work of art not only in rock music, but music in general; no, culture in general. The production on this album was revolutionary, breaking boundaries and testing the limits of the recording technology of the time. Whether its layers upon layers of vocal harmonies, countless guitar overdubs, drum sampling (yes, drum sampling), and incredibly unorthodox instrumentation for a rock album, its clear that this album is like none other before it.
When recording my version of this album, I wanted to achieve two things: 1)To maintain the integrity of the original arrangements, instrumentations and melodies, and 2) To create a fusion of the sounds created on the original recording melded together with a digital medium. I tried not to detract from the life of the performances with over-processing or over-mixing, but rather accenting the human qualities of them with tools that weren’t available at the time of the original recording.
All in all, this project was a test. A test of myself and my own abilities. Yes, I was graded on it, but more than that, I was grading myself. I wanted to prove to myself that it was possible to accomplish. It most definitely was not easy, but it was ridiculously fun.
I will be releasing the entire album in the near future, but for now, enjoy my performance of the classic single, “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
-E