Recording of the Military Group Space-A as a Means of Public Reconciliation, Culture Identification, and Group Awareness Recording Project Summary and Literature Review By Brent C. Whitaker 6 November, 2006 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in Music Technology in the College of Graduate Studies at Georgia Southern University, 2006 2 ABSTRACT This project focuses on the use of recording technologies applied to a popular Air Force rock band to get recordings out to a very large area of operations. The area of operations was so large as to make it impossible to be covered with the live performing group being National Guard and not active duty. Recording techniques are covered within the project, as well as equipment used within production. Forms and processes are also covered to include all the royalty procedures followed, the copyrights for original songs, the approval by the Air National Guard of Georgia, and the human dealings of getting a group together for multiple days to record. The project originated from the need to use a recording to identify the Guard rock groups with the recruitment-age public. The final phase of this project was to create a CD that would be free of charge to the public and that would showcase the talents and flexibility of the Georgia Air National Guard band program. 3 Table of Contents Introduction………………………….……………………………………..……..............4 Literature Review…………………………………………………………………………5 Methodology……………………………………………………………...…………...…12 Conclusion/Planned Operation Continuum……………………………………………...20 Works Cited………………………………………………………..………………...…..22 Appendix……………………………………………………………………......………..25 4 INTRODUCTION This project began with a need for Air Force groups to create various group Compact Disks (CDs). These would be released to the public and to the various wings within the area of operations for the 530th Air Force Band, which includes Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and the Carolinas. In the past, numerous concerts have been performed by the Band of the South, which is the overall unit that houses the group Space-A within their area of operation, but advertising happened only by word of mouth and the reputation of the groups themselves. Up until the Spring of 2006, the band had no official recording of any of the groups. This wound up being quite a problem for them when their publicists tried to get them into venues such as Disney World® in Orlando, Florida. Disney® requires any group that is seeking to play there to submit a CD recording. At the time of the tour set up, Space-A only had a video recording. Although this recording was made with a professional camera, the sound was captured only by the camera's microphone; thus the recording quality was anything but professional. This was a significant limitation, directly related to the stage and the times scheduled at which they were to perform. Due to this less than ideal situation, thought was given to producing some professional recordings. This was not a problem as far as money was concerned within the Band of the South. There was, however, a problem due to the fact that all the musicians involved are guardsmen, and therefore the band did not have unlimited ability to gather the various groups at a particular time to reserve a studio. This limitation was one of the main reasons the military bands have in-house publicists, arrangers, and technical staff. Looking at these different posts within the unit, consideration was given 5 to in-housing recording gear and sound technicians. At this point, I was halfway through my Master of Music degree in music technology at Georgia Southern University (GSU), and I felt obliged to offer my services. Experience in digital music seems to be a career need for the National Guard bands. (Cohen, 98). The commander, Captain Alan B. McConnell, gave the approval to authorize recording days for the smallest group, Space- A. This involved official orders being processed and the assignment of active duty days for the project, so pressure was on to create an ideal recording that could be used by the Air National Guard in troup moral support, publicity, and public relations. LITERATURE REVIEW The art of recording can add much to any composition. “The tape part provides a musical canvas upon which all sonic elements of the work are arranged.” (Stegal, 2). Digital recording provides the artist a chance to take the elemental values of the musical track and arrange them in time to provide the best acoustical experience possible by the listener. Effects that can be provided by digital means add a dimension to the audio file and can provide a sound of reverberation, tuning, and many others. With the music business a viable option for employment by many musically minded students, digital audio recording has been integrated into various parts of undergraduate as well as graduate music curriculum across the country. One of these programs is the University of Miami’s MI program, but not all programs are in big name schools. There is no need for this to remain a large university distinction, as the lowered costs of setting up a digital studio are now bringing this technology within the reach of even the smallest music departments (Terrell, 7). Georgia Southern University houses a 6 medium-size Music Department, which established several years ago a Music Technology area within the Master of Music degree. The advantage to doing a digital recording over playing to the public in concert is the ability to adjust pitch, equalization (EQ), and even time, to a degree. Such tweaks are now standard operating procedures in recording, as seen in Krishtal’s 2005 study, where instrumental parts were composed, recorded, processed and mixed in a single compositional process. Computer software was used for fine adjustment of pitch and rhythm. The goal of this project was to present this research in a way to show the “human” side of the military through the use of military guard bands, and ultimately distribute the recording throughout the area of operation. When observing the view of the modern military, assumptions made by the baby-boomer generation (as opposed to the current population of 18-25 years olds) is quite different. Many think only of the war in Iraq or other conflicts around the world, and see only soldiers in the heat of battle. For many young men and women in the new “comfort” generation, such a situation is not even close to a draw for them, and makes it even harder to relate to such an organization. Enter the military bands. The military has had bands since the meager beginnings of the Drum and Bugle Corps. Today, one even sees educational groups, such as the National Association for Music Education (MENC), working hand in hand developing educational tools to reach youth and adults with one of the premier military Bands, “The Presidents Own” Marine band (The Presidents Own, 22). The reach of these bands even extends to other countries besides our own, and has attracted the collaboration of several big-name performers (Knopper, 18). 7 The history of military bands is a proud and prestigious point across every branch of the military. Bands have grown from a very humble beginning to worldwide status. The 14 members of the first known "Air Force" band set foot on French soil in September 1917, carrying instruments purchased from their lieutenant's personal funds. The commander of the 36th Aeronautics Squadron, to which they were assigned, was so impressed with his musicians that he petitioned the American Red Cross in Paris to help find more instruments to increase the band’s size. Bands have come a long way since then. Throughout World War II, the bands of the Army Air Corps contributed significantly to supporting the morale of our troops. When the Air Force became a separate service in 1947, Air Corps bands also transferred to the young Air Force. Since then, bands have continued to inspire esprit de corps in U.S. airmen, patriotism in U.S. citizenry, and admiration and respect from people of all nations (Powers, 1). To date, it would seem that the major marketing tool of the Georgia National Guard world has been to push the issue of earning money for college through its educational programs. While such a concept has proven somewhat successful, I believe it has a significant flaw. By selling such a “money only” philosophy, one caters to the group of college or high-school students that has enough drive to go to college, but maybe not enough drive to achieve high academic or performance scholarships in their field. What does this standpoint do for the Air National Guard? While I am certainly not suggesting those with limited funds in college are lesser quality airmen or airwomen, the guard must recognize the fact that this ideology of selling the military experience based on monetary value alone is attracting a limited variety of personnel. The 4.0 high-school graduate who has a full scholarship and is still driving Mom’s and Dad’s (or their own) 8 sport utility vehicle to school while living in a half-million dollar frat house will probably not be attracted to the military for these financial reasons. This may be a huge loss to the military unit that has need of greater diversity. They may have a special social skill to fit the mold of a personnel officer, or moral officer, that their less social peers may not possess. This is one example of loss that may occur, but the list is endless, and covers many areas in which people would not consider such a radical change of lifestyle for any amount of money, but might be enticed for a specific moral, reason, or a particular type of experience.