Richard Watson
Richard Watson is a highly-accomplished and multi-talented pianist who has made a name for himself in a number of fields as both sought after session musician, accompanist and composer. This classically trained pianist’s forte is in essence this: he has the unique ability to improvise ad lib in absolutely any musical style for artists in any genre with almost none to very little rehearsal time needed. This distinctive ability to mould himself to whatever the musical requirements are, whether it be classical, classical-crossover, jazz, musicals, pop or rock, is indeed a rarity in itself.As a session musician, Richard’s skills on piano, keyboards and drums are in demand from producers and engineers alike in UK recording studios around the country. He has subsequently performed on countless recordings from a variety of recording artists. He is also regularly asked to provide masterclasses at the world-renowned Rockfield Studios near Monmouth; where his prowess on the Hammond organ is much in demand.
As it was the first session of Live at the Chapel, The Media Students observed the process of recording live artists at the Chapel Studios. As mentioned in my last blog, many roles were undertaken by the members of staff, these included;
- Cameraman - David Wood - To record Richards performances the Chapel Studios used three Sony HD cameras for best quality footage of which two were static and used as safety shots and David had a roaming camera to work on close shots and to ensure quality.
- Visual Mixer - Phillip Farr - As Visual Mixer, Phil had many responsibilities as he had to ensure the quality of the video was at its best. As well as choosing what footage to use and work closely with Dave to direct him and tell him what camera shots he wanted. Phil uses tri-castor to control what video footage coming from the three cameras he wanted to use. Phil and Dave communicated via in ear headsets so they could discuss what camera shots to make when the recording process was in action. Although Richard was singing various tracks, Phil had to find out what key lines Richard was making so he could get close-ups of Richards face - this is where he had to tell Dave to get close up of Richard's face just in time for the nine.
- Paul Cobbold - Chief Audio Engineer - Paul took on the role as Cheif Audio Engineer, as part of this role he has to ensure that the sound quality was as it's best and that all the recording equipment was set up correctly. Paul and I discussed ways that he could sharpen the sound of Richards voice and not pick up any sounds within the chapel apart from vocals. Paul used the Reverb function to remove ambient sounds from the chapel surroundings so that Richard's voice was clear enough. Condenser microphones were used to capture the sounds of the piano effectively as it would pick up more sound frequencies than a standard dynamic microphone would. By enabling the phantom power button on the console percent 48V to the microphone so that it would pick up many more piano keys.
To visit Richard Watson's website, please Click Here.
