Darren Vermaas - Dark Horse Studios - Week 2

What first seemed like a lot of new information all thrown at me at once seems now to be second nature.  I've been getting settled in quite nicely here at Dark Horse.  This week was much of the same as last as far as the day to do routines go, although there were a few fun and exciting new things to behold.  The internship program DH has set up allows us (the 15 or so interns) to utilize the studios and all gear when there aren't any sessions booked.  This past week was a down week for the most part giving everyone an opportunity to jump into the studios.  I engineered a session with two other interns who wanted to lay down a track.  It was nice to be back behind a board and it gave me an opportunity to show some of the people that I knew what was going on.  I set up MS on an acoustic guitar, I don't think they were very familiar with it because they asked a lot of questions about how to set it up.  The end result sounded pretty good.  I also learned that interns (once tested and approved to) can bring in clients and charge for time.  I'm definitely excited for that opportunity.  Yesterday I got to assist in setting up a tracking session with resident engineer Mike Carr.  He handed me a mic set up list and basically said "go".  I took care of setting up all of his drum and electric guitar mics, as well as the cue systems used here.  All in all, very productive.  I also volunteered to take a piano bench back to it's rightful owner outside of Nashville yesterday which earned me a chance to hand out my business card as well as a $10 tip.  It looks like things will be getting really busy in the next two months, I'm looking forward to getting my hands even more dirty.  By they way, the picture at the top is of the main studio here called "The Lodge".   The desk is a Trident Series 80 with Neve Flying Faders and numerous other mods.  It is certainly different than the Tridents at McNally, but inherently familiar.  It's definitely nice to have that bit of familiarity here, like jumping into a pool you know is going to be warm. And vintage-y.  

Darren