Summer Intern Series 2023

Hello! I’m Baker Wainscoat. I’m a new intern at Maple Avenu’s Tapeworks Recording Studio. I’m starting this blog series to keep track and share what my week was like with whoever would like to read it!

My first entry may be brief as I had a bunch of stuff happen to me outside of Tapeworks, but the times that I was in the studio were some of my favorite moments of the week. I began interning for Tapeworks on Tuesday, June 6th. My first day consisted of a tour of the studio and everything it has to offer. It was on this day I also met my co-intern Jade, who coincidentally is from the same town I live in, so we got a kick out of that connection.

Bill gave us a rundown of our responsibilities as interns, so I took notes on specific dated information and took a packeted list of our duties for keeping.

Bill took us around every part of the studio and explained what happens in each room. I have to say I honestly love studio A, the main control room which Bill tracks out of. He’s recently upgraded his monitors in the studio to Focal Trios, which happen to be my dream monitors. So you can imagine my excitement when I walked into the room. The studio is also comfortably lit with possibly one of the comfiest couches I have sat on in recent memory. When Bill was showing me and Jade some projects he was working on, we both sat down on the couch and I just slowly started sinking into it… super comfy!

Later that day Bill recorded an audition for a TV commercial for Lego. It was really interesting to see how he directed the vocalist to change their inflections/delivery of the lines they were given to say. As soon as they started speaking, it was like they were already in the commercial. I hope they get the spot.

The rest of the day consisted of briefly taking out some boxes and editing some acapella groups' recorded tracks. While the work may be repetitive, I learned a ton from Melodyne that I didn't before, and it’s helped me so much in my own personal projects. I left around 4:00 pm on a fairly empty stomach because I totally forgot that I have to pack a lunch now. Jade got my back though, as she offered me some baked bagel bites which we actually delicious.

On Wednesday, I drove back at around 9:40 am, this time with lunch, and saw that there was a podcast session about to begin in the podcast studio. The podcast room is unique, as clients can use our equipment to record, or they have the option to record everything themselves and leave with their project that day. While I come from an experienced background in music production, podcasting is something I want to learn more about and develop those skills further.

While that was happening, Bill showed me the signal flow of the Aduient ASP 4816 console in A. Bill explained everything in a very digestible manner so I was glad I was able to see how things worked in the control room. Once I start hopping on big sessions, I’ll be able to see the workflow in action. After this, we transferred a hardware unit from studio A to B, and then I continued working on vocal editing from the previous day.

Now, from Thursday to Friday, I was out of the studio because my wisdom teeth were scheduled to be removed. Fortunately, I’m recovering fast, so I imagine to be back in the studio next week. I’m looking forward to getting back!

Summer Intern Series 2023

Friday, June 9th 2023

My name is Jade Iris Schoenfeld and I am a rising junior at Wagner College studying Vocal Performance. I am so excited to be working with the Tapeworks family and look forward to learning more about this industry.

This week I had the opportunity to watch Bill mix and master a variety of songs. As a member of an acapella group at school, I was fascinated by the work done with two different acapella ensemble pieces. I have always wanted to record acapella arrangements, and now have an idea how the editing process looks like for these types of recordings. I also watched Bill add finishing touches to a Jazz song, send out commercial audition audios, mix an original song, and edit multiple podcasts.

After being at Tapeworks for only one week, it is clearly evident to see how much of a “hands on” learning experience this internship will be. I have aided in the set up of a few types of recording sessions. Each setup is varied based on the type of recordings being done.

Whether it is for a podcast or commercial audition, it is important that the room maximizes the quality of the audio recording in correlation to the microphone being used. The most complicated set up this week was for an ADR session that was done for a pilot episode. We had to set up moving boards, a TV, two microphones, a stand, and a camera. Once that was completed, we then had to connect all the technology not just to the recording booth, but also to a zoom meeting that would take place simultaneously. In addition, I have started to learn the mixing process for a podcast and have worked on two so far.

I am excited for next week and can't wait for what is to come!

Tapeworks welcomes Jade Shoenfeld and Baker Wainscoat to the Tapeworks Family.

Each year we receive numerous requests for our coveted summer internship spots here at the Tapeworks studio. We are excited to see what they bring to the table and to watch them learn and grow. Follow their adventures via The Intern Blog.

Jade Iris Schoenfeld is a rising junior at Wagner College studying Vocal Performance.

I am so excited to be working with the Tapeworks family and look forward to learning more about this industry.

Follow Jade’s experience on The Intern Blog.

Baker Wainscoat is a recent graduate from The Hartt School, studying Music, Production and Technology.

I am looking forward to putting my education to use in a real world environment.

Follow Baker’s experience on The Intern Blog.