Studio Time

Just in case you missed the memo, World Malaria Day was last Saturday. It probably wasn't a big thing in your local town, but in a country where malaria remains the number one killer such events have vast effects.

EQUIP Liberia, the NGO I'm volunteering with teamed up with some local artists here in Ganta to record a song about the best ways to prevent malaria. I got to tag along to the studio and watch the recording process unfold.

This is SoundCity, the only studio in Ganta. Its a rather new operation run by a 20-something guy who was trained in Sierra Leone and an older guy called Mohammed who, in his own words likes to "make music that sounds as bad as possible." He's quite a character.

Here's the studio set up.The actual recording room is probably smaller then you closet. The guy who runs the studio (I can't remember his name) is an absolute wizard, considering what he's got to work with. After hearing the song sung a few times he started plunking away at his MIDI keyboard and his computer and within the hour he had fixed up a African beat with accompaning piano and synth parts.

By the end of the day the song was recorded and mastered and by the next day it was already playing on four radio stations around the county. Here's the finished result: