Max_H
Inspired
Hey all,
As some of you know already I recently moved to Reykjavic, Iceland to pursue an internship at a recording studio here. So far it has been a lot of fun and I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread that chronicles my experiences here both for the purposes of informing anyone looking to start interning (paying them dues) in the recording industry as well as giving insight on what it's like to move to another country.
This wont be updated every single day, just when I feel that there is something important to offer.
Let's begin...
1/2-1/3 "Travel... ugh"
My trip began in Bennington, Vermont at 8am where I got a ride to Albany, New York to catch a Greyhound bus to Boston. From there I took an Icelandair flight at 8:10pm. My luggage consisted of a gigantic suitcase carrying my PC, Axe FX, toiletries and my clothes. The PC and the Axe FX were both heavily (HEAVILY) wrapped in bubble wrap as I was going to be checking that bag. Overall that bag weighed 64 lbs and thankfully the nice man at the checking counter at the airport waived the overweight bag fee, what a dude. I also had my guitar gig bag that I was allowed to carry on to the plane and the kind stewardess offered to store it in the first class baggage area. For the 5 hour flight I watched Wonder Woman and Dunkirk (Icelandair has some sweet amenities) as well as played some Super Mario on my nintendo switch.
I arrived at Keflavik Airport around 7:30 am the next morning, however it was only a 5 hour flight, that crazy time difference eh? From there I took a bus called Reykjavic Excursions from Keflavik to a bus terminal near downtown Reykjavic. After that it was a measly 1 mile haul with my giant bag and guitar to the apartment I will be staying at. Now, I had made a mistake when initially contacting my landlord and said I would be arriving on the 4th, but it was the 3rd. Thanks to my incredible luck she happened to be pulling in at the same time as I arrived and let me in (no staying out in the cold all day thank god). After a brief bit of settling in I called my new boss, the owner and engineer at the studio and we went over a little bit of when I should be there and all that. Fast forward to the next day...
-------------------
1/4-1/5 "Construction Time"
I arrived at the studio a bit early thanks to the buses only running every 30 minutes. Speaking of the buses, there's a handy app that you can purchase your tickets on as well as see exactly where the buses are and when they'll be at each stop. It seems that Iceland has their shit together when it comes to public transportation. I met Mio and Mara and they got me to work straight away. So my first two days were spent cleaning, painting and overall tidying the place up. I was very much pleased to be able to be a part of getting the studio in good shape. It feels good to be involved. You could say I'm in good company. Mio and Mara are two of the sweetest, kindest people I know and I'm certainly stoked to be able to work with such awesome people.
-------------------
1/6 "The Open House"
I arrived at the studio around noon to begin helping the caterers get going with everything. Last minute touches, a bit of dusting here, a bit of vacuuming there and then the party started at 2pm. Overall I believe there were about 80-100 people that showed up. I met a guy who specialized in Icelandic curse words, so you could say we had a fascinating and vulgar conversation about that. Some of my duties at the party were to protect the mixing console from wandering starers with drinks in their hands, pick up empty drinks after folks, socialize, make coffee, and to make sure no-one put drinks on the Steinway Crown Jewel grand piano. The party went very well and by the end I was relaxing with a few beers with Mio's family in the Live room talking about American politics and sports. The party ended around 9:30 and after cleaning up I headed home on the 11 line, but not before big hugs from Mio and Mara thanking me for the huge amount of help I've been (I don't mean to brag, their words not mine haha).
-------------------
So today is now the 9th and Mio gave me Monday and Tuesday off. This studio has been 2 years in the making and I'm sure they're both very happy that the studio is up and running.
The space is gorgeous, more beautiful than any studio I've ever seen and it sounds phenomenal. We haven't done anything music related just yet (that starts tomorrow) but I listened to the piano tuner play the Steinway in the Live Room and that space sounds effin phenomenal. I am more than excited to start helping Mio record some absolutely beautiful music in this space.
My duties so far seem to be as follows:
-Make guests feel welcome and comfortable
-Coffee dude
-Set up and clean up
-Recall sheets
-Set up mics
-Vacuum and dust the mixing console and all outboard equipment
-Keep the Steinway as beautiful as possible
-Guitars tuned and set up
Anyhow, that's all for today. Next time I feel like there's something you guys would be interested in reading about, i'll post it here.
As some of you know already I recently moved to Reykjavic, Iceland to pursue an internship at a recording studio here. So far it has been a lot of fun and I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread that chronicles my experiences here both for the purposes of informing anyone looking to start interning (paying them dues) in the recording industry as well as giving insight on what it's like to move to another country.
This wont be updated every single day, just when I feel that there is something important to offer.
Let's begin...
1/2-1/3 "Travel... ugh"
My trip began in Bennington, Vermont at 8am where I got a ride to Albany, New York to catch a Greyhound bus to Boston. From there I took an Icelandair flight at 8:10pm. My luggage consisted of a gigantic suitcase carrying my PC, Axe FX, toiletries and my clothes. The PC and the Axe FX were both heavily (HEAVILY) wrapped in bubble wrap as I was going to be checking that bag. Overall that bag weighed 64 lbs and thankfully the nice man at the checking counter at the airport waived the overweight bag fee, what a dude. I also had my guitar gig bag that I was allowed to carry on to the plane and the kind stewardess offered to store it in the first class baggage area. For the 5 hour flight I watched Wonder Woman and Dunkirk (Icelandair has some sweet amenities) as well as played some Super Mario on my nintendo switch.
I arrived at Keflavik Airport around 7:30 am the next morning, however it was only a 5 hour flight, that crazy time difference eh? From there I took a bus called Reykjavic Excursions from Keflavik to a bus terminal near downtown Reykjavic. After that it was a measly 1 mile haul with my giant bag and guitar to the apartment I will be staying at. Now, I had made a mistake when initially contacting my landlord and said I would be arriving on the 4th, but it was the 3rd. Thanks to my incredible luck she happened to be pulling in at the same time as I arrived and let me in (no staying out in the cold all day thank god). After a brief bit of settling in I called my new boss, the owner and engineer at the studio and we went over a little bit of when I should be there and all that. Fast forward to the next day...
-------------------
1/4-1/5 "Construction Time"
I arrived at the studio a bit early thanks to the buses only running every 30 minutes. Speaking of the buses, there's a handy app that you can purchase your tickets on as well as see exactly where the buses are and when they'll be at each stop. It seems that Iceland has their shit together when it comes to public transportation. I met Mio and Mara and they got me to work straight away. So my first two days were spent cleaning, painting and overall tidying the place up. I was very much pleased to be able to be a part of getting the studio in good shape. It feels good to be involved. You could say I'm in good company. Mio and Mara are two of the sweetest, kindest people I know and I'm certainly stoked to be able to work with such awesome people.
-------------------
1/6 "The Open House"
I arrived at the studio around noon to begin helping the caterers get going with everything. Last minute touches, a bit of dusting here, a bit of vacuuming there and then the party started at 2pm. Overall I believe there were about 80-100 people that showed up. I met a guy who specialized in Icelandic curse words, so you could say we had a fascinating and vulgar conversation about that. Some of my duties at the party were to protect the mixing console from wandering starers with drinks in their hands, pick up empty drinks after folks, socialize, make coffee, and to make sure no-one put drinks on the Steinway Crown Jewel grand piano. The party went very well and by the end I was relaxing with a few beers with Mio's family in the Live room talking about American politics and sports. The party ended around 9:30 and after cleaning up I headed home on the 11 line, but not before big hugs from Mio and Mara thanking me for the huge amount of help I've been (I don't mean to brag, their words not mine haha).
-------------------
So today is now the 9th and Mio gave me Monday and Tuesday off. This studio has been 2 years in the making and I'm sure they're both very happy that the studio is up and running.
The space is gorgeous, more beautiful than any studio I've ever seen and it sounds phenomenal. We haven't done anything music related just yet (that starts tomorrow) but I listened to the piano tuner play the Steinway in the Live Room and that space sounds effin phenomenal. I am more than excited to start helping Mio record some absolutely beautiful music in this space.
My duties so far seem to be as follows:
-Make guests feel welcome and comfortable
-Coffee dude
-Set up and clean up
-Recall sheets
-Set up mics
-Vacuum and dust the mixing console and all outboard equipment
-Keep the Steinway as beautiful as possible
-Guitars tuned and set up
Anyhow, that's all for today. Next time I feel like there's something you guys would be interested in reading about, i'll post it here.
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