By Mariane Gutierrez
When recording studios shut down all over the country due to COVID-19, Tiffany J. Galus (D.M., Conducting, 2019), Assistant Longhorn Band Director, thought back to her childhood as she brainstormed how to address the needs of musicians.
“Growing up, my dad had a small recording studio in our basement,” Galus said. “He would also collaborate with artists and friends by sending tracks back and forth, adding music layers as they went.”
Inspired by this memory, Galus saw an opportunity to help musicians record music remotely, and she now supports composers all over the world through Keep Making Music, a digital recording company she co-founded with Luke Gall (M.M., Music, 2016), CEO of Ultimate Drill Book. The company focuses on helping musicians in a variety of ways: offering education sessions to teach musicians how to record, edit and design online performances; offering services to produce and edit virtual performances from individual recordings; and offering the talents of the KMM Studio of artists to record other composers’ music from home.
“It’s our goal to help ensembles continue to safely perform through the digital space, help composers bring their music to life with our team of 50 KMM Studio Artists [contract musicians for virtual ensembles] and help musicians everywhere learn how to create digital media and connect with the online audience,” Galus said.
Music publishers often require live recordings with composition submissions, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak, musicians lost access and funds for a recording space. With the Keep Making Music studio, musicians can now create a remote recording studio and access educational sessions designed to teach them how to do it all themselves.
“Luke and I saw an immediate need in the music community for continued forms of music-making,” Galus said. “We watched gigs completely dry up for musicians and live performances come to a screeching halt. We’ve always enjoyed creating visual content and connecting with online audiences and those connections are needed now more than ever.”
Each individual is given recording methods and guidelines that are specific to their technology to ensure that the same quality of recording that a traditional space can provide is also maintained by the KMM studio. Using this standard process, they then record their music and send it directly to Galus and Gall who master the audio and video production.
“The process is different than a standard studio setting, but also allows each recording artist more control over their individual sound, which we then combine with the virtual ensemble to create the final product,” Galus said.
Not only can the company provide a remote recording studio to anyone creating music, Galus and Gall also help artists reach more listeners by marketing their music in different ways.
“Every composer’s distribution needs are different, but we’re happy to help them reach as broad of an audience as possible,” Galus said. “It is our hope that people continue making music [and] because our artist roster and services are not limited to one regional area, we’re able to connect with incredible and diverse musicians from across the country and around the globe.”
Galus, Gall and the KMM Studio artists throughout the recording process tailor their services to help artists bring their music to life. For example, when working with composer Aaron Perrine, the team offered suggestions for instrumentation throughout his recording.
“We’re flexible and are happy to lend our services to best serve the needs and dreams of any project that comes our way,” Galus said.
Keep Making Music gives composers and musicians a space to produce music by using technology to work together despite the current circumstances.
“I’ve always thought that this was a special way to keep making music with others despite any amount of distance, and technology has only made this idea more accessible,” Galus said.
Check out KMM Studio artsists here.