Recording on the Other Side of the World

Richard Hieronymus in his home on SJ Island – Tim Dustrude photo

Local composer/music arranger Richard Hieronymus recently participated in a recording session held at the Smecky Studios in Prague, Czech Republic, and the cool thing is – he did it all from his home right here on the island!

It all began years ago when he arranged the string section on a young guitarist’s record album in the 1960’s. At that time, he was working for Dot Records in California, and in 1968, at Gold Star Recording Studio in Hollywood, they recorded Val Stoecklein’s record “Grey Life”, with Richard’s string arrangement backing up Val’s 12 string guitar & vocals.

“That was some sad, wonderful music…” Richard says “…every last song on the record was beautiful. You just don’t hear music like that these days.”

Grey Life never went very far commercially, but it did garner a cult following, before eventually going out of print. And sadly, Val Stoecklein died some years later. Recently though, Grey Life was re-released on CD over in Britain and it’s also available on iTunes.

But fast forward to the present and things really start to get interesting…

Joe Medina during the recording of his album in Prague – Contributed photo

San Francisco singer/songwriter Joe Medina heard the album “Grey Life” and knew that was the sound he wanted on a record he’s been working on. So he does some research and discovers the guy who arranged those strings is an ASCAP member who now lives on some remote island in Washington State. Joe gets in touch with another local San Juan Island composer / ASCAP member Alex Shapiro, to see if she can help locate Richard, and voila! Alex puts the two in touch with each other and here we are.

So why Prague? Well – Joe Medina’s music is very eclectic, and the album he’s working on will have a variety of styles – Swing, Jazz, Folk, Latin – with lots of horns and strings… he needs an orchestra and a horn section. Smecky Studios is one of Europe’s most popular recording studios and employs over 400 musicians who can do all kinds of styles. Basically it came down to price. To do a recording like this in the States with a conductor and 30 musicians would have been prohibitively expensive, but in Prague it was doable. Plus – Joe gets a trip to Europe out of the deal.

Joe in Prague talks to Richard on SJ Island via Skype – Contributed photo

So, two weeks ago, Joe went to Prague to record, and Richard stayed home. But with the help of his good friend Malcolm, Richard attended the recording session by using Skype and various other internet wonders. And so he was able to listen in real time and give feedback and get exactly the sound that he and Joe wanted.

Here’s a quick run down on the session in Richard’s own words:

“Last Thursday we recorded two original 1940’s Swing songs, one 12/4 time 1950s style Rock’n Roll tune, a Spanish Ranchero featuring two trumpets & finally a classical Gallop album opener. All were played brilliantly by members of the Sym-FILM-phony in Prague, Czech Republic. Our internet Skype hookup to both Smecky Studio musicians, conductor & control booth was excellent.

I could both talk to or type out messages minute by minute to the producer and sound engineer. My client is very happy with my arrangements and orchestra sound. The big string section (6 1st violin, 6 2nd violin, 3 violas & 2 cellos were lush. Besides the fine musicians, a photographer was present to document the session. 

Way to go for a big sound & small budget!”

Musicians at Smecky Studios in Prague, Czech Republic – Contributed photo

And that’s how recording is done on the other side of the world from from San Juan Island.

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