Posted on June 9, 2015 | In Press | by Bridget Filipe
This article originally appeared on The Ultimate Sound
By Andrew Hutz
This past weekend, I had a profound, musical experience. Actually, it was a set of profound musical experiences, and the majority of them were thanks to an excellent recording studio in Philadelphia, The Boom Room and their unique event.
My birthday was Saturday, and I was lucky enough to have spent the weekend doing my favorite things: Talking about music, listening to music, and creating music with great friends, a few cold beers and no pressure, deadlines or frustrations. After spending an entire weekend doing exactly what I wanted, I heard about an opportunity to continue doing so on Sunday night, but in the presence of many other talented musicians.
Enter: The BOOM ROOM
The Boom Room is a recording studio located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Fishtown neighborhood. In recent years, Fishtown has seen a surge in popularity among artists, musicians and other creative people, and The Boom Room is fortunately a part of that. I say fortunately, because I am thrilled that a studio like this exists in my city. There are plenty of recording studios around, but this one has something that makes it very special, and led to me having one of the best nights of my life. The Boom Room hosts songwriting workshops. Now you may be thinking, “Oh, that’s just a fancy way to say jam session”, and while people did come up with some tasty jams, the purpose of the event is very different than just having a bunch of people noodle on their instruments. There is structure and purpose to these sessions, as studio owner Gary Dann (who is also a very good drummer) explained, because the goal of this is to create defined, structured song components, which can later be reviewed, revisited by the artists involved, and turned into real songs.
I think this is an incredible idea, and combining that idea with The Boom Room’s well equipped facilities and the creativity of a number of local musicians from all different backgrounds and genres led to some really interesting ideas. One of the things that I noticed while I was there was that there was a very positive energy all throughout the studio, as if everyone there, although many had never met before that night, subconsciously understood each other. Music is a universal language, but it almost felt like people were reading each others minds as well as the music they were playing. It was an entirely excellent experience, which I personally felt was special to me, because it was the first time I had ever played in front of a group of people. For me to be able to get up, unsure as to whether or not I’ll be able to keep up, and lock into the music with a group of people that I’ve never even met and feel comfortable doing so would take a very special event in what I think is a special place. I like to think that I not only played well, but also contributed some neat ideas, and I’ll be able to find out, as The Boom Room was recording the entire thing, and will make the whole thing available for us to review and listen to again.
Beyond the outstanding atmosphere, friendly people and great music, this event was also a great networking opportunity. I got a chance to meet rappers, producers, guitarists, trumpet players, drummers, singers and even a stand up comedian. Everyone there was relaxed, and just having a good time, which I think really helped to bring out some excellent musical ideas. I am definitely looking forward to going back to the Boom Room, both for future songwriting sessions, and the incredible vibe that I felt during the event.
I highly recommend that anyone interested in having professional recording work done, or anyone who wants to attend one of these totally kick-ass songwriting workshops follow The Boom Room on Facebook and twitter to keep up to date on when they are hosting their next event. They are doing music right, and doing right by music.
For more information about The Boom Room, visit their website: https://www.boomroomstudios.com/
Follow them on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theboomroom
And on Twitter at https://twitter.com/boomroomstudios