Y ou hear what she does even if you never see her; Julie Perez uses professional hardware and software to mix the music you hear when you watch the Conan OiBrien Show. According to an Apple Hot News article titled "Recording live music for Late Night with Conan OiBrien," Ms. Perez wouldnit have it any other way. Ms. Perezis hardware of choice? ProTools and a G4 PowerMac. From the article:
Perez got bit by the audio bug at a job-fair seminar while in high school. "In one of the video presentations, musicians were depicted in a recording studio in this bit about the different sort of things musicians do," says Perez. "I was most fascinated by the sound board in the control room and thought, iI want to be that guy in the booth -- the one with the board.i That was my first inspiration to become a mixer."
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"I canit tell you how many times Iive had a guy from one of the bands run in here mortified after a performance because he hit a wrong note or screwed up somewhere in the song," says Perez. "Itis great to be able to go, ‘Oh, yeah… I caught that. But I already fixed it in ProTools.i"
Cool Drum Loops In her live band control room, where sheis worked for over eight years, a Power Mac G4 runs the ProTools rig. She also uses a Power Mac with a Cinema Display at home, and a Titanium PowerBook, for her own creative endeavors. "I love the Propellerheads stuff, like Reason and Rebirth, and I love Abletonis Live," she says. "I use it to create cool drum loops.
The article, by Stephanie Jorgl, is an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes of a nightly production like the Conan OiBrien Show, and is well worth a read. Itis also a nice look at how Macs figure into what it takes to make a fixture of Americana work smoothly.