Douglas Geist and Eric Larson, adjunct faculty in the University of New Mexico Department of Music, were honored at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards for their work as sound engineers on the album “Black Eagle - Flying Free,” which received the award for Best Album in the Native American music category.
The album was recorded and mixed by Geist, principal/engineer-producer, and mastered by Larson, at the Santa Fe Center Studios in Albuquerque. The album was recorded by The Soar Corporation and produced by Tom Bee.
Geist and Larson teach recording courses for the music department at the studios. Larson also teaches an advanced digital course with Assistant Professor of Music Patrice Repar on main campus.
Geist said this is his first Grammy. A variety of instruments are heard on the album, he noted, including large and small drums and even the sounds of tiny metals jangling from Native American dresses used in traditional dance.
“We’re excited because it gives a nod to the whole process, which is uniquely New Mexico,” Geist said. “We borrowed from the old and the new to create this album.”
Santa Fe Center Studios has two control rooms, a delay/reverberant chamber and six isolation chambers providing varied acoustic qualities.
“In the process of recording and mixing this album, the ambient effects were produced only from these rooms, keeping the sonic quality of this album completely organic and customized to their material,” Geist said.
