Mastering Music Lamoine producer Baum helps amateur vocalists to sound their best

It was a sweltering afternoon, and Maeve Perry arrived at the recording studio as any pop star would: dressed comfortably, wearing flip-flops and a sarong skirt, her blond curls in pigtails.

She made her way to the basement, where it was cooler, and joined Marty Baum at his workstation: a Macintosh G4 computer. With a mouse click, he played back a song from her last recording session. Drumbeats and woodwinds streamed across the screen like EKG tape, giving a visual representation of the music coming through two large speakers. As the chorus started, Baum paused the song, selected the voice channel and added harmony.

“I think it’s beautiful,” Perry, 21, said. “I love that.”

“We can make it whatever we want,” Baum replied.

What the Cherryfield woman wanted was a unique gift for her husband-to-be, Geo Pusey. Something she couldn’t buy in a store. So she decided to record a CD of “My Love Is Your Love,” a ballad made famous by Whitney Houston.

“Whitney Houston has an incredible voice and she can work it all around,” Perry said.

Perry may not be an international superstar, but her voice is incredible in its own right. It’s people like Maeve whom Baum had in mind when he started Starstruck Productions.

“Mostly what I do here is write and produce my own music,” he said. “A lot of musicians these days have their own studios, so there’s no real market for trying to record other musicians.”

There is, however, a market for people who don’t consider themselves musicians. People who feel more comfortable singing in the shower than in the spotlight. People who belt out a mean tune in the car when the radio is blaring. People who have a great voice but no aspirations of stardom.

“The karaoke crowd, people who love to sing, some of them happen to be pretty good singers,” Baum said.

And he would know. Baum, 58, has been in the business for years. In his time behind the mixer, Baum has learned a few things about sound – what works and what’s missing. He can tell if a note sounds flat, and he can tell you how to make it sound fuller and richer, even if you don’t know the first thing about music.

“I’m an arranger and a musician and I can help people and coach them through it and make them sound pretty good,” Baum said.

Perry sets up at the microphone, puts on a pair of headphones, takes a deep breath and swallows. A calypso beat starts, and she leans in closer.

“If tomorrow is judgment day, and I’m standing on the front line, and the lord asks me what I did with my life, I will say that I spent it with you,” she sings.

As the song progresses, Baum adjusts levels on the computer screen, which does the work normally reserved for the mixing board to his left. Each aspect of the song, from the piano to the voice tracks, is saved in a digital format called a MIDI file, which makes it easy to substitute one instrument for another if you don’t like the way a tune sounds.

“If you wanted more woodwind to make it ethereal, he can do that on the computer,” Perry said later. “It’s incredible. It’s just information.”

The digital files can be infinitely manipulated, so Baum can make Perry sound like Pearl Jam or one of the Chipmunks. But she just wants to sound good. Fortunately, Baum can help. As he listened to Perry’s recording, he paused at one point and pointed to the screen.

“See this? This needs a little lift,” Baum said. “I’ve been listening to music for 40 years and I’ve played in too many rock ‘n’ roll bands not to know things like that.”

After Perry was finished, Baum would master the CD to make it sound as professional as possible. Perry has a great voice, but Baum has worked with other people who don’t care how they sound – they’re just there to have a good time, and to have something to show off to their friends.

“Some make you cringe, but that doesn’t matter,” Baum said. “That’s the idea behind this – to have fun.”

For more information on Starstruck Productions, call 664-0387 or visit www.starstruckstudio.com.