English Feature Article - Recording studio in Scotland

"I'll bring you more than a song"

Meanwhile at the studio...

As I stepped out of the car in Tillydrone, on the outskirts of Aberdeen, Scotland and took one long look around us - I wasn't quite sure we had come to the right place.

A shattered white building stood in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. I certainly wouldn't have thought that that building would hold a fully equipped recording studio, nor that it was where one of the most exciting experiences of my 18 years would take place.

While on our first school relations team mission to the UK, Aiysha Jebali (our school's native speaking teacher), Gábor Tirpák (Refi student) and myself got the amazing opportunity to work in a recording studio for three days, rehearsing and finally recording two of our own songs, praising God.

The songs were written by Aiysha, with the piano accompaniment created by Gábor, our wonderfully talented musician, and I leant the vocals, after making the melody of the songs. 

In the first two days, we had four and a half hours at the studio which were just about rehearsing and fine- tuning the songs. They wanted us to "get comfortable" with the feel of the beautifully equipped and professional-looking studio.

Of course, we couldn't have done this alone; we had endless help from Tilly Youth Project’s vocal coach, Simon; their sound engineer, Ian; and a youth worker named Sean.

They took us through the whole rehearsing and recording process, step by step. They were kind, always enthusiastic and ready with some advice to help make the songs the best that they could be. Needless to say that we are very grateful for that! And, also for the occasional tea that they made for us, when our throats were getting sore!

The third day was recording day; although I can safely say that we were all a bit nervous, we had from 10am until half past 6 in the evening to calm our nerves and get both songs successfully recorded.

The piano was recorded first, then the vocals (which included singing and spoken word). We did about 3-4 takes of each, choosing the best ones at the end.

We were exhausted by the time we finished, but as we walked out of that shattered white building, there was a feeling of inexplicable joy in each of us.

It was a Joy that comes from experiencing the power and love of Christ through simple but beautiful things - such as, two songs that came from the inspiration of three very different, but divinely similar people.

This is the slideshow of our whole mission trip, with one of our songs as the backing track.

Us relaxing at Dunnotter, after a Blessed time at Tilly Youth Project

Written by Sandy Magyar
Edited by Aiysha Jebali