Our studios are closed – Sound engineers

BEFORE COVID-19 took over our whole lives, many music lovers would have been anticipating new releases from their favourite artistes.
The artistes would have been busy recording songs and making the rounds to promote them. However, now everything seems to have ground to a halt and those most affected by the lull in activity in the music industry are the sound engineers who have had to shut their studios.
Although some of them who spoke to Graphic Showbiz were not happy about the inactivity, they were of the view that saving lives was more important.
Sound engineer and musician Nacee said he had to close his studio to musicians and stay safe during this period.
“Money is not everything at this time, safety is more important. I am a family man with a wife and children. Would I want to infect them with the virus should I contract it? Yes, business is slow but my health is more important now,” he said.
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According to Nacee, he was using the opportunity to work on other projects and email them to the rightful owners.
Doctor Ray told Graphic Showbiz that he could not tell who had the virus and who did not, hence it was best to err on the side of caution and be safe in this period.
“Although business is not good, it is understandable because of the situation. No one is moving in and I am not stepping out either because of what is at stake. Now all I do is to send beats through emails to musicians whose projects I am working on,” he said.
Highly Spiritual boss, Kaywa, said for someone like him whose studio was located outside his house, it had not been easy at all.
“Some of the sound engineers are fortunate to have their studios in their homes and are able to work from there; but for me, it is a lockdown for two weeks. We hope this thing will be over soon so that we go about our normal duties.
“After the two weeks, I will still practice the social distancing, wash my hands and try as much as possible to use the sanitisers, among others,” he said.
Appietus said he was in hiding waiting for the lockdown to be over. “Currently, I am in the house and I’ve locked up my studio because I need to be safe. I have a lot of people calling that they want to record but all I tell them is to hold on for now.”
“We are all locked down for two weeks and I want to tell my fellow sound engineers not to follow the money and allow any musician to come in and record,” he stated.
Mix Masta Garzy had this to say: “We are in dangerous times and we need to stay safe. Money is not important at the moment, we have to be cautious in times like this and make sure we don’t give the virus to other people.”
According to him, he could make money after the lockdown and hopefully the pandemic would be over.