Saqeef Ali: Behind The Scenes

Posted by Franco Romero in Music

When Contemporary Music Program major Saqeef Ali performed for his SFUAD audition, he did so as a singer. However, after taking his first recording techniques class, he began to discover a new passion: one he would never have seen himself enjoying before he came to SFUAD.

Saqeef Ali adjusting sound levels in O’Shaunasse Hall. Photo by Rebeca Gonzalez

“The plan was to try to become a professional singer,” Ali says. “Be in a band, you know, do the whole ‘rock star dream.’ Of course that changed a lot after freshman year.”

When Ali was a sophomore, two levels of recording techniques were required. During this time, his interest was sparked by all of the recording information he took in, such as how to operate a studio and set up mics. When he took the second class, he was able to do a project that actually required recording material and ended up recording for Scarlet Cortex. The band had recently expressed interest in finding someone who could handle the difficult task of recording, so that they could focus on the music itself. Ali reached out to Matt Ruder, one of the band members, saying that he was interested.

Before Ali, the band went through a series of bad experiences with recording engineers who were inexperienced and, at one point, even lost an entire night’s work due to mistakes that were made.

“I just went in there and did what I knew I had to do,” says Ali. “He [Matt Ruder] just kept asking me back and eventually he said, ‘let’s keep doing this. Can you keep doing this?’ My first jump into the recording scene was working on an album and getting it engineered. I thought that was one of the great learning blocks, to start from the ground up and actually work on a full record.”

Moving forward, Ali took an advanced recording class and has since recorded music for The Laser Cats, Contemporary Music Major Nathan Smerage and SFUAD graduate Gelo Giusti, among others. Ali says he has found work that he is both comfortable doing, and about which he is passionate. He sees the recording process as not only the act of helping musicians, but also as one of creation on his part.

Saqeef Ali plugging in mic cords for a live performance. Rebeca Gonzales.

“When you get to sit an artist down and record them, that’s pretty awesome to me because it gives me the opportunity to kind of help them put out a physical footprint that people can get ahold of,” says Ali. “It allows me to be the person who can fulfill that for them, but it also allows me to say, ‘hey, I worked on this. I helped these musicians realize their dream.’ That’s rewarding to me.”

Ali says he feels that through his recording work, he has spent his time at SFUAD well. He is proud to show his family and friends the music of which he has been a vital part, and is going to do just that with his senior show. Rather than performing his own music, Ali will be presenting a lineup of musicians whose work he has recorded and explain the process that went into the songs before each performance. He will also be working as a sound engineer for his own show, doing what he is most comfortable with: working behind the scenes.

“It’d be cool to make my own music, but right now my focus is to help record other people’s music, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” says Ali. “I’m enjoying it. I love hearing my friends perform. I love recording it. It’s really moving for me.”