Critical Reflection

Trimester four has been one of my favorite trimesters thus far in completing my Bachelor of Audio at SAE Melbourne. I was organised for all of my assessment, passionate about what i was doing, i wasn’t doubting my skills and trusting my abilities. Here is a quick breakdown of each of the things that i was apart of for AUD220.

Live intensive

The live intensive was the first thing we worked on. We were assigned groups of 5 and we were expected to work in these groups for each of the intensives throughout the trimester. I got placed in a group with Enoch, Jordan, Corey and Harman. I was first a little nervous about this pairing because i had not worked with any of these people before, plus two of the people in my group Corey and Jordan were new to the Melbourne SAE campus and i had never met them before. This pairing of people ended up being one of the strengths and we we all worked really well together and made some amazing products. For the live intensive i immediately stepped up as a leader of the group because i was the only one in the group who had previously done Live Sound. Plus i have become quite comfortable in being a leader of a group, i enjoy the responsibility and i think this is something i should work on because it can be an asset to me if i am comfortable leading a team. I sourced the band that were going to be playing in our Live gig and organised film students to record the artists on the night to give them a live music video of their performance. I think the thing that i did well during this intensive was be a leader to the group while still learning alot from Tim and helping the others in my group understand what was being taught. From this intensive i learn a lot about monitor mixes and what an artist is looking for when on stage. My live work has improved amazingly since learning these things during this intensive. I enjoyed the organising of the gig, although it was sometimes stressful, it was very rewarding to see a finished product come together after all of the time and energy i put into the organising of this gig.

Post production intensive

This intensive was probably the most enjoyable thing we did this trimester. I say it was enjoyable because the creativity and meticulous building that goes into post production is creative and we got to use our brains to create something that ended up sounding very professional. Doing the post production intensive i found that i took a backseat in the leadership role and let Jordan and Corey who are both interested in post. I think i was good at keeping the team moving and making sure we didn’t linger on something for too long and wasting our time. I learnt a lot about post production in general and the whole process of ADR. post production is a thing that i knew very little about when walking into this class so everything that was shown was a learning curve for me. I think that after doing this intensive it is clear to me that post production is maybe something that i wouldn't see myself doing in the future as a career. I enjoyed it a lot but i don’t think i have the same passion and love for film and TV that i would need to achieve a lot in this area. Maybe someday in the future this could change but for now music and Acoustics are still my interest in this field.

Music

The last intensive that we had was the music production one. We only had four weeks to complete this song and thanks to starting our planning and writing 3 weeks before the first class we were able to hit the ground running as soon as we got into the studio. I think the N

eve is my favorite studio we have learnt so far. It is so tactile and straightforward and sounds great. During this intensive i again took the producer leadership role and made sure that things were moving forward and artists were booked in when we needed them. Especially on the day that we recorded vocals. We did it in our own time because our vocalist was unable to do it in lesson time meaning Trinski wasn't able to be there. On this day i really took the wheel and was on protools, the desk and talk back while the artist was in the room. I made sure everyone in the group was apart of the process and their input was listened to. I later took a backseat when it came to mixing the song because i wanted everyone in my team to have a go. I learn the Neve desk obviously but i also learn that i should trust my musical judgment more because a few of the large decisions what were to do with structure and arrangement came from me and i think they were an integral part of the end product.

Podcast

The podcast that was worked on throughout the whole thirteen week trimester was something that seemed easy at the stat but as it got closer to the end, it became apparent that there was a lot to do. I am happy with the end product and think that it is very professional and could easily be enjoyed by many people. If i were to do this assignment again i would make sure that i was a bit more involved in every aspect of the assignment. I think i would like to make a podcast of my own. If i ever found the right subject i would definitely create something similar.

Freelance work

Throughout this whole trimester i have been working for a Production company called Autumn Shade Records, that puts on gigs around Melbourne to promote new artists and gives them a stage to play when they have new singles to release. Over the past 13 week i have done sound at:

• The Grace Darling Hotel in Fitzroy

• The Evelyn Hotel in Fitzroy

• Revolver Band Room in Prahn

• Bar Open in Fitzroy.

Each night has consisted of 4 bands playing in succession for about 4 to 5 hours in total. I have been solely in charge of setting each band up, sound checking a EQing each room and being FOH Engineer for each band. Some of the artists i have worked with are:

• New Hat

• Holy Peyote

• Kathryn Mckee

• Youthfire

• Civique

• Magic is Happening

• Sophisticated Dingo

• Plotz

• Fourth Place

• Solex

• Mini Coop

I have really enjoyed doing this freelance work and i will continue to network and seek out new opportunities because i can see this being a viable career path for me.