So, today was my very first day of Uni and I'm proud to say that I'm so glad to be back at my old college studying again. It was very clear to me last year that I missed the whole studying environment and I'm so happy to be back with one that I am comfortable with. My first lecture today was in Recording Studio 3 (RS3). To start off with, none of us knew where we were actually meant to be because the name of the room was different to what it was actually named on the door but, we all got there somehow. I asked Any Peet which one it was as he was in the Technicians Office at the time. I did originally think it was the one upstairs but, it turns out it was the one down the hallway which I was familiar with because I had perviously had lessons with Selwyn Chambers in there before, at least three years ago.
There were only half of the people on my course present for the first lesson as the lesson was divided into two groups. One for one day, one for another. We were meant to have Rob teaching us (who I know, but I've not properly met yet) but, he was off sick. Apparently there's a bug going around the college so, Andy Oakley filled in for him which I personally think was a bonus. Even though he says he's more familiar with ProTools, he's being doing this for around 20 years so he was definitely the best to have to give us all an introduction to Recording and Logic. I'm quite at ease now when it comes to using Mac systems since I've owned one myself for about two years now. I did feel like I had an advantage with using GarageBand as I noticed a lot of similarities between what I'm used to and Logic, which is why I probably got on with it so well. The main difference is that Logic allows you to do so much more with the arranging of the mix, it is unbelievable. Andy shown us all from the basics to help us import some stems that Rob had prepared for us and then went on to show us how to use corrective EQ starting with the drums and the bass and then allowed us to play around with those at our own Mac workstation. He then went on to show us the most desirable way to use corrective EQ on the guitar, mixing that with the bass and then went on to the vocals. When he was showing us how to do it his talks were very in depth and lasted around half an hour each. I decided to record all of the lectures today so I can just listen back to them as a reference or reminder when ever I like. Once he had finished talking he let us have a go at correcting the EQ for the other tracks he had just shown us and then after a while started to go around everyone individually to see how they was getting on. I feel like I may have impressed him a little. I'm not sure what he was expecting from me either though as I'm a bit of a newbie techie in his mind still. I didn't think I did too bad anyways. I tried to stick with what he was guiding us through but, also played about with it too. I think his ears are too good to not notice though but, he did say I was on the right path with it all.
The first lesson ran over by a couple of minutes just so that Andy could get around everyone and just a last minute general chat where nobody seemed to want to leave even though there was another class due in the room soon and we had to get on with our lunch break.
After Lunch, it was time for a couple of sessions with Matt Horobin. Our first session was of the music industry where Matt mostly spoke about his experience to give us an insight of his experience and how he landed a lecturing job. His talk went on for most of the session and then he decided that we should do a bit of an ice breaker activity. He handed out to everyone a single sheet of paper with three divisions and room to write your preferred name. The task was to draw objects that reflect the answer to the task on each division. The tasks were only simple such as, "An artist/band that has inspired you.", "Draw your main creative skill." and "draw another hobby/interest that's not music related."
We was given about ten minuets to draw our responses and then we had to go around swapping chairs in a cyclic manner to get around half of the group. Obviously, there were some that I didn't get to talk with because they were also circling around, but I got to chat with everyone that remained seated. The idea was that you were meant to guess what each others images represented. Two of mine were easier than my first. For the artist that inspired me I drew a grenade shaped like a heart to represent Green Day's American Idiot. Not many people got the reference straight away but everyone knew what it was once I told them when they had given up.
Our last lesson ended up sort of split into two. Creative music technology. Matt was our lecturer again and he was basically giving us a visual tour through a powerpoint presentation of all the cool gear we get to work with during the course. I did try to note down all of the different pieces of equipment just so that I could research them at the later date. We had problems finding a room to use at the start as the room that we were timetabled to be in, the same room as before had been double booked so we ended up in the big mac suite that used to be the pc suite. A more familiar place for me. We were in there for about half an hour before we got interrupted by Kirsty's class that was scheduled for that room. It was actually quite funny, but, then we had to find another room.
We ended up in "The Venue", formerly the Recital Room. Edgy. Matt continued his lecture about the equipment and then after he had finished Andy Oakley took over for a health and safety talk. I did feel a bit much, but then it was still quite an insightful reminder to protect our hearing. I remember having a similar talk when I first started 6 years ago, but with lesser content just because some of it wasn't really relevant I guess. Things were more emphasised this time around and there were a lot more cheesy jokes. An example would be when Andy was talking about people coiling away the multicore cable (big massive chunky cable with a stage box attached, usually called "the snake" in America) that when they learn to do it perfectly they tend to get the nick name of "the snake charmer" and he wants to get an oboe out and play while they do it.
When the talk was over, Andy was giving us a bit of a tour. I knew my way around mostly and all I wanted to know was where the HE Common Room was which I later found out was literally just behind the music corridor where the old keyboard practice room was. I do wonder where they put all of those keyboards, if they decide to sell them I do want one for sure. They seem to be selling a lot of things at the moment. Andy took the rest of the new students on a more in depth tour around the music department, Matt had already given a tour of the library upstairs in the break between the last two lessons. I needed to wait for Andy to come back to ask him about booking practice rooms for drumming so I waited it the circle area. I didn't need to wait two long until he came back out of the music area with a few other students, when they dispersed I decided to ask him. I managed to get a room booked for the Thursday the same week, I wanted the very same night too but the other younger technician Andy hadn't received my email so that was a no go. I was a good job I double checked or I probably wouldn't have been able to practice on the Thursday either.
Overall, my first day went a lot better than expected. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting at the same time but, it definitely surpassed it. I felt like I had learnt something by the end of the day, especially with Andy leading our first recording session, I felt a lot more comfortable that I feel I would have with Rob as I don't know him yet and I'm just awkward most of the time. There wasn't a lot of work to do on the first day just sort of introductions to the kit we will be using and it all made me rather excited about everything now that everything looked a lot more promising and I had realised that I was quite comfortable with the course content. I think I'm only really worried about working with more of the hardware, synths should be ok, but I'm not too sure about everything else yet. If this is my only worry though, I think I'm in narrowly in the green. I'm sure not everyone on my course has used all of this technology I just imagine that some may have more experience than others and hopefully I can learn from them and vice versa for other things. My group are rather nice, I don't think there are any issues so far with just simply getting along with people and working with others. I'm glad we don't seem to have anyone that just messes about either, that was one of my worries, but everyone seems quite focused and that relaxes me. Everyone is there to learn. I love it.
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