In short, Spain was amazing. What an incredible experience. If I'm honest, I wasn't really sure what I was going for in the beginning as I was asked a little last minute but, I was on the mixing desk a fair bit, sharing the role with other tech students, otherwise getting drunk (...What?) I'll walk you through the days.
Tuesday
So, First flight to Alicante followed by a night out in an Irish Bar immediately after getting settled in the villas.
Wednesday - Maggies
We had trouble getting to our first gig due to an issue with Taxis not showing up on time or even in the right place so we didn't have much time to set up once we had arrived and because of this the stage wasnt very well thought out. We had an electric drum kit to build which ended up in the centre of the small stage which didn't leave room for much else.
Totally lost most of my pedals that I supplied that night but I wasn't fazed.
Thursday - The Stray Sod (Acoustic)
The second gig was one of the best for me since one, I was actually doing something on the desk and two, everyone really got into it. We walked it to this one from our Villas. My highlight from this one was when Emanuel made a shaker out of his drinks and me are Mori called him up on stage. Also, there was a house band playing inside after us called The Cages.
Friday 3 - Maggies
The second appearance at Maggie's sounded much better since we got there much earlier with the help of a mini bus service. I did some live sound for this one too and turned Dan down too much. Too funny. It's all experience!
Saturday - The Stray Sod
Final gig of the tour. I did a lot of live sound that night and recorded some great videos of The Alphas performing and Harry's guitar solo.
Sunday
Shopping and Celebratory Drinks in the evening. (big kids were allowed to stay out into the small hours)
Monday - Flight home
Amazing!
Monday, 18 June 2018
Friday, 8 June 2018
Catch Up Post: HND Final Weeks
I've been absolutely rubbish when it comes to keeping up with this blog, probably mostly to do with my new found party lifestyle that seems to have arrived more later than it should (as a student... hmmm) combined with the fact that I've been busy, so I wan't to use this post to sum up the last moments of my course.
The last month was a bit of a stress. I didn't have much left to do really, but it didn't help that my Mac Mini's HDD decided to fail so I had no choice but to wipe it. Thankfully I didn't lose any of my work as it was all on my USB Stick, but then even that decided to fuck up and I had to format that too. Thankfully, that was just after I had sorted out my Mac, reinstalled the iOS and managed to still pull everything from it even though something wasn't quite right. Mayhem. At the worst time as well, when everything is due in! All of this delayed me in finishing my work that I needed to submit within days. Since I had wiped the HDD, I had to reinstall Logic and all of it's instruments and sounds since I was using some for my project so it was essential that I got them all back. On top of all this, we wasn't even fully aware that we also had to master all of our tracks for our final submission so everyone missed that deadline. Like seriously, everyone. Even me, Miss. Perfect Student ngl.
I managed it in the end and thankfully our tutor gave us an extension since he had actually given us a fair bit more work to do with little notice because of some dickhead external examiner. Ugh, that dude seemed nice too then he just hits us with a shed load of work that barely covers a unit. Prick. My tutor basically said I've pretty much wrote a dissertation just so he could tick one box, which ok yeah thats cool and reassuring that I can pull off that sort of workload in a short space of time but Jesus, where's the complains department for Pearsons at?
The last month was a bit of a stress. I didn't have much left to do really, but it didn't help that my Mac Mini's HDD decided to fail so I had no choice but to wipe it. Thankfully I didn't lose any of my work as it was all on my USB Stick, but then even that decided to fuck up and I had to format that too. Thankfully, that was just after I had sorted out my Mac, reinstalled the iOS and managed to still pull everything from it even though something wasn't quite right. Mayhem. At the worst time as well, when everything is due in! All of this delayed me in finishing my work that I needed to submit within days. Since I had wiped the HDD, I had to reinstall Logic and all of it's instruments and sounds since I was using some for my project so it was essential that I got them all back. On top of all this, we wasn't even fully aware that we also had to master all of our tracks for our final submission so everyone missed that deadline. Like seriously, everyone. Even me, Miss. Perfect Student ngl.
I managed it in the end and thankfully our tutor gave us an extension since he had actually given us a fair bit more work to do with little notice because of some dickhead external examiner. Ugh, that dude seemed nice too then he just hits us with a shed load of work that barely covers a unit. Prick. My tutor basically said I've pretty much wrote a dissertation just so he could tick one box, which ok yeah thats cool and reassuring that I can pull off that sort of workload in a short space of time but Jesus, where's the complains department for Pearsons at?
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Realise
Oh, I'm so glad that's all over. The amount of stress leading up to this week has been unreal, although still more manageable than some moments form last year. I'm pleased to announce that our Realise project is over. My performance was on Tuesday but there were still a couple more students left to perform theirs today. I've got all my feedback and and pretty happy with it to be honest, expect maybe one certain "Tutor" who decided he was going to bring me down. Well, guess what? His awarded scores stick out like a saw thumb against all the student awarded scores and considering not all of the student in the audience know me. I'm convinced he's got it in for me.I'm considering talking to my actual tutor about this although he said not to get too worked up about the feedback but it's just shitty that the worst feedback is from staff and I guarantee my tutors score would even be higher.
At this point, I've nearly finished my evaluation and its almost time to start some of the final projects due in soon. Spain is forever on the horizon and I have my passport ready, although there are a few things I still need to sort out for that. We've had the letters, so it's happening! There was probably a few more things I was meant to do this evening actually whist in the library but, oh well. I've managed to be extremely productive on a day where I have no musical functionality. I've pretty sure my musicality has been drained this week from our last major project. I couldn't even play drums this morning which was a little embarrassing but I have also been extremely tired.
At this point, I've nearly finished my evaluation and its almost time to start some of the final projects due in soon. Spain is forever on the horizon and I have my passport ready, although there are a few things I still need to sort out for that. We've had the letters, so it's happening! There was probably a few more things I was meant to do this evening actually whist in the library but, oh well. I've managed to be extremely productive on a day where I have no musical functionality. I've pretty sure my musicality has been drained this week from our last major project. I couldn't even play drums this morning which was a little embarrassing but I have also been extremely tired.
Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Industry Week
I totally missed writing about this week. For now, here's a link to the performances I was involved in and maybe I'll add some more stuff when I'm not so buy.
Thursday and Friday was a laugh! Friday was probably the best night out I've had in a long time.
Thursday and Friday was a laugh! Friday was probably the best night out I've had in a long time.
Tuesday, 10 April 2018
Easter Half-Term
Last week was quite strange. I knew I had tonnes of work to be getting on with but day by day decided to completely avoid it. The old, "I'll do it later" job followed by, "I'll just do it tomorrow." and then, "I'll just do it next week." There were a few events I should make note of. I had my first double date on Thursday evening with Aaron, my friend Chantelle and her fiancé Kyal. We went to Nandos and few were quite shocked that this was my first experience. However, I'm still not sure if I was really that impressed. The evening was nice but the food wasn't as good as I thought. It didn't help that I had already eaten a little too much before going out so I was practically force feeding myself, it was nice but not amazing. My favourite part was the paprika sprinkled chips. We went to McDonalds after for a McFlurry. On the Saturday, I was actually social and went to a party with Aaron after work and met a few of his friends. My parents were out at the caravan so I stayed over at his that night. I didn't last long at the party from coming over from work. I still feel a bit bad for making him come away from it all fairly early but we still had a nice night.
This week has been much more productive and I've still managed to get it many hours playing games I've played all too many time. I've figured it's all about balance. I've managed to further progress my video by almost five minutes over the last couple of days (which for me is quite impressive after last weeks struggle) but I've certainly reached a point where I can't wait for this particular project to be over. I'm just sick of it now. It's weird because I like making music videos and made a few since as early as 2013. It's like I feel like because it's not 100% related to music, it's niggling me as being part of the course. Oh, well... there is only one more smaller project after this and that should be a little more fun recording samples of random things (with a theme obviously) to make a track. I'm looking forward to that one at least, but i just need to get this lump of shite out of the way first.
In other news, I'm gaining weight rapidly. I think I've put on around a stone over the holidays (it is Easter, so the chocolate has been about in larger quantities) I need to be a little more careful now and think about my "summer body" for when the Spain thing happens. Not that I'll be walking around with much on, but I certainly won't be comfortable with my current amount of flab. I've even brought some fruit. There will be gym sessions and I will cut down on the a sweet stuff. I think I do have an addiction though, still at least I don't smoke. It's hard to get to the gym at the minute without thinking about my workload, hopefully I can find some time next week once I've made some more progress as it is looking more likely that I may reach my goal of around 10 minutes video footage complete by this Friday. It's a big ask, but it's certainly possible and if I achieve this it will certainly give me a little more freedom.
This week has been much more productive and I've still managed to get it many hours playing games I've played all too many time. I've figured it's all about balance. I've managed to further progress my video by almost five minutes over the last couple of days (which for me is quite impressive after last weeks struggle) but I've certainly reached a point where I can't wait for this particular project to be over. I'm just sick of it now. It's weird because I like making music videos and made a few since as early as 2013. It's like I feel like because it's not 100% related to music, it's niggling me as being part of the course. Oh, well... there is only one more smaller project after this and that should be a little more fun recording samples of random things (with a theme obviously) to make a track. I'm looking forward to that one at least, but i just need to get this lump of shite out of the way first.
In other news, I'm gaining weight rapidly. I think I've put on around a stone over the holidays (it is Easter, so the chocolate has been about in larger quantities) I need to be a little more careful now and think about my "summer body" for when the Spain thing happens. Not that I'll be walking around with much on, but I certainly won't be comfortable with my current amount of flab. I've even brought some fruit. There will be gym sessions and I will cut down on the a sweet stuff. I think I do have an addiction though, still at least I don't smoke. It's hard to get to the gym at the minute without thinking about my workload, hopefully I can find some time next week once I've made some more progress as it is looking more likely that I may reach my goal of around 10 minutes video footage complete by this Friday. It's a big ask, but it's certainly possible and if I achieve this it will certainly give me a little more freedom.
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
Pre-Easter Stress and Relief
The weeks of school gigs have been pretty intense and made it a little stressful dealing with my own work due for a rehearsal this week. On Monday, I probably should have done more that I did in preparation. Tuesday, I could probably say the same although I did manage to do a few things like setting up my interface and a channel in Logic to send midi notes to play live in time with my project. Thats something. Wednesday was extremely stressful. I knew I had to run though everything with what seemed to be minimal preparation. Even my video wasn't ready but that couldn't be helped. I wasn't due to perform until about 2:30pm which gave me the morning to do a few practice runs with the minimal tech I decided to take with me. Using the looper became a bit of an issue as it so easily went out of time with my backing track. This was all I needed, more issues on the day.
When I arrived, another student, Johnny was in the venue waiting about for Matt, our tutor. He had just done his performance and within ten minutes or so it would have been time to perform mine own. As Matt was in and out juggling us AO brought in some alumni to show off his new desk (which I'm sure some of them saw last year) oh, and the new side fill monitors on stage. Really? Now? I was anxious enough knowing that my performance was minimal and now I had an audience to watch me set up. Fuck off. Get out. I wanted the room totally to myself, but of course I didn't say anything.
Thankfully Matt was kind enough to allocate me sometime to get some more practice in before he filmed me perform. This gave me almost two hours, which even I thought was a bit much. Knowing that it wasn't going to be perfect anyway made me want less time to get in and get away quickly. I mean, it was the last day of term and no one really wanted to be there. I managed to adapt to my looper a little better although it still wasn't 100%. I did finally do the performance. I interrupted Matt in his office because I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to get it over with. I had a better idea of what I was doing and if I'm honest, overall it went much better than expected. I just wish I had the time to put more effort in beforehand then maybe it would have been even better.
As a mini celebration to end the stress, I caught up with fellow band mate, Peter in town. If I'm totally honest, my original plan wasn't to have a big meal but naturally that happened. We went to the Pit & Pendulum, where they ID you for coke and they managed to mess up my order. I wasn't in an amazing mood already so I mostly went on about that as they eventually solved the matter. We tried to talk a little about band stuff but its hard when you don't have a full band anyway. We're still after a new vocalist and probably a new bass player so I can jump on keys or guitar.
Thursday was much more relaxing. Finally. It was also a day that I had been waiting for for weeks. Its a shame it couldn't come before all the stress to chill me out and I hoped so much that this day could bring me some much needed inspiration. Recent days have felt quite cold on those terms, creating the odd progression here and there. The rather legendary NR had arranged a charity evening in support of LOROS including a meal and recital. I figured it would be nice to see him and his little village and so told him we would come. By we, (I guess I haven't mentioned him yet on this blog.) I mean my fella, Aaron. We're a rather new thing but I think we work. This made a nice date night for us and also meant that he could meet Nick too. The evening was amazing. I was feeling adventurous with the food and so had the lamb curry and Aaron had the pie. It's always amazing to watch Nick play piano, especially sight reading. It's a skill I don't think I could ever have, as much as I understand music theory I still struggle to read a treble clef at the most of times. Sophie's voice was amazing too. It's a shame I didn't really get to speak to Nick all that much but I definitely got my fair share of hugs. I can only hope that he will still teach me. He's far but he's worth it.
I slept over at Aaron's for the first time that evening, we didn't get loads of sleep because of the sun beaming through the loft window but it was enough to spend more time with each other. When I awoke, I realised how beneficial the night before had been. Even now, almost a week later, I have a sense of closure and a clearer head. The months I'd spent worrying when old news was new. Absent feelings. It almost feels like a new me but for now its back to working on my projects. It's great to still be in contact with Nick.
For now, I've got to continue work on my final projects which currently I have no motivation. I still believe its a lack of students that brings me down and maybe the fact that I do so much more abd have to balance all of that.Either way, in a couple of months I'll be free form it all for and I cant wait. One last push then no more NCN or Nottingham College or whatever they want to call themselves.
*Shakes fist*
Here's to a new new start at UoD!!
When I arrived, another student, Johnny was in the venue waiting about for Matt, our tutor. He had just done his performance and within ten minutes or so it would have been time to perform mine own. As Matt was in and out juggling us AO brought in some alumni to show off his new desk (which I'm sure some of them saw last year) oh, and the new side fill monitors on stage. Really? Now? I was anxious enough knowing that my performance was minimal and now I had an audience to watch me set up. Fuck off. Get out. I wanted the room totally to myself, but of course I didn't say anything.
Thankfully Matt was kind enough to allocate me sometime to get some more practice in before he filmed me perform. This gave me almost two hours, which even I thought was a bit much. Knowing that it wasn't going to be perfect anyway made me want less time to get in and get away quickly. I mean, it was the last day of term and no one really wanted to be there. I managed to adapt to my looper a little better although it still wasn't 100%. I did finally do the performance. I interrupted Matt in his office because I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to get it over with. I had a better idea of what I was doing and if I'm honest, overall it went much better than expected. I just wish I had the time to put more effort in beforehand then maybe it would have been even better.
As a mini celebration to end the stress, I caught up with fellow band mate, Peter in town. If I'm totally honest, my original plan wasn't to have a big meal but naturally that happened. We went to the Pit & Pendulum, where they ID you for coke and they managed to mess up my order. I wasn't in an amazing mood already so I mostly went on about that as they eventually solved the matter. We tried to talk a little about band stuff but its hard when you don't have a full band anyway. We're still after a new vocalist and probably a new bass player so I can jump on keys or guitar.
Thursday was much more relaxing. Finally. It was also a day that I had been waiting for for weeks. Its a shame it couldn't come before all the stress to chill me out and I hoped so much that this day could bring me some much needed inspiration. Recent days have felt quite cold on those terms, creating the odd progression here and there. The rather legendary NR had arranged a charity evening in support of LOROS including a meal and recital. I figured it would be nice to see him and his little village and so told him we would come. By we, (I guess I haven't mentioned him yet on this blog.) I mean my fella, Aaron. We're a rather new thing but I think we work. This made a nice date night for us and also meant that he could meet Nick too. The evening was amazing. I was feeling adventurous with the food and so had the lamb curry and Aaron had the pie. It's always amazing to watch Nick play piano, especially sight reading. It's a skill I don't think I could ever have, as much as I understand music theory I still struggle to read a treble clef at the most of times. Sophie's voice was amazing too. It's a shame I didn't really get to speak to Nick all that much but I definitely got my fair share of hugs. I can only hope that he will still teach me. He's far but he's worth it.
I slept over at Aaron's for the first time that evening, we didn't get loads of sleep because of the sun beaming through the loft window but it was enough to spend more time with each other. When I awoke, I realised how beneficial the night before had been. Even now, almost a week later, I have a sense of closure and a clearer head. The months I'd spent worrying when old news was new. Absent feelings. It almost feels like a new me but for now its back to working on my projects. It's great to still be in contact with Nick.
For now, I've got to continue work on my final projects which currently I have no motivation. I still believe its a lack of students that brings me down and maybe the fact that I do so much more abd have to balance all of that.Either way, in a couple of months I'll be free form it all for and I cant wait. One last push then no more NCN or Nottingham College or whatever they want to call themselves.
*Shakes fist*
Here's to a new new start at UoD!!
Monday, 26 March 2018
School Gigs "18 (Part two)
The last two weeks have been pretty hectic but extremely fun. I only really mentioned it the opening of the tour in my last post as I had so many other things to mention. Since then I've collected an array of stickers as memorabilia from some of the schools we visited and have plastered them all over the schedule. It was a slow start at first while the students got used to the ordeal of loading and unloading the van but we started to get a little quicker in the first week. My only real day off was the Tuesday of the first week since we had no gig but then we were straight back to it on the Wednesday. Wednesday was also pork pie day, which seems to be part of tradition whenever we play in Melton Mobray. AS brought mine this year as a thank you since he's been lacking with the chocolate. One of the highlights from that week came from visiting Ye Olde Pie Shop when AO returned out from the shop stroking his pork pie.
Some of the schools we played, I was familiar with from last year. Melton Vale, Yeoman Park, Carlton Digby are just a few from the first week. By Friday, an illness was starting to sweep through the group and a couple of the students really weren't feeling to strongly about performing. Sets started to be cut down and into the next week we saw absences effecting bands being able to play. I also picked up the bug which made me a little slower and less responsive but still somehow survived turning in everyday despite being ill. The was one day during the second week when I was the only member of my band that turned up. AS did try to contact me but I think I had already left the house and missed the call so I still tagged along to help, which with almost a whole band missing, I'm sure they needed it. Looking back it feels like the most of it was spent travelling which I've quite enjoyed. Its been nice to be driven about and be able to take in the surrounding as well as overhear all of the tour bus banter between students. Laughing and joking, getting to know some of them a little more. Some of the topics discussed should probably remain on the minibus.
The only real problems I've had are related to my own work, since these school gigs relate to another course. While helping the lvl 2s boosts my performance skills and gives me more experience working with the other students, it means I cannot fully focus on my work. Its been especially difficult to balance this time around with illness making its rounds. I did try to produce some visuals within Modul8 but it decided that it wasnt' going to play. After rendering the video, the file would not work. This was quite infuriating as it took a lot of my time during the only spare time I had and as a result, I got nothing out of it, which means I'm now having to really push hard to get work done over today and tomorrow to be ready for Wednesday (Which I'm really not looking forward to.)
It's sad that I'm not sure I'd be able to do this all again next year. It's an amazing experience and the kids love it. I feel like I want to keep helping out but at the same time, this time next year I will be focusing on my BA. It's hard for me to take in at the moment that actually, my current course finished in less that three months. It's crazy. I'm looking forward to it, though. I firmed my place this morning to study at The University of Derby and sorted out the student finance. It's becoming evermore real that it's the end to an era here in Nottingham, for me to study at least. On a positive note, I can't wait to get to know Derby as a city much better.
Some of the schools we played, I was familiar with from last year. Melton Vale, Yeoman Park, Carlton Digby are just a few from the first week. By Friday, an illness was starting to sweep through the group and a couple of the students really weren't feeling to strongly about performing. Sets started to be cut down and into the next week we saw absences effecting bands being able to play. I also picked up the bug which made me a little slower and less responsive but still somehow survived turning in everyday despite being ill. The was one day during the second week when I was the only member of my band that turned up. AS did try to contact me but I think I had already left the house and missed the call so I still tagged along to help, which with almost a whole band missing, I'm sure they needed it. Looking back it feels like the most of it was spent travelling which I've quite enjoyed. Its been nice to be driven about and be able to take in the surrounding as well as overhear all of the tour bus banter between students. Laughing and joking, getting to know some of them a little more. Some of the topics discussed should probably remain on the minibus.
The only real problems I've had are related to my own work, since these school gigs relate to another course. While helping the lvl 2s boosts my performance skills and gives me more experience working with the other students, it means I cannot fully focus on my work. Its been especially difficult to balance this time around with illness making its rounds. I did try to produce some visuals within Modul8 but it decided that it wasnt' going to play. After rendering the video, the file would not work. This was quite infuriating as it took a lot of my time during the only spare time I had and as a result, I got nothing out of it, which means I'm now having to really push hard to get work done over today and tomorrow to be ready for Wednesday (Which I'm really not looking forward to.)
It's sad that I'm not sure I'd be able to do this all again next year. It's an amazing experience and the kids love it. I feel like I want to keep helping out but at the same time, this time next year I will be focusing on my BA. It's hard for me to take in at the moment that actually, my current course finished in less that three months. It's crazy. I'm looking forward to it, though. I firmed my place this morning to study at The University of Derby and sorted out the student finance. It's becoming evermore real that it's the end to an era here in Nottingham, for me to study at least. On a positive note, I can't wait to get to know Derby as a city much better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)