Intermediate Audio Production: Final SitRep

Well, the listening party was a fabulous way to end the term here in BDC 301. Getting to view and listen to all the great work done by my fellow students was a real treat. This course has proved to me why everyone in RTA should go into the audio stream because it is so awesome. Not only does it have an industrial wealth of knowledge but it is also fun as heck. A Winning Combination.  What I like about this course is all the hands on practice we get, which is true for most of RTA, and with audio we have the magnificent facilities on the 3rd floor at our disposal and it is a real privilege to have access to them.The only downfall to this course is that there is so much cool material covered throughout the course, there are so many things you could forget, despite diligent note taking. One thing I've realized in audio production is that in order to remember some of the complex things we cover (like certain mixing techniques or studio layouts) is to just keep doing it over and over again. One thing I know that everyone has brought up at one point is the fact the our class is six hours long. It is as Finlay first described, a "Behemoth". From what I've heard the instructors are trying to get the course split up. One reason I didn't mind it being 6 hours is the fact that we get to apply what we've learned the day we are taught it which is nice, because you tend to forget if your lecture and lab sections are seperate especially with a course like ours which has a mountain material to cover. I think I want to continue in the audio stream in future years year in RTA. This course was really good at helping me decide on my focus. I'm still not %100 certain but it has definitely nudged me in the right direction. There is still so much to see and learn so everything from here on out should not fail to disappoint. When I first thought about doing something in any sort of production capacity I really had no idea what to expect. Even when I chose to do this program in the first place I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into and was nothing but a bag of nervousness. Since first year was sort of an introduction to everything it was hard to pin point particular areas of interest. But this years course have convinced me I definitely made the right choice, not only with the audio stream, but with the program as a whole. I look forward to what the next couple of years has in store.

Intermediate Audio Production Week 11: Green Run

Sneaky are the hobbitses of the audio practical test. I told my self "be wary of these crafty sorcerers, they have a great many tricks and illusions up there sleeves." Sure enough they got me with a few of their tricks. I love how one button on the control board can mess absolutely everything up. You can do everything perfectly and have nothing butt confidence then you go to record and........silence. Our markers were ruthless as well and being the very first victim didn't help either. However, I think under the circumstances I did quite well and was able to subdue my nerves and get the job done. I do wish however had been a bit more specific as to how they wanted us to go about carrying out the test. I followed the list precisely but got marks taken off for doing things in a different order. I wouldn't have minded but my way of doing it would not have affected the final product. I guess everyone learning on standard way is a good way to make sure we are all the same page. Lesson learned, experience bookmarked, and all will be well regardless. I do feel however that this is a great way to practice studio procedure and I wish we had more evaluations like this. If we had a few minor sort of practical tests to practice as well as a big practical test at the end. All that in conjunction with the time spent working on assignments would make us truly efficient. Well, only one more week and it's all over. tear....

Intermediate Audio Production Week 10: Time Sensitive and Mission Critical

Mastering.....the dark and disturbing art as Prof. Warwick would describe it. At it's core its pretty much the next level of mixing but obviously there is more to it than that. I was never exactly sure what came after the recording and mixing but before the distribution of music. I guess mastering technicians would be the hitmen of the music world. They have a target, and prepare everything for the final execution of their subject.

My group and I had a ball doing our audio for video assignment. We chose to do a scene from the movie "Taken". Everyone enjoyed contributing which is what made it so fun and I think you can see it in the final product. We did have a few setbacks however. We got about half way and the system crashed and we lost pretty much everything and had to start from scratch. Woes of an RTAer. However, through some sort of divine intervention form the audio gods our original files were on the drive, they were just weren't in the session file, which was quite odd butt our group decided not to question it and be thankful. Working in groups for these assignments has been both amazing and stressful. Amazing because we all got to share in the experience of creating a fun piece but stressful because of all the timing conflicts. I guess with university its to be expected. Everyone's got all their other classes to worry about and work on but we powered through it and got it finished while at the same time having fun, which is what its all about.

The heat is on next week in our practical tests. I feel confident in my abilities but will try to get some time to practice in the studios just to make sure. In audio, extra practice never hurts.

Intermediate Audio Production Week 9: Field Experience

Today we learned that as an audio technician working on a film or television show, you are really in charge of one whole dimension of the production. As asked of us in the quiz, the most important part of any video is the audio, so as the audio overlord you are really in command of the production (but let's not voice it out loud with the director and the actors). Finlay's in depth look at field recording was real interesting and at first glance it looks relatively simple, keeping a mic tracked on an actor gather as much sound as possible. When we tried it out for ourselves I think we all learned how difficult it actually is though. Especially as the darn Boom operator. You must be as skillful with it as a Jedi is with a light saber. Having to watch the shadows and making sure you keep the microphone pointed at the talent without smacking them in the face. The mixing demo Brian took us through was definitely packed with a kitchen full of food for thought. Although he taught us various techniques as to how mixing is usually done, when you get down to it there is never a %100 right or wrong answer. There are "preferred" ways of doing things but not necessarily "perfect" ways of doing things. I bet some of the greatest records out there came from accidental or experimental mixing techniques that never intended to sound good but somehow they became hits.

Intermediate Audio Production Week 8: Joint Task Force

And now to the other realm of this audio production course, the Audio for Video stream. I just wish I could watch the movie "Blackenstein" as its looks to be quite an interesting picture, but I digress. I haven't considered doing any work in the "A4V" branch of audio production mainly because I hardly knew anything about it. But after today I think I might really enjoy it. You can totally change the tone and meaning off scene with some good A.D.R. With all the different kinds of exposure we've had to all the different aspects of this industry I think it will be very hard to try and find an aspect to focus on, but I guess that is also the upside because why limit yourself? What's great about audio is that each branch can flow into the next as we are learning in the various labs. You can bring a band in to record a soundtrack in multitrack and then put it to video and add sound effects in foley. It's a never ending sonic buffet of possibilities.

Intermediate Audio Production Week 7: Hostile Territory

Today we were in the multitrack studio and actually recorded a band and it was quite the rewarding experience. Whenever I listen to music from my favourite bands (Rush, Scar Symmetry, Hammerfall, to name a few) I always wished I could go back in time and be in the studio when these bands recorded their albums for the first time... oohhhh what an experience that would be. However, what we did today was probably the next best thing. I'm usually a performer but the other side of the glass is also chalked full of fun. I'm am so looking forward to getting into the multitrack environment for myself and doing some recording. I'll probably get a few of my jamming buddies to come in and belt out a few tunes. Again, I've never been able to record in such a professional environment so I'll have to keep my cool if everything is to go smoothly. It should go well though. What I find with this course is that since we enjoy what we're learning any moment of frustration is rewarded with some sort of lesson be it technical or otherwise.

Intermediate Audio Production Week 6: Operation Overlord

It was nice to continue working  on our Beastie Boyz remixes especially by adding our own music playing through MIDI. This really adds the cherry on the creative cake because we can really add our own flavours to our remix instead of just relying on the Pro Tools arsenal. The fact that you can play virtually any instrument form a keyboard is very cool. You could probably simulate an entire orchestra if you really wanted all in the virtual world of the MIDI interface. Needless to say it made this week's pass/fail quite enjoyable. The lecture on soundtracks for films and television was also very interesting. I actually really enjoy listening to various movie soundtracks including the soundtracks for Inception, The Dark Knight, and pretty much anything Hans Zimmer does. However I don't know how I would have fared back in the day when everything was done on tape and had to be meticulously cut and pasted together (not in a computer either, actually cutting with razors and pasting with tape). Knowing all the elements of a soundtrack, like diagetic and non-diagetic sound, made my appreciation for movie music that much greater. Like the example we saw in "Apocalypse Now", somethings in a soundtrack although they may sound out place, are actually there for a very important reason, usually something deep and  meaningful depending on the director's vision.