At the risk of appearing cynical... I did not prepare a Powerpoint presentation for my discussion because I felt that the likelyhood of all of the relevant Uni systems working properly on the day would be slim.
Sadly, this apprehension was well founded.
I used this equipment failure as a great illustration of one of the big things I've learned this year.
That is: everything is a compromise. There is no guarantee of any equipment working. There are always deadlines and system limitations that we need to learn to negotiate successfully in order to work successfully in this (or any other) industry.
So I like to think that my presentation was all about substance, rather than worrying about bells and whistles!!
I also spent some time talking about my philosophy of my portfolio - that it is my goal to try and inject as much as myself and my personality as possible into the presentation - especially the 2 to 3 minute 'megamix' that will be the headline track.
I am very tempted by the idea of including some sort of comic voiceover. However, I freely acknowledge that the line between hilarious and tragic is a fine one indeed. And I cannot guarantee that I would be on the right side of this line!!
I felt the response to the pieces I played was very positive. Most of my work is firmly grounded in the dance/electronic genre. And I felt that people were pretty appreciative of this, despite few others in the class sharing this particular taste in music.
I played some tracks that I've prepared for class assignments this year, as well as some other material (extra-curricular!).
I have spent some time talking with a friend of mine who works in the advertising industry about what he likes to see in portfolios - and this was very enlightening.
He informed me that he is most interested in High Impact! (Not surprising, I suppose being in advertising..).
He said that one of the big problems with some portfolios he's seen is a lack of focus and attention to the immediate impression.
With this in mind, it is my intention to make my portfolio disc as exciting and high impact as possible.
Short, sharp, shiny... and of course I will up the volume of everything by 12 to 16 dB in Waves L3.
Surely this is the way forward in this brave new world!!?!!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Class presentations semester 2
Once again I have been pretty impressed with my classmates’ work! I think that there is some real skill on display and evident in all of these presentations.
One of the advantages of being forced to come up with a portfolio is that it makes one evaluate one’s body of work very critically. As I’ve been listening to my aural historical record (ie: a hard drive full of bounced mixes) I have been pretty happy to note my development. It is increasingly clear the progress I’ve made this year.
There are some moments when we sit in class and wonder what this is all doing for me. But when we step back a little and see things from a bigger picture, we are better able to appreciate the growth and development in our work.
As I said, this has been something I’ve noticed in other people’s work also. I recall some of the presentations from first semester, and can see that we’re all getting bigger and better at what we’re doing.
Our portfolio is an opportunity to convince people that we can ‘cut it’ in the real world.
Now I’m not really someone who enjoys the act of ‘selling myself’ at all. But I have been able to do it reasonably well in job interviews when required – so I know how to flick on that switch.
The construction of a portfolio is clearly one of those ‘job interview’ moments when we need to turn on the self confidence and professionalism as part of the presentation.
One of the advantages of being forced to come up with a portfolio is that it makes one evaluate one’s body of work very critically. As I’ve been listening to my aural historical record (ie: a hard drive full of bounced mixes) I have been pretty happy to note my development. It is increasingly clear the progress I’ve made this year.
There are some moments when we sit in class and wonder what this is all doing for me. But when we step back a little and see things from a bigger picture, we are better able to appreciate the growth and development in our work.
As I said, this has been something I’ve noticed in other people’s work also. I recall some of the presentations from first semester, and can see that we’re all getting bigger and better at what we’re doing.
Our portfolio is an opportunity to convince people that we can ‘cut it’ in the real world.
Now I’m not really someone who enjoys the act of ‘selling myself’ at all. But I have been able to do it reasonably well in job interviews when required – so I know how to flick on that switch.
The construction of a portfolio is clearly one of those ‘job interview’ moments when we need to turn on the self confidence and professionalism as part of the presentation.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Tour of Oasis Post
Yet another revealing trip to an amazing environment. Pretty impressive to see all of this stuff happening in Adelaide.
I spoke to a friend of mine who works in the graphics industry and he said that Adelaide is getting a world wide reputation as somewhere that does good high end work without the price (or overheads) of the major 'meccas' of the industry.
I can't believe it... that is some actual good news about a possible audio career for a change. Could it even be possible to have a satisfying career in the creative production field without having to give up the luxuries of living in a nice quiet town like Adelaide?
Well yes, clearly it is, if Oasis post is anything to go by.
I was impressed by so many things in this place. Including: the casual professionalism exuded by Marty, the incredible high end AV gear in their suites, and the down to earth attitude.
Marty talked of his way of developing his new staff is to take them under his wing and allow them to become proficient in all of the industry standard software. This process will typically take 3 years (a reasonable apprenticeship period, I think..)
I was pretty inspired to just keep pushing further and further ahead in my learning and composition.
It's all about quality!
I spoke to a friend of mine who works in the graphics industry and he said that Adelaide is getting a world wide reputation as somewhere that does good high end work without the price (or overheads) of the major 'meccas' of the industry.
I can't believe it... that is some actual good news about a possible audio career for a change. Could it even be possible to have a satisfying career in the creative production field without having to give up the luxuries of living in a nice quiet town like Adelaide?
Well yes, clearly it is, if Oasis post is anything to go by.
I was impressed by so many things in this place. Including: the casual professionalism exuded by Marty, the incredible high end AV gear in their suites, and the down to earth attitude.
Marty talked of his way of developing his new staff is to take them under his wing and allow them to become proficient in all of the industry standard software. This process will typically take 3 years (a reasonable apprenticeship period, I think..)
I was pretty inspired to just keep pushing further and further ahead in my learning and composition.
It's all about quality!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Week 7 Tour of Film SA
Well, sad to say, I missed this one.
(I was tempted to fake this blog entry, and pretend I'd gone - but lies are a festering mess that only make things worse..)
I will talk about my ongoing monitoring issues.
I have brought in some old 70's hi-fi speakers from my shed to hook up to my system in my efforts to find more true representation of my bottom end.
I have reached that point in my personal development as an audio engineer where I am all too aware of the fact that I know NOTHING!
I was hoping to get to the end of this year and feel like I know what I'm doing, but the opposite has occured.
Now I'm obsessively worrying about monitoring levels; running all my master bus outputs through spectral analysis plug ins; and generally driving myself crazy in trying to solve the unsolvable mysteries of audio engineering.
I take great hope in the knowledge that the admission of incompetance is the beginning of wisdom! :)
(I was tempted to fake this blog entry, and pretend I'd gone - but lies are a festering mess that only make things worse..)
I will talk about my ongoing monitoring issues.
I have brought in some old 70's hi-fi speakers from my shed to hook up to my system in my efforts to find more true representation of my bottom end.
I have reached that point in my personal development as an audio engineer where I am all too aware of the fact that I know NOTHING!
I was hoping to get to the end of this year and feel like I know what I'm doing, but the opposite has occured.
Now I'm obsessively worrying about monitoring levels; running all my master bus outputs through spectral analysis plug ins; and generally driving myself crazy in trying to solve the unsolvable mysteries of audio engineering.
I take great hope in the knowledge that the admission of incompetance is the beginning of wisdom! :)
Week 6 - examination of portfolio options
This week we spent time discussing the process of putting together a portfolio CD. There doesn't seem to be any real right or wrong here.
I am definitely thinking in terms of maximum impact. I want to edit quite a few high impact snipets of music in Peak and then throw them all together in a minute of frenetic action as the beginning track.
I've met a few people in the industry so far - and they all look very, very busy. So I don't want to waste their time by providing a CD with only full length tracks on it.
I am thinking about using one of my wife's paintings as the cover art. She is quite the artist - and uses a lot of splurges of colour in her canvas work.
I am pretty unsure about what tracks to use in my portfolio - but I guess that's the whole fun of the last few weeks of the course!
I am definitely thinking in terms of maximum impact. I want to edit quite a few high impact snipets of music in Peak and then throw them all together in a minute of frenetic action as the beginning track.
I've met a few people in the industry so far - and they all look very, very busy. So I don't want to waste their time by providing a CD with only full length tracks on it.
I am thinking about using one of my wife's paintings as the cover art. She is quite the artist - and uses a lot of splurges of colour in her canvas work.
I am pretty unsure about what tracks to use in my portfolio - but I guess that's the whole fun of the last few weeks of the course!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)