On the 23rd of November 2015 Music Producer and Mix Engineer Katia Isakoff spoke about the Women Produce Music Initiative. For the better part of the lecture we were given information on award nominated female sound engineers and producers and also details about the initiative itself. To sum up the entire session I can say that  it was a very interesting and informative lecture but it did not have a great impact on the production process for my Audio Project 1. It was good to learn about the creation of new initiatives, the way they are promoted and how they grow. This information could be useful with future projects, their promotions and development.

Ken Blair – Acoustic, classical, jazz sound recordist, Owner BMP Recording gave a guest lecture on the 30th of November 2015.
He spoke about how a normal day at BMP Recording goes and the issues they encounter on location. He also touched upon how to conduct ourselves professionally when recording with multiple artists.

Ken specializes in the recording of classical orchestras in live environments. He has extensive experience within the UK and Overseas. From his lecture I understood that it is very important to be on location as early as possible so that a full assessment of the environment can be made. This in turn will assist with the unloading and setting up of the equipment leaving sufficient time for corrections and re-structuring if needed before the artists arrive. This includes the set up of a control room and that of the microphones that are going to be used (even if you are uncertain where the musicians are going to be) – this saves time when the artists arrive as it is very difficult to set up equipment when a lot of people are moving around the recording area. This sort of time management can be useful when recording on location – getting there early and assessing the environment making sure I have everything I need before we start filming/recording – LO1 + LO5.

Another important thing that Ken Blair talked about is how we treat the artists and how to conduct ourselves professionally during long recording sessions. Greeting the musicians accordingly is very important, we have to treat them as we would like to be treated. Offering them a hot or cold beverage is also a good way to break the ice and to make them feel more at ease/”at home”. This relaxes the artists and in turn impacts their performance in a positive way. This is a “technique” that I applied when recording the voice-overs in the studio and on location with all the interviewees. Talking to them and letting them know what is happening at all times, also including general talk to establish a friendly repore so that they feel more at ease during the interviews, offering them beverages if needed. – LO1.

On the 16th of November 2015 we received a guest lecture by Dan Shepherd – BBC radio programme producer and founder of Far Shoreline Productions. In his lecture he focused on the production of feature programmes for radio. He explained that the feature could be explained as a documentary but there is a difference – radio documentaries specifically tend to be more journalistic (i.e covering current events/news leads), a radio feature on the other hand allows you to explore an idea, a convention, a person and most importantly it provokes your imagination through sound (sound effects/adding music to the feature etc.). Shepherd also touched on the difference between a presenter lead feature and a montage – the presenter lead style is self explanatory: it includes a presenter who leads a panel of guests, dictates the pace of a debate/discussion and most importantly clarifies all the information to the listeners. The montage consists of many recordings put together to tell a story or to inform/grab the listener’s attention without the assistance of a presenter/narrator.
In the lecture we discussed some of his productions for the BBC. We were given the opportunity to ask him questions about his travels and about the ways/techniques he used to produce content for an organization of this variety. He also gave us some advice about project researching and pitching, and also pointed out that things go wrong quickly – quick adaptation is key (similarly to what Bryan Rudd talked about in a previous guest lecture) – (LO5). 

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On the 19th of October we had a lecture by Bryan Rudd. His focus was on the importance of project management and the ability to adapt quickly to any given situation/problem that might occur during a project. He spoke about a specific case study – Producing “Chronicles of Freedom” –  a radio drama project which he took over with little time to spare until the completion deadline. The main issues with the project were Problem and Time management on a tight schedule. Bryan Rudd pointed out that there are a few questions that we have to ask ourselves in similar and/or generally other situations –

1. WHAT is the problem and WHY is it a problem?

2. What choice do I have and what difference will my decisions have in the short/medium/long term?

And finally

3. Reflections and Further Adjustments

These could be very useful if there were problems during the audio production for my group’s project – (LO5)

The outcomes of Bryan’s experience were that we should always aim to work in advance – i.e have content ready for editing/mixing etc. at least 2 weeks before the given deadline. He also suggested that having a second opinion on the progress of the product and on the final piece always helps as others will approach it with a “fresh set of ears” and will give you valid feedback which you could take into consideration before you submit the project. Furthermore he emphasized on the importance to seek help if needed – we shouldn’t take on more jobs than we can handle, but if we do bite off more than we can chew sharing the workload with an assistant/casual helper will greatly impact the project (in a good way) (LO5). Another important prat in project management is also not being afraid to put our foot down when dealing with others from the production team – if we think we are correct and that our opinion will impact the better development of the project in a positive way then we should stand up for it.
In conclusion Bryan Rudd’s lecture was very helpful in a sense that I gained a bit more insight into project management and how to deal with pending issues and unexpected occurrences. His advice will most certainly come in handy during the production and post production processes (LO4) (LO5).

 

On the 2nd of November 2015 we had a guest lecture from sound recordist Jez Riley French.

He practices in the field of unconventional sound recording, composition & publishing etc.  – he builds/creates and uses contact microphones

, hydrophones

and other types of microphones which capture interesting and unorthodox sounds, (mainly vibrations), which could easily be applied to anything from video game SFX to diverse ambiances in film, TV and many more. By demonstrating his recordings he explained to us the various techniques that he uses to record interesting sounds such as recording rain tapping on a window with a contact microphone, or the melting of ice with a hydrophone as well as underwater vibrations. He later spoke about the importance of having proper equipment on which to listen back to the recordings as it is of great importance to be able to experience these unconventional sounds to their best extent. Furthermore he gave advice on using EQ in any DAW when working with natural sounds also warning/raising awareness about pre-amp noise/hum during recording. Most importantly he said that using too much EQ in post production destroys the nature of the sound itself/ the sound loses it’s natural sound and is ruined. The advice he gave about avoiding such harsh equalization was to make sure all field recordings are as clean as possible (avoid using phrases like we’ll fix it in post etc.).
What I learned from this lecture was that there are many more interesting ways to record out there. Using contact microphones and hydrophones one can get very interesting and widely applicable sounds, and also that it is of great importance to record location sound as clean and as natural as possible to preserve the character of the sound. (LO1) These outcomes will come in very handy when I am recording on location again (not only for Audio Project 1 but for the future as well) and also in post production when I am deciding on EQ’s and edits. All in all a great and informative lecture.