DJ
and Electronic Music Production
PPD
Yr 2
Simon
Adair
PPD 2
Evaluation
In
the following document I will assess ever segment of my level 5 PPD
and its relation to personal growth and knowledge gained through
research, self reflection, practical work and assessment.
Self
assessment: SWOT and Sector Skills
One
of my main aims this academic year was to build on my strengths and
begin to truly eliminate my weaknesses. My emphasis on my strengths
had grown since last year and by looking at my SWOT The Positives are
beginning to at least compete with the negatives at least in a
technical and academic sense.
One
of my greatest weaknesses during my entire educational history was a
difficulty to grasp a good practical understanding of complex audio
hardware. 64 channel mixing desks used to give me sweaty palms.
Wiring audio incorrectly used to make me feel embarrassed and
frankly, a bit stupid.
Something
about working on big gear such as PA systems and recording studios
seemed difficult at first, but after a while I became more familiar
and less embarrassed about making mistakes.
The
past year has in fact been my most progressive due to a lot of
'exposure' to the studios at the WEC centre. The WEC gave me the time
and the autonomy to be able to familiarise with big recording systems
to the point I am able to problem solve, monitor projects, and set up
my own recording sessions with ease.
Of
all the things I wanted to learn in Music technology it was having
the technical capability to work my way around an audio work station
without getting completely lost and confused. Although I do
occasionally forget to switch the amps on from time to time...
For
me this is the closest approximation to a technical sector skill as I
can get and would very much enjoy being an audio technician or even
do studio mastering as a profession.
So
for me, recording and producing in a technical environment or even
setting up and wiring stacks of hardware is something that feels
relevant to me as a professional skill. It's were I feel most useful
in the music sector.
I
want to get to the point were I can even show other people how to
work they're way around a recording session.
It
has effected my own work on producing music. Working with live audio
and analogue hardware has left me with a greater understanding and
appreciation of producing high standard audio in the correct context
and it is beginning to trickle into my own methodology when
sequencing music by using more hardware for recording and sampling.
I
was able to build an extensive sample pack at the WEC using the
collection of analogue synths.
Skills
Audit
Comparing
my skills from last year to now has seen improvements overall. The
abilities I have been able to work on the most and improve are Live
recording and a deeper understanding of analogue synthesis and studio
hardware.
My
recording has improved due to myself working on acoustic drum break
beats played by Stuart Cambell. He was very helpful in not only
recording drums but also on how to due quick session recordings and
mastering using MIDI hardware sets and Ableton live.
After
getting more comfortable with the studios and more of the gear I
eventually began working solo on recording and mastering my own
projects and samples. The studio session have also been useful for my
monitoring and rehearsing on my collaboration with 'Passive fields'.
I
am far more attuned to recording live with Ableton than I used to be
and have even begun recording at home to create my own samples for
industrial music. I also now know how to commercially master in
Ableton and Reason.
All
these things I find useful for day-to-day audio work and for more
professional projects.
My
planning and management skills however, do need working on and my
current collaboration with 'Passive fields' to create recordings,
schedule studio sessions and contact venues and gather information on
the 'scene' is slowly getting me out of my disorganised and insular
shell.
Development
and Action
My
short term goals reflect my new-found and growing skill's in audio
engineering. But I also want to continue to develop with my
collaborative work. An long term ambition of mine is to have some
degree of influence on local music culture and be able to enrich it,
I have no interest in exporting myself yet as my obligations and
collaborative work shall keep me occupied for a few years yet.
For
the first time in a long time I have an good idea of the professional
direction I want to go in (and hopefully make a living from it) and
this is reflected in the revised action plans having very little
editing.
Over
the course of checking the skills audits there are small
improvements. I might be biased as I am auditing myself. But I have
tried to be as honest as possible with myself I know what can be
improved and what I can do well and I try to avoid putting myself
down and saying 'I can't do this its too tricky'. If I did that I
would never get anything done at all
