Wednesday, September 06th 2017 (Back to Work)
I know that what we do at college could be considered work but since we are just starting out what we do in the classroom is nothing compared with what Barry the Bullet and I must do when we go out to clean windows. This is work as I have always known it. I've had my little skive for two days but now it's back to the grind. I have to admit to feeling a little tired this morning although I expect my mood to pick up as we get into the day. The thought of working for the next three days straight is a difficult one to take at this moment – this is why we have the old cliché ''One Day At A Time'' and so I plan to use it. At least the weather is decent although how long this will last is anyone's guess.
Lindsay is supposed to be at placement this morning, I'm pretty sure of it, yet she lies in bed. I've learned a lot about her through her handling of this sign-off and how she handles life under pressure and stress. I'd be amazed if she gets signed off now but she always seems to land on her feet. I half expect the carpet to be swept from beneath her at the very end though. That would be a total disaster and would mean that she wouldn't be able to graduate. She has a job waiting for her and everything. It all hinges on just getting up and working through the stress. Today will be another black mark against her. Personally I can't see her finishing this year. Four years won't be enough to get her degree.
In my own course we have some assignments already (which is a good thing – the sound production seemed to take ages to get into gear so I was hoping we'd get started with this soon) and they seem to be practical with us being no air starting from next week. Here is the first assignment:
''You must research an artist/ group of your own choice and create a short programme (minimum 5mins) featuring pre-recorded audio, your own voice and music. Your programme should comprise at least three tracks and should be free of unintended distortion while demonstrating good audio mixing between the tracks. Your programme must be suitable for Radio 2. To complete this task you must:
Edit & multi-track audio to the required technical and artistic standard and appropriate to the production brief.
Use appropriate equalisation and dynamic range controls.
Save in a format appropriate to the brief.
Provide a script of your finished programme formatted to industry standard.''
I think that this is an editing test more than anything else in which case I'll be more than fine. Can I blend the different sections together without any nasty bleed or unwanted noise? That sort of thing. I'm sure I can. While I believe Pro Tools to be the best in the business in terms of software for audio editing (and was the go-to program last year when we did the sound production) Adobe Audtion is what we are to be using and so I received a crash course on this earlier this morning. One thing I quickly noticed about this task is that we don't, as it says in the brief, get to choose our own artist, rather names are in a hat and picked out. I get Elvis Presley.
The idea is that we are forced to research acts we aren't currently aware of and so improve our research skills. Elvis isn't an issue for me but then none of the artists drawn out of the hat were. To most of the younger students though – this was something new and they were paired with an artist or act they had never heard of. Some of the younger ones didn't even know that All Along The Watchtower was a Bob Dylan original. Had never heard of Blondie. Or Aretha Franklin. Young people today (insert roll eyes emoji)....
Next week is something known as Fresher's Week and bearing in mind that this week has been a sort of introductory week to ease us into the course, to get to know each other as students and to meet all of the lecturers, the work doesn't actually begin until the following week. Next week for this Fresher's Week we are asked if we want to help out at some of the events being held throughout the week at the different campuses. I have no clue really what sort of things will be happening but I've volunteered myself for the Monday morning at a campus not far away. According to the Facebook group I will be, with my partner Steph, on air from midday until two in the afternoon of this week and then from ten until eleven on a Monday and a Tuesday morning every week after that. Spooky.
I don't know what we've to be covering but I'm glad that Steph, my co-presenter, has some experience with this sort of thing. We has a guy in from the main local radio station to do a talk with us in the morning yesterday and he was saying that these days they are looking for people who can do everything more than they are looking for people to carry out specific tasks. They want their staff to be able to present shows but also to carry out most of the elements of the production as well. People have to be all-rounders these days. Lots of work for us to do then.
I've also added myself to the Street Team for this local radio station so that whenever events and things turn up and they are looking for volunteers I will get a shout. It's apparently a good opportunity to meet the current staff in the industry.
You would think that with all this going on I would have been able to drop all thoughts of the past, the nostalgia and the looking back, but this hasn't altogether been the case. Since my trip to St. Andrews things have subsided a little but they are always still there. Maybe some of us are just nostalgic by nature. Maybe this is just because of the work I've been doing with Dr. Bacon and how we now have an extended break from therapy while he takes his annual leave. I don't have another appointment with him until the 28th of this month.
Right now, though, I need my head in the game. Work. Cleaning windows. That is the order of the day.
Not until I've had another coffee though.
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Stevie
Cleaning windows.
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