Entering the course and seeing familiar names and, of course, the facilitator, I immediately felt ecstatic. Being in a university where face-to-face sessions are a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, there's rarely a constant encounter of people from past courses of a trimester, so it was a nice touch to my UPOU journey so far. I may not be as charismatic and friendly as the others, but I feel like I'm slowly able to build sturdier connections with my peers despite the little time we may have spent in the course in comparison to the whole duration of the trimester. But moving on, I also feel like this was able to shape my expectations for the course.

Because the experience was quite fresh, coming right after the previous trim where I had another course handled by Prof. Al, I already expected that the units would be interconnected and would most likely focus on what's most important for us to keep in mind for now. The topics covered are interesting, especially with how we gradually transitioned to the technicalities of audio production towards the end, it kind of gives you a sense of purpose, somehow. Some of the most notable concepts for me are the difference between acoustic treatment and soundproofing, microphone polar patterns, and the recent over-under coiling technique. As a workshop kiddie, what resonated with me most was the importance of keeping a good distance from the mic, because you want people to experience the song through its sound, not volume, if that makes sense.

Long and right before beginning the course, I never really had any experience delving into audio production except what I had learned as a kid, which leaned more towards creating sound through vocal expression and delivery. Most of the technicalities were handled by my coach at the time, and as long as the equipment's output satisfied him, I didn't bother to involve myself with any of it. As much as critical listening is concerned, I've only cared for discerning loud, jarring, messy noises (sabog) from decent audible ones despite the noisy background, which might've been caused by chronically streaming pirated anime episodes that haven't encountered copyright strike yet on platforms like YouTube and Facebook (sorry). It was an all-or-nothing situation, and I feel like this developed my low standard for audio quality early on.

Thus, during the face-to-face session, when talks about equipment started circulating, I also had the time to reflect on my own situation. Basically, I realized that I should prioritize producing at least a decent recording for now, because no matter how basic or professional my listening equipment is, if I had made a bad recording, it will always sound bad, regardless. Although post-processing will be there to aid my simple raw audio, having a raw audio that is good by itself will always be an advantage, like in photography, where aiming for a good photo in itself is a priority rather than depending too much on post-processing. I was further convinced when it didn't take much, or for us to be listening from a professional listening device, to recognize that what was played for us during the face-to-face session wasn't exactly appealing or flattering to the ear.

That in mind, the face-to-face session definitely opened that opportunity for me. Being in a course-focused environment and interacting with everyone in real-time immersed me on a different level. It's like a discussion forum where you're automatically part of the discussion, it just really gave me a sense of being present, which is why if there's gonna be any confirmed succeeding meetings, I would be ecstatic to attend. I can imagine how challenging it might get for me, especially due to the hot weather, but nevertheless, I am absolutely hopeful that my circumstances will work in my favor and allow me to.

That aside, my next focus for the project would be finding a decent microphone, something that is at least better than what I initially have. As much as I felt behind for not being able to have my equipment ready and on hand before and during the face-to-face session, I'm thinking that it might be a blessing in disguise, considering the shift in my priorities. The face-to-face session gave me additional substantial guidance, and overall, I'm glad to have come, not only in our course's synchronous event, but also at this point.

Malayo na pero malayo pa.