Assignment 4:

Closing Blog

Nearing the End

When prof said that we had to keep a blog/journal for the course, I sorta mainly focused on the journal aspect. I love to write!

Penultimate Ponderation

I’m graduating after this term, so this project was my… swan song or something of the sort! I’m so proud of what I’ve made, as well as all the other work I’ve accomplished in the last few years.

Since publishing and sharing my final output, I’m glad to say that my hopes and expectations were exceeded. The reaction I’ve gotten from various friends was pretty motivating! I’ve been told that it was funny and entertaining, while also being accurate enough to resemble actual radio shows, and that’s good enough reception for me.

I was slightly doubtful that I could pull such a production off; I half-expected to either do major rewrites or scrap it altogether when I first started. But when I actually got into the production, it just felt so fun, and I stuck to making it as close to my original vision as I possibly could.

I do, however, think that had I more time to work on it, my project could’ve been even better. There were times I’d work on a track (re: Dear Diary, it’s slightly off-key) for hours - days even - and I had to snap myself out of the trance and tell myself, “DROP IT AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT THING,” because I was working on a literal time limit on Ableton. Which, by the way, I absolutely LOVE as a DAW. I had my troubles with it, but God, does it have everything you need right there on the software.

I would absolutely like to buy a version of it in the future, should I continue to work in audio production.

Which reminds me,

Was there a difference between using Ableton AND Audacity?

Kinda.

A teeny bit, I obviously preferred Ableton, but Audacity wasn’t too bad either. In a way, it was sorta excessive that I used two different DAWs for my project, but I think it worked out in the end. TO BE FAIR, I wanted to experiment using different mics for other sections (in the dialogue), and I was also under the impression that I’d be working on two different computers, so I thought, why not try both software out?

As mentioned in the last assignment, I ended up just using my personal laptop and continued to use two different mics for two different software.

I will admit, it probably would’ve made things much easier and more organised had I stuck to just Ableton. Audacity has great plug-ins, though. And it’s easier to use, which helped to edit any audio effects for the singing parts. So yeah, I stand by my decision of the frankentrack thing I had going on.

Ardent Appreciations

Because I worked SO hard on my project, I wanted to go through some of my classmates’ outputs and show some appreciation for their effort. I probably skimmed through about 100, if not more, blogs, because I didn’t want to accidentally miss out on any bit of greatness!

Unfortunately, a good lot were still unfinished, so I ended up skipping those.

I’m actually pretty glad that my project wasn’t among the longest of the bunch, not even CLOSE; the longest I’ve seen was like 25 minutes? Whoever that be, I commend that person’s effort.

But going through all those outputs made me realise just how many tracks I made for my project. Like, I made three original melodies. That’s honestly insane. And throughout each track, I kept wondering how people just do this for a living because the process of audio production and processing is such a learning curve.

I also found myself making a mental list of how to improve some outputs, as presumptuous as it is of me to think so. I don’t know, I felt like more could’ve been done, but not everyone has the time or equipment to do so. I still hope everyone is proud of their outputs because it was still, nonetheless, a joy to go through them!

There were a lot of song covers, book readings, and, surprisingly, radio-style projects. AND THEY WERE PRETTY GOOD. Especially this one, I was gagged. I still think there’s some distinction to be made from my project and the other radios - mine’s meant to be a skit of a radio show and not a radio drama. Is that distinction really enough? I’m not actually sure, but I’m not deliberately trying to put up any sort of comparison!!

Some standouts I just want to shout out because I really enjoyed them:

Joinne Alcano’s Radio Drama - the drama was INSANE, I was so invested and gasping at certain points
Yomi’s End of the Beginning cover - THE DRUMS ! THE EFFECTS !
John Aguilar’s Hanggang Kailan cover - this one evokes such a specific feeling that I can’t place but I really love it
Frank Joshua Cada’s ERE cover - good song and good cover. I can tell he had fun and got emotional while recording this, and I think that’s neat
Natsuko’s blondesdosavelives - making a full-on original song (and hyperpop no less) is just so impressive to me
Janna Sigua’s The Little Prince Excerpt reading - I love this book so much. Her enunciation is great and I love the background music and foleys!!
Sophia Marie Tan’s Reddit Horror Story - I got so spooked. I got GOT by that jumpscare.
Aries Tuason’s The Voicemail - so well-done. I love the effects, I love the plot, I actually teared up, this was by far one of my favourites!

The Finale?

I still can’t believe I’m done. I only have a few days and requirements left until I’m done with the term and my time as a student. I enrolled into AADDA (and originally, BAMS) because I wanted to pursue more creative endeavours. And I’m glad that I took that risk because I got to learn and do way more than I would’ve even dreamed of 2 years ago. My love for media and the arts has just grown to an insurmountable size since I’ve been accepted into the course.

And it won’t stop there! I may no longer be a student, but I wholeheartedly believe I’ll continue to pursue creative passion projects. This time, with more knowledge and experience! It’s nice to wonder what I can achieve when I’m no longer held back by time limitations or crushing deadlines.

Of course, I can’t end my blog entry without once again showing gratitude for the people who helped me get to this point: my partner Aiden (+ his lovely family), my best friend Eishi, my friends Prince, Via, and Gia, the baristas at my favourite coffee shop, my family, my plushies, Chiikawa, and also Yuki, Tsuki, and Charlie. I love n appreciate them all <3.

Over and out!

Page updated

Report abuse