Midpoint Blog

But I had this anticipation now that I could do well in recording and mixing audio through the help of the readings and discussions. I see that each unit of the course already brought such great changes in my perception of audio production. For example, the listening part really made me confident about how I imagine, understand, and analyze sounds. The listening exercises even furthered my ability to appreciate sounds in different ways with each progression on the course. 

The production aspect especially widened my horizons on proper recording (doing what should and shouldn't be done and what the effect would be with what microphone, placement of instruments, and location to be used). That is why, I was relieved that within the start of the course I already saw the necessity to invest with equipment (for a microphone and a listening device) because I soon realized that it plays a really big part in making quality recording for my mix. Learning about the type of microphones, importance of environment, and the sound trials truly helped in choosing a suitable microphone for me. 

Some time, I've even made adjustments to my room setup as I go through the part of acoustic treatment, which I find really interesting. It is a part that I find really fulfilling because I feel like I am doing something meaningful and professional-like. Because in the online set-up we had, it was hard to feel like I am truly learning when I am not seeing results, changes, or producing something which I could see (my effort) and feel myself improving. Maybe that is why I am not that averse to the possibility of collaborating with my classmates (even though I did not attend F2F sessions). It could really test out what I learned and feel more engaged with learning.

However, I still find the discussions meaningful because of the topics proposed by Prof. Al which I really learned a lot from. I gained a lot from prof's insight with thought-provoking questions regarding old and new examples which made learning fun and challenging. There was even one example which is from TheFirstTake that is something that I mentioned in my introduction on what I listened to. It was something of a shock to me because I did not expect to encounter it here. It was one of the things that made me feel excited on going through the listening exercise because it teaches me that everything I learn here could be more personal and applicable to whatever I listen to.

However, I find the kinds of discussion threads we had is kind of hard to get something 'spur of the moment' thoughts that I high value in terms of learning experience wherein I find everyone to be so formal and structured that I feel bombarded with feelings that I should always say something deep or constructive rather than what I just purely or instinctively thought of. I wish it was also something like that of a Reddit comment section or that of X, where I can get an upvote or downvote, or like and retweet, which can reinforce or not my thoughts and belief on a certain post and reply where others can freely add even just a small dis/agreement or related experience. I am expecting a little if there would be some kind of collaborations in the future that would allow us to have this kind of natural and comforting vibe to share our thoughts and expertise (sometimes I feel like I understand less without interaction with my peers because they could teach me something I know (reinforcing that I learned this) and do not know something  ( which they understood from class that I missed) making learning as a group.

Still, overall I am satisfied with the structure of the contents Prof. Al used to guide us in audio production. To be honest, I did not know what to expect before. What does audio really encompass? It was like I was only guessing a tip of the iceberg. I probably had thoughts before like, "I would probably be producing music in this course", "Will I be remixing?" (even though I do not even fully grasp its meaning before), "Maybe editing an audio file? Adjusting volume, speed, or cancelling background noise and the like?" (which I find close, but was actually something much much more as discussed in the post-production part).  It came as a shock to me that I actually learned a lot so far, despite feeling like it came so fast. The content was neat and progressive.

I already planned what I would do for my final project which is an audio drama (which I deem something that could showcase many of what I learned). I was inspired by the art of foley introduced in the production discussion and the concept of acoustic space in post-production. I already feel enlightened with the 2-3 hours video material with its easy to understand visuals of audio mixing. But I have never done something like this before. I never really tried foley, record, and mix for real before. However, I still feel confident and even plan to add a synth-based sound as I go through the discussion on MIDI and got inspired by the bonus bach-ify activity.

As I mentioned in the pre-production, I would like it if it would be something I originally created. But I think I would feel disappointed if it would be something repetitive or below average. That is why, I think that knowing what projects have been done before, would be helpful and inspiring. It would only satisfy my creativity but also let me have a goal to achieve or surpass. It would surely cause pressure but I would like to think that it was something of a learning necessity and even serve as a mark to prove to myself that I learned how to mix well. What I am afraid most is that I might be satisfied with something that is actually not good just because I do not have something to compare it to.