I would like to be polite, but what the freakin' gosh-- I really can not believe I am writing the final blog in MMS 172. Time really just flew. I also vividly recall the moment of beginning this course, and in the back of my mind, I thought that it was audio, and how difficult it would be. Compared to the trauma I experienced in Photography, I actually thought this would be chill. Joke’s on me though, because audio humbled me real quick. Turns out, there’s so much more to sound than just pressing record and adjusting volumes.

Among the greatest illusions that I had (and, frankly, I laugh now at myself when I think about it) was that egg trays would be soundproof. Yup those low-end units that are sold to home studios? They believed that they had a solution to every acoustic problem. Nope. Got to know by experience that they are nothing but cardboard. And that is not the only "Ohh moment" I experienced during this course.

Another one that stuck with me is finally understanding the difference between delay and reverb. They’re both time-based effects, sure, but now I get that delay is like an echo – repeating the sound after a short pause – while reverb makes it feel like you’re in a physical space, like a small room or a giant church. Simple difference, but learning it completely changed how I listen to music now. I catch myself noticing those little effects in songs all the time now, like “Aha! That’s reverb on the vocals!” It’s like my ears leveled up.

In addition to the manuals and readings, the activities and the manner in which this course was designed made it unique to me. It was not that it was the typical read and answer type of class. There are many things to do — listening, analyzing, and pondering. It was more of a participation than a consumption of information. I must say also, I am not the type of student who willingly participates in discussion forums unless it is graded. But in this course? I even ended up attending ungraded forums. I know. It’s more like a Miracle. I figured that something about the way the course was delivered made it seem less of a task and more of a discussion.

I won't lie, I would still wait until new discussion posts and exercises were released, not exactly out of excitement (just telling the truth), but there was an aspect of me that liked the challenge. Listening to a song, attempting to figure out what happens, and then reading how my classmates broke it down? It made me have a different perspective. Such as, I have had moments being in the predicament of trying to figure out an exercise, and someone’s comment would click something in my head. Those moments made me feel like I was actually improving.

I liked the bonus assignments as well, because they were not all that challenging, but they made me step out of my comfort zone. Bonus 1 involved listening attentively, Bonus 2 made me consider my setup, and Bonus 3 was the one that we used to compose music with AI. I mean, how cool is that? It made the course sound up-to-date, relevant, and interesting. Although I was not able to attend real classes (face-to-face), I still felt that I enjoyed the full experience.

When it comes to my performance, I genuinely think I did well. I had no late submissions, which is a miracle in itself, but more importantly, I put effort into every task. Sure, part of that was because I wanted to pass, but honestly? I was interested. I wanted to get better. I said at the start that I had no experience with music or audio production and was just hoping to understand sound better — and I really believe I did that. I even managed to produce a song cover, which past-me would’ve never thought possible. I didn't just meet my expectations for this course — I went beyond them.

As for my classmates, I genuinely enjoyed learning from them. This was particularly in the listening exercises, where the manner in which the people would analyze a sound or how they could explain their take was also something that made me have a better grasp of things.  I also checked out a few of their final projects and wow... There are some seriously creative people in this class. Others even had their Google Sites appear like real websites that are created by professionals. I mean, I did not even realize that you could do so much with Google Sites. On the flip side however, some of the best final projects were behind some boring, uninspired portfolios - and that was what made me think, "Sayang." I liked it because it was so good, yet the presentation itself did not do it justice.

So, with the big picture in mind, what does all this mean to my life as a BAMS student and beyond? Frankly speaking, this course became much more important to me than I thought. In my Assignment 3, I did mention that my project was dedicated to the Lord. I mentioned in my assignment that I was trying to find my ministry and to give something to Him with what I was learning. And now? I am, in fact, a member of the tech ministry of our church. I volunteer in the technology booth to use my experience here to make our live sound better and work on making our livestream audio better. This isn’t just a course I took and moved on from — it opened doors for me. It gave me a path I didn’t know I’d be walking.

I surely will keep studying and practicing what I have learned during this course. This is just the start. To be honest, among all the other production courses I have studied within the past three years, this is the one I related to the most. Not that it was a piece of cake - it was not. I cried several times because I could not do it, and at one moment, I even thought of dropping the course. And that is just the reason why it means so much to me. I made it, and I came out of it a better, more curious, and enthusiastic about audio than I had ever been.

So, that’s my final blog for this subject. No sugarcoating. Just me, looking back at a course I underestimated, and now saying: this was one of the best experiences I’ve had as a BAMS student. And if you told me three months ago that I’d end up here — writing this with actual emotion — I probably would’ve laughed.