the end.

Anyway, let me get to the point, I found myself actually paying more attention to his audio production than his actual song now. You know how funny that is? This guy is rapping about some raunchy mature topics and here I am trying to listen in and analyze his microphone's quality, how he approached mixing his trap beat, if he employed any reverb or other modes of delay... it's hilarious! 

My point is, I think I've become a much more competent person regarding audio production than how I was at the beginning of this course! Don't get me wrong though, I'm still far from a pro, I'd just like to acknowledge that I have improved, no matter how meager of an improvement it may have been. 

Looking back at my self-introduction, it makes me smile reading it back too! My first thought when I read it back was, I'm such a nerd! I mean, c'mon now, fanboying over the old PS1's Final Fantasy 7? I can feel my love for videogames bursting through the seams in my introduction, it's kind of cringe actually, kinda like seeing that one "pabibo" classmate, but the problem is it's myself. The way I tackled talking about my audio production experience, it's kind of funny and at the same time, I can see it being some sort of humble brag or whatever. Like, "oh I have zero experience in audio production, but I do have experience in this, this, this, this, this, and this, so maaaybe I'll be fine!" 

But honestly though, my experiences in the multimedia work and project I mentioned? They helped me tremendously for the final project. For example, I already had some experience in tweaking equalizers in Adobe Premiere Pro, so I can confidently say I applied some of that knowledge in tweaking equalizers in FL Studio! Man, I remember before this course, almost all of my video projects, every time there's speech or whatever, I'd instantly slap it with a parametric equalizer set to "vocal enhancer" or whatever it is I needed!

Oh, I have an AI voiceover ad read commission? Mhm, needs a little parametric equalizer! Rap vocals? There's actually a preset in Adobe Premiere's parametric equalizer specifically for rap vocals! Narration? Parametric equalizer - vocal enhancer. Even just gaming footage while I yap? Parametric equalizer. You can literally call me the Oprah of parametric equalizers, because you get an EQ! You get an EQ! EVERYBODY GETS AN EQ! Ehem. The funnier part is I didn't even understand much of the frequency stuff at the time too, so all I knew was I was applying a filter onto vocals using a method as simple and easy as apply, click, set preset and done!

So when I went straight to FL Studio when it came time to do the project, I was in a familiar environment, but not enough that I knew what to do. There's a stark difference between the EQs of FL Studio and Premiere Pro, to be fair. In Premiere, I just had to apply it onto the audio track, select a preset and done. But in FL, suddenly there's no more easy preset option, I actually have to think about what I'm doing, listen and adjust the frequency bands appropriately!

Anyway, it's also not like the knowledge only applied for the practical aspects of the course! Since I already had experience with noise management, plugin usage, frequency filters, they all made understanding the lessons in the module almost infinitely easier.

Even after all of that though, I can admit that I definitely did underestimate this course and that final project, so I totally deserved almost losing my sanity with that damn drum section! No better teacher than experience, I tell ya! But I'd also love to give props to Professor Librero for, in my opinion, making the best of what he's been given. I mean, dude, think about, imagine how daunting it is to teach a class of over a couple hundred students (250 actually, I counted) in three months over a course as gosh darn complicated as audio production? 

That has to be legitimately tiring, so I totally understand the jaded and frank persona now. But sheesh, you can call Prof Al jaded all you want, but you can't deny that he's a damn good teacher! His method of organizing the module and units is just so good, like a one-stop shop for information. I practically barely have to research stuff myself, other teachers could learn from him! While there are some links leading to other websites, those are mainly supplementary at best, he makes an actual effort to try and teach the stuff himself in his own words and I love it so much because I'm actually learning from it!

Let's be real now, no student would be motivated to study if their professor gave them a 500-page PDF module, especially if they don't even try to teach the material! Just plops it down onto your lap, tells you to go self-study, and vanishes until it's grading time. A specific course subject comes to mind... but let's move on!

Let's talk about my midpoint blog. It feels like I've turned over a new leaf, in all honesty. It actually really was a me issue! My goodness, I'm reading my work and thinking, what a dummy. I'm just imagining how much harder my experience in the course would have been if Professor Al actually implemented more activities that were mandatory to do... the fact of the matter is, just like any other artistic craft, it's hard to have an objective base line of teaching. It will always be more about exploration and experimentation, seeing what works for which particular project. There's really no one size fits all situation, and I reckon trying to have an objective, lab-type activity for audio production might introduce certain audio prod habits to the students that might not necessarily apply in every scenario.

"It's just that while the readings and discussions have been great for theory, I'm sort of starting to crave for more hands-on work to really cement the concepts in my head, and put the stuff that I've learned to the test!" My brother in Christ, the final project is literally staring you in the face, maybe instead of craving for more activities, put in all that motivation into actually completing the project in front of you? But anyway, as for discussing assignment 1 in the midterm blog, my sentiments there remain the same. That is, it's great that we students have access to sample works such as Prof Librero's ePortfolio, as well as the sample final projects in the Course Concerns and Support section of the course portal!

Oh yeah! I'll be honest, when I finished my output on FL Studio I breathed a huge sigh of relief... only to feel like Sissyphus when I found out that I actually had to make a walkthrough blog for the output too! To be fair, when I was still working on it in FL Studio, the submission bin for the output didn't have any instructions at the time, so I was totally expecting to submit just a SoundCloud link, and that'd be it. Well, lo and behold, just as I'm finally ready to submit it, the submission instructions finally came in, and I had to make a walkthrough blog! It wasn't really a major issue, just that I suddenly had more to do and I didn't know where to start!

I haphazardly took a look at the course concerns, saw sample final projects, and opened the first link I saw which was Trixia Daquil's walkthrough blog of her output! The sample final projects that Prof Al provided really saved me right then, because at least I had something I could use as a guide rather than just hopelessly floundering around with not even a clue of how I'd begin to discuss my output blog! Heh, good times, it's quite funny to look back on now that I'm not stressing to finish everything!

It also helped a lot that we students could all access each other's ePortfolios! Well, most of us at the very least, I still see a few classmates not having their ePortfolio linked, and some of the others not even having a proper working link... but anyway! I skimmed through and took a listen to some of my other classmates' works, and, umm... maybe I just haven't looked hard enough to find some diamonds in the rough? I noticed that a lot of others also didn't have any output blogs made yet too, so I'm feeling a little worried for them as I type this, about three hours away from the deadline.

I saw one that stood out to me though! Even despite the fact that they didn't have a project output yet. Allana Angeo had a pretty great website, not gonna lie! It gives off the vibe of some old school websites back in the day, or even some of the fake websites that shows like iCarly would portray! And what tops it all off is the low-quality, low-resolution PlayStation 3 slim background in that hot pink color. I can't deny that it definitely evokes some nostalgia from me!

Ugh, god, I'm such a nerd. But enough about that, I reckon it's time we start closing it off here. Back when I said I was hoping that this course will give us a chance to explore music on a more intimate level, I meant it, and I'm really glad because I think this actually was exactly what I was hoping it would turn out to be! Sure, I'm not gonna be walking away from this and run off to become the next big music producer, but I definitely walked away having learned some really useful skills with versatile applications. In the future, I'm genuinely sure that I'll be able to make use of the knowledge I've learned here in most of what I'm planning to do, whether that be in editing, livestreaming, game development, etcetera!

I think we all need to take a step back to appreciate audio for what it truly is, I'd even go so far as to say that from what I've experienced, audio IS half the experience. I don't even think I'll ever listen to a song, film, or even some random YouTube video the same way ever again, it sounds dramatic but I'm serious! Super huge thanks to Prof Al for making the effort to actually try and reach all of us students despite how overwhelming it must be. That kind of effort should never go unnoticed, and seriously? I really respect that!

As for my classmates, well, I'd like to thank y'all for inspiring me and motivating me to do better (as well as entertaining me with your outputs!). Being able to see most of everyone's work was nice, and it made me feel like we were all in this together, and not to mention it's also a bit of a confidence booster knowing that I'm keeping up relatively well with the rest of the class! I'll be seeing you guys, peace!