Live Workshop Gets Thumbs Up!

Indeed with ever increasing bandwidth and the wider utilisation of broadband, Audio Courses is finding more and more people can benefit from this enhanced form of educational delivery. Distance education has grown into a powerful form of education in the right hands. It is a testament to technology that students can now chat together online with instructors and get immediate feedback, “it’s as if we are all right there in the studio together” states Audio Courses Director Christopher Hambly.

He goes on to state: “Each week the two Production Advisors and students log on at agreed times and work through the content for the week. Typically we hold the Live Workshops at the end of the week's study to pull-together the learning and summarise the progress. This helps us then focus on topics for the next week. Distance learning can be incredibly isolating without appropriate support, and considering the drop-out ratio statistics of some distance education courses, we are setting a brave target in aiming for 100% completion. I understand the students’ needs in learning at a distance in having first hand experience through completing my higher degree in the discipline of distance education and by distance learning. The Live Workshops are a wonderful time for our students where we can learn new concepts or just crack “gags” with one another, it’s replacing the social aspects of education which are so often forgotten by course designers.”

Some excerpts from the First Live Workshop can be seen below. The next City & Guilds Sound Engineering Part 3 cohort starts in September 2003. Early booking is highly recommended to avoid disappointment as places are filling fast. More info here

[danicook] :-) hi

[ben_m] yeah, I think the greatest thrill of songwriting/production/engineering etc is to listen back to a finished track and know that you would buy it! I hear so many songs that I wish i'd written/produced

[mike_nostradamus] Did I miss much i hope not

[danicook] yeah, i know that feeling, a song that get right inside you, and because of your background, you can hear what the engineer/producer was trying to acheive

[ben_m] yes. and its different for everyone, consolidating what you said earlier about subjectivity

[mike_nostradamus] From what I'm Reading you must be talking about teamwork between musician and eng.

[danicook] a lot of music is wasted on people who don't hear "all" of it, i mean the suble reverb on a snare, or the almost inaudible riff in your left ear

[audiocourses] Welcome back mike. We are discussing the possibility that recording is a subjective art.

[mike_nostradamus] ok what do you mean by subjective?

[ben_m] yes, all the 'garnish' on a mix is very much unnoticed by the record buying public

[ben_m] most of the record buying public rather

[audiocourses] leading on from chatting about the style of exam questions.

[danicook] i think musicians put the little bits in for themselves and other musicians

[ben_m] yes, there is always some kind of unspoken camaraderie between musicians, lots of audio 'gags' and references etc

[danicook] yeah,

[audiocourses] Typically, the past exam questions do not account for this "motown" or "nashville" . So for example, when asked, how would you "mic-up" a drum kit? What's the angle to take? The questions rarely take the form of: You are required to create an "Eagles" drum sound, how is this achieved? Or what constitutes an Elvis "echo". - so we need to think laterally.

[audiocourses] OK mike..?

[audiocourses] Sorry for the intrusion there guys, just bringin Mike up to speed.

[danicook] which, by it's very nature, doesn't sound subjective, but "standard"

[audiocourses] What do you feel about this Mike? Have you grasped the theme?

* Guest33749 has joined #AudioCourses

[audiocourses] Did we loose mike?

[danicook] the beavers have got him :-)

[audiocourses] lol

[ben_m] damn beavers

* Guest33749 is now known as resol69

[danicook] lol

[audiocourses] da moose is loose in da hoose

[ben_m] hey i think nancys got here

[danicook] hey nancy?

[audiocourses] Nancy hey.

· audiocourses changes topic to 'Welcome Nancy'

[mike_nostradamus] I'm gone for a minute

[audiocourses] OK moose probs? Mike.

[audiocourses] must be..

[danicook] so chris, do you think,as an engineer, you need to be subjective, or just give the artist what they want?

[ben_m] they're buggers to domesticate

[audiocourses] Depends if a producer is in the room, depends if they are a small local band, depends if they are a jazz band, depends depends depends

[danicook] horses for courses

[audiocourses] Depends if THEY know what they want

[audiocourses] often they think they do..

[danicook] true

[audiocourses] "they" being the clients

[danicook] not "the voices"

[audiocourses] lol

[danicook] ;-)

[ben_m] lol

[audiocourses] oh don;t remind me

[audiocourses] pesky scooby doo voices

[danicook] should the engineer also be the producer, or is it better to split up the responsiblilty?

[audiocourses] That's a good point..

[audiocourses] Probably a good idea ot habe both in my opinion...

[danicook] the hardest person to engineer/produce is yourself

[audiocourses] True, though let's assume "we" as engineers are not the artists.

[danicook] i would imagine there has to be a compromise with what the producer wants to hear and what is actually possible

[mike_nostradamus] in the last week I recorded a punk band which is right out in left field for me because of my era .you know i enjoyed it i brought myself to listenning and liking the music to bad i had to wear some safety gear but I really liked what came of it!!

[danicook] good for you

* audiocourses changes topic to 'Unfamiliar Situations.'

[audiocourses] That was probably a tough gig for you Mike.

[audiocourses] I imagine