Passion. Excellence. Perseverance. - Posted on 2016-05-25 by Nicole Thorp

I am nearing the end of the RRF Audio Engineering course, the time has really flown by so fast, it's almost unbelievable how fast the time has gone by. I have learned so much from my mentor Pierre, the people I've met through the studio, the curriculum, and the awesome tutoring sessions from engineers at RRF. I have gotten the opportunity to be placed in the actual industry, scratching the surface of the ins and outs of the music industry from Pierre. I have gotten the opportunity to learn audio from an incredibly talented and smart individual, Pierre, and i couldn't of asked for a better teacher. I have gotten the opportunity to intern for a awesome rehearsal facility, learning what it is like to interact with bands and learning about all the different equipment used in a rehearsal and live setting. Last but not least, i have had the opportunity to grow as a person; over these past six months i have felt like i am finally in an environment that i can excel in, where i can come out of my shell more, and be relatable to the people around me. I believe that every journey has it's ups and downs, and there were times where i thought maybe i was a bit over my head because the material was daunting but i powered through. I'm at a point in my life where i want to grow and take advantage of every learning opportunity that comes my way. I dream of success, i really do. I have the attitude of i won't settle for anything less than my definition of success. From here, i plan on continuing this journey. Learning from every mistake and celebrating the successes. This program may be ending but this is really just the beginning for me, I'm going to continue moving forward as a recording engineer and attain the goals that i have set for myself. 

This lesson was all about acoustics and monitoring and it was probably the hardest chapter I've encountered so far just because there are a ton of detailed characteristics to be aware of in acoustics. Pierre did a good job of explaining to me how an acoustic treatment in a room can have a big impact on the quality of a recording. He also explained to me different types of acoustic treatment and how important it is have the right type of treatment for different variables in any given room. For example he was telling me how bass traps go in the corners of a room in front of the mix position because if they weren't there the signal would bounce off and effect the ear when mixing. When i was learning about acoustics i started to understand that the recording environment plays an important part because a room that is not treated correctly can almost give you a false sense of realism because when you take the mix and play it somewhere else you will perceive the sounds you're hearing differently. Acoustics is something that i am defiantly going to dive into in more detail. 

I also got to assist with another tracking session for a band. This time i basically did all of the tracking prep on my own, getting out the mic stands, placing the mics, cabling the mics, setting up the headphone mix, and setting up the guitar cabs. With this session i learned that routing is so important and that can't be stressed enough. In our studio often times the guitar speaker will be in one room and the cab will be in the tracking room with the guitarist and with this session i learned that the wall pass throughs have to coincide with each other otherwise it won't work! I also did some troubleshooting on my own with a guitarist who was getting an awful ground buzz on his amp and between the both of us we figured it out. That day i also learned how tube amps work, the importance of the standby function, and the fact that anyone who doesn't know what they're doing when it comes to the electronics of guitar cabs probably shouldn't set them up. That day in of itself was a great learning experience. This is the awesome thing about what I'm doing and where i am: i learn something new everyday and i learn something I'm not supposed to do everyday.

I don't have everything figured out, i would be lying to myself if i said i did. I'm young, I don't know everything. The inexperience could be against me. There are some cards that are playing against me right now but check this out: when i come to the studio i go out of my way to make sure things are flowing the way they should be, i show up early, i am reliable, i am helpful, i am motivated to excel in this career, i am committed to what I'm doing, and i LOVE what i do. For every card that is against me there are about three or four that are in line with me. Passion. Excellence. Perseverance.