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Alan Holmes
With the second week now complete, the "swing of things" concerning the program has commenced. I find things to be going well and I'm quite pleased with how seamless the first couple of lessons have come together. Although I've struggled with technical mindsets in the past, I've found the way a lot of the concepts are explained makes sense. Which is very refreshing when compared to those past experiences. I find that I tend to be a very visual learner. The videos and diagrams are useful, but especially some of the comparisons it draws up (electricity moving through the wire like water through a hose, etc.) have really helped clarify what the lesson is trying to get across. Because I'm able to visualize it in my head the information clicks so much easier.
This has been even greater cemented in the studio itself. Like last week, it went really well. James is very down to earth, easy to talk to. We delved further into the chapter this time, relating it back to its practical application in the studio. That was especially fantastic; bringing the information to life. Although I can't necessarily physically see the electrons at work, it was so great to be able to take the concept off of the page and use it physically. Makes it useful and actually helps me to know what I'm doing. Rather than being thrown to the sharks and told to swim fast.
We looked at a lot of wires in the studio and the correspondence to amps and their various plug ins. Balance was a constant theme, which makes sense. Not causing damage or death is probably for the best.
Definitely the greatest thing about this week was finally taking a listen and discussion about the tracks I'd written and recorded before entering the program, Lion and Deanna. Nervewracking as it can be having someone (especially a professional) listen to my work, his feedback was awesome (for lack of a better word). Quite frankly, I agreed with everything he had to say and it was really interesting to me that a lot of his criticism regarded the same aspects of the songs that I was dissatisified with. Furthermore, he gave me solutions on how to fix it as well as what I can do to prevent those particular problems from arising next time I record in a studio. James mostly criticisized the mixing, and a lot of the emotions and sound I wanted but remains missing (the aggression I wanted in Lion, particularly) can be solved with the proper mixing. Good stuff. Live and learn.
