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Alan Holmes
Week number seven has been a success, sickness pervading aside (I was quite ill this week) ass kickery was to be had. All about planning and tracking, the lesson was tantalizingly open. By that, I mean although of course the information is steeped in guidelines and suggestions of how to go about setting up the studio, much of the lesson has a "do-it-yourself" approach, allowing for more creativity and freedom in which to work. I would like to stress that I'm not saying that I would forego the information laid out in the lesson- most of it's quite sensible- but I do appreciate the acknowledgement that there is more than one way to accomplish things and often it's best for an indiviudal to work in the ways that works best for them. The outlines for planning are quite smart though. Although potentially tedious, a lot of the setup, such as writing out input lists (potentially plot maps) does work to make a smoother run and to save time for clients and myself.
Back to the freedom I was talking about, I was a little surprised to find an assignment along with the quiz, where I was to place instruments for a hypothetical band in a hypothetical studio to be setup for recording. I hadn't been expecting this, but what made it exciting was that it wasn't strict. Obviously the quizzes are black and white. Either I get the answer right or I get the answer wrong. In this case, the setup I choose is exactly that; what I choose. Of course, while not necessarily wrong, some setups can be more effective than others. But I relish the chance (for lack of a better word) to be able to put something to practice and setup a recording session the way I believe (with the information from the lesson) on how best to create it. And with that creation can come the upmost creation of the music itself. Which really, is what this is all about. Now, at the time of writing this, I haven't had a chance to speak with James about the assignment just yet. Because of the aforementioned sickness, I wasn't able to go into the studio for the in-studio session. Because of this, I was given an additional assignment for this upcoming session. Essentially a more in depth version of the previous assignment in the lesson itself, except within Two Bodies of Water itself. It's been an intriguing challenge. Little nervous but also excited to go over it with James. Looking forward to see how things progress forward.
