Late Night Study Session #1,001 - Posted on 2017-02-08 by Jolleen Sogioka

    While some might say that I'm taking this to an extreme, I would have to disagree. When you truly want something in this life, its important that to do whatever it takes to make it happen, because truth be told, none of us WANT to work a regular 9-5 job that pays a mediocre salary, with mediocre benefits that we actually hate doing. We all want to do something that doesn't feel like a job, but rather feels like a hobby that we get paid to explore. 

    Having started working with a new mentor along with getting closer to the midway point of my internship, I've begun taking things to a whole new level. While I am still doing all my regular work as well as exploring ProTools and learning how to use it, I've decided to go a little further with this and I've asked Jules (my mentor) about good reading material that would help me on my journey. I've also done a lot more networking with people in the business; some I've known for a very long time and others that I've recently been introduced to. In my relationships with my musician friends, I've asked some of them for a few pieces of their raw material; things that I could work on and mix myself so that I could begin putting together a portfolio. Thankfully, I am blessed with many contacts in the world of music and several have told me they would look through what they had and send me what they could. This will be HUGE in helping to create the "me," that potential employers will be looking at when considering me to become part of their team. 

    I don't want to just be good at what I do. I don't want to simply be one of many people who are more than capable of performing well; I want to be that kid who sticks out of the crowd because she wears funky colors together and somehow makes them look amazing! I want to be the one that people see who isn't afraid to try something risky to create something that just can't be replicated but yet, still knows the importance of having the wisdom and knowledge of when its time to tone it down a bit. I don't want to be like all the other greats; I want to be my own kind of, "Absolutely Amazing." 

    In my personal and humble opinion, this program should easily take at least an entire year at minimum (redundant, I know, but I've left it that way for emphasis). I know its totally doable in the six months initially alloted, but I also know that there is just a ton of information to learn and if you don't study, take notes, work at it as much as you can and ask a lot of questions, you simply will not make it in this internship, let alone the music industry itself. 

    I've gone through an awful lot just to get to the point that I'm currently at. Working as many nights as I can until 2 a.m. or later just to pay bills and take care of my tuition costs for the program, coming home after work for late night studying until God knows when, sleeping for maybe a couple hours if I don't pull an all-nighter just to go to my internship for anywhere from 4 to 9 (or more) hours and then hopefully get to take a nap before I have to go to work and do it all over again. We are only required to do 2 days a week in the studio but there have been times I've done 3 or 4 just to get the extra time in for learning. I've finally gotten to the point where I'm actually using ProTools at home now so I've started mixing some files even though I'm really new at it. I'm also using every Social Media site I can think of to promote who I am, what I'm doing and where I'm headed/what my goals are. 

    Be looking for my posts because it won't be long from now that I'll be really tearing it up with my mixes and all the new skills I've acquired. I cannot tell you all what an incredible journey its been and just how much more incredible it will become.