Almost Done - Posted on 2017-12-13 by David Deines

Wow, I guess I'm almost at the end of this course.  I just finished Chapter 17, which dealt with Automation.  Frankly I didn't learn anything new from that chapter, really; it should have come before the MIDI assignment in my opinion.  I already had to dig up the information from this chapter on my own and from my mentor in order to do the mix assignment effectively.  Speaking of which, that's what we spent the entire session on Monday doing - working on my mix assignment of The Siege.  

That song has been incredibly frustrating to mix, but I definitely learned a lot from it.  Nonetheless, I never ever want to hear that song again after I turn it in.  I finished it last week or so, but I didn't turn it in yet because I wanted to get some input from Jason first.  I thought my mix was sounding pretty decent... until we listened to it in the studio.  There were a lot of issues with it that I couldn't really hear in my apartment through my silly soundbar.  But we spent a lot of time disecting the problems and I learned a lot of good lessons.  At the end of the day he helped me iron out the major issues and it sounded pretty good.  I'll be turning it in as soon as he sends me back the final mix - hopefully today.

I still need to get my sine wave project finished up, too.  It was finished, but I encountered a technical issue that prevented me from getting it totally complete.  I had nothing but problems trying to get Joel Arevalo, my supposed advisor, to help me with it.  He passed me on to another advisor who never followed up with me.  Then life got busy (and it's even busier now) and I kind of gave up on it.  But now that it's all of a sudden almost time for me to be done with the course, I will definitely need to get in touch with an advisor.  I also need to ask about job placement opportunities and whatever other services that Recording Connection promised me.

I have to say that as I began this program it was fun and exciting and I was learning a lot.  However, as I got deeper in to it, the information became more repetitive and I felt that the effort put into the material declined substantially.  Additionally, nobody seems to care that I still haven't turned in my sine wave assignment and that my mix assignment and MIDI assignment are being turned in late, too.  As a result, my vigor and motivation declined as well.  I definitely feel very alone in this program and at this "school."  It's like I got pushed into a giant ocean with a little boat and paddle, and I can't seem to yell loud enough to get the help I need.  I've been able to find answers and such through the internet fortunately, but I'm not quite sure why I paid so much money for this course.  

Jason has expressed a great deal of frustration with the company as well, and there is a serious lack of cohesiveness between him and RC.  I'm certain that I wasn't getting the 10+ hours per week in the studio that I was promised, and most of that time was completely unstructured and not fluid from session to session.  Half of the time we were basically just sitting around and socializing.  I don't blame Jason; he has done the best he can and I really appreciate the opportunity to learn from him.  However, as I said there is no "connection" present between him and the material - I did my best to bring good questions and stuff, but there's no guidance from the "school" in terms of what to focus on in any given day.  I know Jason told us that he won't be taking on any new students for the time being because of all the miscommunication.

I hope that I can move into a satisfying and fulfilling conclusion to this program, but at the moment I'm definitely feeling isolated and that there is no support.  I'm still looking forward to moving into a new chapter in my life with this program as a starting point, but at the moment I'm very disheartened and certainly don't feel prepared to start working in the field.  I definitely look forward to learning as much as I can in the future and am grateful for the fundamental basis I have established here.  Still, a sense of perfidy lingers when I look back at the past several months with Recording Connection.  It doesn't seem that helping me as a student to thrive was the primary goal. 

I'm quite certain that I didn't get my money's worth from this program, and it seems clear that my money is the only thing that was worth anything to them.

I truly wonder if anyone will read this....