Mark Nightingale album recording

Reflective Learning Diary

Introduction

The aim of this Reflective Learning Diary is for the following:

· Keep a record of the work I undertake on my placements

· Note any existing skills I develop, or new skills I learn

· Identify areas that I would like to improve upon

Work Placement: Exeter Network Church, Mark Nightingale

Date:	11th August 2009 & 18th August 2009
Hours worked:	12 hours
Tasks completed:	· Setting up a recording session · Making the musicians feel comfortable in their environment · Create a rough mix of the recorded session · Overdubs and additional track overlays were necessary
Reflection:	Mark Nightingale of the ‘Exeter Network Church’ approached the Music Mill for help recording his latest album; he kindly agreed to let myself and Michael Walton help with the creation of his album from the recording aspect of things. After a previous WBL learning experience with ‘The Atlantics’ which involved similar roles in which was to be expected of me, I was hoping to learn from my experience from that session and implement all the positive elements into mark’s album.

End of placement evaluation

The achievement of which I am proudest is:	Giving mark re-assurance when laying vocals over some of the songs he did, there was elements of doubt and lack of self-belief in which I helped correct with assurance that the methods of his singing within songs was correct and any songs that did fall in to a category of doubt I helped contribute to the correction process.
The thing I found most surprising was:	The speed in which everything was done, being only use to recording amateur’s within the college such as, how many times it would take to get a clean vocal recording there would be a element of time wasting when trying to record students in the college, but this was not the case with the band here, they were very organised and structured.
The area I found most challenging was:	Understanding the mixing console and watching Shaun work his way around the mixer, trying to absorb his actions and what he was doing at any given time I found to be very challenging and understanding what he was doing also.
The area I would like to improve is:	Gaining a better understanding of instrument placement within a stereo mix when recording a band, I would like to improve on this as when watching Shaun using the pan methods to given each instrument its own place within a mix I learned it is something that I must improve on with my future assignments and personal projects.
An example of when I worked in a team was:	Setting up the musician’s equipment within the live room and ensuring that the microphone placements were to a standard that was usable within the control room and not any hindrance to the band members this was done with communication from the live room and with the control room.
An example of when I used my knowledge was:	Setting up volume levels into the mixer I was able to do this with great understanding from the skills and knowledge I had attained from the course so far, elements such as not overloading the console and making sure 48 volt phantom power was supplied to condenser microphones.
An example of when I solved a problem was:	When we were getting bad signal flow to the desk from a certain microphone I followed a procedure of checking for faults with the leads, mixer, connections and eventually found the problem to be a faulty microphone.
An example of when I was given responsibility was:	I was asked by the producer of the session (Shaun) to operate the tape recorder and to ensure that I had tracks enabled and ready when Mark was laying numerous overdubs and correcting errors on previously recorded tracks
Other comments:	Overall a positive experience and great to see how an album is created from its start point up until the mix stage, the main element I’m beginning to understand that is you can have all the skills in the world but it is very important to have a good relationship with the client when working in this kind of working environment in regards to making sure they feel comfortable within their surroundings.

WBL at Bookhams!

Reflective Learning Diary

Introduction

The aim of this Reflective Learning Diary is for the following:

· Keep a record of the work I undertake on my placements

· Note any existing skills I develop, or new skills I learn

· Identify areas that I would like to improve upon

Work Placement: Maintenance repairs at Bookhams (South Devon College)

Date:	20th May 2009
Hours worked:	3 ½ Hours
Tasks completed:	· Repairing of XLR Cables and Jack Leads · Soldering of faulty cables · Re-tuning of Instruments (Guitar and Bass)
Reflection:	The task at hand was to assess the equipment we had available at the Bookhams studio based on the south devon college campus and identify and repair any equipment that was not working. From being a student the previous year at the college I found that a large portion of cables and musical instruments available to us was broken and needed some form of repair or service required, myself and Michael Walton was asked by teacher Pete Day if we would like to service and repair some of the problematic equipment as part of our work based learning. I was very happy with the outcome of my WBL and felt that the work we carried out was of benefit to ourselves and future students at the college.

End of placement evaluation

The achievement of which I am proudest is:	The amount of cables we repaired which enabled ourselves and other students to fulfil future assignments/projects more easily without the worry of equipment failing
The thing I found most surprising was:	The lack of respect in which students have for the college equipment and also the lack of administration in which the students are allowed to take equipment with no form of record to show that a dedicated student is using that equipment at that given time.
The area I found most challenging was:	Identifying fault's within XLR cables and stripping the cables back to start a fresh rewire.
The area I would like to improve is:	I would like to gain a more in-depth knowledge of the mechanics and wiring system of how the stereo cables and mono cables operate..
An example of when I worked in a team was:	Databasing which cables were repairable and which were not, myself and Michael had separate storage units to identify the repaired/repairable cables and the faulty cables, and we worked together to keep a record of each cable.
An example of when I used my knowledge was:	Understanding the relationship of how a cable functions correctly, this is something that was taught to me in previous lessons and implemented in this scenario.
An example of when I solved a problem was:	Every cable being repaired successfully was a good example of a problem being solved.
An example of when I was given responsibility was:	The fact that Pete Day asked for our help to repair the college equipment was an example of trust and responsibility.
Other comments:	The college benefited the most out of this placement as it was of no cost to the college to have these cables repaired, but it was worthwhile doing as it will benefit myself and other students in the future

Atlantic's WBL Diary

Reflective Learning Diary

Introduction

The aim of this Reflective Learning Diary is for the following:

· Keep a record of the work I undertake on my placements

· Note any existing skills I develop, or new skills I learn

· Identify areas that I would like to improve upon

Work Placement: Recording session Atlantics at The Music Mill Studio, Newton Abbot

Date:
Hours worked:	8 hours (9am-5pm)
Tasks completed:	· Setting up a recording session · Making the musicians feel comfortable in their environment · Create a rough mix of the recorded session · Overdubs and additional track overlays were necessary
Reflection:	Being my first time within a recording environment I was quite nervous of what was to be expected of me, I felt it gave me a very good insight to how a recording of a professional band should be done and done in a professional manner. I also learnt that there are a lot of social skills required to ensure that the recording was to be successful and done in a relaxed environment.

End of placement evaluation

The achievement of which I am proudest is:	Helping on the tape operating functions, I felt that I was able to put into place some of the skills that I had learnt form my classes in college with a good amount of knowledge and confidence.
The thing I found most surprising was:	The speed in which everything was done, being only use to recording amateur’s within the college such as, how many times it would take to get a clean vocal recording there would be a element of time wasting when trying to record students in the college, but this was not the case with the band here, they were very organised and structured.
The area I found most challenging was:	Understanding the mixing console and watching Digby work his way around the mixer, trying to absorb his actions and what he was doing at any given time I found to be very challenging and understanding what he was doing also.
The area I would like to improve is:	Gaining a better understanding of instrument placement within a stereo mix when recording a band, I would like to improve on this as when watching Digby using the pan methods to given each instrument its own place within a mix I learned it is something that I must improve on with my future and personal mixes.
An example of when I worked in a team was:	Setting up the musician’s equipment within the live room and ensuring that the microphone placements were to a standard that was usable within the control room and not any hindrance to the band members this was done with communication from the live room and with the control room.
An example of when I used my knowledge was:	Setting up volume levels into the mixer I was able to do this with great understanding from the skills and knowledge I had attained from the course so far, elements such as overloading the console and making sure 48 volt phantom power was supplied to condenser microphones.
An example of when I solved a problem was:	When we were getting bad signal flow to the desk from a certain microphone I followed a procedure of checking for faults with the leads, mixer, connections and eventually found the problem to be a faulty microphone.
An example of when I was given responsibility was:	I was asked by the producer of the session (Digby) to operate the tape recorder and to ensure that I had tracks enabled and ready when the band were ready to record
Other comments:	Before the placement, I had worked out that I could fit the time commitment into my academic timetable, but I hadn’t realised that it would be emotionally tiring as well as physically tiring. I have been able to apply some of the things I have learnt in classes, which I have really enjoyed, and I my self-confidence has improved.