Well summer is officially here as my last class ended last week for the semester. I delivered a number of really wonderful final projects for all of my classes.
Classes I took this semester:
Composer Performer II
Advanced Studio Recording and Engineering
Film Scoring I
Advanced Mixing and Mastering
Music History 18/19th Centuries
Synthesis and Sampling
Seminar/Private Instruction
Below are some finished examples from school projects:
Our Advanced Studio Recording and Engineering class had us learn various microphone techniques for recording live performances. Each week, students rotated studio jobs from deck engineer to pro tools op to patchbay and notetaker as well as mix/master post engineering jobs while taking one week to full produce (that means hire talent!) a track. My week of production was a foley and efforts pass of a personal project I’ve been working on: a fight scene from the hit animated show Arcane. I also mixed and mastered a jazz duo playing Hancock’s Maiden Voyage. Such a wonderful class!
Composer Performer II was a class about writing music you intend to perform in some public way, whether that be in person or using an installation with sound and visuals. My midterm had me playing with some fun mirror effects in Adobe Primer using a field recording walk the class embarked upon back in March. I sped up the audio to match the video, but mirrored the audio by reversing it and playing it with the sped up version.
The final: I wanted to do about simulating a rocket shuttle blasting off in various parts using my instrument (tuba) to create a beautiful melody about blasting off into space and the emotional experience through music and sound. Our poetic note for the program was thus:
April 12, 1961.
Industries roared and cities surged forward, rising like titans from the earth, forging steel dreams in fire and light—the world accelerating towards the impossible.
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1
Blastoff!
Flames carved the sky as thunder rose from the earth, the ground trembling beneath the fury of ascent. Through cloud and storm, through silence and void, we rose—carried by fire, into the vast and waiting dark.
We are stardust.
Film Scoring was by far my most challenging class because scoring anything with music ON PURPOSE was relatively uncharted territory for me aside from some very minor things I did over 10 years ago. We were assigned a slew of projects to be delivered on a weekly basis that had us composing for a variety of different film clips. The iPhone balloons was definitely my favorite of the bunch here!
Overall I produced a ton of content, and I even challenged myself to work on a Film Audio Faceoff competition over at Airwiggles for a short called Binocular Trick. Another really fun project to work on!
Really excellent way to start my semester here at SFCM. Looking forward to a relaxing but productive summer and I’ll be back in the fall for more new projects.
Have a great summer, y’all!
~MJ