The Music Mill Recording Studio, Newton Abbot ( Tuesday 10th Nov.09)

For one of my WBL placements I decided to spend a few hours at the Music Mill Recording Studio in Newton Abbot. Although I am quite familiar with the studio, I havent really ventured to learn about the recording process.
For this session, a vocalist named 'Mac' had booked the studio to record some vocals onto a backing track, mainly of swing music. Firstly, the cd with the backing music was recorded onto the studio computer system so that the vocals could be recorded directly onto the tracks. After warming up, Mac was ready to record roughly 9 songs. After the vocals were recorded the track was played back to see if he was satisfied with the take.
Digby and Shaun (studio sound engineers) then explained the process of compression on the tracks to make sure the songs were suited to cd quality. for example- the vocals were compressed to fit the backing track more effectively in terms of volume. They also used compression on the backing tracks. After effects such as reverb could also be added or altered on the recordings. After this process, the tracks were edited in terms of timing and just trimming off rougue sounds from the backing track. This was done using the studio computer, using a cut tool. The finished recordings were then transfered/ copied to the 2nd computer and were then burnt onto disc.

Future placements & Career Plans

Reflecting on my work experience placement at Dartmouth Music Festival, I feel that I have become more intrerested in the production of 'Live' sound. I think that the placement has enabled me to understand more about the music industry in terms of the setting up of live events and festivals.
I think i will definately be returning to DMF next year to help with the sound again and possibly look into more work placements similar to this one. However, I do not think that I will necessarily persue a career in this particular field, as i feel that I would rather perform in terms of music, rather than  operate or work with sound and light as I find it to be quite technical.

What Have I learnt? Was the placement sucessful?

I think that the placement was sucessful in that I enjoyed being part of it. I think that the actual festival is great and it is brilliant to think that all of these musicans, artists and organisers have come together to share their talents with the local community of Dartmouth and the rest of the bay.
Overall, I believe that the festival was a sucess and the feedback from the public was positive as always.


Looking back, I think that I have learnt from the experience, and it has been sucessful in that I have seen the 'Behind the scenes' of the DMF.


Here is a list of positive experiences that I feel I have taken away from the placement:

• Meeting new people/ Networking
• Learning about audio equipment
• Learning about live sound
• Being part of a voluntary team
• Supporting the festival events
• How to work to a time scale
• How to work under pressure

Although I did enjoy this work placement, I feel that there could have been slightly more teaching input by Jamin Events and if given more time,  perhaps more hands on or practical work. I also feel that I should have researched more about sound equipment before doing the work placement in order to have felt more able to partake.
I have learnt that you have to be a quick thinker whilst running the sound for various events, if something goes wrong, wether it be a technical fault or a miscommunication, you have to know what to do in order to satisfy the musicians and the audience. At times it was quite stressful, as people are relying on you to do a good job, and you do not want to dissapoint them.

Saturday 9th May 09 DMF

Saturday was most probably the busiest day, again we organised equipment for the event areas and I was able to set up the microphones and sound for a two piece band that were playing in the 'Windjammer' pub. I really enjoyed setting up the equipment and finally, I think I got it right, and helped the band to do a sound check using my  knowledge of the sound mixing desk. I enjoyed speaking with the band and there gig went to plan, accept for a dodgey microphone that I had to run and exchange.
I acted as a runner for the afternoon, and was able to help Andy (who was engineering the Bayards cove) with the string quartet, helping with the mics and sound desk. Also to make sure that he had all the right gear. After doing that we had to rush to another pub where an American folk trio were due to perform, so we had to set up their sound equipment as well.
I also kept going back to the Windjammer to check on the two peice band to make sure everything was alright. I helped Ben load speakers and desks into the market square for the performances in there which was hard work as there was so many people there and it was difficult to manouver the equipment.

It was a long day and I had probably walked around Dartmouth about ten times already and then we had to think about the evening performance the celtic rock band 'Mad Dog Mcrea's' at the bandstand that Ben was engineering along with other sound and lighting crews. I didnt help with this band as I didn't want to mess anything up so I left it to the professionals :)

It was a really good day and it defiantly gave me an insight to live engineering, especially outdoor and community based.

Friday 8th May 09 DMF

One of the main aims of the first day of the festival was to organise and transport equipment to the event areas.
Ben (from Jamin Events) organised and dispatched various sound and lighting equipment in preparation for the different bands and musicians playing later on in the day. Whilst doing this, he explained the different types of cables used for the various sound components. This helped me in that I felt more confident about knowing which cable or lead connected to which appliance. He also ran through the basic timetable for the musicians and events that he was engineering. I found it easier to cope knowing the times and basic set up for each event.
I did find that, even on the first day, there is a lot of heavy lifting and wheeling involved in being a sound technician! Especially as most of the equipment had to be carried or wheeled to the event areas, as Dartmouth was packed with people, so there was no chance in transporting  the equipment by car.

The atmosphere nearing the afternoons and evening's events was brilliant, it felt really good to be part of a team, setting up sound equipment for musicians and then hearing them play.

We did encounter some problems along the way, mostly during sound checks, (when musicans use the microphones and monitors to check sound levels). At times it was frustrating because we couldnt achieve the correct sound or the sound the musicians needed to hear.Ben explained that it is important that the sounf levels are accurate and plausible in order for the musicians or band to hear each other and themselves.  Also, one of the sound desks did not work properly so we had to stall the event momentarily whilst fetching another desk!

Mainly, for the first evening, I was watching how Ben set up the equipment and I remember thinking how important it must be to get it right. I found it confusing in someways as I was unsure which lead connected to what!? However, looking back I think i did learn whilst working, nevertheless in the future I think I would draw up the different leads, speakers, mixers and other sound equipment to revise and make sure I knew what I was plugging in, as this would also save some time and panic.  

For a lot of the evening events I took on the role of being a runner. Mainly running microphones and microphone stands to different venues in Dartmouth and then setting them up. This was quite fun and I enjoyed it simply because I couldnt mess it up and I got to hear loads of different music whilst at the venues. However, I think that if that was a permanent job I could get quite tired from running!

Introduction

The Dart Music Festival is held annually to celebrate and share music from all parts of the world as well as local muscians. The Festival is supported and funded by local businesses and charities in Dartmouth and Torbay. The organisers of the festival use local businesses and volunteers to help run the events.

This year, (2009) I was interested in finding out more about the 'behind the scenes' at the festival and asked to do a work placement with Jamin Events, a company geared to supply PA systems, lighting and sound engineering. There were also two other suppliers- Pro Sound and Light and 'Show On The Road.'