The Lecture

Luke Pickering is an assistant audio engineer working under the award-winning Paul Epworth at The Church Studios, London. After graduating from the University of Lincoln, Pickering spent a few years gaining work experience and saving up money before landing a job at The Church Studios. He modestly stated that he got the job because he was simply lucky; being at the right place at the right time. He applied to Miloco for work experience when The Church Studios just so happened to be in need of staff. However, it’s important to note that his experience in music production and working in a studio environment, as well as his hard efforts to find work, are what actually got him a job at The Church Studios. In other words, he made his own luck.

Pickering explained how the people at The Church Studios work under a form of hierarchy. He himself started working at the studio as a runner, serving drinks and keeping the place tidy. After weeks of working there, the staff there recognised his dedication and trained him to become an assistant audio engineer.

Pickering stated that studio work is best to be perceived as a service rather than a creative industry. The producer, and artists who use the producer’s studio, will have control over all, if not most, of the creative process. All other staff will simply have to complete given tasks and work to meet the producer’s standards.

Not much of this lecture can apply to my current audio project, however, it has taught me a lot about the other side of the music industry. Whereas I’m mainly working under a creative process, producing my own music, there are careers in which you can make music for other people; careers where an understanding of technology and teamwork will outweigh creativity. One point that I will certainly learn from is that it is important to make your own luck. When promoting my music, I shouldn’t expect my Facebook followers to do the promoting for me. I must push my work out to the public in order for it to be heard.

The Lecture

Jez Riley French is an experimental sound artist who specialises in field recording. He travels around the world to record various sounds of which he uses to create art for a variety of exhibitions and installations.

Throughout the lecture, French gave many examples of types of microphones and how they can be used. With a contact mic, he has recorded the sound of ants eating an apricot, a hazelnut on fire and wires vibrating. As absurd as these examples may seem, some could easily be used within other a variety of films. The sound of vibrating wires, for example, resulted with some laser beam sound effects that could easily be used in a sci-fi piece.

Different microphones can also be combined to record more ‘full’ sounds. For example, when recording the sound of waves lapping on a beach, a hydrophone placed under the sand could record the lower crashes of a wave. Combine that with the sound picked up by a condenser mic and you’ll have recording with a fair amount of low and high frequencies.

French mixes his works with the spaces where they’ll be presented taken into consideration. He often visits the spaces prior to presentations in order to take note of their acoustic properties and the ways they might affect his works (e.g. add reverb, boost lower frequencies, etc…).

French stated that technology is the least important aspect of sound and music production. Although your choice of microphones and other equipment can help open many possibilities, the most important element is your creativity and the methods you choose to record and edit sound.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

Should I choose to use some sound effects or background sounds within my music, this lecture has certainly given me some knowledge on how I can record such sounds first-hand. It’s also important for me to take the ways in which people might listen to music into account. With many people listening to music through various quality speakers and headphones, I’ll have to make sure that my mixes sounds pleasing across various outputs.

The Lecture

Dean Humphreys is an audio engineer who has taken on many roles within the area of sound production. He has helped produce sound for various movies and other pieces of media.

His lecture today taught me all about how to get a job in, and work your way up, the audio production industry. He stressed that there was a lot more required from you than just technical skills. There’s also a great deal of creativity required in order to help you and your work stand out amongst others. However, before you’ll be given any opportunities to get creative, it’s important to have good social skills.

Being able to act, dress, talk and write formally will certainly help during the process of finding a job. However, working your way up the industry will also require a lot of perseverance and dedication. Once you do find yourself working a leading role within the production of a film’s audio, you’ll finally be able to show off your creativity and technical skills. However, in most cases, you’ll also have to be open-minded to other people’s ideas as some members of the production team might disagree with your creative choices. Stubbornness will only negatively impact people’s views on you and might even prevent people from wanting to work with you, in which case you’ll find yourself with less work. Humility and open-mindedness are of high importance in the audio production industry.

How might this lecture apply to my audio project?

Although I’m currently producing music as a freelance artist, I do wish to collaborate with other musicians during the production of my next EP. In the future, there may even come a time in which I begin work under a record label or production company. And so, it is important that I take these social skills into consideration in order to improve and maintain relationships between myself and other parties. When working with other artists, or under the guidance of a label or production company, it is important to accept that I may sometimes find myself having to make compromises.