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HND in Music Production interview

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  • 06-02-2012 7:46pm
    #1
    validusername1
    Registered Users Posts: 283 ✭✭


    The requirements for the interview on the website say ''Students are required to bring to interview an audio CD with two pieces of self recorded music clearly labelled and indexed''.

    I have no idea how to do that.. There would be no point showing up to the interview without those recordings, would there? I have an interview scheduled for March but I don't know if I'll go because I don't have a clue what to do with the recordings.

    The reason I want to do this course is to learn how to do those things.. I don't have previous knowledge which they obviously expect. What exactly do I do and how do I make these recordings? What kind of effects/instruments/features should I include? I have a few programmes like Audacity and Reaper but I really don't know how to use them!

    Also, what type of questions should I be prepared to answer?


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    #2
    GTE
    Registered Users Posts: 3,913 ✭✭✭GTE


    validusername1 wrote: »
    The requirements for the interview on the website say ''Students are required to bring to interview an audio CD with two pieces of self recorded music clearly labelled and indexed''.

    I have no idea how to do that.. There would be no point showing up to the interview without those recordings, would there? I have an interview scheduled for March but I don't know if I'll go because I don't have a clue what to do with the recordings.

    The reason I want to do this course is to learn how to do those things.. I don't have previous knowledge which they obviously expect. What exactly do I do and how do I make these recordings? What kind of effects/instruments/features should I include? I have a few programmes like Audacity and Reaper but I really don't know how to use them!

    Also, what type of questions should I be prepared to answer?

    Having done this course, the best advice I can give for your situation is to do your best with what you have. This is not a definitive guide mind you.

    There is no excuse for not having the CD as perfectly OK free software is out there, and Reaper is quite good during the 30 day trial. You can also have microphones on most computers these days.

    All I had was an old laptop with Audacity and a crappy karaoke microphone. I was lucky enough to have a band at the time so I recorded myself and my guitarist. The microphone was being overloaded by my drums and was really trebly so I put a pair of socks over it and had it closer to the guitar amp. It was literally hanging from the rafters.

    Then in Audacity I did some things, it was 4 years ago so I can't remember exactly but look up articles on www.soundonsound.com (or .co.uk) and look for the basic introduction articles.

    If you had a band you could record the drums first into Audacity or Reaper, then the guitar and vocals etc.

    Rather then having a previous knowledge of the subject area, they seem to be looking for the enthusiasm and willingness to learn. To be honest, if you do not want to go to the interview because of what you said then I would question whether you deserve a spot on the course.

    With that said, you are trying to find out more which is so important. Keep at it, don't be disheartened by my hardline comment above ,do some research, google "basic mixing techniques". Things like that. If you look up the "5 mins to a better mix" series on YouTube, I think that would help a lot. The first few videos on that should be quite basic enough for you to apply the techniques in Reaper.

    Interview question wise, you need to show your knowledge of courses in the area, say why you want to do this course, what looks interesting on it, know details about what you did to create your CD.

    That last point would include what I was on about with my own recording, so that includes:

    - How it was recorded
    - What you used to record it
    - How you edited/mixed it
    - How you exported it out of your program
    - How you got it on CD
    - What research did you do to help you in this process

    You should also look into the 1 year PMC course in BCFE. That has a Sound Engineering Strand so you could use that as a back up. Then you would have a better foundation to get into the two year course next year BUT this is not guaranteed, there are a lot of people who have either previous experience or have the enthusiasm but they would both understand how good the course is so you are battling against a lot of good people.

    I hope I am not coming across too negative because it is really worth the effort and if you really love this kind of stuff it is the best course around in my opinion.

    Best of luck.


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