Tomorrow is deadline day, so I’ve been thinking about what I’ve achieved so far.
I’ve had to change my plan from a collaborative one to a more self-centred project. This is fine, but it makes me even more keen to branch out and start working with other people soon. Paradoxically the constraints of producing a piece of college work, have to some extent outweighed the opportunity to indulge in doing something of this nature.
I’ve also had to think about selecting the right material. I’ve ended up with more tracks than I needed, some of which I’m not going to use for various reasons. Some I’ve used samples on which I haven’t been able to clear with the rights holders in time, one is just too long in its current form and others either weren’t good enough or didn’t fit in.
I still feel I’ve made a fairly cohesive body of work, albeit with some quite wide variations in style.
I’ve discovered that I have favourite techniques and effects and I think that this has given the work a reasonable unified voice. I was concerned that it would all be fairly disparate but overall I think it hangs together quite well.
I do wish I’d had more opportunity to work with others on material that I have had no part in writing as this would given me an opportunity to work on the separate skill of reflecting what the other person wants and working towards that, but overall I’m reasonably pleased with the finished project.
If I’ve learned anything, (apart from never buy anything from eBay), it’s to allow more time than you think you need and have at the very minimum, not just a plan B but a C,D,E,F etc as well.
Phil Wakely Audio 