Sixth Week @ BMP Audio (22.10 - 28.10)

I have categorized the jobs I have been given at my internship in to three different types; manual jobs, audio manual jobs and production jobs. Manual jobs are opening mail, sending emails and organizing the music library. Audio manual jobs ripping audio tracks into sessions, entering new compilations CDs in to the BMP Music database and entering acts in to the BMP Acts database. I would consider production jobs as editing raw material into acts and editing acts into a finalized program.

One audio manual jobs I had was to created acts from the raw interview and the from that create the cue sheets for the acts. I create acts by listening through the audio interview and split it in to parts which I think would be good for the radio program. There are technical skills needed to finalize the audio acts so they can be used in Pro Tools which I have been taught to do.

Later on in the week I carried on with the Burns bonus material which after my first draft, my supervisor and his boss viewed my work. They were both impressed in my skills but there was many ways that I can improve, the tips they gave me will help me create better production pieces. 

I worked my usual hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which added up to 13 hours.

Total: 80 hour

Fifth week @ BMP Audio (15.10 - 21.10)

I had my usual Tuesday manual duties of opening the mail and filing the CDs that were used in the previous week, I also had to find contact information for Sun Records as the company would to get some promotional CDs from them. One audio manual jobs I had this week was that I had to check the songs that were being used in this weeks program for FCC regulations. It is a violation of federal law to air obscene programming at any time. It is also a violation of federal law to air indecent programming or profane language during certain hours so this is an important job and if I miss something the company could be fined. All songs followed the FCC regulations so they could be played in the program. I did not know about these regulations and this will be good to know in the future with any career around radio productions.

This week I was given my first major production work, I was told to make a small piece on Michael Burks, who passed away this year, for the companies online website. I was shown previous pieces around the same topic and I was told I would need produce something similar to them. I was first given a ten minutes raw interview with Bruce Iglauer, who was a producer and label head who worked with Michael Burks. I had to cut down the interview to three minutes with leaving the interviewers questions and only leaving the important information to be rearranged in a suitable order. The piece also needed backing tracks behind Iglauer’s interview, I needed to find music from Michael Burks that matched what Iglauer was saying. There was three topics that he spoke about, one was growing up and living around his musical family and I found a song called ‘Little Juke Joint’ which Burks sung about growing up with his dad. The second theme was about his unique style and the song I used included a big guitar solo, which he is known for, called ‘Count On You’. The last topic was about Burns performing and touring and ‘24 Hour Blues’ fit perfectly. Next I plan to finish this piece by arranging all the audio tracks in the right places and should be finalized when I complete some basic engineering edits to the audio so that all the sounds sound richer and more polished.

This week I worked Tuesday and Thursday as normal but I was not avliable to work Wednesday. Erik and I came to an agreement and I came in on Friday and worked the hours I was meant to on Wednesday, which totaled 13 hours.

Total: 67 hours

Fourth week @ BMP Audio (8.10 - 14.10)

I had few manual jobs I completed this week which included repackaging the box of CDs and walking to Fed Ex shipping place to send off package which was a few blocks away. Like the previous mailing job, I didn’t mind doing it as I get to see more of the city while I am here and it also gets me out of the office for a while. The box needed repackaging as there was a few more CDs that were going to be put in it. I also opened up mail including promotional CDs, as BMP Audio produce a music program, they get CDs in the post of artists and bands that would like to get their music to be played to an audience. Another job included was to fax letters to another company, I haven’t used a fax machine before so Erik went through all the steps and seems rather easy to use. Learning little things in the office like using the fax machine or learning how to file checks are easily transferrable into any future career that I may have.

I was not asked to complete any audio manual jobs this week but I had a few main production jobs I completed were that I researched Donna Summer and her song I Feel Love and edited and consolidated Elwood liners. Each year, the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress chooses 25 recordings to be preserved for all time. Inside the National Recording Registry, produced by Ben Manilla Productions, highlights some of those selections, our series receives production support from the Library of Congress. One of the selections is ‘I Feel Love’ by Donna Summer, so BMP Audio will produce at 10 minute program on this song and I started today by researching the basics and see what points we could add in the program.

This week I worked Tuesday and Thursday as normal but I was not avliable to work Wednesday. Erik and I came to an agreement and I came in on Friday and worked the hours I was meant to on Wednesday, which totaled 13 hours.

Total: 54 hours

Third Week @ BMP Audio (1.10 - 7.10)

I have been asked to do a couple different manual tasks this week which have helped me experience different parts of an office lifestyle. I was asked to package a box of CDs that are given to a different company, just to say thanks for there hard work, the CDs we give to them are doubles and we already have a copy of so we are not losing out and helping out the other company at the same time. I was then asked to mail this box, I walked to the post office a couple blocks away and mailed it. Mailing boxes in the US is different from the UK so this was a new experience to me which will be helpful in the future. On Tuesday my supervisor Erik wasn’t in so I couldn’t do much production work so I was given another manual job by the manager and that was to file cheques and stamp the envelopes, while doing this I listen to the radio program that BMP Audio produce, this gave me an insight to what the program is like as well as the style and editing. 

The main task I was given this week was to edit the Dr. John acts for show 12/43. This was the task that I have most enjoyed since being at the internship. Talking to Erik, he said that this is one of the most important roles of the entire production and he let me have a go this week. I started with the raw interview of an artist called Dr. John, who tends to go off topic and babble on about different stories. I was asked to take the audio material and cut it down to the basic script, this took some time as I had to separate the material mid sentence. I then had to cut this editing material even more as the program is only an hour including the interview, music tracks and announcements by the speaker and DJ. It is a difficult when having to cut down the audio as there might be a specific time limit for the act so Erik gave me advice, if there a two sentences to pick to cut away and one is informational and one is humorous, pick the funny one to keep. The aim of the interview is to make the interviewee look good and likable, if a listener wanted to find more information on the interviewee they can look online on their wikipedia page and other places. I had a lot of fun editing the acts into smaller pieces that could be used in the final program. 

I worked my hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which added up to 13 hours. I arrived 30 minutes on Wednesday as I knew that I would be editing the Dr. John interview but did not count as my contracted hours.

Total: 41 hours

Second Week @ BMP Audio (24.9 - 30.9)

I am starting to learn the exact times when the buses arrive which is easier for me to plan my journeys to and from my internship. A positive that comes with taking long bus journeys is that I can catch up with any reading that I need to do for the rest of the week.

I have been asked to do some audio manual tasks like entering new compilations CDs in to the BMP Music database, entering acts in to the BMP Acts database, ripping tracks and other audio into different sessions. I have also been asked to do some more general manual but useful tasks like creating spine labels for compilation CDs and other miscellaneous CDs, also I filed CDs back on to the shelves and opened mail with CDs inside. I would like to develop my knowledge and history of popular music and I believe this one of the ways I can do so, as I go through many CDs that have been popular or are still popular. Each CD has a card in the case giving details on the record such as popular tracks and history of the album, I am starting to learn about individual artists and albums from different eras and genres.

I have been taught by Erik how to complete more tasks on Pro Tools like splitting a raw recording in to acts, finishing cleaning up edits for radio programs. I watched Erik producing different parts of this weeks program while he talked through the tasks he was completing as I would given these opportunities later during my internship, these

I worked my usual hours on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday which added up to 13 hours. I occasionally do not have my late classes on Tuesday and Wednesday and have said to Erik that I can stay later when the opportunity arises.

Total hours: 28

Make My Own Opportunities

I was told to choose one piece of advice or observation from Forrest Pound or Dave Binegar and write 300 words on how I could apply it to my own work life or career plans. The piece of advice I would like to use is to 'Make My Own Opportunities'

I can make my own opportunities by identifying and pursuing a niche that is either underserved or an emerging trend. I could look at it objectively from all angles and use my creativity about how I could best serve that need. I may have an idea about how to do something better, faster, cheaper or at a higher quality. This niche could be linked with new medias or social media. I have to make sure that my niche plays with what I do well and my passion. Once I define I niche, make it my business to know more than my peers about this area. One of my passions is popular music and this is what I would like to integrate in to my career plans of having a career in radio production.

I should devise a strategy that helps me stand out from the crowd and get noticed, one of these ways is that I could develop, promote and produce a web site, blog, or online discussion forum about music or media production. I could write articles on a niche or my passion and submit them to magazines, newspapers, related web sites and email newsletters. What I am doing is deepening my knowledge and sharing it with the world. If I do this effectively, then I will get noticed among the people who matter in my field. I may become the person people go to for information and would put me in a wonderful position. I'll be no longer one of the many, but one of the few.