PP2 studio Project reflections.

For the Next semester, I will be embarking on Production Project 2, after

completing Production Project 1.

I will be doing:

Sound Studio Project,

Headed by and with guidance from Robbie Rowlands, we  will be concentrating on a selection of  

artist participating in the McClelland Gallery 2010 Sculpture Survey &  

Award. This is one of the richest sculpture awards in Australia with  

the main prize valued at $100,000. The show displays a wide range of  

contemporary artworks in different media and styles by both  

established and emerging artists. and also, under the guidance of the gallery will have direct  

access to these artists and their studio environments. The aim is to  

create a series of short audio profile documentaries that give insight  

into the artists practice and their studio environments.(source: PP2 Course Guide, RMIT 2001)

Towards this Project, I have no worries at all. Having come from a sound engineering back ground, I've alot of experience with sound equipment, miking techniques and sound editing. Though my experience is mainly on live sound and any recording experience i have is either with Film or music production. This is something new. It has to be creative profile on the artists. It may sound boring and limited, but we will explore on what we can do. 

In the last lesson, all of us had agreed on individual works, which i am happy for, since i am quite an effective lone worker due to my erratic schedules. there is one particular artist i take interest to and would like to do the profile on him. Well, my interest is on his Artwork. here is one example:

I like the futuristic and minimalistic look of his work. this particular one is named "Turbine in black" and  is part of a series of "turbines" and other artwork done using acrylic. I should be fun to compose some futuristic music to go with his profile. But first I'll have to find an interview with him.

We were given some ideas like recording the sculpting sounds, e.g the buzzing or the saw or sander.

we can find music relevant to artist's theme, or in my case, i rather produce the music myself. But i do have to bear in mind that this is the Artist's showcase. not mine. My job is to bask him in the light of glamour, then hide my self in the shadow. haha.

The topic of the profile does not need to be confined to the gallery, can extend to anything related to the artist or his artwork.Other than the artwork it self, the artist might be involved in other issues, spreading messages. can tap into that.

I will learn more about them as i get to interview the artists.

I believe i have to interview the artists with a layman point of view, in order for the profile to be more understandable to the general public, capturing their interest into the world of art :pretty much like a foot in the door method before throwing artistic jargons like "neo-realist" or "juxtaposing through cubism" at them.

To facilitate this project, RMIT had put together alot of advanced skills workshop. I choose the sound workshops as i expected the world "advanced" to be.... well, "advanced." the first workshop touched on the basics of sound, something i learnt some 7 years ago. Not to say that i am competent, but i asked to leave the class as i have nothing much to learn there.

the next 2 lessons were on protools. I was an avid user of protools (pun not intended), Cuebase, logic, reason and garageband. but I stopped using protools some 5 years back. as it was really expensive to buy back then. i saw this as a chance for me to brush up my protools skills. The lesson was quite basic though. but the tech that was teaching us know his stuff very well, i learnt quite a few tips and tricks and got the hang of protools now. everything's coming back.

I would be more comfortable with cuebase, but protools will do just fine and besides,it's free equipment from school, might as well make use of it. All in all, I am anticipating a fun and enriching project and i'm sure i can ace this.

Sources:
all images and information on the artist are from http://www.geoffreybartlett.com/