Music Technology Forum - Presentation Paper

Honestly, I felt my presentation went reasonably well, but due to a shorter timeslot I had to lose the formula and PowerPoint presentation which lead to me adjusting things on the fly and getting slightly off track. In retrospect I would have liked to be more succinct and followed my plan. Due to the re-shuffling, I think it ended up being more of a showcase of my interests and work I had done, as well as how I had achieved certain things, rather than my personal goals as a prospective sound engineer and particular interests in the future. I had originally planned to jump between both show-reels I had prepared, one being diversified, the other being all the ‘Metal’ genre engineering and composition I had been working on more recently. Due to time constraints and my absence the week before I was just happy to have an opportunity to still get to present. I guess it would be safe to say what I presented wasn’t as comprehensive and representative of my work this year as I would have liked, however, this was only my fault. I think the whole process of the presentations, apart from technical difficulties with some of the equipment that was supposed to be functional, was performed in a considered and fair manor.

Unfortunately, since the nature of my presentation was rushed so we could fit one more in, I didn’t really receive any feedback at all so I cannot comment on that element. Instead I will try and identify my own strengths and weaknesses starting with the latter. I definitely think that my weaknesses that would have come across in this particular presentation would have appeared to be somewhere in the ball park of organisation and direction. Maybe this was due to the rushed nature of things, for some reason I decided to skip the ‘my history in sound’ part and goals. Skipping the part about my goals as far as a career in sound engineering and the surrounding climate of the industry would have definitely made it seem that I had less direction and was less diversified. I have decided to specialise in certain areas, but understand the great importance or diversification and adaptability, and unfortunately that didn’t come through in my talk.

I would say my strengths are being driven, open minded and always wanting to soak up new information. I do a substantial amount research at home and reading about different things to do with mixing and studio techniques etc. I think my greatest strength lies in the analytical sense of referencing, as well as building up a ‘sound memory’. I enjoy constantly adding to these skills and I definitely have a passion for it. However, I am always willing to have peers identify my fault or offer inspiration or advice to further my own personal development, as that is a very important element of learning, knowledge, self critique and moving forward.

I found all the presentations interesting and insightful and thought that it was beneficial to see what my peers directions were in the industry.