John Peel Lecture 2013 – Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church delivers the 2013 John Peel Lecture on the theme of women and their representation in the music industry. Listen to the lecture here:
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Guest Lecture – Phil Harding
Phil Harding’s track record is incredible. As a recording engineer and producer he has worked with artists as diverse as The Clash, Killing Joke, Dead Or Alive, Kylie Minogue and East 17.
As part of his lecture tour to promote his book PWL: From The Factory Floor he came to the University and gave a very entertaining and informative lecture to a packed audience of Audio Production students.
The main thrust of Phil’s lecture was how different aspects of the music industry service each other and why this is something to bear in mind when fulfilling a particular role. He talked about the importance of group work in gaining these skills and about how having the right attitude is essential for success in an industry that relies so heavily on professional relationships.
He gave us some very useful insight into the deals that the modern record producer must negotiate in order to get paid and an incredible example of the different stages of production a commercial single might go through when a rather well known pop mogul is at the helm. My jaw certainly dropped when we were told how much money was thrown at a particular project only for it to dip in and out of the charts at number 39. A non-hit wonder.
As well as continuing as a producer, mix engineer and artist in his own right, Phil is now the chairman of JAMES – the accreditation body responsible for linking industry and education. As our Audio Production programme is accredited by JAMES, Phil’s final piece of advice was for students to include this information on their CVs as it most definitely helps them stand out when applying for apprenticeships, internships and freelance work.
With such a wealth of experience, Phil and JAMES are valuable assets to our course and students. He’s also a very nice bloke – I could have chatted to him all day. And he signed my copy of the book :).
Barlow & Sons?
The increasing use of folk instrumentation and driving bass drum beats has obviously come to the notice of the Ivor Novello winning Gary Barlow.
Recently Barlow has released a new song “Let me go”, and almost as quickly people started to make comparisons with Mumford and Sons, largely due to the instrumentation (banjos and bass drum pounding)
Of course they both share a similarity in musical style to Johnny Cash
I also thought the similarity with Mumford’s “I will wait” was uncanny – thought I’d put it to the test.
It’s true that neither of them are the first to use the 1,4,5 chord sequence (80% of all pop songs use this), but the combination of rhythm, percussion and build to the chorus are uncanny.
They’re both 4/4, with the bass drum on the 1 and 3 beat., around 126 bpm.
Gary’s song is exactly the same tempo as “I will wait”, but it’s in a higher key so it needs pitching down by a tone and a half – other than that its fairly convincing.
Click here for my side by side comparisson
According to Digital Spy, Gary has said:
“I’ve always liked folky, acoustic music but I’ve never fully explored it. I turned back time and was listening to Johnny Cash and early Elton John before I wrote ‘Let Me Go’,” Barlow told the Sun. “I’m 42, I don’t want to do urban or dance music.”
On claims his new single sounds similar to Mumford & Sons, he added:
“I love Mumford & Sons – it’s good, English music, but let’s be honest, they got it off Johnny Cash too.”
Since I Saw You Last also features a duet with Sir Elton John titled ‘Face to Face’ and is out on November 25, followed by a tour next year.
GARY BARLOW
MUMFORD AND SONS 
Other bass drum songs out at the moment might include Aveci’s “Wake me up” in the chorus.. Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida”, etc
Can you think of any more?
The Guardian had this to say:
“Disappointingly constructed using the Mumford & Sons’ formula of dusty “woah, woah, woah” backing vocals, plucked banjo and copious amounts of thigh slapping, it’s a far cry from the glorious Back For Good, or Rule The World or even Sing. Perhaps the worst part of it all is imagining the inevitable performance of it on The X Factor, complete with backing dancers dressed as Marcus Mumford.
Here’s my comparison uploaded to YouTube – it will be interesting to see if by pitch changing Gary’s track, and using a live version of Mumfod and Sons’ song, will the automatic copyright checker miss this.
And hopefully Dave McSherry won’t take this post down – ’cause I’m guessing he’s not a big Barlow fan 😉
Matt North – Career Update
Blog post by 2012 Audio Production graduate Matt North.
Since my last update on the Audio Production blog, things have changed dramatically for me in my career and I have been very busy. In June this year, I left Ideal Shopping Direct after just under a year of service working as both a Technical Operator and Audio Operator – mixing over 500 hours of live broadcast audio for the TV shopping channels Ideal World, Create & Craft and The Deal Channel.
I left the role because I managed to land an incredible job working as a sound recordist for a small family company in London called Videoheads and have since been involved in some very exciting projects. Videoheads are a small kit and crew company based in White City and have worked with all of the major UK TV broadcasters on a long list of programmes. Since joining, I have been very fortunate to work on programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky on such programmes as The One Show, Crimewatch and currently Channel 4’s coverage of the iTunes Festival 2013 as a location sound recordist. I have also worked on a few corporate shoots for big companies/clients such as Electrolux, Sky One, AQA and Ernst & Young.
My skills are well and truly being put to the test and I’m learning new methods and skills every day as each shoot brings its own audio challenges and issues.
I’m also currently mixing a short film I shot last December in my spare time (which is very little at the moment) and continuing to build up and add to my personal location recording kit.
If any students have any questions or would like to get in touch with me about anything, my email address is matt@mattnorthaudio.co.uk.
Oblique Strategies
‘Infinitesimal gradations’, ‘Repetition is a form of change’, ‘Bridges -build-burn’ – just three of the gnomic aphorisms contained in the Oblique Strategies cards devised in the early 1970s by artists Peter Schmidt and Brian Eno. The cards were aimed at providing a creative jolt to artists who were either stuck or searching for new directions for their work. Most famously, Eno and David Bowie used the cards during the making of the now infamous set of albums known as the Berlin trilogy.
Simon Armitage first came across them as a student, but has never actually owned or used a pack himself. Now he sets out to tell the story of the cards, talk to some of those who’ve used them (across the fields of music, writing, cooking, business and more) and also find out whether the cards will take his own writing in a new direction. Among those he’ll speak with are Carlos Alomar (the guitarist on those Bowie albums), user Paul Morley, chef Ian Knauer and creativity guru Professor Tudor Rickards. He’ll also use the cards to try and help him track down the elusive Brian Eno himself.
Listen to the BBC Radio 4 programme here
The Science Of Music
In this BBC Radio 4 series, Professor Robert Winston looks at music with a scientist’s eye in a series which seeks to fully understand our relationship with the power of sound.
In Episode 1 of the series, Professor Winston explores the origins of music. Are we really the descendants of singing cavemen?
In Episode 2, Professor Winston explores the logic, engineering and physics underlying the musical sounds we hear. Why do some notes sound good together? And are we really simply seeking patterns when we listen to music?
In Episode 3, Robert Winston explores music and the mind. What’s happening in our heads when we listen to music?
In Episode 4, Robert Winston explores the science of music performance. What’s happening when we perform music? And does it change our brains?
Audio Production At The 2013 Degree Show
There was some really excellent and varied work at this year’s degree show and I’ve included a small selection of it here.
The work covers some of the radio, experimental and music output. However, there is plenty more film and animation work yet to be included here.
Thanks to Tom Ward and Andy Kettle for representing AP in the degree show committee.
Degree Show 2013
Here is the Official Lincoln School of Media Degree Show Trailer for 2013
The show is on between 5th and 7th June at the University of Lincoln , Brayford Campus, Lincoln LN6 7TS.
All are welcome to attend throughout the day – there will be screenings of films, exhibitions of Design and Photography work, Radio, Script, Audio Production and Television Studio work.
The official website is at http://www.lsmshow.co.uk/
Find out more on Twitter @lincolnmedia
or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LincolnSchoolMedia
there is a programme – at: http://issuu.com/lsmshow/docs/programme
Created by third year Media Production students:Tom Young,Jerome Smith, Amy Drew. Isaac Beatson. Cameron Steele; Ross Mcgowan, Sean Strange
with many thanks to all those who helped out, including Media Loans, staff at University of Lincoln, the student interviewees Brian Alcorn, Tom Ward, Jack Darnell, Cameron Steele, Jim Booth, Ruby Finnegan, Florian Rupert, Amy Nolan, Nathan Dean (voiceover), Bex Clayforth, Jack Howard, Adam Bibilo and Head of Dept Dr Sarah Barrow
Music For Fashion Show
Blog post from level 2 AP student Alexandra O’Brien – pictured centre with lecturers Maria Manning and Dagmara Childs.
We were asked by the Fashion department to create original music for the third year fashion student’s final showcase, which was held in the architecture building. We were given a brief with ideas of what they wanted. When it came to writing the music I wanted to capture the feel of the architecture building, as it’s an arty and open space. I took inspiration from Brian Eno to begin with and crafted an ambient soundscape that builds up with percussion and glitched vocals. For the rest of the tracks I took inspiration from artists like Bonobo and Tycho as I wanted to create quite laid back tracks that wouldn’t distract from the fashion show itself. Overall I really enjoyed the experience. It was hard work at times and a lot of hours went into to it but the clients were very pleased. It’s given me confidence in my compositional skill but also in composing to a brief and for a client.