Enjoying the break

I walked over to Granville Island today to try to get some recordings on the H2s we were given. Our only assignment over break is to record anything and everything hoping to get some usable sounds for editing. It can be any type of Foley sounds like footsteps or chewing, to sound effects like a car going by or a water splash. I had recorded some awesome sounds of my friend's hockey game but later realized I recorded it at the wrong sample rate so I can't use it.... oh well, lesson learned--always check your gear before recording!


There's a Jazz Festival going on right now and I got some cool recordings of a guitar player just jammin' away at one of the docks and I had a perfect recording of a jazz piece, up until one of the festival officials said I couldn't record it. He made sure it was erased off my H2... maybe I'll go back tomorrow and hide somewhere so I won't be so obvious.


Hopefully the weather holds out this week. I can deal with the weather here, it's still in the 60s-70s, not like back home where I hear it's in the 90s...hahaha!

I just realized that I think this will be the first 4th of July that I won't be in the US. Up here they have Canada Day which is going to be celebrated on July 1st. I'll have to try to find a good spot to catch some fireworks up here. I also looked into obtaining Canadian citizenship. Don't worry, I'm not moving up here yet. I have to have a job offer to expedite the process but since I can't work while I'm in school, I can't even apply anywhere yet. Let me just get through the school year first and see where it takes me. I'm still waiting for the rest of my (ahem), "grades" to be posted, but so far so good. There's always room for improvement right?

Hopefully Term 2 won't be as stressful as Term 1... who am I kidding? Bring it on!!!

Ray Beckett visits VFS

The Sound Design campus had an extraordinary experience when Ray Beckett paid us a visit last week. It was such a privilege just to meet him and sit in on a lecture prepared just for the Sound Design students, but then we found out that he was going to accompany us to do some field recording! We were able to ask about his experience while working on The Hurt Locker and he gave us some great tips on how to "open your ears" when recording on location. It was exciting to hear him say how lucky we were as students today to have all this portable technology available when recording. Speaking of which, we received our portable Zoom H2's and now we have to start building our own personal sound libraries. (Here's the link to the VFS Article)


(Ray giving us a presentation on his recording techniques, and later speaking about working on The Hurt Locker)

So along with meeting Ray Beckett, yesterday was the last day of Term 1! There was a bit of stress trying to put the finishing touches on the end of term projects, making sure you covered all the details but I think we all did ok. I was thinking of flying back to DC for the Summer Break, and I was really considering buying the ticket Monday (6/21) for $600, but when I checked the price the next day, it had jumped up to $1100! So yeah, I won't be back this break. So after a morning of backing up our projects and all our files we wanted to keep, we were pretty much free to do what we wanted. After grabbing a bite to eat, some of us went to our classmate's flat to finally kick back and relax after a stressful first 8 weeks.

I'll post more pics and I'm sure I'll finally have time over break to go over some of the places I've had awesome food!

Quick update - Week 6

It's been a busy couple of weeks as we finish up Term 1. I have a few more projects to edit (fun ones at least) and I think most of my tests are done for now. It feels like I've got a little bit of breathing room. I was able to talk to some of the 19w crew and they brought me up to date with the news of closing another distribution deal! Congratulations to everyone involved! Thanks for keeping me in the loop, by the way I'm still waiting for a screener...

The weather has been ok up here, still in the 60s :) although you can never tell if it's going to rain or not. Am I classified as a Vancouverite because I carry both an umbrella and a pair of sunglasses at all times? I had some incredible food the other week when I went to check out an open night market. (More on that to come when I have time to give it a proper write up).

So anyway, just wanted to give a quick update that I'm still here and working hard. I'm always busy so that helps me from getting too homesick, although I do miss everybody. I miss my dog, I miss my motorcycle, I don't really miss my car... which apparently got smashed up by a deer running INTO it. The new owner contacted me and said a deer had jumped into the driver's side of the car, took out the mirror, the door, and the passenger door on that side. Oh well...

All for now, catch up with you soon~