User:JoeReikow

Bio
My name is Joe Reikow, at the moment I am a first quarter audio production student at the Art Institute of Seattle. I am eighteen years old; I just graduated from Gig Harbor High school. So far I really like it here a lot. I have been producing electronic music as a hobby for a little over a year. Making music has really helped me find a direction in life. I plan to finish the bachelor's degree in the next three years and hope to secure a decent paying job in the process. I did not choose Audio Production as a career pathway to get paid for making music. I just hope to find a career with possibilities. An actual career; not a dead end job.

Always Wanted To

 * Topic

My goal is to release a first album (70 - 80 minutes) and try to distribute it freely to as many people as possible.


 * Research Component

Discover ways to make a name for myself in my genre communities and find the best places (forums) to talk in for producers and mixers of each specific genre.

http://www.PottyMouthMusic.com - Fidget House production forum. http://www.House-mixes.com - Mix hosting website. http://www.FutureProducers.com - Forum for producers of all progressive electronic music http://www.Virb.com - Myspace for Djs http://www.Construct.wikidbad.net - Dubstep Production Forum - http://www.palmsout.net Dubstep Production Forum http://www.dubstepforum.com - Dubstep Production Forum

THE ORIGINAL PLAN(ha)
 * week 1

finish another song
 * week 2

Hopefully have pro tools at my fingertips. At least start another two songs.
 * week 3

meh
 * week 4

we'll see
 * week 5

i don't know
 * week 6

close to done?
 * week 7

done with all songs or at least pretty damn close?
 * week 8

better be done.

Accomplishment: So I set a pretty big goal for myself, hoping to finish my first album by the end of the quarter. I guess I assumed that the quarters would be longer and also that I would be having more free time to actually spend on producing. I was also really hoping to be able to produce in protools but as I am learning protools I am starting to learn that it isnt the best program for producing electronic music, or atleast the music I want to make. I am starting to get the impression that pro tools is much more for post audio production for film and such. So, enough beating around the bush. I did not end up completely finishing my album. There are many reasons for this though. I have learned so much this quarter about sound that it really makes me look hardly at the music I have made, and how much I can improve on everything if I just went back and remastered it all. So for the next couple of weeks that is going to be my main project. Another delay to my album is genre choice. I have been going through some different phases lately and I have really been drawn in by the dubstep culture. My friend Dj Qazi (a high school buddy that got me into producing), and I are going to produce a submarine themed vynyl dubstep album called Dubmarine Substep. So It seems I might be finishing two albums here pretty soon. I just dont want to rush it, and flood the forums with a bunch of crap. It needs to be polished.

The Post Mortem: First off I think I was being a little wishful thinking that I could actually finish a quality album by the end of this quarter, along with all the school work. So in terms of my goal, I would have maybe just planned to finish like 2 or 3 more songs, and improve the overall quality of all the tracks on the album. I originally had the plan to make a song like every week and a half or so, and I think I probably could have done it if I had hermited in my room for the last couple of months. I did choose to be a little more social to get to know my classmates as this was my first quarter. I am still very pleased with the work I have come up with though. I defined a specific vibe I wanted to go to for and I actually think I got it. This is a small goal I have had set for myself for awhile. So even though I did not meet my original goal, I feel like I have greatly improved my knowledge as a producer and the tools avialable to me to utilize.

Midterm Assignment 1: Taste & Aesthetics
The artwork that I chose is a piece called Love and Loss, by the artist Roy McMakin. When I decided to choose this piece, It wasn't like I completely hated it. I really had a hard time finding anything in the sculpture park that I didn't like. When I had to choose one I didn't like, I just decided to go with this one. I liked how it had a place to chill and all that. But the glowing neon "&" sign kind of threw me off. It's not like I didn't like it, it just didn't really make sense to me. It seemed to me that something that simple really isn't art. I could throw a "$" sign up there and build an abstract chilling area out of dollar bills and call it art. I guess I kind of thought maybe he didn't put enough thought into it. So i checked out Roy Mcmakin. I googled him and found out that he actually designs furniture as pieces of art. Thats his thing. He has done other creative pieces such as untitled (wooden toilet), and untitled (A Chest of Drawers and a Daybed that Fit Together). To me, the chest or drawers doesn't really seem very good to me either. It doesn't look very appealing to the eye together, or separate. And the daybed doesn't look very comfortable. I guess I don't understand his art very well, because I am not very attracted to most of it. I look back at the Love & Loss piece and I still have to say I think he could have tried a bit harder to come up with a better idea than that for the sculpture park. I am not saying that I don't like it, I am just saying it is not that great!

Midterm Assignment 2: Manipulation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxqRg2Nohso Subway Commercial Greasy Fast Food Slippery Slope fallacy, because the commercial is implying that if you eat fast food you will get fat. (its true.. but not with moderation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LQpRQh2KSQ Quiznos put it in me scott

Truth through humor / does not follow. It is a dirty commercial that doesnt really have a point. Besides that its only 4 dollars. And scott needs to say it sexier.

Self-Assessment
I feel like I did pretty well in this class. I learned a lot about audio production just through my classes at school. It was really awesome to apply all this knew knowledge of sound to my work. I really do still have a lot to learn though. I can always make my work better and I plan to make sure that I do so. I guess if I could have changed anything I would have just spent a little more of my free time on Ableton. I really can't complain though because I am happy with the work I have made, and I am excited that I have realized that my original goal was kind of silly. I feel very prepared to continue my studies. The first thing I did after class was use up the little battery my laptop had to work on a new song. I want to make up for the lost time during this week of break. I am really prepared to start making more music in my free time. I feel like I have influenced at least one person from our class during this quarer. Aaron Herting and I have been hanging out pretty much all the time since we met on the first day of class. I kind of made my decision of my goal right when we were introduced to the project. I think that maybe sparked Aaron's desire to have his goal be mixing. I did give him some pointers when he was starting out but its not like I was his mentour or anything. Overall though I believe I had some influence in his experience this quarter.