While we were all excited to finally be going home again, a few of us also wanted to stay for just a little longer for various reasons, such as the high quality studios or the lovely, spacious apartments and the freedom that came with staying in them. Also the city of Glasgow is a beautiful place and personally I wish I had more time to spend in it during our stay.
Thursday was spent primarily in the rehearsal room again, as our tutor for the day had to conduct interviews for students wishing to attend the Motherwell music course next year. Much of the day was spent jamming, practicing the songs we've written over the last few weeks. That afternoon we were visited by Fiona and David Hay himself, and we had a short chat with them about how our time at Motherwell had been, what went well, what didn't, and then we took a couple of photos for GTI's website and for the Erasmus programme. When we returned to Glasgow we went to explore the Gallery of Modern Art, and while the building was nice, I didn't find much of the exhibitions very interesting. We rounded off the evening with dinner at a local chipper, where we all got our own food and finally went splits on a deep fried Mars bar to share! I knew I wouldn't like it from the get-go as I don't eat chocolate, but everybody else seemed to find it very enjoyable. Friday started off with us working on our diaries on Mahara for the final time, and just before lunch we were sent out to record a vlog touring the Motherwell campus. We may have done a swift job on the vlog as we were hungry and my classmates were very eager to try out the Spanish Day in the small restaurant students actually ran inside Motherwell's main building. As it turned out, our rushing was in vain as the restaurant ran on reservations, so we ended up wandering to a local Gregg's where they were quickly satisfied with some vegan sausage rolls.and I had some of the mini donuts they sold in there too. After lunch we returned to the rehearsal room for the final time, and after some more jamming and performing a final song together for our tutor, we said our farewells to him and the rest of the class who were in that day. On our way out we encountered some rabbits on the side of the road and spent a while just watching them play before we carried on to our bus. To celebrate our final night in Scotland, a few of us gathered in our apartment on the top floor and had one last dinner together before we left our temporary home for the previous three weeks. Saturday was a long day of walking, sitting, flying with a lot of driving to finish it off. While check out from the apartments was at 10am, our taxi's to the airport wouldn't arrive until half 1 in the afternoon, so we spent our final hours in the city revisiting a few of our favourite spots around the city centre, topped off with a final visit to Gregg's. The time in the airport passed by relatively smooth, and after a rough take off we were airborne and heading home. The flight was uneventful until we were coming in to land. It was quite windy so our approach to the runway was quite bumpy, and when we got within 500 metres of touching down, a very strong crosswind hit the plane's left side and so we were about to land with the plane tilting to the right by about 20°. Just before touch down the pilot managed to level us out and after a single bounce, the plane was on the ground and soon we were hopping off in and loading into a bus to get back to the terminal. It was good to finally be on the road home without much longer to wait before seeing everybody that I'd left behind before the trip. -DJ
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This is week for my for my final week of the Erasmus trip I was wrapping up some of the stuff I had started last week like on Monday we finished up our radio show and took our favourite parts from our podcast and used that as a segment in our radio show, we also helped some of the class with there sound effects when it came to there movies that they needed to edit during the evening then on Tuesday instead of starting of with theory the whole class got brought to the studios to continue any projects they needed to do while we where giving time to finish our in bloom recording.
The only parts that where left to do where re amping the guitar solo so we could get a nice distortion tone and then the vocals which Devon was doing so we spent most of our day on Tuesday recording vocal takes and making sure the track would turn out good we also had Andres one of our lectures do some vocal harmony's over Devon's which was awesome of him to do and now we can take back the track and use it for our own projects back home where we need to mix and and master it. For Wednesday Devon had booked a recording session for his two friends who came over to see him so we got chance record a jam session rather then an actual track so it was interesting and different also the guys from Motherwell got to come to our campus and see the facilities in the college and be there during the recording process today which I think was nice. Over the weekend I visited my brother in Birmingham and got to see my 2 year old niece I stayed with them until Sunday and then flew back that evening but on the Saturday we all went to the zoo and had a some dinner afterwards, overall I have really enjoyed my time here and can say I've learned so much and feel alot more confident in myself and my skills even when some things got hard it was all worth it and I really see growth in myself from this experience. -Aaron It is our final week in Glasgow and I don't want to say good bye! My experience has been really great, like nothing I've ever experienced before. Every person we have met has been so welcoming and kind and it really helped along the way.
The city is stunning, surrounded by tall and beautifully detailed buildings. The city is lively and I really enjoyed coming home in the evenings, opening my windows and hearing the buskers sing on the streets below. This week so far has been pretty productive within the college. On the Monday our morning started off on the computers. We were using the midi keyboards along with the software Cubase which i'm not too familiar with. It was the classes first time using it too. He showed us how to sample, use built in synths and explained the shortcuts and all the small details thus allowing us use the DAW more efficiently. After this in the afternoon we had songwriting. My lecturer and myself created a jazz tune, I sang and i'm in the process of creating lyrics and he played guitar. Tuesday was more of a revision day, focusing on ear training and music industry studies. I found the aural training really helpful and the lecturer made it very enjoyable to learn, using games and quizzes. Wednesday, being today, was a really really enjoyable day. We left Motherwell for the day to go to the Cumbernauld campus with the sound guys to do some music production. When arriving, the facilities genuinely blew my mind. They have so many studios with giant mixers, and two big screens and they have a huge array of instruments, cables and pedals. Today Devon brought in two friends he wanted to record a drummer and guitarist. They were really good and I got a good chance to see professional recording up close. I Learnt a lot about live sound and in more detail got to figure out the desk and see how everything worked. It was a really enjoyable day and I feel like I've learnt a lot. The teachers in Cumbernauld were very nice and helped us a lot whenever we needed it, they also simplified everything really nicely. Overall I have really valued my experience here and really feel like I can take a lot of what I learnt back to Galway and use it in what i'm currently doing in GTI. Not only that I feel like this whole experience has been a really good growing experience. It's crazy being thrown into an environment you aren't familiar with, having to meet new people and learn things a little differently then you had to before, but its worth it. I have met some wonderful people and learnt some really cool things as well as done things that scare me, such ad performing and writing original stuff. This experience has helped me feel more confident as well as more excited to learn and i'm very grateful for it. Also Glasgow is a really cool, unique and creative city and I cant wait to come back. -Jessica Over the last few days Jessica and I have been working on a couple of songs we are hoping to perform for the Motherwell college. We were asked to perform in the level 6 music students performance, which will be taking place on Tuesday 26th. The theme is 90's classics and Jessica and I have chosen three songs to perform on guitar and bass. We have chosen Here Comes Your Man by The Pixies, who were an iconic staple of 90's alternative rock music, Don't Look Back In Anger by Oasis which we felt was an apt representation of late 90's rock, and finally Like Dylan In The Movies by Glasgow natives Belle & Sebastian.
We are excited to perform these songs for the Motherwell campus and have been working hard to ensure they are up to scratch. We have also thankfully been more involved in our classes since obtaining our login details and I can say I am thoroughly enjoying a lot of the work. The structure is different to our own course in GTI and both offer different perspectives on skills needed to handle the music industry. There are definitely aspects of this course I would love to see introduced into our own course back home, for instance they have a much more thorough class on songwriting and song structure. We have also just been made aware that we will be visiting the Cumbernauld college on Wednesday 27th in order to view their state of the art studio spaces and facilities. I am very glad we were able to organise this trip as our Motherwell course is not very production based. Aside from college work, I have also thoroughly enjoyed Glasgow City and all it has to offer. Over the weekend we visited the biggest music shop in Scotland, Guitar Guitar. Their selection is astonishing. Close by to Guitar Guitar is also a great vegan restaurant/ record store named Mono. We had lunch there and browsed their records. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for delicious vegetarian/vegan places to eat or even if you are just a fan of vinyl records along with numerous second hand and vintage clothes shops scattered throughout the area. Today I am taking the subway system to visit the West End and Kelvingrove. I will let you all know how it went in my next blog. -DJ On Tuesday afternoon we watched a very intriguing documentary on the annual Celtic Connections music festival, which happens in Glasgow for two weeks every January. It initially started out limited to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall but over the proceeding years it eventually expanded to encompass over 300 venues across the city. This documentary also featured many traditional artists, as well as a number of artists and bands that mix traditional music with modern genres such a rock, electronic music, house and dance. One of these said artists that really caught my attention was the group called the Treacherous Orchestra, who mix traditional instruments, such as bagpipes and fiddles with heavy guitars, full drum kits and plenty of distortion. I've been hooked on listening to these guys since Tuesday afternoon whenever I've had the chance to.
We spent the majority of Wednesday practicing and building upon this song we're set to perform next Tuesday in Motherwell's performance hall. We began writing it on Tuesday last week and have steadily been building and adding to it since, with some occasional practice in between. Wednesday afternoon was spent in a tutorial class where we just worked on a Mahara page detailing what we were doing with the song. In the evening I offered to cook myself a pizza for dinner. I managed to cook the pizza in the oven with no major issues, but when I switched the oven off I evidently shut off the apartment's power with it, because the electricity to our floor cut out as I turned it off. I eventually had to go down to the reception desk for help sorting out the issue when flipping the brackets didn't work. Thankfully the man behind the desk fixed the problem for us and power was restored eventually. Today was also spent working on instrumentation, learning and working on our own respective instruments and practicing our song. Once we got home I decided to look into a local army/navy shop nearby the apartments. Here I found a cool camo shirt and a pair of pants that actually fit me without a strenuous amount of trying different pairs of trousers. I was a very happy customer when I returned to our apartment this evening, and it capped off a productive day. -DJ The past three days have been very productive for me. I've had the chance to record a whole track with Devon and Thady. We also set up a drum kit and recorded that as well for our track, in Bloom by Nirvana. On Tuesday we learned new techniques when it came to setting up drums. We also learned different ways of recording the kick drums along with just learning how to use their mixing desk and the rest of their facilities and my lectures have been really helpful and have given us a lot of hands on time with the various studios. When it came to recording the instruments for our track I began by recording the bass and guitar through a DI.
When it came to the guitar we decided to record it through a Mesa Boogie amplifier, double tracking the guitar which meant I ended up recording four guitar tracks overall, which provided a valuable insight into the recording process. Throughout the week I also gained experience using a new software called Pro Tools which was excellent, as it is considered industry standard. On Wednesday, I recorded a podcast with Devon and Thady for my radio class. This was incredibly helpful in improving my communication skills and in general my confidence when it comes to recording and communicating with others while being recorded which is something I've always found difficult personally. We will most likely also use some of the podcasts we recorded for another project about our experience of Glasgow and our Erasmus+ experience as a whole. As for today, I took part in a live set up introduction which included tips on setting up up speakers and monitors. I was also involved in sound-checking. Towards the end of the day we also had a test in pitch identification which was rewarding and also something I have been pushing myself to improve at. I plan to test myself more in my spare time from now on. This weekend I am travelling to Birmingham to visit my brother. I will be leaving on Friday evening and will return to Glasgow on Sunday. I am looking forward to seeing him and I am grateful I can visit him with such ease. -Aaron This weekend we really immersed ourselves into the Scottish culture. On Saturday, the music group went to Edinburgh for a day trip. We explored the beautiful city and saw so many enthusiastic and talented buskers along the way, we went to a traditional Scottish bar and climbed up to Edinburgh castle. The view was amazing and the locals were lovely. We learnt about the history.
On Sunday we went up town to go to Scotlands biggest music shop. This shop was called guitar guitar. We got the chance to play many different instruments and when talking to the staff they were very friendly and let us try out pedals and different equipment. In the technology side of the shop we got the chance to play with lots of different synths that we have never even seen before. We spent over an hour in the shop and we're all very excited when leaving. After this, we continued to practice for our gig. The college asked for the Irish music students to perform in a big hall next Tuesday, so we have been going over our songs. Overall, I have really enjoyed the experience so far to the extent that I'd love to move to Glasgow, it's a beautiful and creative City. The college is so encouraging and seems to value creativity. The song writing and rehearsals we are doing are stuff we don't do too often in GTI and I am loving it. I have already written my first song, which I could never wrap my head around doing in Ireland. This experience is also really good for confidence building as you have to play and perform in front of people all the time, so i do feel much more confident. Each day i'm improving on different skills and techniques such as communication skills, time management and adaptability skills. -Jessica Whew....Week one, all done, and it was fantastic. Every day at the college was wondrous and dynamically different than the other with stunning studios, great teachers giving great lessons and tipping around all over the city, including Edinburgh! Actually, Edinburgh, wow. What a beautiful city! Side streets filled with eclectic shops and cafes, parks with beautiful gilding and the castle, marvellous. How could you not enjoy the view from the castle entrance with the whole city splayed out before you?
Through the week there had been many a meal made in my lovely apartment, and plenty of people to eat it with too! I could only hope that the following weeks and days will be just as enjoyable and inspiring. -Devon Earl Harris Hello...It's me again! Today was super fun. First thing we got to do some was some live sound, where we got to look through some mixers at the start and then got to actually set up a speaker and mixer in one of their amazing live rooms. It was so great to access these facilities and to use some of these skills when we get back to GTI. After this session we had a break at 11am for 20 minutes. After that, we got to sit in one of their classrooms and learnt a bit on sampling, and then got to watch a documentary on it, which was very interesting.
During the course of the day we were also doing a bit of game audio design for the last 2 hours of the day, and we were asked by the teacher to listen to a variety of games from the new, Red Dead Redemption 2 and The Legend of Zelda. We were then asked to play around on a game that the teacher, Andreas, altered and think of what sounds would be needed. We will be doing some more work next week on the game, which I can't wait for. -Thady Today I was given free time during my first two hours to take advantage of the facilities and took time to learn Pro Tools more, as we don’t use it back in GTI. The skills that I learned from using this will hopefully help me when I return home. I met another class I will be working with that are a bit more ahead than the original class as they’re already in their second semester. This was nice because they gave me some tips when it came to recording guitars with their equipment, which I’m not too familiar with. For my last two hours in the evening Devon, Thady and I got a chance to record whatever we wanted in these smaller individual studios, and before we left one of our lectures, Alec asked for some photos of us in the studio for their website which we were happy to do. Overall it was a good day and great to get some time to develop our skills in the recording studio.
-Aaron |
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