I guess i have a lot of catching up to do, it’s been a while. Lets see where to start. well i just finished my fourth month here at Full Sail. I fly home for two deserved weeks off for Christmas Break. I had Intro to Show Systems this month along with Production Maintenance 1. ISP (Intro to Show) was a class that taught basics of small systems Audio for up to 300 people. I learned a lot this month on EQ-ing, and learning different audio consoles. I landed a position on Behind The Scenes, which is the visit days here at Full Sail. The Show Pro main Building Live 1, is used for the final show and information center of the visit tour. the position i landed is broadcast audio engineer. Basically I have a midas legend 3000, and a feed from the main spillter and i mix for the DVD. Not going to lie, Its freaking awesome. Most of the show is just different people talking then the president of Full Sail does the last 15 minutes, but we have a jam band come in for the first 10 minutes and as people are leaving. Shows normally run on the hour every hour. Any typical BTS (Behind the Scenes) can run from 5 – 9 shows on a given Sunday. Normally there is only one BTS Sunday a month, but depending on what season it is there could be two a month. I say weekend because it take a weekend to set up. On BTS Friday we set up the tent; which is a massive info center and catering for all the guest and crew. We have to set up rows of up-right truss and drape with lighting and audio everywhere, oh and plasmas EVERYWHERE. On a BTS Saturday, we set up Live 1 the main hall. set up for Live 1 involves tearing down default set up changing the stage flying the EV X-Array doing a line check, then one or two show run through. then SIM 3, thats my favorite. Since Live 1 is a less then crap acoustic space we bring in all the RTA’s and get to hear Pink noise for about an hour. One thing i am learning here, at least for BTS, is perfection. They want it perfect for the visitors, for the most part at least. That is why every position is student run, but faculty supervised, my supervisor is Butch, very cool dude. looks like a biker and could probably kill anyone, but he knows Audio. And although i dont have him for class for a while, i get to pick his brain every month in the broadcast room. Then of course there is BTS Sunday when all the people show up to see if Full Sail is right for them. Then is the out, or tear down. And since there is some BTS only gear we get to load it into the Full Sail Truck which looks cool from the outside as a mean looking tractor trailer but inside is a nightmare. it was definitely not designed for road cases. But we get everything tore down and looking like it never happened in under 2 hours. That is including tearing down inside the tent and everything.

Well I am going to Downtown Disney tonight for the midnight showing of National Treasure 2 Book of Secrets. yeah its going to be sweet. Then lets see i have one more lab tomorrow friday the 21st at 5pm until 9pm and its a mix lab, which is basically multi track run though our Live 2 room mixed on a sound-craft K2. its fun, i could mix for hours. then its pack, sleep then leave for the airport at 6:45 am Saturday morning. Home by 1pm and relaxing can begin.

I must say though my first four months at Full Sail have been pretty heck-tic and Frustrating at time. Its all worth it. I am learning a lot and making new friends and contacts, and i wouldn’t trade it for anything. well maybe something. but i love it at Full Sail. 4 months down and 9 to go. then my career. scary but ill be ready for it.

Until Later

J Faz