Pre Workplacement: 24-25 Septeber

From the 26th to the 30th of September I will be undertaking workplacement at The Channel 9 Studios in Willoughby.  During my placement I will be assisting the audio crew with the set up and operation of various TV shows. I will be working from 9.30-5.30. The dress code for my placement is smart or neat casual and closed footwear needs to be worn.

Before my placement I was sent an email from Marco Sneikers the technical planning manager at 9. The email contanied my roster, welcome letter, confidentiality letter, placement record, questionaire and induction powerpoint.

My Roster

Transport: To get two and from my work placement I will be taking a train from Concord West station to Wynyard then from there I will be taking a bus (M40) to the channel 9 studios. I hope to gain a lot of knowledge from this experience.

First Aid 16/9/11

On Friday the 16th of September the Entertainment, Hospitality and PDHPE classes participated in the senior first aid coarse offered by the college. The coarse was run by the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia.

 Before the coarse began we had to read a coarse book given to us by our teachers and also completet a comprehension book that accompanied the coarse book. In order to get our certificate we would need to finish the comprehension book.

During our coarse our instructors went over various things with us including what first aid is, legal obligations, cpr, shock, bandages, pressure imobalisation technique and practical first aid. To learn about these things our instructors put us through various practical tests including CPR using a dummy or "Little Anne", bandaging members of the class and practical First Aid Testing.



At the end of our coarse we were all had to sit an exam to gain our certificate. No one failed the test so we all gained our certificate. Overall the day was very enjoyable and informative and this certificate will hopefully benefit me in the future. 

My New Effects Pedal

For my Birthday I got given a Boss ME-20B Bass Guitar Multi Effects Pedal. My mum bought it from Billy Hyde's in Parramatta for $253.00. It has many different effects for use in performances that can be blended together and also saved for quick reference. These effects include:

Special Effects: T.wah up, T. wah down, T. wah edge, defretter and octave
Compressor/Drive: Compressor, overdrive, distortion, OD+direct, synth 1, synth 2
Delay/modulation: 0-99ms delay, 100-700ms delay, phaser, flanger, chorus, cho+delay, reverb.

Along with these effects there is also an equalizer, noise suppressor, bass enhance, wah, foot volume and master level controls. The coolest thing for me about the pedal is the wah pedal as it allows me to add tone to some songs that sound better with a wah pedal.

Here are some reviews:
http://multieffectspedals.guitarsphere.com/bass-multi-effects-pedal-boss-me20b/
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass/boss-me-20b-bass-multi-effects-pedal

Hunters Hill XFactor 16/9/11

On Friday the 16th of September myself and various other performing arts students performed at and attended the Hunters Hill X Factor performance held at the Hunters Hill Town Hall. The show was a great chance for students to show off their skills as performers to a team of judges. The show was run at a very professional level.

There were various people with professional standard jobs working at the show including a stage manager, audio technician, lighting technician and backstage crew. In rehearsals they gave all the performers run downs of what was happening in the show and what was expected of us backstage.

At the venue the first thing you notice when you walk in is huge lighting rig across the front of the stage. The rig was equipped with intelligent lights and par cans and their was also a projector above the stage that projected designs onto the back wall of the stage. At the very back of the hall there was also a follow spot light set up being run by students.

There was a huge audio system as well set up around the stage behind the lighting rig with speakers sitting either side of the stage. The audio system was used to play backing tracks for singers and also for wireless microphones, amplifiers and the DJ system set up on the side of the stage. 

In terms of vision systems there was a projector set up on the side of the stage to broadcast the show to the audience members sitting at the back of the hall. The quality of this was very poor though.

During the show all the performers were sat in front of the stage ready to be ushered off by the stage manager backstage. When backstage there was a dressing room for performers and also a storage area for instrument cases. on stage my band and myself used a wireless microphone, a bass amp, guitar amp and a drum kit mounted on a rostrum with wheels attached to the bottom. Before we began there was a issue with audio systems as one of the dancers from the previous act had pulled out a cable in the audio system.

The show overall was very enjoyable and of a very high professional quality.