Skills
As an Events practitioner having a strong set of skills is vital. being able to cover your technical role should of course be the main priority. However, being able to understand other technical aspects of events outside your role is also key. As a sound engineer being able to set up and troubleshoot issues with lighting makes you as a practitioner far more useful to the team as a whole. This also extends to being able to identify and repair equipment if necessary.
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Alongside technical knowledge, social skills can greatly impact the practical aspect of events and beyond. Networking is key to the functioning of events as it allows practitioners to interact with and share knowledge between each other as well as with event organisers, venues and manufacturers. As a skill, it can be used not only to seek employment but also as a way of developing other skills which would improve employability as a practitioner. In the practical aspect of events teamwork is vital and having strong communication and listening skills can make it easier to work together and complete the job at hand.
Regarding my skills at the start of the academic year, I feel confident in my current technical knowledge of sound and have identified topics that can be used to develop this further. My understanding of lighting leaves me able to help set up and troubleshoot lighting, however, the operation and design of lighting is a weak point for me that requires development.
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Skills I am confident in | Skills I can Develop |
|---|---|
Teamwork | Troubleshooting |
Organisation | Lighting design |
Punctuality | Lighting opperation |
Understanding of Point Source PA system | Sound Theory |
Goals and Objectives
Above are my goals, 3 of which cover the 1st year and the other two cover all three years.
the first goal, troubleshooting refers to my ability to find and rectify problems in the technology we use. This will mainly be covered in my Equipment Maintenance and Repair module which takes place during year 1. I hope to be able to safely find and repair faults in a system.
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following that the goal of "new equipment" is to become familiar with the equipment which is new to me, this includes the sound desks, speakers and lighting fixtures. By the end of the first term, I aim to have an understanding of this equipment which I will achieve by spending time on it and looking into each piece of equipment through the manufacturer's websites, technical specifications and manuals.
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the next goal is to improve my proficiency using avolites (the lighting desk & software). I expect most of this development to come through the lighting module and by the end of year 1, I want to be able to create a look for an artist using different movements and colours across multiple fixtures.
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over the entire 3 years, I desire to improve my lighting design skills. currently, I struggle to make lighting that "look good". By spending time working on and around lighting I hope to improve my ability to make creative designs for a given artist.
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The goal of sound theory serves to increase my understanding of sound propagation which I can apply to my practical work to improve what I produce. this will be done through the 2 modules related to sound in addition to extra research from written sources as well as talking to other practitioners about how they operate.
By comparing what I have learnt at the end of each year to the start of that year I can measure how well I achieved these goals or the current progress of these goals.
End of Year 1
Troubleshooting
By the end of the first term, I had learnt about the different types of connections used in events, their properties and how to repair them. this included power connections like power-CON and 13A UK plugs in addition to connections that carry signals like XLR and NL4. This did improve my ability to troubleshoot as once an issue had been found I would have the capability to repair it back to working order. Over the rest of the year, these abilities continued to develop and came to include calculating the power draw of appliances, PAT testing appliances and safe working practices when troubleshooting a system (isolation).
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To continue this development I will make efforts to practice making and repairing both soldered and non-soldered connection types to improve the quality of the connections I produce.
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New Equipment
By the end of the first term, I had achieved this goal, while I would still go on to learn more functions of equipment like the sound desks. I felt confident enough to set up the equipment and have it function. This would be proven in the second term when we had artists perform live in P3 which I mixed from FOH.
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Proficiency with Avolites
Now at the end of my first year, I do not feel as though my ability to use avolites has improved a great deal. At the start of the year, I already knew how to patch a fixture, change attributes of the fixtures and use the shape generator. with the practice I had throughout the year I was able by the end of it to make a look for an artist of a given genre however I was not satisfied with what I produced. To continue this development I should look at the tutorials made by avolites and try to spend more time using the lighting desks to gain more experience and build familiarity with its key functions in the next year.
Lighting Design
At the end of my first year, I do not feel as though I have progressed this goal further than when it started. Over this year I produced paperwork for a lighting plan that included lighting placement which is linked below.
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To develop I aim to use my next year to get more practice using the equipment and research into what aspects of lighting design are important to understand.
Sound Theory
Throughout the first year, I learnt about the propagation of sound, while it was a topic I had a basic understanding of I have now filled the gaps in the knowledge I had at the start of the year. This includes decibels as a measure of SPL, calculating properties of a wave (wavelength, frequency and velocity) and the phase of a wave. This development will continue into my second year where I hope to gain an understanding of line arrays and the theory around them.
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Overall
Throughout my first year, I have continued to maintain punctuality and good time management, this can be seen through my attendance at sessions in which I am not late arriving and my submissions which are always on time. Furthermore, as a practitioner, I have always aimed to complete necessary tasks within a given time an example of this is my lighting assessment in which as part of a group we were able to complete the rigging and setup in less time than was given to complete the task. I believe I maintain good communication and teamwork with others making sure that I listen to other's opinions and that my own are listened to. I also make efforts to coordinate as part of team to more efficiently complete a task.