Category: foothill
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How Did I Get Here?
When I was a kid, I was a pretty good student. I was always good at taking tests, and that carried me through even though my study habits were not that great. (Actually, that didn’t work so well in college Calculus, but that’s no big surprise.) Anyway, it’s kind of funny, considering my current career…
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Contract Grading
Many of my colleagues have moved to what is considered a “modern” grading model in their online and face-to-face courses. Typically, they make a large number of points available that embrace various learning modalities, and then use some fraction of those points to determine the student’s final grade. For example, a course might make available…
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The Bleeding Edge, Pt. 2
So, I’ve previously mentioned several new game audio courses that I’ve developed for the Music Tech program at Foothill College. (Actually, one of them is still just an outline that needs to be developed for next quarter, but I digress…) These classes are as cutting edge as we get in our industry, and there are…
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Do Industry Certifications Matter?
I teach in the Music Technology program at Foothill College, and I really enjoy the duality of teaching both academic and vocational courses. It gives me a flexibility in course creation that simply wouldn’t exist at a four-year university where career training (if it even exists) takes a backseat to ivory tower academic pursuits. Many…
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The Bleeding Edge
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difficulty of keeping up with the latest technology in my classes. In my field, Music Technology, there’s an interesting split between foundation courses and electives. The foundation courses typically deal with basic concepts in audio engineering, as well as the fundamentals of using a digital audio workstation.…
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FMOD Studio
FMOD Studio was released last year, and it is quite an amazing tool for game audio design and implementation. Just the fact that it looks like a DAW and supports standard control surfaces is enough to raise some eyebrows. Training materials have been steadily rolling out, and I can definitely say that now is an…
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Modular Love
I spent an enjoyable Friday night with my 3-year-old son watching I Dream Of Wires, a documentary about the modular analog synth. The recently released “Hard Core Edition” clocks in at 4 hours! Highlights include a complete history of Moog and Buchla modulars, interviews with electronic music icons including Vince Clarke (of Depeche Mode, Yaz,…
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Sanken CSS-5
Foothill Music Tech just got the Sanken CSS-5 I’ve been wanting for years. I used one for an SCEA title a few years back and loved the sound and the ease of use. Coupled with our Sound Devices 702 it makes for the ultimate stereo field recording rig. It’s definitely at the high end price-wise of stereo field recording…