End of the year...

Well that's it, My first year at university is over! It's gone unbelievably quickly, I mean everyone says when you go, "Make the most of your first year, it'll be over before you know it" and, if you're anything like me, at the time you were just sat there thinking 'I wish it was over right now!'. But honestly, its been a really fantastic year. I've met new people, and actually been able to study what I want for once, instead of having all the government based education shoved in your face!

If there's one thing I haven't totally enjoyed here it's the student halls. Don't get me wrong, i've got great flatmates and i'd probably say one of the happiest flats in Purbeck and it was easy to make friends when I got here. For anyone considering halls for university next year, i will say this: No matter where you get, whether you tick quiet or loud, big or small, there will be noise! Nearly every night, from about 10 until 3-4 in the morning. It's just something you have to get used to!

Now, onto the course. This year, my course has seen record dropout rates, upwards of 50% and I'm pretty sure some people will not be coming back next year. The reason for this, I think, is that my course was advertised totally wrong. It was marketed as a music technology course, which it certainly isn't! How many music technicians do you know that program in C++, are able to tell you (in detail) about the inner workings of a computer, create flash and video based animations, and can recite the OSI and TCP/IP network models (and what they do) off by heart! No, my course is definitely not a music technology course. What it is, is a low level computer science course specialising in aspects of music technology! But the thing is, it turns out that it's the perfect course for me!

I really do think that this course is a great course, but the high drop out show that some people obviously are not happy with it. I really do think that the university should look at this course again, and redefine it! Anyway, moving onto exams...

I had three this year, one earlier in the year on the fundamentals of sound and two more recently; Audio and Video principles, and Media Devices Networks and Architectures. On the whole i feel they went reasonably well, there was one or two small questions on each paper that i wasn't 100% about but I think  hope that I managed to answer the main questions in enough detail to get a good mark. I'll let you know when I receive my final grades sometime in June/July how I got on!

Anyway, that's about it as far as my first year at university goes. Check back over the summer for lots more tech related posts, and hopefully a review of my Dell mini 10 netbook (when I get one!)

Back in Billingshurst...

Well I'm home, back in good old sussex. Another term at university has flown by, it was pretty hectic towards the end of the term. Lots of assignments were due in, you may have seen my promo video on this blog a while back. I fully intend to post all of my practical work on this blog after its been handed in. You may remember a while ago i talked about an interactive flash program i'm building to teach users the basics of digital photography. Well i had initially planned for this to be online by now, but the deadline has been moved forward untill after easter, so this should be online in about a month.

I've just handed in my software programming assignment. The breif: to create an audio & video sequencer in C++ within a command line prompt. The end product was fairly basic, as can only be expected from a command line prompt peice of software. The secondary part of this assignment was a report on where you think the program could be improved, needless to say i mentioned a GUI and alternative methods of building the thing entirely, as C++ really isn't the best code to be using IMHO.

About a week ago, i got marks back from my computer architecture assignment, our task was to describe and illustrate how a sound card works. For those who are interested this involved talking in depth about everything from PCM (Pulse code modulation) to the connectors used to input audio on the card. I was extremely pleased with my mark, i got 98% in the end for that assignment which puts me in very good stead for the exam next term (which promises to be challenging!)

Now for a tip for anyone who is going to uni soon, be aware that you WILL spend money on text books. My course isn't particularly theory based, although we do cover some theories, however i have spent near to £120 on 3 text books! For anyone doing the music & audio technology course at Bournemouth University i can highly reccomend these books:

- Sound and recording : An introduction - Rumsey, McCormick
- Fundimentals of Multimedia - Ze-Nian Li
- Data Commuications & Networking -Forouzan

All of these books are on the reading list for my course, along with many more. But I have found these three books to cover everything i needed for the first year of this course. We will see how they fare next year!

Where has the time gone?

It seems like just yesterday I was being dropped off in Bournemouth, living in a strange place with people i'd never met before. Now it's been almost 7 months, and I'm at the end of my second term at University. People told me to enjoy my first year because it will go so quickly, at the time I thought it couldn't go quick enough. Now I'm shocked at how little time i have left in my first year. Basically i've finished lectures for the year now, it's all about revision for my exams.

I have two exams, one on 'Audio and Video principles', and another on 'Media Devices, Architectures, and Networks' Both two hours long. Then we have a creative project week, not sure what that involves yet, I hope we get a week to do whatever we want!

Other news, i have just started writing for upcoming tech blog Techrant, check it out here. I'll be writing about Apple news and started my first post on the iPhone 3.0 software thats just been announced.

Anyway, right now I'm off to the studios to get some recording done! My next blog will probably be from home!

Can't think of a title...

Well I got my studio techniques assignment back yesterday. Our brief was to create two minutes of entertaining content for radio. We were not allowed to use the spoken word and had to use foley effects as well as pre recorded sound effects. This was accompanied with a 1500 word report. I got 87% for my work, which is a first so I'm very pleased with this. I'll upload my work to my music blog in a few days so you can judge for yourself!

Things have been busy enough down here in Bournemouth, I'm working on a few assignments at the moment. I have to create an audio video sequencer in C++, as well as a 2 minute promotional video, and we have a large business assignment to do in a group! Lectures are winding up though, unbelievably we have ben allocated the time to do our assignments. Next term is a bit confusing, all we have is revision sessions timetabled! We only have 2 exams and my last is on the 28th May! So I'm pretty much finished after that, summer job here I come!

Anyway, thats all for now.

You will never see snow in Bournemouth...

Seven words i heard when being shown around Bournemouth University on an open day, not sure how or why the topic came up but whoever spoke those words has been proved very wrong this week! Like the rest of the country, Bournemouth has been plunged into whiteness with what can only be described as snow.

Am I happy, excited, or pleased about this snow. No. Whilst it may be fun plotting (and for some reason always failing) to break out onto the roofs of University buildings and have massive snowball fights, the fact of the matter is that snow is only good if it's a few feet deep, freshly fallen, with a nice hard base, and on a nice steep mountain. And even then, it's only good if I am at the top of said mountain with a nice pair of ski's strapped to my feet. Who said I was bitter about my family going skiing again this year?

Pushing that aside, news here. Unfortunately one of my best mates on the course has decided that it's not for him. The decision is totally understandable, but he will be missed! Other news, all assignments are done for now, and as you may gather my exam has been and gone (smoothly, as far as I can tell). Emma is visiting this week from good old Winchester, hopefully the snow won't ruin the travel plans! Which brings me onto a very good point...

[rant] Other countries have snow for 6 months a year, and manage to cope absolutely fine. Yet our useless country has but a sprinkling of the white stuff, and headlines such as "Snow brings chaos to London" and "Snow in England spawns transit mess" are commonplace! I mean come on, sort it out Britain! [/rant]

Anyway, enough from me!

Sam

P.S. Sorry for the lack of updates on the Music Blog front, i have to admit that I stupidly came back to Uni, leaving all my previous creations at home! But have no fear, more are on the way!

P.P.S Just been reminded that i promised to update you on my cooking. I tried making lasagne, ended up on the toilet for 3 days and taking Immodium! (Don't try this at home kids) 

Exam

Exam went well, got stuck on about 3 questions, other than that all is well...