Reflections

Students should select an area for development (discussed in the previous blog) and consider how they can maximise their learning to improve on this in relation to their career aspirations.

Reflecting on a statement i wrote in my previous blog

strengths and weakness

strengths and weakness 

Though I have been playing a verity of instruments for many years now, from my first recorder lesson age 6 to teaching my self piano at age 15 for my music GCSE, I have yet to perfect one…  This is an unfortunate bad habit I inherited from my father, who has had every job under the moon yet is a master at none.  

My lack of determination to finish things has annoyed most people who know me, I will start many a project with so much enthusiasm then if I have to stop to do something else it will get put off for weeks and weeks until I get reminded (usually the day before it’s due) when I will stay up and work till the early hours of the morning until it’s finished.  This trait is very clearly demonstrated by taking a look on my cubase projects folder of my home-studio PC, you will find about 150 files, yet only about 30 in the final bounces folder.

Over the past few months, I have started to break the trend by organising - another one of my key areas for improvement -my schedule with more accuracy as well as sticking to it!  I’m convinced the move to university will force me to develop these skills as well as helping me think analytically instead of descriptively as before.  

However when I do set my mind to something and if I like the project, I can produce brilliant turn around times.  One example of this is a demo I was asked to produce for the band I was working for at the time, which included 2 of my closest friends and a student called Max Davis who I was mentoring in preparation to be my co engineer on the big music show (something he did extremely well).  The track, a cover of ‘Falling Slowly'  form the musical 

Previous work experiences

Previous work experiences

I successfully pitched an idea to run a small series of programs for Winstanley College promoting their musical talents and to display this on the internal TV's.  Winstanley Live Lounge's  was subsequently born.  Working closely with a small team including Hannah Snutch (Director) and Ella Godbold-Holmes (Producer).  

This is a cut from the second session with Welcome To Acid, a 3 piece instrumental performing their song, Terrance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfv5tFS5y0Y

In March, I was employed as the head engineer for a college music showcase, BIG MUSIC SHOW 6, it contained over 100 musicians and ran for a few nights.  Amazing people, amazing music ...  It was one the best gigs I've ever had the pleasure of working for (and would love to again).  

Below is a video of the rehearsal for the finale song performed by most of the musicians from the department.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBTUigp3tQU

At this show, I met a young singer songwriter from Wigan called Matt smith, during the showcase he performed a cove of the Suede hit "Wild ones"  sung a Suede song called "wild ones", This young man will go far !  

Here is the live desk mix . I'm sorry about the interference at the start, it was due to the way the 4 wireless mics were used during set changes.

https://soundcloud.com/arran-heaton/matt-smith-wild-ones

A Introduction to Britannia Productions

A Introduction to Britannia Productions

Hi, My name is Arran Heaton and I’m the founder of Britannia Productions; Run by musicians, for musicians!

A bit about me…  

I have been interested in technology for as long as  I can remember.  As a child I would retrieve broken electronic gadgets from the dustbin, to take apart and reconstruct into some new ‘invention’  – much to the annoyance of my parents!  So it was no surprise that after getting my first computer I soon became the family ‘expert’, regularly being called upon to diagnose and fix problems, or to teach granddad!  

In fact, my love of technology turned out to be quite a lucrative hobby, as from the  age of 9 to 15 I lived in a small French village, where the English ex-pat community were very appreciative of a bi-lingual young boy who could not only translate their mail, get their satellite TV s, internet and computers working, but also be paid in chocolate! 

Music, on the other hand, was something that I developed an interest in much later on, when I learned to play guitar for an end of term show and instantly loved the feeling of having the crowd sing along and applaud my performance (It wasn’t the best either).  

Since then, music and performing have been a key part of my life: I taught myself to play piano for my music GCSE; performed in the district choir and as a soloist at the regional ‘Let’s Sing’ event; acted and sang in productions of Footloose and Little Shop of Horrors; performed as part of a Glee Club tour of Lake Garda - Italy, where we gave several evening concerts in beautiful town squares around the lake.  

One of my proudest and most memorable musical achievements was becoming a Guinness world record holder as part of the ‘Stick it to MS’ drumming world record, which raised over £100,000 for charity.  

After leaving Winstanley college in the winter of 2014, I wasted no time in co-founding Liberty Sound Ltd recording studios at the age of just 17. 

I left my active role in the company to continue my education, studying Audio Production at SAE Liverpool. I plan to use my time here to continuously develop and refine my skills as not only a producer but also as a artist.