Sound is All AroundSeptember 24th, 2011

This was the tagline to the presentation I gave to the DSU Foundation Board last Friday. DSU Professor Giles Timms and I were given the opportunity to show off all of the great things that the department has been doing. We emphasized our theme of “passion, focus, and determination” by playing some audio and video clips from student projects. The presentation pictured above was produced with a software program called “Prezi” that creates very dynamic PowerPoint-style presentations. We were very happy with how the presentation turned out, and I think we made a great impression!

Last week, DSU Live also held its first major event following the start of the semester, our Gong Show! The students did a lot of advertising, and it paid off. We had over a hundred students for the show and had some great talent take the stage. The winner, Alexandria Monroe, blew us all away with an amazing solo vocal performance. We are now looking forward to a very exciting upcoming show: Sioux Falls band Avian Sunrise, coming on October 13th.



Above:  DSU Live member and Audio Production Student, Nathan Fields, works his magic on the mixing console.  The eventful past couple weeks also involved another trip to Okoboji, Iowa and another performance at Bracco Restaurant!  The owner ended up asking me to play at both lunch and dinner, so it was a busy, but enjoyable day.

To top it all off, I got up and ran the DSU Homecoming 5K run this morning while Cassie went to yoga.  I finished just outside of the top third, which I thought was pretty good (for me)!  For the remainder of the weekend, we are going to have some dinner with our friends and enjoy some football while we catch up on work for our classes.  The Brew Crew, Pack, and Badgers are all looking good!

Back to school and work on the houseSeptember 11th, 2011

It still feels like summer outside, but as we already head into the third week of classes, I know that I change of the season is upon us.  As usual, it is going to be a packed semester, but one that is presenting itself with many new opportunities and exciting changes.  There’s been a lot of work done on the house, and last week we got the entire kitchen painted!  Cassie also re-painted some furniture (including an amazing kitchen island buffet made by her sister, Molly), and we are working on putting in some new ceiling fixtures as well as putting up Cassie’s artwork that will, as they say on home renovation shows, bring the whole room together.

In school-related news, our student organization, DSU Live, is off to a strong start.  You can check out what we’ve been up to on the Audio Production Blog Also, click the image below to see the all new website!This semester, I’m teaching Audio Production I, Music Appreciation, Recording Sessions, an Undergraduate Research class, and “University Experience”, a class that explores how to be successful as a student. I’m really enjoying the classes so far, and I’m especially excited to see what projects the students come up with for my recording and research classes. With such a busy schedule, sometimes you just need to take a break, enjoy a warm afternoon, and take a quick cat-nap:

Summer 2011 RecapSeptember 3rd, 2011

Yes, the dog days of summer are nearly over and we are back to teaching again.  Having a summer off from school doesn’t mean that I didn’t keep busy, though.  Here’s a rundown of all that happened during the past three summer months:

Music-related:

- Played in the “King of the Blues” competition
- Sang the National Anthem at the National Bull Riding Tour
- Completed the “Prairie Village” Website design
- Ran live sound with audio students for the “White Night” arts festival at Prairie Village
- Ran the Audio Production section of the summer Digital Arts Camp
- Played live music with John Statz at Latitude 44 in Sioux Falls
- Played an acoustic show at Bracco restaurant in Okojobi, Iowa
- Played two shows at Mochavino downtown, and at “Crazy Days”

Vacations:

- Took a vacation to Denver and the Rocky Mountains
- Visited friends and family in Milwaukee and attended my cousin’s wedding
- Took a family vacation to Door County, Wisconsin

Cassie also kept very busy with many art and house-related projects.  As always, you can see what she’s been up to at her blog.  We just got started on the new semester, and I’m looking forward to it being more busy, eventful, and exciting than last year, so stay tuned!

Beautiful pics by Cassie, of course