Welcome to my introductory portfolio entry for AUD210 which forms part of the academic requirements of Trimester 3 of the Bachelor of Audio course here at SAE Institute. If you’ve successfully managed to access this post, then you have officially stepped into my studio production online Portfolio.

I’m Benjamin Pfeiffer, or just Ben is fine. I enrolled into this course as I have a passion for music production, sound and audio. After working for many years in a completely different industry, I made the huge decision to go back to school and study my passion. Although it’s been tough adapting from full-time flying to student life, I must say I haven’t looked back. You know you’ve chosen the right course when you find yourself interested in all areas of your learning.

Initially going into this course, I had my heart set on live sound engineering. The many concerts and shows I’ve been to over the years, I’ve always been fascinated by the large multi-channel sound desks and array of speakers, particularly at music festivals. Throughout the course so far we’ve gone into great depth on the physics of how sound travels, acoustic spaces, microphones and signal processing, digital audio workstations and recording and mixing in the studio. We haven’t yet gone into live sound however I believe this is next trimester. In the current trimester we are learning about electronic music production which is an area I’m becoming extremely interested in because it’s just so much fun. I love electronic dance music, so learning how to create it is even better!

The intention of this blog is to keep a record of project progression and discuss topics relevant to my course. Throughout my online Portfolio you will find links to various pieces of work. Once my tasks are completed they are uploaded to my SoundCloud page and links are also created on this site. I also have a link to my YouTube channel which contains a few of my own piano and vocal recordings. Moving forward I plan to keep these two platforms as well as this online portfolio updated with my latest projects and productions here at SAE Institute.

Most of the work I have produced so far has been tasks and projects required during my course. For example, last trimester in our production unit, our group recorded and mixed a well established blues band here in Perth. It was a great experience and I learnt a lot about live tracking and got a lot of tips from lecturers about how we could improve i.e. alternate microphone placement techniques and ways of reducing bleed and unwanted noise. It was interesting comparing the final result in front of peers. It proves that we all have individual ideas on what sounds good and how much processing is required based on your own taste. It was a great unit for improving teamwork and communication skills as well as technical skills within the studio environment. Attached below is a SoundCloud link to one of the final submissions of last trimester named “Speak My Mind” by the Vibrolators.