As time has passed and I find myself navigating the dynamic landscape of music technology and the industry, I continue to gather new skills and knowledge further enriching my understanding of this diverse creative field. Each day brings new surprises as I delve into genres I never had expected to explore. The diverse influence of music during my time developing has significantly shaped my approach to music production and working with audio. Initially, navigating between genres posed some challenges such as understanding and learning each genre's workflow and the diverse communities associated with them. This realisation prompted me to adapt and also embrace being versatile by blending elements from different genres to develop my own distinctive production style and sound which I could later use to potentially contribute to new innovative genres. At times I would find it difficult to adhere strictly to the sonic characteristics of a genre and struggled to classify a genre for my compositions. However, by observing the wide variety of genres and emerging subgenres among the younger generation, I discovered opportunities to find a niche for my compositions and a sense of keeping up to date with new possible trends and genres by knowing the new and old generations classifications, wide mixture of genres, and taste in music.

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“The classification of music consumed by adolescents shows considerable variance and discrepancies. Some of the variance undoubtedly derives from musical innovation, with newly created genres, such as rap, superseding dated ones, such as the style of the Osmonds. Another portion is the likely result of the often careless adoption of genre labels suggested by music critics and conveniently supplied by the music industry. For the most part, however, the difficulty in deciding on genres is simply due to the complexity and multidimensionality of the musical products to be classified.” 

(Hargreaves & North, 1997,p.165).

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In other fields of the music industry I would apply my past experiences in electrical engineering to the realm of audio which would deepen my understanding of sound. Moreover, my exploration of programming languages had further enhanced my understanding of the analogue and digital realm, digital signal processing, and the behind the scenes of audio software's used in music production. With this solid foundation of understanding the physics of sound and how sound is handled in the digital realm, it would help me later in practical tasks when working with audio. Looking back I remember a point I had felt my progression had come to a halt as although I was driven by hunger for more knowledge I would find myself inexperienced and lost with a desire to escape the saturated misinformation of knowledge on the internet! I was taken aback by the shift of online platforms prioritising views, likes, and subscriptions over the pursuit of true knowledge. I had grown up in an era where online forums were the platforms for credible knowledge and information. A place where discussions and arguments would take place, bringing a sense of quality control by having experienced industry persons as moderators. It also formed a community of audio engineers, producers, and technicians creating diverse areas for seeking knowledge. Unlike the forums of my youth where misinformation was countered and discussed to a resolution, I feel the current online environment lacks quality control. With this awareness of the change of dynamics in the present digital landscape of knowing credibility and transparency often take a backseat to popularity, I made the decision to transition to formal education in the university setting. Here, I seek not only to refine my skills and further my involvement in the audio industry but also to gain a deeper understanding of the professional aspects of the music industry in an environment that values credibility and transparency.

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The first term of my course had proved to be very insightful and had given me direction in my journey of progressing. I had been able to connect the cloudy areas I had vague knowledge or understanding of by being able to gain hands-on experience in practical tasks and with the use of industry equipment with an experienced tutor. I learnt new synthesis techniques such as FM synthesis and now I'm able to deploy this in my production whereas before I could only dream of knowing how to make distinct sounds famous influential producers and game composers would make such as Aphex Twin, Skrillex, and Yuzo Koshiro, the famous composer for SEGA. I now would be able to make those nostalgic FM synthesis sounds of game audio from my childhood memories. I had also initially thought that my electrical engineering skills would be a one-way transferable skill but later from key lessons by my tutor, I had learned I could use my newfound knowledge in coding and scripting audio software and hardware with an objective-driven workflow instead of relying on guesswork. Having found myself being a knowledgeable person on music, audio, technology, and in tune with current industry trends I would find myself teaching in the various practices I had knowledge or experience in. Teaching would also become a joy once again as I would be passing on my knowledge and skills in an industry and subject I was deeply passionate about.

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By looking back at my progressive journey of learning and having an outside perspective and overview of the old and new trends of the world, I've come to realise that there is a trend in today's world many industries including music face which I feel could be dangerous to our learning and skill level. This being the push towards user-friendly tools. As useful as this may be, I believe this trend can hinder our ability to learn and acquire new skills. While convenient presets, Loops and software plugins are by offering quick solutions, they often hide the fundamental techniques of sound design such as working with EQ and automation. An example is the various filter shaping plugins available. Instead of relying solely on pre-made presets being handed to us, if we took time in learning and practising the use of EQ and automation with repetition, it would deepen our understanding in being able to create these effects with more creative control without the need of spending money or taking shortcuts .

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“Research on the acquisition of various kinds of expertise shows that of a number of factors, the most directly effective activity for skill acquisition is deliberate practice. For example, Chase and Ericsson (1981) document the process of memory skill acquisition. At the start of their study a learner, SF, had the normal memory span of seven plus or minus two for the immediate recall of numerical items (Miller 1956). However, SF's memory span increased
dramatically over 200 hours of systemic practice of the task. However, at the end of this period, memory span for other materials, such as recall of randomly sequenced letters of the alphabet, remained essentially unchanged. The effect of practising was specific to the items practised, numbers.”

(Hargreaves & North, 1997,p.192).

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Another area I feel that hinders our learning ability is software emulations of hardware. Whilst they offer a close representation of sonic similarities with the benefit of portability and recall functions for ease of use, they lack the tactile experience and hands-on approach working with audio similar to working with analogue equipment. While this may sound as a disadvantage I believe it could in fact become a great advantage if used with hands-on tools and in such a manner similar to working in the analogue realm such as control surfaces and MIDI controllers for mixing and working with EQ. This not only would enable one to gain the tactile experience of being hands-on with audio but would also aid learning in using our ears rather than eyes when working with audio. Overall, With such a workflow the transition and better understanding of working in the analogue realm would be much easier with a stronger development of

ear training.

As I look ahead I can't help but wonder about the impact of more emerging trends we have today such as AI mastering and mixing. Even many popular DAWs such as Logic and FL studio to name a few are embracing these technologies which makes me raise some questions.. is the music industry and companies valuing popularity over credibility? With more trends on the horizon, Will these advancements preserve or diminish the depth of our craft and skill level?

Only time will tell.