Tristan Forbes

The Magic Cottage

With so much downtime in live audio, it brings about a creative space called the Magic Cottage. Not only does it have the immensely talented recording engineer Ryan Hazel at the helm, its set in 42 acres of lush Central Coast NSW bushland, bringing out the best in everyone that sets foot into the cottage. 

I had the privilege to attend a live recording there last week and walked away realising how much we all need the supportive creative space to interact musically. The recording artists were in the well in their zone, the red wine was flowing and the music was exceptional. Spending the prior week at the site, writing and finishing off each others songs, there was a lovely sense of togetherness between everyone involved. The improvisation seemed to circulate between the artists without effort while Ryan cohesively monitored, readjusted and recorded each track. He even had a few songs of his own that they all collaborated on, adding to the mix bag of folk songs that were tracked that night. 

You can find The Magic Cottage through facebook. Offering production recording and writing services with a focus on bringing out the best in your music.

DM Ryan, and turn these times of self isolation into imagination. 

 

 

 

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Tristan Forbes

Working From Home & Your Audio needs improvement?!

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Great! I get to work from home in COVID-19 isolation (cue not changing from pyjamas and never ending trips to the fridge).Hang on, why do I sound odd through my laptop speakers, and why is everyone on my conference call complain that they can’t hear me? 

Well, there are a number of issues, but a few you can take care of for free and with little hassle.

Try these 3 steps: #1 Your room. 

Consider the room you have set up office in. Is it fairly empty and lots of hard surfaces around like your desk, hardwood floors and alike? Chances are that if your room sounds good for you to sing in, it won’t be good for intelligible voice conference calls/podcasts/recording of presentations.

Quick and simple reason is that hard surfaces are fantastic at reflecting sound. The more reflections, the more obscured your voice will sound when the tiny microphone in your lap top picks it up (see #2 your microphone) Try dampening those reflective surfaces. Try putting down a rug, a sofa, moving rooms to somewhere with more absorptive surfaces. Adding a bookcase to diffuse the sound bouncing round can help also.

#2 Your microphone.

Although your computer may have some great processing speed, nice screen and a clacking keyboard, chances are the microphone isn’t amazing for capturing the best audio. And thats fine for everyday little voice calls over Skype perhaps, but when you need to get your message across, your voice ends up only being as good as the microphone its captured by. Try looking into USB microphones for podcasters. You may not be a podcaster by nature, but by using a better microphone you will have your message conveyed a whole lot clearer with a better microphone. If you like to hear what everyone else is saying nice and tight, try a gaming headset, which leads us on to #3

# Your speakers. 

Go on, treat yourself. A couple of nice speakers sitting either side of the computer screen means that when you have finished that conference call, you can instantly listen to the latest virtual gig! The speakers in your laptop very rarely go down lower than 200Hz and rightly so, they are designed for basic listening tasks. What more, is that they are pointing straight up and last time I checked your ears are on the side of your face. Try using some gaming monitors or anything that is at head height. Having small, powered monitors sitting on a shelf behind your screen is optimum to keeping you engaged in the conversation at hand on your screen. If you are dipping your head to hear properly, its not only bad for ergonomics, its bad for that camera capturing your best look. Set yourself up for a win. 

The afore mentioned steps are there to assist you, although not specifically designed for every situation, use them as a guide to get yourself ahead of the rest. You won’t look back. If you would like assistance in setting up and optimising any audio/visual situation. I’m here to help. 

Best,

Tristan Forbes. 

Tristan Forbes

Need Help Developing your business? Evolve hospitality is the answer!!

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Only three weeks in and this could possibly be the best decision I have made since Covid-19As most people in the industry I have been rocked by Covid-19, my revenue streams have been completely obliterated. Among other things I decided to upskill, one area was in developing my business. Not knowing where to start I stumbled across  Evolve Hospitality’s free Covid-19 strategy session. I simply booked in through their website and like clockwork I received an instantaneous response and conformation. Within this was a short questionnaire on what I wanted to achieve out of the session. This was a great way to work out what I was actually looking for. 

The session was conducted online through Google Meets. Within the first couple of minutes, it was clear Stuart understood my not only business but also the events industry as a whole. He had done his homework and really just wanted to help me improve. He really listened to me and gave me some solid advice and strategies to move forward. One piece of advice was to develop my online presence.  His suggestions included to work on my website and improve my social media, which I got on to straight away with my web developer.

The other thing he highlighted is that I did not have a real business plan. He pointed out whilst I had a lot of great ideas most of them were in my head and had not been documented or properly developed. Whilst the session was supposed to be half an hour, it actually went for more like an hour. I was so impressed with his passion and knowledge that I asked about what other products or services were available. He offered me a 50% discount on the Business Plan coaching program. His no-pressure approach meant that I decided to sign up on the spot.

I am only 3 weeks in of the 12-week course, but I already believe this was the best decision I have ever made to help grow my business. The course is designed to be completed in only 2 hours per week but can be done quicker if you have the time (I crashed coursed my way through it but feel there is way more information to be absorbed). 

I can see that his comprehensive guide to doing a business plan will be now how I do all my business plans in the future. His 12- step process makes sense and is easily implemented. I have got stuck a couple of times and his personalised support service is second to none. I highly recommend Stuart Davies and Evolve Hospitality. Thanks again for spending the time with me on my business plan. 

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