5 Things I'm Doing Everyday to Better Myself

The entertainment industry: An industry that's only fit for a handful of people. Whether you're talented or just business saavy, you have to work at a few things. I've learned this over the last few years, so I'm speaking from experience. 

1. Networking, networking, networking. This is a term that's easier said than done. If you're a people person like myself then networking is probably going to come fairly easy to you. Networking can be accomplished in many, many ways. One of the easiest (and the one that requires a minimal amount of interaction... kind of...) is utilizing social networks. I have built and had amazing things come my way simply because I use social media. One of my favorites at the moment is LinkedIn. Through LinkedIn, I have been able to connect with industry professionals, fellow classmates and friends, and even Full Sail instructors that know the industry in and out. Regardless of where I'm at in the industry at any given time, I should always have someone to contact that will have some sort of professional advice. 

Another source of networking would be to simply get involved with your fellow co-workers. Join them on brunch and dinner outings, ladies (or guys') night out, or even stay after work a little (if your life allows) to get to know the person sitting next to you or even across the hall. You never know a person until you get to know them, nor will you know who they're connected with/know unless you talk to them. It might be a little tough if you're not a social butterfly, but I have faith in you! You can do it!  

Another "easier said than done" networking occasion you could try is going to conventions. NAMM, for example, if you're into the latest audio technology and market fads. Although I've never been to one, I do plan on attending one in the future when my schedule and wallet allows it. These types of events allow you to introduce yourself and get to know professionals within your given industry. If these people don't have connections, I honestly don't know who would! 

2. Being professional. This ties in with the first one. If you're going to network, you must be professional. When you're working your way into the music industry, you have to have independence. And to be able to communicate with the seasoned professionals within the industry you have to know how to portray yourself as a professional, right? Would you want to work with someone who shows up to a meeting late, responds to emails weeks later, and never can meet a deadline? I know I sure wouldn't! That's why I work each and everyday to showcase myself as professionally as I possibly can. 

3. Learning my industry. How am I supposed to fix a car when I don't know anything about cars? How am I supposed to work in an industry or company I know nothing about? I couldn't. Whether I'm reading about and researching the latest gear or I'm getting to know the pioneers that have shaped my industry into what it is today, I'm always learning my industry. I've always viewed the entertainment industry as one that's "behind the scenes" - only a handful of individuals really know what goes on behind the curtains at concerts, movie filmings, and various live events. I'm proud to say that I'm one of them! 

4. Perfecting my craft. Spending time on myself has been an important aspect that I've been working at over the last few years--and so is spending time on my craft. Whether you're a doctor, musician, or a real estate agent, there's always room for improvement. And that's one of my favorite things about this world. With technology being updated and changing at an exponential rate each and every day, there's always something to learn.

The music/entertainment industry is an industry where one cannot stop learning. If you do do so, you will fall behind and may have troubles catching up to everyone else. Read blog posts, network (there's that term again!), and try new technologies. The resources and people are there, so what are you waiting for? 

I shouldn't say 'perfect' your craft; perfection isn't possible (in my opinion). A better term would be to "evolve" or "better" your craft. Being that I'm a musician, I'm constantly learning about the latest technologies, whether that be studio hardware, digital audio workstations, music theory, or even something as simple as social media. I always catch myself asking, "What's the next best thing, and how can I get involved?" 

Once you've "evolved" your craft, you've established yourself within an industry. I, for example, wouldn't talk about how to go about fixing your car's transmission because I don't know anything about cars. However, I do feel that my musical knowledge has evolved over the years, and I feel confident about speaking on various music related topics. 

5. Believe in myself. I'm going to fail. That's inevitable. I've failed a lot, but I've learned something every time. It can be something as simple as being late to an important meeting (some wouldn't consider this a fail, but I do. I hold myself to high standards.), or it can be as important as completely missing a deadline for a significant task. I've learned to pick myself up, realize what I did (or didn't) do, and figured out how to get through it. A video (click here) posted by one of my favorite YouTubers put this into perspective and shared exactly how I feel about this kind of situation way better than I could ever explain. 

I've tied all of these points so that they all correlate with each other. If I'm going to be successful in a really tough industry I must continue to network, be professional, learn my industry, perfect my craft, and believe in myself. Success will always be inevitable if I can keep my head up and keep on keepin' on! 

With those words being said, I bid you a farewell, my friends! 

Lennon 
Student
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Advanced Music Composition Programming: Final Project

It's been a whole two months since I was in my Advanced Music Composition Programming course. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in that class. 

Back in July of 2015, I took a very similar course to Advanced Music Composition Programming called Music Composition Programming. The projects were a bit more simple and focused more so on the technical side of learning Apple's Logic Pro X and a few musical elements such as arpeggios, bass lines, and drums. The months prior to Music Composition Programming were very heavy into music theory, identifying the meter of a song and various intervals within pieces of music. Music Composition Programming was the first class where we had to write an original song using only the Logic Pro X default plugins (to ensure that our projects opened up on the instructor's computer). At the end of the month, we were to present our final project to the class, friends, family (if they wanted to come), and even some Full Sail faculty. It was fun, and I learned a lot that month. 

Moving on to the advanced course...

Advanced Music Composition Programming was certainly a fun course. The music theory (which I thoroughly enjoy!) was caked on, and we got to work on a variety of cool projects. The one that I really enjoyed was our final project, which we were to compose an original piece at least 2-3 minutes in length. My project went very, very well! I nailed all of the points as stated in the rubric and my instructor (who earned their doctorate degree in Minnesota at the University of Minnesota) wanted me to share it on the class's SoundCloud page. This certainly isn't one of my most prized works, but I do really like most of the elements that are heard throughout. I had a lot of fun composing this piece because everything just came to me. That feeling you get when you're working on a song and everything you do to is working and fitting into the song is so, so refreshing! It saves a lot of time, headache, and hair. Give my final project a listen below. 

Certainly not my most prized composition, but there are a few things that I really, really enjoy in there, particularly the piano melody. Simple, yet very effective... I think.

This was just a quick blog post to share my project from Advanced Music Composition Programming. I was going to post this last month but never got around to it. I hope that you enjoyed this post and my song. :) 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Lennon
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Full Sail University's 7th Annual Hall of Fame

Every year since 2009, Full Sail University has hosted an event called "Hall of Fame." This is an event where a multitude of entertainment-related companies, Full Sail alumni, and soon-to-be "Hall of Famers" come in and talk about their duties and jobs within the entertainment industry. To be inducted into Full Sail's Hall of Fame you have to have worked 10+ years in the entertainment industry, worked on a project that the world recognizes, and have given back to the community in one way or another - regulations that truly recognize those who are dedicated and extraordinarily passionate about what they're doing in the industry. This is my second Hall of Fame experience, and I'm going to try very, very hard to sum everything up into this blog post. 

"Position yourself as the only logical choice." -Demo Castellon

For me, it all started on Friday, February 12th, 2016. I received an unexpected email with my name on the call sheet to work at 10a.m. the following morning until 7p.m. I remember scratching my head and thinking, "I don't remember signing up to work this week. I signed up for next week, during the event." I later found out that the SPARK coordinator hand-picked a handful of hardworking students to assist in the load-in and setup. I was pretty excited to work because I knew I'd be working with the amazingly fun and talented Full Sailors in SPARK, but I had no idea how much work truly went on behind the scenes. This was quite eye opening.

After working early morning until the evening on Saturday, Sunday (Valentine's Day), Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (today), I realized how exhausting live sound events are. I attended the Hall of Fame events last year, so I had a pretty solid idea of what was going on throughout the week. And I also knew how much knowledge was spread out through all of the events - it was incredible! I thought last year's Hall of Fame was great... 

After learning a ton from the freelancers and other students on the audio team, having an absolute blast with the audio team setting up the audio in each room, and learning and being the front of house engineer during the events, I've come to the conclusion that this Hall of Fame was one of the best events that I'll attend while I'm here at Full Sail. I learned an incredible amount of stuff, so much so that I have a headache and I'm leaking brain juice. Not only did I learn a bunch of stuff from the people working the Hall of Fame events, I learned a lot from the people that spoke at panels in the room I was engineering for. I'm absolutely blown away by it all! 

"I never need to ask permission to do art." -Jeff Unay

To name of few of the talented panelists (also Full Sail graduates) that came through the room I was in (Full Sail On Air; you can also click on their names to view more info on them), I've compiled a pretty decent size list of the extremely talented and inspirational Full Sail Hall of Famers:

• Jordan "DJ Swivel" Young: DJ Swivel has worked with artists such as Beyonce, Tiesto, The Chainsmokers, Jay Sean, Rita Ora, Rihanna, Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, and Britney Spears to name a few... 
• Keith Guerrette: Lead FX Artist, Uncharted 2, 3, 4; Senior FX Artist, The Last of Us & The Last of Us Remastered; FX Artist, The Bourne Conspiracy
• Phil Pallen: Branding and social media strategy for TV personalities, experts, and businesses. Phil is awesome. Check him out! 
• Ashish Manchanda: Ashish Manchanda is a noted mixing and recording engineer, remixer and music producer based in Mumbai, India, most credited for his work with Bollywood. He is the founder of the music production house, Flying Carpet Productions, established in 1999. Manchanda offers services in music production, composition and arrangement, sound design, film re-recording (Dolby surround), music recording, mixing and mastering, and remote / location recordings.
• Jeff Unay: Soon after graduation from the Computer Animation program, Jeff landed an artist position with Raven Software working on the Quake franchise. He later transitioned into visual effects for film where he worked as a character modeler at Tippett Studio and then as a lead modeler at Weta Digital in New Zealand. At Weta, Jeff worked on two Academy Award-winning visual effects films: King Kong (2005) and Avatar (2009). Jeff’s groundbreaking work creating the faces for the digital leading characters forAvatar led him to win a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Live Action Character in a Motion Picture. In 2010, Jeff began working full-time as a director and cinematographer in Seattle, WA. He wrote, co-shot and co-edited Valve Corporation’s first feature film, Free to Play (2014), which went on to receive a record-setting 5.5 million views in its opening weekend. Jeff is currently directing his first independent documentary feature film, Greywater, which will be released in early 2017. The film has already received multiple accolades for an in-progress film including the Tribeca Film Institute/ESPN Prize and the 2015 Points North Best Pitch Award at the Camden International Film Festival.
• Dylan Dresdow: Grammy award winner, Emmy award winner, and multi-platinum tracking and mixing engineer. 
• Sebastian Krys: Producer, engineer, and graduate of Full Sail in 1991; started job at Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, Florida and began his award-winning career as an engineer/producer that has worked with Shakira, Marc Anthony, the Black Eyed Peas, and many, many more. 
• Demo Castellon: One of the industry's most sought-after engineers, having worked with artists like Madonna, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Rihanna, One Republic, and dozens more. 
• Josh Gudwin: Producer and mix and vocal engineer for Justin Bieber and many, many, many more. Please click his name to read more information; far too much to type here. 

During Josh Gudwin's panel, my jaw was dropped to the floor. He mainly talked about working with Justin Bieber and his latest album, "Purpose." Being able to work with Justin Beiber, Skrillex, and Diplo is mind blowing, as they're a few of my favorite artists. He continued to reaffirm that working hard and remaining dedicated to your goals is extremely important, which is certainly what every Full Sail student needs to hear. I also got to shake his hand and visit with him for about fifteen seconds before we began the panel. So, I guess you could say I shook Justin Bieber's hand. :) (All of these sessions were recorded, so I'll link to them as they become available via Full Sail's YouTube page.)

I would like to extend a huge thank you to those who helped make Full Sail's 7th annual Hall of Fame event a complete success and a huge learning environment! You guys did a wonderful job! I would also like to thank the SPARK crew for being so amazing, supportive, and helpful. I'm so, so, so proud to be part of such an amazingly talented and spunky crew. We all work so well together and teach each other things we don't know. You guys have made my Full Sail experience truly memorable! Lastly, I would like to thank the Full Sail alumni and Hall of Famers for taking time out of their busy schedule to come back to Full Sail and share their knowledge with us students. It truly means a lot to see that all of you care so, so much about all of us! I can't thank you enough! Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

I learned an incredible amount of stuff over the past few days. I'm still in shock of how much talent the Full Sail graduates have and then put it to good use in an extremely tough industry. Hearing each of them talk about how they got their foot in the door to work with acts like Justin Bieber, Skrillex, Madonna, Beyonce and work on movies like King Kong and Avatar is incredibly inspiring and reassuring of how hard work pays off. As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, I live by the quote "hard work pays off." The Full Sail graduates who've succeeded in their industry are proof of that, and I won't stop until I am one of them! 

"I only do stuff that gets me to my goal. I always know where I'm going." -Demo Castellon

Lennon

Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Music Production for Media: Project 2 Rough Cut

As I continue to trek along in my Music Production for Media course here at Full Sail, I'm finding talents I didn't know I had. Is this because I haven't had any creative output until the last week? I'm not sure, but I know that I'm loving it! And it's going to make me excel and push myself even further throughout the month, and hopefully through the rest of my degree program. 

In this assignment, we were given six options for companies we could write a jingle for. The companies (all fictional) and their information are below: 

• ShamPuppies
• A company that creates soap bars in the form of various puppies.
• Target group - 2 - 10 year old kids. 
• Slogan: ShamPuppies, let your dog wash you! 
• Big Barry's Boats of Winter Park (the one I chose)
• A company that buys and sells boats and water sport crafts.
• Target consumers -- Adults 18 - 75 years old. 
• Slogan: Big Barry's got the best!  
• Tony Tarantella's Pizza
• A pizza place
• Target group -- Everyone
• Slogan: The best pizza in the five boroughs
• John Howlin Ford
• A car dealership
• Target group -- Drivers 16 - 65 years old
• Slogan: You'll be Howlin' over these deals! 
• Murphy and Murphy 
• A law firm 
• Target group and specialties -- Divorce, Personal Injury, Bankruptcy, Estate Planning, DUI
• Slogan: Create your own

We had a pretty diverse selection to choose from. The second I opened the assignment and read these companies' slogans, Big Barry's Boats of Winter Park's jingle came to my head. I instantly had something. There's a commercial that would play every morning before I would go to school in Minnesota. If I can remember correctly, I believe it was the Furniture 4 Less store, but I could be wrong. Nonetheless, the inspiration came from one of those overly-played commercials. So, here's what I came up with: 



The music was composed by me, dialogue was recorded and said by me, and the slogan was sang by me. Although I'm usually not too fond of my singing, I think I did alright in this. I hope you all enjoyed, and I'm always open for suggestions to make things better. 

Take care! 

Lennon 
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Music Production for Media: First Project

I've always been one to be extremely diverse, immersing myself in a plethora of projects. In fact, I'll learn about anything and everything I can. I've always been like that, and I know that I always will. How can one not want to learn about anything and everything, question why things work, and why they work the way they do? 

Being a diverse individual has opened the doors to a lot of opportunities for me. My people skills have enabled me to excel in anything, especially when I owned and operated a lawn care service and currently a photography service. If you follow me on my personal Facebook page you can most certainly see that these skills have carried over to my schooling and professional career (which is definitely a good thing!). Before I delve too deep into a tangent (which happens more often than you think), let's dive into this project! 

As I mentioned earlier, I learn anything and everything I can. And I've been doing just that over the past few months. In my most current class, Music Production for Media, projects range from composing music for TV commercials, radio spots, jingles for branding, and even a song for WWE wrestlers and divas. (Pretty awesome, right?) 

In this first project, we were to come up with a 30-second jingle for one of six companies, making sure to convey specific feelings and vibe throughout. I chose to go with a company called UzCom, a travel agency. When I first started this project, I had a pretty solid idea of what I wanted the music to sound like. And being that I haven't actually had time to sit down and produce music for myself in months, the ideas were just flying out. I laid out a very happy, corporate-like chord progression, simplistic drum rhythm, some strings, and, of course, sound effects. This animation has a lot of movement, so my instructor (the client) insisted on having a bunch of animation, but not over-doing it and killing the overall vibe. 

UPDATE: I removed the old version of this from Vimeo, so this is the final version.

UzCom Commercial from Lennon Cihak on Vimeo.

I've always been interested in composing music for various television shows, companies, radio spots, etc, but I've never had any media to compose for. So this is most certainly my time to shine! I look forward to the rest of the projects throughout the month! Stay tuned to see more of my work. 

Peace out,

Lennon
Bachelor of Science, Music Production 

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To say I'm Grateful is an Understatement...

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a few life-changing opportunities come my way and I’m so excited to finally get some time to share them with all of you! There have been so many extraordinary people come into my life, and I’m forever grateful for each and every one of them. They’ve all taught me something wonderful in life, school, and my professional career.

A month ago, my dad came down to Florida to spend the week with me before we headed up to Minnesota for the holiday season. Atom, one of my previous instructors at Full Sail, took a good chunk of time out of his day after class to meet with my dad and I, show us around some of the studios (studios that I won’t ever use because of my degree program), and share some wonderful opportunities with us.

Atom and I sitting at the Neve 9098i.

After viewing all of the studios and wrapping up our little tour, we headed over to the Dub Stage, a room that is set up like a movie theater, Dolby certified, and has state-of-the-art technology. As we’re visiting with one of the instructors in charge of the Dub Stage, Atom says, “I might just have my next recommendation for the Dub Stage internship,” as he points at me subtly. “I haven’t been able to recommend anybody in a long time and I think I’ve found my next recommendation.” I couldn’t help but smile. I was overwhelmed by the fact that he wanted to recommend me out of all of the extremely talented students that go through his course. Do I really stand out that much? Is my hard work paying off? The #TLS (The Lennon Standard) is finally paying off! After I finally internally regathered myself, I turned to my dad and we both smiled. Oh, and did I mention that I would be the first Full Sail Music Production student to go through this internship? And I was told that many students that go through this internship go right out to New York or Los Angeles (where I want to go) and start working on feature films. As my aunt Carmen usually says, “Awesome blossom!”

The Dub Stage

For those of you who don’t know Atom, he truly is an amazing, talented, and an all-around kind-hearted person; one of a kind, in fact. His musical abilities have led him to write multiple singles and a few albums (one of which is in the works), a few songs have been released on Rockband, and even covered by an American Idol contestant. Atom is originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and attended the University of Minnesota. He currently works closely with a label he and a friend started called Atomic Records. Full Sail got extremely lucky when Atom came on board!

A few weeks prior to Dad coming down to visit, Atom was talking to me about hooking me up with an internship at Atomic Records. “If you ever need an internship, please let me know and I can hook you up,” said Atom. “The guy hired the last Full Sailor I sent up there.”

That being said, I’m so glad I have a few things sitting on my back burner for after graduation because I was a little nervous when I first started Full Sail. It’s a huge relief to know that things are slowly falling into place. I didn’t have any connections in the music industry, unlike quite a few of the students here at Full Sail. I held myself to high standards by enrolling in Full Sail and not having any connections. I knew I had to network, step way out of my comfort zone, and be professional. It’s nice to see that all of my hard work is paying off! I’m quite proud of myself!

"I knew I had to network, step way out of my comfort zone, and be professional."

The Dub Stage internship is a six-week internship post-graduation. After I obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Music Production, I would like to move on and get my Master’s degree in Entertainment Business. But being that things are quickly changing gears at a rate that I can’t even keep up with, that may change. I’ve been told by the instructors at the dub stage that I am able to take classes and do the internship at the same time. However, I haven’t been able to decide if I want to do that. Both the internship and my schooling are very, very important to me, and I want to be able to focus on one or the other full-time so I can fully immerse myself in every aspect. So, when it all comes down to it, I should probably just stick with doing the internship after graduation. Afterall, I can always come back and do my Master’s or do it online. Coming back/staying here is definitely an option; I’ve met so, so many amazing people here at Full Sail and I am excited to meet more!

I remember FaceTiming Mom shortly after Dad and I arrived back at my apartment. I had to tell her about the news I had just received from Atom and a few other instructors. She immediately started crying, and I couldn’t help but tear up a little bit myself. She was at a loss for words, and I was, too. To see her tear up, smile, and tell me how proud she is of me puts me at a loss for words. Making my parents proud is by far my top priority in life, and I’m glad that I’ve done that and more. I’m so lucky to have such wonderful and supportive parents!

"Making my parents proud is by far my top priority in life, and I'm glad that I've done that and more." 

As I mentioned in a post on my Full Sail Journey blog, Facebook, and even Twitter, I joined a student production agency called SPARK. SPARK is in charge of a variety of technical projects in the Orlando, Florida area, such as filming promotional videos for the City of Winter Park, various local non-profit groups, and filming the Gradfest interviews. The interviews are your standard interviews, containing pretty stereotypical questions, such as “What’re your plans after graduation?” “What has your Full Sail journey meant to you?” “Who would you like to thank?” This video is then played at the graduation ceremony.

Last month I signed up to be an editor for the Gradfest interviews. Scary, right? Yes, it was, but I took it on and knocked it out of the park. My supervisor (who is a lab instructor for the Film program) was so impressed that he, too, told me about the dub stage internship. He said that my rough cut was phenomenal and my final cut was superb; one of the best they’ve had in awhile. I only spent 12 hours cutting two hours of interviews into roughly 7 minutes. It should not have been anything less than superb! To have not one, but two Full Sail faculty members recommend this dub stage internship all within a week is phenomenal. It’s almost too much for me to soak in. My excitement levels are completely through the roof!

Before I conclude this post, I would like extend a few thank yous to some very important people in my life. To all of my friends: thank you for your never-ending love and support. Your kind words mean so, so much to me, and they keep me motivated to do my best each and every day. I love you all!

Secondly, to my Songwriting instructor, Atom. I know I’ve thanked you before, but I feel that I should say thank you to you every day for everything you’ve done for me in the last few months. You’ve taught me so much about music, songwriting, and the music industry. You truly are one of the most inspirational and amazing people that’s ever came into my life. I continue to strive and do the best I can each and every day because of the opportunities you have laid on the table for me. You’ve reaffirmed that a good work ethic, passion for your career, and professional image are key in a tough industry. With all of these qualities and the right connection(s) (people like you, Atom), I’m wiggling my way into an industry I thought I would have a tough time getting into.

Finally, I would like to say a thank you to Mom and Dad. You both are my rock, my biggest fans, and biggest supporters. Your words of wisdom, support, and love is truly the reason I wake up with a smile on my face and remain so positive each and every day. When I wake up every morning, the first thing I ask myself is, “How did I get so lucky?” I continually remind myself that very few people are as fortunate to be able to do what I’m doing and have such an amazing support system to get them through it. Moving across the country was not easy, but you told me it would be good for me and you were right, as always. It was the best decision I could’ve made; my life has turned into everything I dreamed it would be and more. Mom and Dad, thank you. Thank you for believing me, supporting me, loving me, and giving me the opportunity to go out and live out my dreams! I’m so lucky to have you as parents and I love you both more than words can say! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Dad, Me, Mom

A huge thank you to everyone who has been a part of my amazing journey! I could not have done it without you!

Lennon Cihak

Student

Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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My First WWE Experience

Where do I even begin?

In September 2015, I joined a group called SPARK here at Full Sail. It has to be one of the best decisions I've made while I've been here. The group is responsible for assisting with the technical--and some non-technical--events around campus. For example, they will come in and record both the video and the audio for a guest speaker or assist in setting up the equipment or props for an event. The group works closely with the Full Sail event crew. SPARK is also very, very involved with an abundance of non-profit groups in the Orlando area. While I've been doing everything I can with the SPARK group to get involved and meet new people, one of the most amazing things I did was get involved with the WWE events. 

It all started on Tuesday, October 6th. I got to the school and signed in. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect, especially with all of the massive generators out in the backlot and a semi pulled in the little alley between Full Sail Live and the Audio Temple where I normally walk through. Wrestlers, divas, and very important WWE executives brushed past me as I walked to my location: the vignette room (which happened to be in my math room back in January). The room was already completely setup, but there were a few things that had to be done. It was a lot of sitting and waiting around after that. Being that everything was already done it was just a matter of helping out when we needed. We were going to do some filming, but the talent wasn't there yet. Instead, I got to meet and know some of the other amazing SPARK members. We had a blast visiting and getting to know each other. How did I get so lucky to be where I am today and be with so many amazing individuals? 

Tuesday was an easy day. I helped with WWE from 1PM - 5PM then went to class from 5:15PM - 1AM. Wednesday, however, was a little more hectic because it was the day of the live show. I showed up and signed in at around 10:30AM that morning. I was ready to rock and roll! It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, it was around 80º, very few clouds in the sky, and a slight breeze. It was going to be a great day! Everything from Tuesday had been done, so we just had to wait some more for the talent, which was about five more hours. Good thing I had a great bunch of people to keep me company! 

When 5PM came around, it was go time. We were sitting around and all of the sudden one of the producers or supervisors came into our room and said, "We're on shortly." We all jumped up, took our places and were ready to rock and roll. I headed over to the door I was manning and I heard the "lock it down" command on my radio. A big smile came over my face and I remember thinking, "let's do this." There was no time to waste at this point. We were on a schedule and we had to be ready to go at all times. Manning the doors may seem like an easy job, but it's not. You try and tell a WWE executive "No, you can't enter." Haha!

I could go on and on and on about my first WWE experience, but I'm going to keep it brief. I knew that joining SPARK would only bring positive outcomes. I also knew that I was going to meet an amazing group of people, people that I'll build professional relationships with. Helping out with WWE confirmed that. I'm so proud of myself for going after my dreams and attending Full Sail. Full Sail has opened the doors for me on so many amazing opportunities and connections. I look forward to working many, many more WWE events!

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Songwriting: My Favorite Class?

"Favorite" is most definitely an understatement.

When I first started this class, I was told by my instructor that we would have to write lyrics for two different songs. I got a little nervous at hearing this because I had never successfully written lyrics before. I tried a few times, but I just could never seem to get anything to sound decent. I also can't seem to get myself to channel all of the ideas, emotions, events, and experiences into one focal point. But with all frustrations aside, I sat down at my piano, plucked out some chords, and wrote whatever came to mind. It wasn't until this point that I actually came to realize that I wasn't such a bad lyricist afterall. I repeated a quote by my instructor over and over again in my head while working on the lyrics: "This isn't songwriting class, this is song re-writing class; your lyrics don't have to and won't be perfect the first time you write them." We had to have some kind of concept for the songs that we wrote, and the one that I chose that stuck to me was about my journey from Minnesota to Florida to attend Full Sail. I remember having so many different emotions flowing through me at the time, so it was the perfect concept for me to write about. Everything just fell into place at this point. 

Before I start any song, I try and get in the ballpark of what genre I want the song to be. I wanted to go for a little bit of a different style for my song and try something new and out of my comfort zone, but I wasn't sure how far out I wanted to go. Did I want to stay and be somewhat comfortable and go with something dance, or did I want to go with something more dramatic? I came to a conclusion that I can't put restrictions on music and decided to just go with whatever I came up with. This happened to work out perfectly! 

For the second week of class we had to have a foundation for our song and lyrics, which meant that we had to have a chord progression, melody, and drums. I remember thinking to myself, "I write music all of the time, so this won't be too hard." And boy was I wrong. I realized that I struggle when I have to write music while under pressure. After sitting in front of my Mac with Logic open for about an hour, I walked away. I just couldn't get anything to work or sound the way I wanted it.

I took a break for awhile and then went back to work. I then remembered that we could use Drummer, which is a virtual "live" drummer within Logic Pro. This changed everything. I quickly learned that this song will not be a dance tune, but a singer/songwriter instead. Things only went up from that point on. The piano sounded great; the bass line I wrote worked quite well; and the strings put the cherry on top. It all worked out perfectly, and I reinforced an important lesson: don't put restrictions on music. Just go with the flow. 

Week three came upon us, and my colleagues and I were so excited to finally get in the studio and record the vocals for our songs. Some of us were nervous, but we were all excited to start working together, sharing our songs with each other, and sharing ideas to better our songs. We couldn't help but be ecstatic because our instructor hyped it up to everything it was and more throughout the whole month. It was such a valuable learning experience in every aspect of the music creation process. I'll never forget it!

While in the studio, I got to work on and record with a Neve 9098 (pictured below) and an Audient console. I had walked by this studio with the Neve in it a hundred times. I always remember thinking, "I hope I get to work on that someday." Ask and he shall receive, right? We recorded two of my colleagues' songs before mine. Everything was going absolutely perfect. Logic was running smoothly, the sound was crystal clear, and we were getting a lot of work done. About ten minutes or so into my time slot, the Neve decides to glitch and basically shut down. The instructor did everything in his power to get it back up and running, but he couldn't. I guess that's what happens when you play fire (slang for "a really good song") on an old piece of equipment. 

Rupert Neve 9098

After the Neve decides to shut down, we head over to the other lab, wait for the other lab group to finish their session, and then we setup camp to finish my session. Everything went smoothly and we got everything I needed recorded, except for the guitar. In fact, I had never planned on getting a guitar recorded for this track, but I quickly changed my mind after hearing our lab instructor play guitar. I asked him if he would be ever so kind to lay out some acoustic guitar on my track. Afterall, you can't have a singer/songwriter track without a guitar on it! 



A few days later we headed back into the studio to put any finishing touches on our songs. It was during this session that I got the guitar recorded. I didn't have anything else to do on my song; everything I needed got done a few days prior. So I ended up helping my colleagues and friends in my group get their finishing touches finished by running the board or Logic.

Our final project entailed making a few minor changes based on the feedback that we received from our peers and the judges when we presented our songs. Due to time constraints I couldn't do everything I wanted to do. Instead, I kept things rather simple and just made the transition from the bridge into the key change a little more dramatic. 



There is nothing like being in a studio. Absolutely nothing like it. It's a place where creativity and talent go perfectly hand-in-hand. Creative minds get together and make magic. It's truly a magical experience, and I can't thank my colleagues and instructor enough for making it such an enjoyable atmosphere! I learned so much about all of the magic that happens in the studio. 

As I conclude this post, I would like to throw out a few thank yous. A huge thank you goes out to my good friend Marlon for singing on my track. Without your musical and vocal talents the song would've went down the toilet. I'd also like thank my other good friend, Christian, for singing on the background vocals during the bridge. It's always nice to have a Grammy-winning friend sing on your song. Also, a huge thank you to my lab instructor Mark. Thanks for taking the time to lay down some beautiful acoustic guitar on my track. You truly took it to a whole new level! Last but not least, a huge thank you goes out to my instructor for the month, Atom. You are by far one of the best instructors I've ever had. I learned so much throughout the course of the month. And I will use the skills and tips that you shared with me for the rest of my professional career! Thank you, Atom, for such a memorable month in Songwriting! 

Lennon
Student
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Execution Over Excuses

"No matter what you do, believe in yourself, fight for your art, serve with love and excellence and you will be rewarded." -Brendon Burchard

A friend and colleague of mine has a perpetual, never-failing positive view on life, the struggles, and success. Instead of thriving and beating himself up over life's simple mistakes, he takes them and turns them into a positive outcome and learns from it--a skill many people have a hard time utilizing effectively. I envy his success and hard work that he's put in thus far and I know that he's going to go extremely far in life. As I've watched him grow and succeed, I've added him to my list of role models because of his many talents and admiration.

Many of us (including myself) make excuses to get out of something. Let's all be real here. We've all had a friend or an event we didn't want go hang out with or go to, so we made up some lame or stupid excuse so that we didn't have to hang out or go, right? I know I have, and sometimes it's came back to kick me in the rear. I often regret not going and doing whatever it was I was asked to do. There have also been a few things that I'm glad I missed out on due to their outcomes. 

While attending school here at Full Sail there have been a couple of events that I've wanted to attend but never did because I came up with some excuse not to go; however, I've always had a keen eye for success. I'm always on the lookout for an event that can really benefit me and so far I think I've done pretty well. Those events would've been purely for entertainment purposes. While having something look entertaining is still a good reason to go, it's not good enough for me all of the time.

I have also attended quite a few events where I have learned a lot. I mean a lot. The Hall of Fame events that I attended back in March were a wealth of information. My favorite event was the "Behind Google's Cloud." While this event was geared more towards software developers, mobile developers, etc, I still learned a lot about Google as a company. Learning about how various companies achieve various struggles and climb different mountains has always been fascinating to me.

Sometimes my inner "professional" self takes over a tad too much because it has held me back from a few things I know I would've enjoyed. The perfect example of this is basically my Junior and Senior years in high school. I never went to parties, smoked, drank, or anything. I was a good boy. I knew that I had way too much going for me, and one stupid mistake could ruin it all. I ran two (and still run one) successful businesses: a photography and lawn care service. I also worked at the grocery store, which was really good advertising for both of my businesses because clients could put a face to Lennon Cihak Photography and Lennon's Lawn Care Service. I also worked for Stoneridge Software, which was a fairly new business in town and not many people knew what it was, what they did, or that I even worked there, but needless to say, my name was tied to it. And to bring everything together my mom works for the city, so most people know or recognize her as my mom. I know that we all go through a phase where we try to "fit in" or "be cool," but for me getting a minor or something as simple as that could've ruined everything I had going for me in a single newspaper publishing.

Does my "professional" self kick in a bit too often and/or too much? Probably, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing all of the time. Full Sail has these things called GPS points or "Global Professionalism Score." Often times if potential employers know you attend Full Sail they will ask what your GPS score is because it states how professional you are in and out of the classroom. In fact, if I were to get in trouble with the law at all I believe it gets reported to Full Sail in one way or another. If the situation is bad enough I can have scholarships revoked, get suspended, or even worse, get expelled from my program or even the school. Professionalism is everything here at Full Sail, and I'm glad that I've kept my record clean all these years because it did pay off. 

Success lies everywhere, every day, and in each and every industry. There's also a time and place for everyone, and it's your job to make sure that you're at that place at the right time. Some of it's luck, but most of it's skill. Is it going to be difficult? Absolutely. Will it get handed to you? Most definitely not. Does hard work pay off? Heck yes! Whatever it is you're trying to achieve, don't stop working towards it. Next time you're asked to go somewhere or do something, think about it. Think about the consequences (if any) and think about the rewards. I encourage you to have fun, but always remember: Execution over excuses. 

Lennon 
Student
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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Class Review: Recording Principles

I'm not going to lie, Recording Principles was a bit of a nightmare. The instructor was painful to listen to (by far one of the worst teachers I've ever had--elementary and high school included), the homework was too easy, stressful, and not very challenging, and the course was very unorganized. If the instructor would have actually taken the time to make a mid-term and final I probably would've been up shit creek without a paddle because of how painful he was to, so a majority of the time I just tuned him out. Not even kidding. For the mid-term and final, each of us had to come up with ten questions: five from lecture/notes and five from the textbook that nobody read. Then, in class, we basically have a support group-like lecture; we all gather 'round and take turns asking the questions we came up with and then just randomly answer them. Not too difficult, right? Right. Easy A+ and an easy 20% tacked on for my final grade.

At the beginning of the class, when the instructor was going over the syllabus and whatnot, I thought to myself, "This shouldn't be too hard because I know a lot of this." And I did. I knew what microphones, monitors, reverbs, delays, sends, busses, and microphone cables were. I've been producing music "in the box" (on the computer/digitally) for about four years now, so none of this wasn't as new to me as I was hoping for. I did, however, have a little bit of a learning curve for when we starting using Logic, Apple's DAW (digital audio workstation). The concepts that applied in my DAW of choice, Image-Line's FL Studio, applied to Logic, but they were just a little different. And I must admit that they were a bit simpler and sounded a wee bit better. (This could, and probably is, due to operator error!) I knew everything up until we got to analog. I knew everything until I showed up to lab that first day. "Maybe I should've payed attention in class. Maybe I should've listened even though the instructor sounded like Ben Stein," I thought. "Oh well. I'm about to learn a helluva lot more in this lab!" That was until I saw this:

When I walked into that lab room for the first time I heard the sounds of the pearly white gates opening up. I had come to the conclusion that I had made it home. I was both excited and nervous all at the same time. This board only costs $32,000 (not counting the $20,000+ compressors, delays, and reverbs sitting along side of it)! I was hoping that we weren't just going to have a free-for-all because look at it. Look at it! Nobody knew what the hell they were doing! 

Our lab instructor went over this board, cleared the fog on signal flow (what our instructor talked about in lecture that day), and finally reviewed the various types of microphones and their polar patterns. He was even teaching us how to wrap cables at the end of the lab that day. Yes, he was teaching us how to wrap cables. Once everyone thought they had their cable wrapped properly we went out to the hallway and threw them. If it unraveled without any knots, you did it correctly. If it did have knots you failed lab for the day. If you can't wrap a cable, for cryin' out loud, you should head over to McDonalds across the street and pickup an application. Just kidding. You didn't fail. Overall, I think it's safe to say that this $2,000 class was money well spent. To tell you the truth, wrapping those cables was more exciting than anything we talked about in lecture. 

The Friday of that week was our last lecture and lab before Spring break. We were all so excited because we had made it through those horrendous lectures and we knew things could only go up from here. That day we had a free-for-all lab after spending four hours on Monday and Wednesday learning the board and its features. We got settled in and our lab instructor went over the rules and what we could do for the day. We then went to the recording booth and got the drums all miked, and just before we started our session our lab instructor ran back to the recording booth to check on something (I believe it was a bad cable), so I took advantage of this and took a selfie with the board.

What? I couldn't resist this amazing opportunity!

I look like I'm on bath salts, but I was overly excited to be getting some studio time right before Spring break, and my family was coming down to see me in a few days. A limiter and/or compressor was not necessary for my excitement this time. (My audio-literate friends will understand.) We recorded the drums, some bass, keyboard, and vocals. (A friend of mine has the session files on his flash drive; I'll get them from him and share it with you.) 

The boring lectures continued, but so did the fun in lab. It was a little sad to have to leave the studio environment from the week before, but it was great to get my hands on some more technology that the industry professionals are using today. The Raven MTIs were more frustrating than they were intuitive, in my opinion. In simplest form: they're a 27-inch touchscreen that acts as a second monitor to your audio workflow; thus making it easier to use the mixer in Logic or the mixer that comes pre-installed on the Raven MTI for Logic. I've used a laptop for years, and I'm so used to the trackpad and/or a mouse that it was difficult to get used to the Raven MTI. I like the bigscreen, but I'm not much of a fan for touchscreens because the calibration never tends to be on-point, which makes it difficult to get really nit picky and accurate when you're fine-tuning the volume faders on the mixer. I took advantage of the big screen, but I stayed old school and got out my computer mouse and did it the old fashioned way. The Raven MTI is one of those items that would go unused if it were in my studio.

This was my workstation. Everyone's station looks exactly the same.

I made it to week four with (so far) flying colors, passing each and every assignment with 100%. We finished the last bit of notes in lecture (thank the lord!), and each of us have our own Audient workstation in lab with pre-recorded projects in Logic that we get to use and mix with while we each get hands-on experience with the board. We're learning how an analog board works instead of just clicking our mouse to bus and send things in Logic. We're actually having to learn how to patch hardware compressors and other various effects to various tracks using patch cables and patch bays. We're learning how to send our percussion tracks to a bus to save time and make things easier when mixing. And we're learning how to effectively and efficiently use time-based effects by using auxiliary sends. And, most importantly, we get to hear how amazing hardware gear can sound in a mix. This all sounds confusing, but when you're doing it with smart, talented, and like-minded friends, you tend to catch on real quick!

Recording Principles was both a boring and extremely valuable learning experience all at the same time. Lectures were boring, but the labs definitely made up for it! What made it even more fun was that I was able to share my lab time with good friends, so it really aided in learning all of these confusing, yet extremely valuable concepts and techniques in the mixing world. Like many other people, I don't like to be told how to do something. Don't tell me how to do it. Get me the real deal and show me how to do it, dammit!

Thanks for stickin' 'round,

Lennon
Student
Bachelor of Science, Music Production

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