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Easter, Endings and New Beginnings!

Well welcome to my final blog as my Music Production course at #ICMP comes to a very quick end. I can’t believe 6 months have gone by already and I finally understand what I’ve been studying for and I’ve got the bug!

In our last lesson I finally mastered somebody else’s mix and I really loved it! I wanted to do it again and again. To have the power and understanding under my fingers to bring this track alive and make a really good song sound great was definitely the icing on the cake.

It always Sod’s law in life that when finally get to grips with something it’s time to move on to the next thing. But the feeling of freedom and new beginnings I felt from what i had finally learnt to do was awe inspiring.

If you want to learn to do something in life whatever stage or age you are at, go for it! It can change your life or give you purpose even at times when things can’t get much worse.

The war we’ve been fighting at home with cancer, loss of earnings and family issues has slowed down a little and Mums cancer has also shrunk which is amazing but my passion for great music, great production and continuing to learn and develop has never been stronger.

May peace come to the Ukraine 🇺🇦 very soon and let music heal them and bring them back to life and peace eternal.

Thank you so much Audient, ICMP and especially Ace from Skunk Anansie for broadening my horizons and giving me hope.

Peace and love to all.

Over and Out xx

Lisa

February 2022

Battles, Breathing and Best Foot Forward!

Well I can’t believe that I’m into my last month at ICMP it has gone so quickly and so much has happened.

This month the highlight was being in studio one with the wonderful huge Audient desk and being able to write and record a little ditty with my fellow classmates. You can hear a little snippet of the countermelody that I wrote over Richard Solis guitar progression. It made me realise how much I love the studio and how protective and disarming it is to shut the world out and be in that space. You can almost forget your troubles or troubles of the world for 5 mins and feel a world free of pain and full of music.

So after a tumultuous month of Covid tests, daughters colds and coughs, mums hospital stays and so much more this ritual again brought me back to life, back to the essential part of me that doesn’t want to do anything else except make music! From the inception to full birth it renews me every time just like my little girls smile and in a world like we have today #ukraine that is more than enough!

Keep smiling people and put your best foot forward, it’s all you can do, oh and don’t stop loving and creating music either!

Much love and peace!

Lisa Kwei

Breakthroughs and breakdowns:

So January so far has been such a breakthrough month as i finally managed to put down four tracks including Drums/bass/keys and strings on Logic during an EQ lesson this week! It was so exciting and it was the first time in my life I could do it alone and write in the moment. Creativity and technology finally had a harmonious moment in my life.

Breakthroughs such as this are imperative to keeping on moving forward in life even if you feel like your walking through treacle. Breakthroughs like this stop you breaking down under pressure.

Mike Stern (awesome guitarist) has also made an appearance in my psyche recently thanks Hubby Alun Harries (drummer) and has also inspired me to have another breakthrough in my guitar playing and how i can add to my vocabulary musically and that also gives me wings.

Music gives us all freedom and some days when Mum is feeling poorly we always put some music on to give life, my daughter loves to hear Chuck Berry too!! 🎸🎼🙏

I am hoping that with all my learning at ICMP my breakthroughs will continue to open up a whole new world to me in my studio with my beautiful Audient equipment and allow me to explore my new sounds through my instruments.

I managed to also steal 10 mins at ICMP in peace and quiet to allow old ghosts to flow through me and write on the piano which was enthralling too for a busy mummy to Rhi aged 3.

Mums also had a breakthrough and the cancer has shrunk. So us girls are doing our thing and making breakthroughs matter instead of breakdowns when we are under such pressure.

Keep on searching for breakthroughs and keep on moving forward Music makers, it’s the only way home..

Peace and love to all!

Breakthroughs and hope for the future!

Well the start to the year has been huge both personally and as a musician/student! I finally laid down tracks, drums and bass, keys and strings and wrote a piece of music whilst in class using Logic!! It felt amazing and I did it all alone, with the tools I’d learnt since I began my studio production course at ICMP.

I used my beautiful Audient headphones and the ID4 interface that’s at college and it worked perfectly!

Breakthroughs in learning and in life are so important and imperative to keeping your feet moving forward even though they may feel like your in treacle at times, once small step takes you to another place that you haven’t been before.

Mike Stern (the amazing guitarist) has also entered my psyche with the introduction from my gorgeous Hubby Alun Harries (Pro-Drummer) and inspired me to think about making an instrumental record this time that I roll the dice.

Let Music do the talking, it’s a life saver on every level. When mums laying in bed feeling bad after her chemotherapy listening to a bit of Run Rudolph by Chuck Berry helps you live again and dare to hope and that’s just how I felt when I wrote that little piece of music using Logic at ICMP and how freeing it was.

Release from your troubles or set backs isa massive pick me up and motivator to be the best version of you, so keep going creatives, keep making music and keep having breakthroughs! Next one for me to work on is learning scales on my electric guitar, I need more language and vocabulary when playing my instrument in the hope I can convey all my inner thoughts through sound and technology.

Roll on 2022, oh and Mums cancer has shrunk so her breakthrough is massive too, us three girls mum,daughter and granddaughter all have this in hand together ..... 🙏💕

Peace and love to all you beautiful creatives here’s to a good year ahead!!

Covid, Chemotherapy and Commands!!

Hi everyone great to be back telling you my learning story again but I can’t believe another month has passed so quickly and again how bad things have got for us all!

But as usual learning and progressing keep our mental health in check and music saves me time and time again!! 🎼🎼🎵

We have been looking into the deeper darker side of Pro-tools and Elastic Audio which felt like I needed an elastic brain but hey I got it in the end. I’ve really enjoyed learning Pro-tools and the freedom it gives you to take charge of your sound.

Polly has also been teaching us about Analogue recording and recording on old skool reel to reel which took me back. We were shown a studio in LA that is totally analogue, and it has no technological side to it at all it was very inspiring but very expensive.

Some of our lessons ended up online due to the dreaded covid but still my class helped each other to keep moving forward.

Lastly after lots of laughs and some tears this month with my family I actually managed a few days away by the sea, to clear my head and recharge my batteries after so much information going in from college.

Life can be challenging, beautiful, thought provoking and deep all the things you feel as a creative and musician, I can’t wait to dive into my new record again and use my lovely Audient equipment, thanks for seeing me through.

The World at my Fingertips!

Hey everyone, welcome to my 2nd blog and it’s a cracker!

Since we last spoke I’ve had the pleasure of attending 6 pro-tools 101 lessons at ICMP and it has blown my mind with what’s possible!

I’d never used Pro-tools in the past and now whilst using my Audient Inteface, Audient Headphones and brilliant condenser Mic I can set up sessions, new tracks, import MIDI files, Instrument Plug in’s, Reverb and Delay etc which is awesome.

The empowerment I feel from having so much more at my fingertips for my music is fab! Making a 3rd album will be a fully immersed experience and will really prove to the World what is truly in my head and part of me.

My classmates are also really funny and supportive and we laughed the other day when our tutor Thom from Greece looked like he was sipping white wine whilst we were sweating shortcuts, but we discovered it was only water! You can take the Tutor out of Greece but not Greece out of the Tutor eh.👍😇😁

Thank you again #audient and #icmp you are helping to make this Artist very happy and very blessed!

More to follow next month, hopefully a little snippet of a 3rd album demo to come soon too. A sneak preview!!

Have a great week one and all and say a prayer for my mum please.

Peace and Music!

Hi guys, welcome to my follow up blog called The World at my fingertips!!

Since we last met I have had the pleasure of 6 great lectures in learning how to use Pro-tools 101 from scratch, I’d never used it before, didn’t know anything about it and now 3 weeks later I can set up tracks, add reverb or delay, mix and input MIDI or Instrument files, it’s amazing! All from the great teacher Thom at ICMP who features here with his water wine glass. You can take the teacher out of Greece but not Greece out of the teacher.

Every lecture included using my EVO Audient headphones and an Audient ID4 interface which work perfectly! Thank you.

I feel extremely empowered and full of hope to now be a bit more in control of my music destiny and hopefully other artists in the future.

My classmates are great and so funny. Everyone helps each other massively and really support not judge. We are all now wondering when our Pro-tools exam will be, fingers crossed for me. This is an important part of my 6 month course and something I’m now very passionate about.

Lastly my family are ok and my mum is doing ok on her 2nd round of chemotherapy, so let’s look forward and I want to make her proud of my studio efforts on my 3rd Album that’s in the making.

Mixing, Mastering and My Mum!

Well what can I say about my first ever blog in my life during such a time in my life. I’ve a feeling this may not be a standard research a product kind of a blog but a real emotional statement to say how Music heals me time and time again, thanks to the ICMP London and Audient.

The opportunity I’ve been given by both parties is amazing and thrilling. To complete a Music Production/studio engineering course with such support and amazing equipment is heartwarming and inspiring.

Since my sponsorship and course began I’ve lost my dear father-in-law to a Stroke and my mother has been diagnosed with Lung cancer!

Both of which are life changing events that I have no control over, but the course and the equipment (EVO Series Home Studio) have given me the creative outlet I need now more than ever to keep me going.

The setup and ease of use of the Audient EVO home studio is so calming and pleasing to a creative whose not used to recording themselves and have always been in studios.

The quality of the headphones is wonderful and I never knew I could have such a great sounding mic in my home.

The comfort and joy I have had from my first few weeks at ICMP albeit on-line sometimes has really saved my head from exploding and given me a break from pain and worry.

Thank you both for this much needed gift at this very trying time. I look forward to updating you again next month on my progress and a step closer to album no 3!