So write a song........

Well I know this is post number 2 for today but I have just had my first class of Songwritting. I am not a songwritter by any means and even less of a musician but here goes I am going to have a song written by Friday I kinda have to as we have to do it for class. It is due on Friday and we have to perform the song in class during the second half of the morning.
Guys wish me luck in this dip in the songwritting pool and here is hoping that I dont drown before the week is out.

Treading water as if my life depended on it
Krista~Bert

What an amazing show

Greetings all.....
To answer comments from last blog....whoo Megs 6 weeks and counting (and driving everyone nuts in the process) and to Lisa miss you miss you miss you too.
Well here we are it is week four already wow we hve been here a month. It does not and does seem that long all at the same time, if that makes any sense. We have two more weeks here and they should go fast.
As you know we have been doing weekly mini-classes and I think that this week we are doing songwritting (interesting but not me) and arranging which might come in handy for me in the studio. Gilles is teaching us arranging and he said that some of our classes well be held with skis on.....meaning water not snow. I cant wait to try water skiing it should be a blast!
So this weekend Judy (the person who brought us here) invited us to go to a show in Rossland it was the The Wallin Jenny's three very talented and beautiful women who did amazing three part harmoines. They all played guitar and various other insturments. It was mostly folk type music but it was an amazing night of music. For the end of the show they sang "The Parting Glass" in front of the mics and without insturments, you could here a pin drop in the hall.
And Megs to answer your question from MSN that is what I did this weekend. I well update later on in the week.

Until next time dear readers.....
Krista~Bert

P.S. To those who know about Josh Cook I think he somehow added me to his MSN? If anyone has thoughts on this please let me know. I am pretty sure that no one he knows has my new hotmail address.

History of Jazz week has come to a close......

Well week 3 has come to an end. Since the tour we have been doing classes for a week at a time last week we were on Pro-Tools, and I am almost done with the mixing and mastering of the song that they asked me to do for the college website. This week we had classes on the History of Jazz interesting yes but I am not a huge jazz fan. I find some of it hard to listen to but I can see the importance of the styles and the players have had on music today.
Also this week we were in the studio recording a song from each of the excahange students bands for Danielle we did "Don't give a Dam" an original and we had a teacher come and help out with guitar and for the Jazz band I think it was called "There is a funk in the deep freeze" Steve the recording teacher here did most of the work but showed me some neat tricks to make recording in the studio a little eaiser when it comes to setting-up and tearing-down. Also for Danielle's song he let me mic the drums my way.
It has been nice and quiet and will be like this for the next few days as Richard and Bryan are gone to visit Richard's dad for a couple of days so we have the cabin to ourseleves.
Although this is short I think this is all for now.

Until next time dear readers......
Krista~Bert

The trials of mixing

Good morning all....(at least it is morning in BC)

We started classes this week at the lovely school that is Selkirk college quite a change from life on the road. This week the classes have been about Pro-Tools but our teacher is taking the basic route as the other kids have yet to really use Pro-Tools, so instead of having me sitting in class being bored to tears about stuff I already know the powers that be gave me a project to do....I have to mix and master a song that was recored last year by students that they would like to use on the Selkirk website, I said yes as the teacher had all the session info on disc.....when I got it the track names made no sense what so ever, they had tracks that had nothing on them, and all the instruments are MIDI not bad MIDI but MIDI all the same.
Okay so here I am sitting in the MIDI lab at Selkirk wondering what the hell can I do with this to make sense of it and not totally make some one I do know mad at me for screwing with their song. OH will Im going to try my best and try to find the missing drums that are heard in their final mix of the song but I cant find the drum track.
Other then that the week has been good but I think that it has been the slowest week on record, the nights seem to go on forever and it seemed that it was Thursday about 3 days ago, but this weeks happen and hopefully next week will be a bit better.
Well I have to say that a big congrats goes out to Tasha as she got into St. FX for jazz (sax)
Im off to find the missing drum traks.....

Untill next time dear readers....
Krista~Bert

Lots of Pics

Okay so week 3 in BC!
I know that I just posted lots of pics and one non-BC pic but I have time and Im using my computer.
We have finished the tour with much success everyone that came enjoyed themshelves and the cast and crew did a wonderful job at everystop.
When we got here I was told that I was going to be in charge of gear (set up tear down and making sure we had everything we needed) glup thats a big job on a system that I had yet to lay eyes on. So the first time that we set up, after Gilles assigned the tasks to everyone, took roughly 3 hours......so not good way to long we needed to have it done in a hour at most. When it was all set-up I labeled everything and people knew what went where and where to find stuff, did this in hopes that it would decrease set-up time and boy did it ever the first stop on the tour was Kaslo and I had the system, with the help of many hands, ready to go in under 45 minutes. The Kaslo show was good the school crowd was great and even though there was not many at the night show it was still good.
Naksup was the next stop, it was a tiny space but we filled it for the school and night shows, this I think was the best school crowd very polite and really watched the show.
We had a couple of days off then and I was happy.....I have found out that touring is hard work but I love it we were at school 7:30 in the mornings to load the truck and then driving 1-3 hours to get to the venue and then off loading the truck setting up every thing sound checks and then the techs have to stay to do the sound checks for the local talent. We then got to run and grab something quick to eat and then work the show and then tear the gear down and then load the truck back up again. Oh yeah the that was on about 4-5 hours of sleep a night Techs we are the first to get there and the last to leave.
Grand Forks was our next stop: this venue was nice sort of like Holy Heart's theatre but the school crowd was the worst, the really didnt listen to the show but what can you do. The night show was okay one major hum which we are still shaking our heads over but it was a good show.
Trail: this was our biggest show and I think the best. It is something like the Arts and Culture centers back home. I liked the fact that we did not have to bring our own PA system as we were using the in house system at Trail. The in house guys were nice and the show had a good balance sound wise.
Nelson: we are home! This was the last show and I liked it because it showcased us and the other exchange students more as we had a 20 minute set each. Gilles was introducing the students that were going to play when he said that before he tells you about the 3 students from NL that will be playing there is a fourth who is on the sound board. He then thanked me for all my hard work in the tour. After the show the cast of the broadway part gave me and Jessa (other tech) flowers for our hard work for the tour.
I was a little iffy at first coming on to a show that they have been working on since the fall and almost being put in charge but I think that I did a great job and they didnt mind taking me on board in the end.
So far I love my trip here and I have learned a lot. I hope the next few weeks are going to be just as good if not better......

Until next time dear readers........
Krista~Bert

Dad, mom, and me at grad 

One freaky pic ( I think it is me) 

The three boys (Bryan, Aaron, and Richard) 

Bryan, Dee, Richard and me 

tour poster 

cast and crew of the tour 

me hard at work 

Richard,Bryan and me in Nelson 

Our Cabin  

Jenny on drums 

The truck that we had to load and unload everyday 

Week 2

Well I have been busy this week in BC. We started the tour in Kaslo with a school show and then the night show and then the next day we went to Nakusp for the same thing. It is hard work but I love it, this is the last week of the tour so more on that next week.
Gilles has like the work and sound that I have been doing and getting in the shows so awesome news there I was a little worried about that.
Being here has been great so far, I am so happy that I got this chance to come here and experience this exchange.
Megs this is for you 2 months and counting

Untill next time dear readers....
Krista

Take two on BC Blog

Okay guys I was going to just to a blog just for BC but I can't figure it out Megs if you can help on this post here please.
We had a good flight in it was very long but almost every flight got in early and the gates we landed at were very close to the gates of departure. (good news as I was mom) We arrived in one piece....expect for Dee's suitcase it didnt handle the trip very well (hehe). Jason the head of the music program met us at the airport and drove us to our nice little cabin on the lake. I will post pictures as I cant not do justice to the view that we have from our little house for the next 6 weeks.
On Saturday the 30 we walked around Nelson and for the most part stayed on Baker Street, which is simlar to George Street back home, the day was bright and sunny nice to go for a long long walk and we went to the fair on the way home, sort of like a Thomas Amusents type of thing.
Sunday we just took it easy I wanted to get some rest as I didnt know what I was going to be doing come Monday morning.
Im glad that I got some rest on Sunday as I have yet to stop since Monday, we are getting ready for a show tomorrow night in Kaslo. I knew that I was going to be busy being the only tech but I didnt know how much work I would be doing. I learned on Monday that I was running the sound board for the first half of the show where we play and the local talent play but in addition to that I am running the board for the Broadway show that the school itself is doing, well at least for the band. Also I am in charge of the gear that we are taking with us, so that meant doing inventory, Im also put in charge of making sure that the gear is stored with easy acess for tear down and set up and what the musicans have to do to help me in this. Oh yeah I have a key to the school got that the first day I was here.
Gilles is happy with what I have done and what I am doing, he likes the sound that I am getting and that I know what I am doing, I think me being here is a huge help for him.
As much work that I am doing now I know that this time next week when we are done the tour I can take it a little easier. I think that I well be in the studio doing some recording.
Just a side note not on BC but I was talking to Roy from Grenfell yesterday and he said that if I get in MUN I am in the program. So keep fingers crossed.

Untill next time dear readers...
Krista

I'm in BC

Wow Im in BC living in a cabin with three amazing musicians and it by a lake. This sounds to good to be true. Okay this is a quick post as I am going to start a blog for the trip and link it to here. I will post as much as I can. See you soon guys. Love you and miss you more.

Until till next time dear readers
Krista