This capstone project experience helped my critical thinking ability by making me think of ways to combine sounds from different instruments to make a beat, and also in writing lyrics that rhyme while at the same time telling a story. The project also helped my communication with new people as i had to find common ground and become comfortable working with my mentor. We needed to work together during many steps of this learning process and his help definitely made the process easier. Most importantly, it helped my creativity. Every part of this project came from my mind, my opinion. Every instrument heard, word spoken, all derived from my individual preference. It was an audio explanation of myself.
The capstone project brought me huge gains personally, socially and intellectually. Personally, i got to become more comfortable trying new things, exploring outside of my box. Socially, it benefited me in that i had to constantly express myself verbally to my mentor; telling him how i wanted it to sound, or what needed to be changed; and that was something i was not previously good at. The most significant gain for me was the intellectual gain. I got to learn about something that i had never done before but had always took interest in. I always enjoy the oppourtunity to expand my mind when its something i, myself, am intrigued by.
Some challenges i had throughout the project were getting used to the controls on programs i had never used before (Reason 4,0 & Logic Studio). Also another challenge was being able to communicate with my mentor without being able to explain the sounds that i wanted to hear. The toughest challenge was overcoming writers block when working on my 16 line verses. Though i use the word "challenges" none of these were too difficult to overcome. Once i began to not worry so much about messing up, i realized that my mentor was there to answer any question that i needed. I felt relieved knowing that he would let me do the work independtly, but still be there as a safety net if i had any questions that needed to be answered.
Overall, my project was a great experience. I enjoyed learning some steps of audio engineering, no matter how "beginner" they are. This is definitely a hobby that i will continue throughout college and hopefully one day can turn into a career or possibly a little side-hussle. My mentor was a huge help and was very reliable with meeting times and availability. The capstone was not nearly as bad as seniors worked it up to be, and im actually glad i experienced it.
