It’s that time of year again… Exams, finals, coursework: pressure!
Everyone seems to have their own technique. Grandma suggests the soothing scent of lavender aids the mind when cramming. Your dad puts all of his studious success down to good old fashioned brain food like bananas. Meanwhile the chap next door reckons a good old blast of Mozart is just the ticket.
Just to confuse your studying options even more, we’re calling on a bunch of DJs this week for their own secret techniques.
Bottom line, hard work is hard work. It just has to be done. But there are ways of approaching the whole process to make it easier. Just ask Hospital Records’ Fred V & Grafix – stardom might be knocking pretty loudly on their door right now, but they’re still determined to complete their final year on their Creative Music Technology course.
“We had no idea where we’d be by the end of our course,” grins Grafix. “Things have panned out nicely but we’re still putting a lot of effort in.”
For them, the major final pieces include four track EPs that challenge them to find new techniques. Grafix is making a French house style selection while Fred is making an EP made entirely out of found sounds. Previous modules this year have included production techniques, production for broadcast media, audio post-production and game audio. Clearly they took on the best advice possible three years ago – study something you really want to do and it will never seem like a chore.
But with an international DJ schedule and release demands from the label, Fred and Grafix don’t have to find excuses not to turn up to lectures.
“I should probably lie and say we try to attend every single lecture,” chuckles Grafix. “But our tutors are all really cool about what we do. They understand DJing is our first priority, that’s our career, so it has to come first. They’re very supportive. It makes their course looks good if they’ve got people doing well in the industry on the course so they support us as much as possible and we squeeze uni around everything else we do.”
Fred V & Grafix secret to studying success:
“I would set myself time zones where I can do what I wanted to do – like productions for myself and not college work. At that time uni was top priority. It is all about self-discipline. Do the hard work and reward yourself once you know you’ve done your work. And not doing that reward for the rest of the week! Balance everything well. Prioritise stuff – look at what’s really important and don’t worry about the less important things. Don’t just completely focus on your uni work and don’t go heavy on the social side either. Balance is key.”
Watch out for a remix of Ed Sheeran & Wretch 32 coming very soon. Check out their previous releases available right here.