So, this is my first blog about r3 and interning at invisible. Since it’s my first blog, I’ll assume anyone who’s reading this has no idea who I am, what I’m doing, and what I’m trying to do. If I started out just talking about r3, I don’t think it would have the same impact to you – the reader . With some background information, any activities or projects for r3 really have a meaning or substance.

I started playing violin at 4 and guitar at 12, the entire time composing music on both instruments. I played in a number of bands in grade school through college, and I recently started composing on a new instrument, the computer.

Ok, intro to me is done. How did I get involved in r3?

To start, I went to the Illinois Institute of Technology for architecture because frankly, I didn’t know what else to do. I’d been told that trying to make a career in music was pretty much a path of failure, so I thought I’d try architecture because of some drafting courses I took in High School that I didn’t hate. While I was in the library studying the architects that we should aspire to be like, I realized that they all obsessed about architecture. They thought about architecture whenever they could, and they took their work home from the office because they wanted to. They also started thinking and learning about architecture at an early age. They knew early on what they liked and what they wanted to do, and they had the passion to do it their entire lives.

Towards the end of my third year I had a presentation for the design of a theatre to a jury that was worth more than half of my grade for the class. You also have to understand that this class was studio, which for architects is pretty much your only class. It sucks up all your time and effort, and credit wise is worth 3 classes! I just want to get across that this presentation was a very BIG deal. Yet, 5 minutes before it was my turn to present, I was sitting there thinking about guitar fingerings and chord combinations, attempting to “hear” in my head what I was writing in my head.

Shouldn’t someone who’s supposed to be an architect be a little more concerned about the presentation that could have a huge effect on their early architectural career? I thought so too.

I finished the year at IIT and applied to Flashpoint academy, a digital media arts school downtown. I also called as many recording studio’s and record labels I could without going insane to try and find an internship to get some experience and something on my resume before I went into this new industry. I was thrilled when I was offered an internship at Invisible records because I was about ready to give up. Then when I found at who Martin Atkins was and everything he had done, it seemed too good to be true. Here was a guy who had years in the business. He knew how things actually happened, how it all really worked, and he was starting a school based around getting experience and an education by participating in actual commercial projects!

The very first meeting we had for r3 was very different from any academic situation I’d ever been in. We – the students – were asked what we wanted to do. WTF?! Can you say awesome?! Everyone had their own ideas of what they wanted to get out of the experience. Some overlapped, some differed, but even the ideas that differed had things in their execution that could be applied to everyone else’s idea!

Recently, r3 has taken its students to Reggie’s Rock Club, to design and help put in a recording studio. They have set up a gallery show of Martin’s artwork, and the entire time have been taught about publicity and marketing. I’m personally really looking forward to the lecture on Beat Brokering – learning how to market and sell a beat. I can’t wait!

Well this blog ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, and right now I’m missing a lecture from Martin about Marketing and Packaging, so this blog is done.

Ciao.

-elliot

7/8/09

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