Training in Digital Recording Skills Does it for Me
I have been on Training for Work for the past eight months where I have gained a European Computer Driving Licence. As part of the Training for Work I have a three day a week placement with Cue and Review Recording Service where I have been recording, editing and presenting the talking newspapers and materials produced. Since being here I have learnt a lot, especially the computer side of recording, so much so that I now have a computer of my own with a music programme at home which I would not have had the confidence to get if I had not been here. I also have a few musical ideas of my own which I am keen to have aired on the website.
As to what has lead me to Cue and Review Recording Service after leaving school and studying for a year at college I moved to London where I lived for three years. During that time I worked for an engineering company as a workshop manager constructing, testing and overseeing the overall quality control of the high voltage anti-static equipment with the company made.
In the evenings I worked for a PA hire company; rigging, micing up equipment and operating either the main front of house mixing desks or the stage monitor desk as and when required. This work took me all around London and the surrounding areas working with bands of every conceivable musical style range from neo-nazi punk bands, heavy metal, 40 piece Africa combos, the downright cheesy (The New Seekers), brass bands, cabaret lounge lizard types and classical.
Eventually I moved back to Scotland where I resumed my studies gaining a Diploma in Electronics. Not finding much work in this field I took a labouring job working on hotel extensions all around the highlands of Scotland. As this was winter work I spent my summers in London, again working with a P.A hire company but also doing recording session work with different musicians. After this time I worked as a TV / Video / Audio Engineer for around ten years. During this time I set up a home recording studio where I recorded many styles of music the most successful being a church choir, whose recording was produced on CD and was aired on Classic FM.
Due to lack of business the TV repair shop closed down after doing various agency jobs I realised I had to get well brushed up on my non-existent computer skills. Similar to our Chairman I studied a Diploma course in Audio at the School of Audio Engineering. Bringing me full cycle to Cue and Review Recording Service.
Notes to Editors:
Cue and Review Recording Service is Scotland's largest independently funded talking newspaper group, transcribing fifteen print magazines and newspapers into audio formats for the benefit of visually- and reading-impaired people.
Cue and Review Recording Service is one of over 600 talking newspapers and magazine groups throughout the United Kingdom, but the only one providing the specific titles that it records.
Cue and Review Recording Service is based in Bishopbriggs, Glasgow. It is a Scottish registered charity and a company limited by guarantee but without share capital. As a non-statutory organisation it must raise every penny it spends. Income is drawn from membership fees, donations, street collections, individual grants and from transcription work carried out for public and private sector clients. This helps them meet their responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In 2004 over 5,000 Scots were helped by the charity specifically through its recording of public/private sector information.
Since January 2004 the service has introduced a membership fee which presently stands at 60p per week enabling people to gain access to the full range of audio titles.
Titles recorded by the service are The Herald, Sunday Herald, Evening Times, Scottish Sun, Radio Times, Inside Soap, Earth Matters, Star Trek, SFX, Empire, History Today, Kerrang, Cue and Review, Four Four Two and More magazines
