Nominated for Best Music Production
Nominated for Music Student of the Year
About Jack
I joined Confetti in 2015 to study the FdSc Music and Audio Technology course after developing a keen interest in the subject during my time studying music at Sixth Form. After visiting other Universities across the country, it was Confetti in my home town that appealed to me the most, both for its course content and the facilities available. During my time here I have seen Confetti grow and provide even more facilities which I hope to make use of as I continue to study here and complete my BSc Audio & Music Technology.
Jack’s Degree Showcase Work
When I’m not studying at Confetti I am a self-employed guitar tutor. The students I teach range from 6 years old to 86! I also have experience of teaching music at a Summer School for special educational needs students. This has resulted in a passion for teaching people of a variety of ages and abilities.
I was influenced by my experience to begin developing instruments of an untraditional nature in order to allow people who may not have the ability or the opportunity to play an instrument to have the enjoyment of making music. This year I have developed a pinball machine that triggers ambient samples in Native Instrument’s Reaktor 5. The objective is to play pinball and trigger the samples to create music.
Using this technology, I hope to develop more of these untraditional instruments to eventually allow people of any ability to have the chance to enjoy making music.
As a guitar enthusiast, I wanted to further my understanding of the instrument. To do this, I thought the best way would be to begin making and assembling my own. This year I embarked on my first project to assemble a Stratocaster style guitar that closely matched the specifications of an original 1959 Fender.
I started with all the parts necessary and utilised the 30 years’ worth of experience given to me by Cat and Jenna of Xperience Guitars Nottingham, two luthiers who aided me throughout the process to ensure that the guitar I made was of the highest possible standard for my ability. I even wound my own pickups to the exact spec of Fender’s own original ‘59’s. I then tested the guitar, comparing it to boutique guitars such as Fenders, a Japanese made Bacchus and a cheaper Squires to find that the frequency response of my guitar was very comparable to those of the boutique guitars that had expensive Lindy Fralin pickups installed.
The success of the build has been matched by the feedback given to me by other players who agree that the quality of the build and the sound of the instrument is exceedingly good. Some meet me with complete disbelief when they realise that I assembled it myself. I have used the guitar for teaching and recording the track ‘Yonaka’ a group production project submission which was nominated by Confetti for the Best Production Project award in 2017. I hope to expand on these skills and keep building guitars to further my understanding so that I can pass on my newly found knowledge to others.
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