Monday, May 6, 2019

Congratulations to Jaylen, one of our lead DH club members

Jaylen listens to an audio composition he produced, fall 2017

Since the creation of our Digital Humanities Club in fall 2017, one of our students, Jaylen, has been an active member, attending a majority of the sessions the last two years. He graduates in a couple of weeks, so we won't roll with us next year. It's worth noting, though, how much our program benefited from his presence.

Although we experimented with various kinds of software, Jaylen excelled when we utilized audio mixing programs like Audacity. He arrived with to our club with extensive knowledge about music and expertise on audio production. So he zipped through the initial exercises I developed.

Jaylen working on graphic design project, Spring 2018

During the program, he produced some really outstanding remixes for us. I would come up with challenges just for him, and he always exceeded expectations by adding his own twist on the assignment. He liked taking up hard-to-complete tasks too.

Notably, he produced remixes of a poem by Adrian Matejka and remixes of a piece by Amiri Baraka.

One of Jaylen's remixes of Matejka's "Sporting Life":



One of Jaylen's remixes of Baraka's "The Aesthetic":





Jaylen working on audio productions, fall 2018 

When we were looking for instrumentals, Jay hooked us up with a large collection that he had acquired and produced. We made good use of the many items that he shared with us. His collection served as a basis for many of our early productions.

He's really resourceful. And the amount of materials he had and was willing to share proved really helpful. We also frequently turned to him for ideas when we were stumped about utilizing aspects of  the software.

Jaylen, spring 2019

Beyond the technology, Jay and I had extended conversations about school, the city of East St. Louis, movies, and of course music. I'm looking forward to hearing from him as he pursues new opportunities and adventures.

Related:
The East St. Louis Digital Humanities Club Spring 2019

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