PreSonus Blog

It’s Micah Blouin for #PreSonusFAMFriday

Hopefully today’s #PreSonusFAMFriday feature will teach you a little something…

It’s our Education Market Manager, Micah Blouin. You may have met him at a trade show, workshop, or most recently at InfoComm 2017, where you may have had a good laugh and then walked away a little smarter. He knows a lot about a lot of things and today we learn a little about him and his favorite PreSonus product, Notion.

MBB1

How long have you worked for PreSonus?
Five years. I started off in Product Management and then moved into Marketing Dept and then Sales and then Education…. Next thing you know, they’ll be asking me to mop the floors.

What’s your official job title?
Currently, Education Market Manager.
What’s your favorite thing about your job?
Teaching teachers about music technology. Training workshops, direct one on one and through our Music Education site.
What do you love about Notion?
I love a lot of things about Notion. First, I love how great it sounds… It’s quick to learn and use. Notion is flexible, meaning I can work with it on my computer, iPad or iPhone, and share over iCloud. It’s really easy to integrate into my workflow.

What was the first 8 track, cassette, CD, digital download you purchased?

The first thing I remember purchasing was MC Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em on cassette.

What’s your side hustle?
I play drums in a band called Minos the Saint. Maybe you have heard of us…  I also am the orchestra director at Istrouma Baptist Church, where I do some drumming, conducting, and arranging (using Notion). I also do a lot of work with soloists and groups in the area, whether it be side-man drumming, engineering, mixing, or producing.

What other products do you have?

All of them…. haha. I use ADL700, ADL600, Studio One, RML32, Studio One remote, Central Station Plus, Temblor 10, Eris 5, Eris 8, Sceptre 8, FaderPort, Air 12.

Why did you choose Notion as your favorite?

As an educator, Notion is the easiest and most fun product to teach others. You can do so much with it and it helps your workflow—more on that later. I like sharing that with others.

Tell us about a successful event you worked.

I attend education conferences year-round and work one-on-one with teachers to find the best solution for their instructional, rehearsal and performance spaces.

What are you currently working on–What’s next for you?

In the summer, music educators and students are involved in many music camps, marching band activities, and Drum & Bugle Corps tours. PreSonus provides the on-the-field reinforcement for The Blue Devils, The Phantom Regiment, Spirit of Atlanta, and many other successful competitive programs. Marching groups these days have significantly more audio technology requirements, whether it be scenes, routing, or remote control. I’m working with them to ensure groups have an easy-to-use, powerful, and flexible solution that fits their needs.

Got some tips?

The power of Notion is in the simplicity of the workflow and the flexibility to use it across multiple devices. The graphic display appears very sleek, but it’s a very powerful notation program, with some surprisingly quick engraving tools. My first tip is to learn the keyboard shortcuts on a computer, which are super intuitive (q=quarter note, d=dot, <=crescendo, #=sharp). On a computer/laptop or iPad, I suggest the handwriting feature, which enables you to write directly on the score with a mouse, finger, stylus or the Apple Pencil.

Anything else you want to share?

Notion is tightly integrated with Studio One. Sometimes, the classical musician in me wants to compose in Notion, then send the score to Studio One (I simply click “Send to Studio One”), where I can then use Studio One to produce tracks around my score. Other times, I’d prefer to write a song on guitar and vocals, and then “Send to Notion” so I can write scoring around my song.

Notion is available at a discounted price for Studio One owners: $49 for Studio One Professional users and $99 for Studio One Artist users.Micah Blouin

Click here for more info and to purchase Notion!