Volunteering on PCRFM was a fantastic experience for me, and I learnt so much about radio, live sound mixing and presenting. 

For the first year and a half, I sat behind a sound desk as artists came to perform live on the show. Even though I learnt so much about the technical aspect (mixing, microphone placement, etc...), I also began to learn so much about presenting and hosting through listening to the main presenter speak every week. In addition, I heard so many stories from small local artists about what it is like in the industry, and just how hard it is to "make it". 

For the other year and a half, I co-presented the show with the main presenter, and used Myriad to control the show in the radio room while the main presenter was in the "Live Room" interviewing with the artists. The COVID-19 pandemic meant that we could not all be in the radio room at the same time, so we had to spread out and use both rooms to continue doing the show. This is where I began to learn how to present, research and control a radio desk at the same time. 

In my first and second year of university, I also performed at several university events in a band as the lead singer. I chose not to continue with this in my final year at ARU to have more time for my studies, but it was a fun experience and hobby to do alongside my coursework. I feel that being a performer helps you be a better live sound engineer, and the same is true the other way round as well!