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Ben Thompson
My name is Ben Thompson and I just started in a 20 week curriculum course at Colorado Sound Studio for the Recording Connection. My mentor is Nick Sullivan. The first time we met was a few weeks ago when I drove over to Denver on a Saturday to interview for the Recording Connection and to determine if the studio, mentor, and I were a good fit for each other. The studio from the outside, to be honest, does not look very elaborate, which some people might think. It's tucked away between buildings and houses off the main road. Although it looks small in stature once I went in the studio and the office have a big and warm feel. I only had a chance to glance into the studio in the building behind the main office building and that is where I met Jesse, who is also a recording audio engineer for Colorado Sound Studio as well as another mentor for the Recording Connection program. As Nick and I talked, I had expressed my desire to not only learn specifically about Recording, but also the aspects of live sound too. Both Nick and Jesse work as live sound engineers at various locations and venues and it would be awesome these next few months to be able to tag along with them on some of these events and see how the professionals work.
It was exciting going into the studio for my first lesson on August 8th, 2013. There I finally met the secretary, Tammy, who I had been in touch with on the phone the past few weeks. She is very friendly and insightful. I also met Kelly, an intern for the studio who just finished the Recording Connection program. From there Nick and I were able to go into the smaller studio where we were able to start on my first lesson on Chapter 1: Sound and Hearing. We were reacquainted and started talking about the very beginning and basic knowledge of sound, vibrations, waveforms, atmospheric pressure, amplitude, decibels, frequency, velocity, phase, ADSR, and the anatomy of the human ear. All these things were very interesting to me and I realized the importance of knowing this basic terminology before we go deeper into audio engineering.
Up to the point we had discussed book knowledge so we moved on to the physicalities of the room we were in and the purpose of the room's design and architecture. The corners were rounded off and the majority of the surfaces were muffled with professional panels. By testing the room by making a "clock" sound with the roof of the mouth and tongue I was able to hear and understand the purpose of curtains, carpet, and panels and the concept of phase and recording quality.
The focus of the room was the bigger desk with two Apple displays and two studio speakers, one at each corner at the front. Other audio gear and equipment lines the right side of the room of whoever is working at the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). One of the stations Nick showed me was described to me like an old telephone operator switchboard. There were unusually sized cables that were used for connections I was not familiar with which were smaller than a 1/4" connector, but bigger than a 1/8" headphone connector. These are called phone connectors.
Nick started up the computer and ProTools for me to see the program and how some of the chapter 1 concepts are used. In the ebook it said that due to the Fletcher-Munson Curve our ears are most acute and sensitive in the 2-7kHz range and the appropriate level to mix falls between 85-95dB SPL (Sound Pressure Level). We gave that a test and Nick had suggested that 95dB was pretty loud. From there we gave 95dB a try with a sample of a song on ProTools. I had to agree that 80dB was a better and more comfortable level for my ears to hear everything.
Overall, I enjoyed my first time in the studio for my lesson. It is obvious that Nick has a lot of knowledge and experience and will be a mentor I can learn from in the future weeks to come.
