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David Keller
Day One
Today was awesome. Day one of a long and incredible journey!
The task at hand was simple. Review chapter one, and get the lay of the land. Now of course I had a few quesitons about basics, like how I would learn, when I would come, and what I would be doing, but mostly I wanted to learn the dynamics of working with Andy. Was he headstrong and directional, or would I basically run the show. What I found out was there will be a little bit of both. While Andy will take what questions I have from the test and run with it, I am basically steering what course the ship takes with Andy's guidance and aide.
As far as the material, I clarified the meaning and application of Acoustic Beats, Audio masking and frequencies that are IN and OUT of phase. As far as Acoustic beats go, what I found out was that Andy uses the act of tuning his guitar to pinpoint beats primarily, but will reverse phases at times (not always) in a mix, as part of a diagnosis to bring out the best sound, although not always as the first suspect. Secondly, with regards to audio masking, Andy had a GREAT demonstration. By tapping his pencil, he added a scratching sound with the opposite hand to show the application in recording at the same tempo and timing. Lastly, when speaking of phase (which I learned is a '0' with a diagonal line through it), Andy demonstrated how frequencies that are out of phase can take away or add to a mix. Sometimes, two out of phase frenquencies can entirely block out a sound.
Furthermore, we watched videos on perceived frequencies, such as the Munson Graph, and Andy demonstrated the idea of frequencies used with microphones, and with hearing in general. We listened also to numerous soundtracks and audio tracks using ProTools, and Andy assured me that we would be working with the program as well as the same concepts throughout, so not to pannick about learning all at once. Also, automation was explained as the memory of a console, and that regarding fader positioning against a timecode of a song, the system would know all of the adjustments made for future playback. I learned as well about 'AV Genius' and his YouTube channel, that 3.5 kHz is the frequency at which we are most sensitive, and that electric guitars as well as the crackling of wood is at that frequency as well! In essence, when wood breaks in the forrest, our natural human instinct with automatically assume we are in danger, or that something is on our trail. Here's one for intelligent design! Lastly, it was demonstrated to me how 90db is the ideal music level to mix at because it is the ideal level to listen to music at.
I must say, it is very hard to compact EVERYTHING said and learned in our three hours today, however I loved the fact that we could jump around topics at leisure and still somehow tie it all back into the scheme at large. At the end of the lab, Andy allowed me to play around with ProTools a bit, and even made the effort to get to know me and my goals as a person. I always felt heard and never put down. One thing I liked was, that I proposed the idea of networking within the RRF students at Music lane, and Andy mentioned that that had never been proposed by a student before. I really look forward to meeting Kayla (which I did today briefly), Reagan, and Matt!
So, in conclusion, I cannot tell you how excited I am about what comes next!
As a side note, I have included four lame but relevant photos at the bottom. From left to right, you will first see a photo of my mentor's credentials from UT. He has a BS in radio and film! The next one is of one of the studio spaces with an isolation chamber in the background for guitar and vocals. I love the setup, it is so cozy! Next, you can see that I am working on protools from the get-go on a beautiful 32" tv screen. Last but not least, I included a photo of a poster of my mentor's own band, Girling. They rock.
Stay tuned!
