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Dillon Abell
The study of acoustics, or the way sound is produced and moves through the environment, it a very antient study indeed! People have been making discoveries relating to sound for centuries, and although we have learned an immense amount of information, we still have much to learn on the subject. Monitring refers to applying all the knowledge of acoustics and utilizing that to help design proper work environments for sound engineers. This could be setting up a home studio, building a venue, or soundproofing a quite room. All great buildings like a stadium, cathedral, or a professional studio, have utilized knowledge from acoustics and monitoring to help design exactly what they were looking for.
This was one of the most immense chapters in all of the program, and it still barely covers the tip of the iceburg on this subject, but it was a wonderful foot in the door. I thought learning how frequencies resonate through a room as well as how sound can be reflected or absorbed by different materials/angles was very interresting and important. It very much helped me construct my home studio. Knowing what things to do AND what to avoid to allow my studio the best possible sound quality. I still have a ways to go before I deem it perfect, but atleast I have the tools to do it on my own!
Most recently in the studio, Jim had me help him work on improving the sound quality of a live album that a client brought in to him to improve. We worked on creating a more pleasing sonic atmosphere to the recordings, edited out unwanted nuonces, and structured the recording to go track to track. I was able to use a few awesome audio programs in the process including Melodyne, and amazing frequency correction program. For how impressive it was, it was extrememly easy to use and Jim ended up walking away while I continued for 45 minutes on my own! When he returned he was very pleased with my work. He also introduced me to Wavelab, a very high end editing and mastering program that Jim uses in conjunction with Cubase. The amount of things you can do in Wavelab seems endless! We were splicing audio, boosing low frequencies, cutting unwanted or problematic frequencies, and increasing sonic characteristics one right after the other! By the end of the projects, the album hardly sounded live anymore, except for the aspects we chose to keep. I had a blast working with such professional audio equipment, and for it being my first time, Jim was very impressed with our work.
