Chapters 1-2 and My First Session In The Studio - Posted on 2014-11-19 by Daniel Self

I was assigned the first 2 chapters in my first week so this blog takes the place of 2 entries combined into 1. Reading the first 2 chapters peaked my interest altogether. I was reading and learning about the very foundations of audio engineering and therefore the future of my career. I enjoy the etextbook as it also has videos and soundbytes instead of reading only. My first session in the studio went really well. As I arrived early I was able to meet and talk with some other students in the program before we started. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and ready to get things going. This was my first time seeing Pro Tools in person. It was fascinating to learn about and see the the things I would eventually be doing myself. The music being worked on was hip hop recorded by one of the other students Jemeele and a friend of his. Working with only an mp3 version of their tracks, I was impressed to see what could be done with the songs with even these limited means. Unfolding before me were examples of the things I had been reading about in the textbook. I recognized amplitude, waveforms, and frequencies while they were being manipulated to further enhance the songs being worked on. The tracks were cleaned up using eq, subtracting at first where needed and then enhancing. Compression and effects such as delay and reverb were adding and adjusted using live automation. By the time it was all over the tracks sounded much better than what we started with. I was excited and ready to learn more in my next chapter and session. This was an excellent beginning to a dream of mine finally coming to fruition.