MP-101: Introduction to the Recording Studio and MIDI

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Course Outline

Individual project due week 9.

Group Project due week 15.

Pro Tools Edit Screen printout

Pro Tools Mix Screen printout

Sources for weekly articles:
Sonic Scoop - great source of articles and tutorials.
TapeOp - greatest recording magazine ever. Subscriptions are free.
Pensado's Place - legendary mix engineer Dave Pensado interviews industry folks and has a series of tutorials called Into the Lair.


Week 1 - Introduction to the Music Industry

Knowledge is Power: Glossary of Music Industry Terms by Bob Ohlsson
Article on Music Publishing from Digital Music News.
Explanation of royalties from RoyaltyExchange.com
Harry Fox Agency - generally recognized as the source for mechanical licenses in the US. This page defines some of the legal issues involved with reproducing copyrighted music.
PDInfo - information about the use of public domain and copyrighted music.


Week 2 - Acoustics

Check out this article from Ethan Winer of RealTraps if you are interested in learning more about Low Frequency Acoustic problems in small rooms.
Another article that describes acoustic problems and construction of treatments in more detail.

Cool site for comparing the frequency response of different headphones: Headphone.com learning center. Be sure to check out the "About Headphone Measurements" link so you understand what the graph is telling you.


Week 3 - Making the Right Connections

Know balanced and unbalanced; line level, consumer level, mic level; XLR, 1/4-inch (TS, TRS), RCA; Mono vs. Stereo


Week 4 - Microphone Basics

interesting site for microphone data and other info

How it's Made - watch the building of a U87 microphone - one of the most commonly used condenser mic's in commercial studios.

Cool vintage microphone site


Week 5 - MIDI

basic MIDI tutorial in Pro Tools by Pro Tools Expert

General MIDI info


Week 6 - Mixer Topology No FILE AVAILABLE

Know Insert vs. Auxilary; Basic Signal Flow (Output->Input); Basic Signal Chain (Mic->Preamp->Amp->Speakers)


Week 7 - ProTools Overview

Know the Edit modes and how they work; know the channel strip layout (Inserts, Aux Sends, Track Input, Track Output, Bussing, Grouping, etc.)


Week 8 - Digital Audio Basics

If you are really into this stuff, check out Dan Lavry's website: Lavry Engineering

Week 10 - Time Based Effects


Week11 - Equalization

Recorded Violin sample whose waveform appears on Slide 4 of the presentation.
Synthesized Violin sample using sine waves based on an FFT of the sample (also shown on slide 4).


Week 12 - Compression/Expansion

Samples for slide 12:
Snare
Snare w/gate
Snare w/gate and compressor
Myths of Compression by Greg Scott of Kush Audio.
Compression Tutorial - a great explanation of compression by Justin Colletti.

Here are some online sources for information. As with anything online - BEWARE - always take everything you read with a grain of salt. There are a lot of people trying to sell you something and there is a lot of advertising that poses as unbiased information. On the other hand, there are many gear manufacturers who are really good sources of information. In many forums it can be difficult to sort bad information from good. Always be courteous when asking or answering - you never know who might be reading your posts - and always consider the source.

The best piece of equipment you have is YOUR OWN EARS!

Digital Music News - a website that covers issues related to the modern industry and digital music. you may have to dig a little, but there's some good stuff here.
Mix Magazine Online - scroll down for current issue contents
Electronic Musician - more online articles
GearSlutz - a popular forum for audio types
RecordProduction.com - full of awesome interviews with some of the greatest engineers and producers on the planet.
Working Class Audio - another great source of interviews with engineers and producers.
ProSoundWeb - another online resource - forums, articles, etc.
Geoff Martin's amazing online textbook

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