BELMONT UNIVERSITY

MIKE CURB COLLEGE OF ENTERTAINMENT AND MUSIC BUSINESS

COURSE SYLLABUS

Course Title: Recording Techniques

Course #: AET 4190-01 Credit Hrs: 3 Semester: Summer 2006

Class Location: Ocean Way Studios Meeting Time(s): Sat. 10am - 2pm Ocean Way

Final Exam: Group Project to be turned in, and paper

Instructor: Mr. Bil VornDick

Contacts: Cell Phone: 948-6251 Email: bilinstudio@comcast.net

COURSE DESCRIPTION: To provide students with advanced knowledge of classic and modern recording techniques through 1) lecture and reading assignments, 2) studio observations, 3) group participation, and 4) an in-depth research project. An emphasis on understanding and problem solving is designed to optimize students' awareness of the real life demands of professional studio recording.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: To provide students with advanced knowledge of classic and modern recording techniques through 1) lecture and reading assignments, 2) studio observations, 3) group participation, and 4) an in-depth research project. An emphasis on understanding and problem solving is designed to optimize students' awareness of the real life demands of professional studio recording.

GOALS OF THE MIKE CURB COLLEGE OF ENTERTAINMENT AND MUSIC BUSINESS:

The following objectives will be applied toward course completion:

· To provide a personalized, career-oriented and practical education that emphasizes leadership, innovation, private enterprise, and entrepreneurship.

· To equip students with the tools to think critically, communicate effectively, accept responsibility, make successful decisions, and prosper in diverse work environments.

· To emphasize quality classroom instruction within the parameters of ethical Christian principles.

Honor CODE:

As members of the Belmont community, students, faculty, staff, and administrators are all responsible for ensuring that their experiences will be free of behaviors, which compromise value. In order to uphold academic integrity, the University has adopted an Honor System. Students and faculty will work together to establish the optimal conditions for honorable academic work. Following is the Student Honor Pledge that guides academic behavior:

“I will not give or receive aid during examinations; I will not give or receive false or impermissible aid in course work, in the preparation of reports, or in any other type of work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of my grade; I will not engage in any form of academic fraud. Furthermore, I will uphold my responsibility to see to it that others abide by the spirit and letter of this Honor Pledge.”

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Attendance: Since there are only 7 classes, each class has a high bearing on final grade.

2. Materials: Various handouts supplied by instructor. You will be responsible for all information contained in the handouts. Multi-track master tape, DAT(s), computer disk(s), paper, etc. as needed.

3. Participation and Prepared assignments: All students are expected to contribute to class discussions, research projects, and any assignments. All students will attend class.

4. Testing: All test dates are noted in the daily class schedule. No make-up tests will be given. Final exam will be comprehensive.

5. Basis of grade evaluation: Grading scale as per the current Undergraduate Bulletin. Participation credits are listed below:

ITEM CREDIT (or %)

A. Attendance 60 %

B. Group Project 20%

C. Individual Project 20%

Total Points (%) = 100%

6. Class Schedule

Outline of Possible Class Activities

If you snooze you loose, note taking is a must !!!!!!!!!

Hard Disc Management

Aliasing Feedback

Microphone design and history.

A review of microphone types and basic specifications (i.e. ribbon vs. condenser vs. dynamic design, patterns, frequency response characteristics, filters, pads, etc.).

An in-depth look at applications for various microphone types.

A discussion of transient and impulse response and their effect on microphone performance

Tube and Ribbon microphone introduction:

microphone design and specifications.

How to handle tube and ribbon mics.

Set-up and usage.

Do's & especially Don'ts.

Understand a New Environment : Recording in a new studio for the first time

Advanced stereo microphone techniques:

Mid-side

Spaced pair (omni-, bi-, cardioid)

Blumlein

ORTF

Coincident pair

PZM & boundary microphones

Binaural emulation

Room Micing

Drum recording: Past and present:

Tuning, hardware and heads — getting it right before the session.

Phase considerations & problems. Degrees to keep in mind

Multiple vs. minimal microphone techniques.

Capturing and using room reflections & reverberation.

Piano recording: Past and present:

Phase considerations & problems.

Multiple vs. minimal microphone techniques.

Capturing and using the piano's soundboard (as well as room reflections & reverberation).

Acoustic / Electric guitar recording: past and present:

Phase considerations & problems.

Multiple vs. minimal microphone techniques.

Capturing and using the guitar's & neck body (as well as room reflections & reverberation).

Vocalist and spoken word recording:

Microphone placement for single and multiple performers.

Pop filter setup and techniques for eliminating ambient noise.

Session psychology, headphone mixes and getting a consistent performance.

The use of compression, tuning and effects in production.

Soloist & Ensemble Techniques: "Live" studio recording (e.g. small jazz ensemble, classical duet, rock, pop, & ??) and other instruments or situations of interest.

Tricks of the trade

Research Project Protocol:

1. Four (4) three (3) member research teams.

2. Projects should be based around research of technical and/or perceptual themes and are NOT “demo” projects.

3. For perceptual tasks, members of the class will serve as "subjects" or “listeners.”

4. Tasks will be designed that can be completed within two studio days (two (2) 12hr days, 24 hrs total per project).

5. Project background and proposal will be completed by August. All testing will be completed by in August. Results and observations will be written in research-style paper comprising at least 4 sections (Background, Methods, Results, & Conclusion) and will be presented to the class in some type of “multimedia” presentation.

Articles / Papers of Interest:

*Alan Sides “ The Mic Cabinet” you must hear

Bosun, Xie (2001). Signal Mixing for a 5.1-Channel Surround System – Analysis and Experiment.
J. Audio Eng. Soc., 49(4), 263-274.

Olson, Harry. F. (1986). A history of high-quality studio microphones. Stereophonic Techniques: An anthology of reprinted articles on stereophonic techniques. AES Publications, NY, 219-228. (Originally presented Nov. 1, 1976 at the 55th Convention, Audio Engineering Society).

Bartlett, Bruce. (1987). Choosing the right microphone by understanding design tradeoffs. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 35(11), 924-944.

Willett, John. (1998). The symmetrical microphones capsule and the quest for the perfect "acoustic window." Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 3-8. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Schneider, Martin. (1998). Transients in microphones: Pop and impulse. Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 25-33. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Snow, William, B. (1953). Basic principles of stereophonic sound. J. SMPTE, 65, 567-589.

Ceoen, Carl. (1972). Comparative listening tests. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 20(1), 247-254.

Borja, S. Erik. (1977). How to fool the ear and make bad recordings. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 25(7/8), 260-268.

Olson, Lynn T. (1979). The Stereo-180 microphone system. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 27(73), 269-274.

Dooley, Wesley L. & Streicher, Ronald D. (1982). M-S stereo: A powerful technique for working in stereo. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 30(10), 707-718.

Dooley, Wesley L. & Streicher, Ronald D. (1985). Basic stereo microphone perspectives--A review. J. Audio Eng. Soc., 33(7/8), 548-556.

Torio, Guy. (1998). Understanding the transfer functions of directional condenser microphones in response to different sound sources. Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 9-24. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Wuttke, Joerg. (1998). Technologies for recording unobtrusively with high quality microphones. Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 9-24. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Baba, Tetsuo. (1998). Microphones for DSD recordings--Practical experience. Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 9-24. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Barneveld, Ole B. S. W. V. (1998). Current developments in high quality miniature microphones. Microphones and Loudspeakers: the Ins & Outs. AES Publications, NY, 9-24. (Originally presented March 1998 at the UK Conference 1998).

Web Resources:

Home Recording Web Site http://homerecording.about.com

ProRec.com

The Recording Web Site

Modern Recording

ArtistPro.com http://www.artistpro.com

Books as reference:

Modern Recording Techniques by David Miles Huber and Robert E. Runstein, Focal Press;
ISBN: 0240804562; 5th edition (June 2001)

Microphone Data edited by Chris Woolf, (Rycote) Human Computer Interface Limited (2001)

Pro Tools 5.1 for Music Production by Mike Collins, Focal Press; ISBN: 0240516400; (2002)

Critical Listening and Auditory Perception by F. Alton Everest , Cardinal Business Media, Music & Entertainment; ISBN: 0918371139; (1997)

7.

Accommodation of Disabilities:

In compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Belmont University will provide reasonable accommodation of all medically documented disabilities. If you have a disability and would like the university to provide reasonable accommodations of the disability during this course, please notify Tammye Tanksley, Director of Counseling & Developmental Support in the Office of the Dean of Students (460-6407) as soon as possible.