TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE09:RecordingTechniques

Thebestwaytolearnhowtorecordeffectivelyistorecord,record,recordandrecord!

Butevenifyoudo,thereisstillthelimitationthatyouarelearningonlyfromyourownexperiences.Ideally
theseexperiencesshouldbeasvariedaspossiblewithmanyothermusiciansinvolved.Still,thereis
somethinglacking...

Alwaysyouwillwonderhowotherproducersandengineersachievetheirsounds.Youcanlistentotheir
mixesandanalyzetheminanywayyoulike,butyoudon'tknowhowtheindividualingredientsofthe
trackswereblendedtogetherbecauseyoucan'theartheminisolation.

Soyoudon'tknowwhatthevocalsoundslikealone,forinstance.Youcanonlyhearthevocalinthecontext
ofthemix.

Butinthismodule,intheaudioexamplesandnotes,youcanachieveamazinginsightintotheproduction
processbyhearingelementsofprofessionallyproducedrecordingsinisolation.Youarehearingindividual
soundsastheywererecorded.Notonlythat,youwillheartheminthecontextofthemixtoo.

Thetextofthismodulecoversboththeengineeringandproductionaspectsofrecording.Italsocovers
bothpopularmusic,andclassicalandorchestralmusic.Althoughyoumayonlybeinterestedinpopular
music,itisextremelyusefultohaveaninsightintothisverydifferentworld.Also,theknowledgeandskills
usedforrecordingclassicalandorchestralmusiccanbeappliedtoanycombinationofacoustic
instruments.

Thepracticalassignmentprojectforthismoduleisvery'freeform'.Clearlyyouwillbemakingrecordingsof
yourownalready.Butoneveryusefultechniquetoenhanceyourabilitiesistocontributetotheworkof
others.Bydoingthisyouwillfindyourselfmovingoutsideofyourexisting'zoneofexperience'.Thevalueof
contributingtotheworkofothers,atthisstageofyourlearningprocess,cannotbeplacedtoohighly.

Goodluckwiththemodule!MoreinsightsintotherecordingprocesswillcomewithModule10.

DavidMellor
CourseDirector,AudioMasterclass

AudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourseModule09Introduction