Lesson 3 - Studio Production Process

Studio Production

Today I've learnt about recording songs within a studio setting and the process involved with this.

There are numerous types of recording studios, not only are their big studios, but due to advances in technology there can now be portable studios and bedroom studios which rely heavily on laptop use.

Key Elements & Pieces of Equipment

Mixing desk - connects all studio equipment together
software - Logic Pro, Qbase, ProTools, DAW (Digital Audio Workstations)
sound source
Mics
Speakers/Monitors
Effects - e.g. reverb

We also learnt about the recording process:

writing > tracking > mixing > mastering > duplication/artwork > distribution

I learnt that 'Mastering' involves adjusting volumes to ensure all tracks are compatible.
As I have not previously studied music production, I was also keen to find out more about what is involved when mixing a recording, such as adding effects such as pitch correction and cutting and pasting elements of different tracks within the music program.

Within this lesson we were required to research into the history of recording techniques. I researched into Thomas Edison, who I discovered invented the Phonograph, the first device that was capable of recording and playing back sound. Edison's early phonographs recorded onto a tinfoil sheet cylinder using an up-down motion of a stylus.
These cylinders in later years would be flipped into disc form in a vinyl format which is what we now know as records.

Lesson 2 - Where can we legally download music from?/Setting up a blog/Using a Mac

Hello

I've had a lovely time setting up this blog this afternoon! As usual it took me ages to think of a name for the URL. Just realised I've been especially forgetful & managed to leave my USB stick at home so uploading last lessons blog stuffs will have to wait till I get home...

Using A Mac

I have previously used a Mac but as it's been a while I've had to re-fresh my skills somewhat. I have managed to so far master:

• Using finder - to find stuff on the computer
• How to use the dock and switch between programs that are open
• How to open & close programs
• How to save files

I have found that using a Mac has come back to me really quickly which is good - I'm hoping (when my student loan EVENTUALLY comes through) to buy a macbook so learning Mac skills will be especially helpful for me.

Legal Music Downloads

The content of our lesson today as focused mainly around music file formats, the difference in quality between each format and where consumers can legally download music online. In groups we were required to investigate different websites online that sell music, paying close attention to:

• The file format of purchased music downloads
• the price of downloads (singles/albums)
• any extra features bundled with the download i.e artwork, DRM

This was a really useful exercise as a lot of the class have discovered newer and cheaper places to buy music online.

Lesson 1

copy and paste from home :)