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 April 2004 NEWS
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PARSONS AUDIO & CENTER for AUDIO STUDIES
April 2004 NEWS
1. Two courses about to start at the Center for Audio Studies: Microphones & Mic Technique, and Pro Tools Advanced: Music Creation & Production
2. New Products: Yamaha PM5D, Digidesign, Bang &Olufsen*
3. Pyramix comes to town
4. Got pre-owned equipment to sell?
5. For Sale: large studio/DAW desk (demo) -- $300
6. Help Wanted: five jobs
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1. TWO COURSES ABOUT TO START
Spaces remain in two excellent courses: the Tuesday section of Tom Bates' course in Microphones & Mic Technique, which starts April 6; also in Brian Doser's course in Pro Tools, Advanced: Music Creation & Production, which starts Monday, April 12.
In recent e-mailings, we've said a lot about Tom's course. (Learn more at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning_Parsons_Center.html.) In the Pro Tools course you will learn advanced operational skills, including tips, shortcuts, work-arounds, and other ingenious ways -- many of them undocumented -- of creating and producing music using Pro Tools. While acquiring new understanding and skills, you will also get an up-to-date and in-depth look at the ever-expanding Pro Tools family of hardware -- controllers, input and output devices, interfaces, etc. -- and software, including the extraordinary variety of third-party plug-ins.
DETAILS:
- Pro Tools, Advanced: Music Creation & Production
- Taught by Brian Doser, the Center’s advanced Pro Tools instructor and Digidesign’s Northeast Regional Product Specialist,
- Classes: five 3-hour classes
- Dates & times: 7-10PM, 5 Mondays, beginning April 12; and 7-10PM, Monday - Friday, August 9-13;
Production for Video, Film, Radio & TV—7-10PM, beginning November 1 - Prerequisites: permission of the Instructor
- Class size: Enrollment is limited to twelve students; minimum is four.
- Location: Parsons Audio’s Demonstration Room
- Coffee & snacks provided
- Tuition: $595; 10% less for prior participants in multi-session courses
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2. NEW PRODUCTS
- Yamaha PM5D -
Yamaha's new PM5D console will be available in July. Primarily for sound reinforcement, it incorporates many of the features of the PM1D. It occupies a niche between the PM1D and an SR-configured DM2000. Retail price will be about $49k and $66k for the manual and recall versions. We'll be reporting more later about the PM5D. For now, see details at http://www.yamahaproaudio.com/.
- Digidesign ICON and Command 8 -
In a recent e-mail, we mentioned two exciting new Digidesign products: the ICON and Command 8 control surfaces. (Details at http://www.digidesign.com) When it's available in about another mont, the ICON will be a centerpiece of our Demonstration Room.
- B&O BeoLab loudspeakers* -
In a few weeks we will be displaying another showpiece: the latest Bang & Olufsen* loudspeakers, created in part by David Moulton. We will have BeoLab 5's, BeoLab 3's, and a BeoLab 2 -- all of them suitable for professional applications. [*NOTE: We are not a B&O dealer -- no one is except authorized BO stores. Along with Dave, we will be working in co-operation with the Boston B&O store to help media production professionals take advantage of these remarkable speakers.] You may recall that we had BeoLab 5's in a room at our Expo in November, and that Dave gave a presentation there on the subject. We will soon have much more to say about them. For now, if you're curious, the B&O web site, at http://www.bang-olufsen.com, shows stunning and informative presentations about each model.
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3. MERGING TECHNOLOGIES' PYRAMIX COMES TO TOWN
Graham Brown, a product specialist at Merging Technologies, will be at Parsons Audio on Wednesday, April 28. If you'd like a demo, or to talk with Graham about Merging Technologies products, please contact us.
Merging Technologies manufacturers Pyramix, a highly successful PC-hosted workstation. (Visit http://www.merging.com/.) A number of top facilities in New England own it. The hardware is mature, now in its third generation. The system, which runs on Windows 2000 or XP, suits multi-track music record/editing, broadcast, post-production, and CD, DVD and SACD mastering environments. It offers instant and unlimited fades and X-fades, so that creating and changing an edit or fade point are instantaneously performed, even across 64 tracks. Another feature: real-time processing of EQ, dynamics, FX and stereo and surround automation. Plug-ins are 32-bit. And the system provides excellent mastering tools, including for SACD. It also syncs to PAL, NTSC, and HDTV.
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4. LISTING OF _YOUR_ PRE-OWNED EQUIPMENT (if you wish) COMES TO THE PARSONS AUDIO WEB SITE
Do you have any audio equipment you'd like to sell? At the request of many of our customers, we are devoting a section of our web site to listing such items.
When you send us a listing, please include the item's description along with your name, phone number, and/or e-mail address -- which we'll post, so that buyers can contact you directly. Include a selling price. E-mail the info to us at sales@paudio.com. we may post your e-mail message in full, so keep it slim, trim, informative, honest, and list-like. We will date each entry, and may delete it after a while, to keep the list fresh. If you want, you can then resubmit any items you haven't sold.
When a sale results, we ask that you (as seller) pay Parsons Audio a fee of 10%, on the honor system. That will pay us for our part in the process.
We won't get in the middle of these sales. We're a dealer in new equipment, not pre-owned. These listings will function entirely at your own risk. We will accept no liability. We cannot and will not vouch for the quality of equipment, the accuracy or exclusivity of our listings, the integrity of sellers and buyers, the viability of payments, the absence of fraud or criminal intent in buyer or seller, or anything else about the transaction. We're just putting up a virtual bulletin board for the community to use as it pleases. Buyer and seller beware!
You are probably well able to handle that. If not, then you might turn to auction sites or used-equipment vendors that offer more security.
So, what gear would you like to convert into money? Send us an e-mail about it.
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5. FOR SALE: LARGE STUDIO/DAW DESK (demo) - $300 (normally $900+)
We have a demo Omnirax Pro Station for sale. For photos and other details, see http://www.omnirax.com/site/show_product.asp?pid=14&cid=1. Our has been a fixture in the Parsons Audio Demonstration Room. We're selling it to make room for a Digidesign ICON. The desk is black, about 6ft. wide x 3-1/2 ft. deep. It has a keyboard drawer wide enough to hold keyboard and mouse; two 12-space equipment racks (with rails) at either side; two 4-space racks in the overbridge; shelves on the overbridge for a large computer monitor and a pair of nearfield loudspeakers; ports for cables; casters for rolling the desk. The desk has become quite scratched, but doesn't look bad, and is perfectly useable. We normally sell Pro Stations for over $900. We're selling this one for $300 -- well below Dealer Cost.
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6. HELP WANTED
We have received many Help Wanted notices lately. We have forwarded several to you already -- from Boston College, the National Radio Project, WBZ, and the Air Force. But they keep on coming, including one just in today from Appalachian State University, which has a faculty vacancy in Recording Technology, and one from City University of New York at Brooklyn College, which is hiring an Assistant/Associate Professor in Radio and Sound Art. You can find all these notices on our web site's Job Postings page, at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/about_job_openings.html.
March 25, 2004
MICROPHONES & MIC TECHNIQUES, taught by Tom Bates, beginning April 7
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Do you use microphones to mic voices and musical instruments? If so, you would almost certainly benefit immensely (okay, maybe only tremendously) from taking this course from Tom Bates. Some reasons follow at #3 below. After you read those, you can contact us to enroll, or to talk it over; we'll probably connect you with Tom, as long as he's not out of town on a session.
1. Enrollment
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The first section of the course is almost full -- one slot left. (If you're interested, call now.) To maintain quality, we are capping enrollment at twelve. However, as soon as we fill the course, we will start a standby list. If that list fills, and if we can arrange the logistics, we'll probably add a second section. It would likely meet a day before or after the first course -- i.e., on Tuesday or Thursday evenings instead of Wednesdays, beginning the first full week in April. We have enough space and seats at Tanglewood to easily accommodate both sections.
2. Vocalists
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Our thanks to the more than fifty (!) vocalists who responded about participating in our class. That's way more than we need. Almost all applicants are extremely well qualified. The depth of the response suggests to us that there may be many musicians, not only vocalists, who would like to learn about miking their instruments. We have taken note of that, and hope at some point to offer Recording for Musicians workshops or similar, to get into such subjects. As most of us musicians appreciate, our audiences usually listen not directly to our instruments but to loudspeakers that convey those instruments electronically. (We've written here before about The Loudspeaker As Musical Instrument.) These days, mastering the recording process is an important part of being a musician. If you might be interested in such courses, or have any suggestions to make re content, etc., we welcome your input.
3. Course Details
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The Microphones & Mic Technique course will meet seven times, beginning April 7. Five meetings will take place on Wednesday evenings, 7-10PM, at Futura Productions, a recording studio in Roslindale. Futura has many excellent attributes, including:
a. plenty of room;
b. a fine sounding recording space for the course work;
c. a top-flight piano. It's a well-maintained Steinway often used for serious recordings hereabouts. Tom Bates notes of this particular instrument that he "...would have no problem recommending it to any world-class pianist I've ever worked with," which includes many of the greats.
d. a convenient location;
e. a large mic collection (Tom will be bringing many of his own to class, too);
f. professional, supportive staff;
g. ...and a cool neighborhood (Roslindale Square) full of excellent inexpensive restaurants.
You can get a good virtual look at Futura at http://www.futuraproductions.com/info.html. The final two class meetings, described below, will take place at Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood (Lenox, MA) and in a listening room.
We've quoted the Course Description in earlier e-mailings. You can find it at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning_Pars_Ctr_Courses.html#anchor%20MMT. What's new is the following syllabus that Tom Bates, who teaches the course, has written and sent to us:
SYLLABUS
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This is a course in mic choice and placement technique. It begins with 5 lessons, each a week apart, each lasting for three hours, and each in a recording studio.
First Class: This class is an introduction to various approaches to mic placement in a multitrack mono studio environment, including discussions of different styles and technologies of currently available microphones, and techniques for determining correct choices and placements. Approaches to all of the major musical instrument groups will be discussed. A method is explored that insures optimal placement when miking unfamiliar instruments.
Second Class: This class is a concentration on mic placement for the recording of pianos. This would include variations for differing musical genres, and an examination of the issues of choice, health, and maintenance of the instrument to be recorded. A piano will be recorded using different methods simultaneously which are then compared for quality and appropriateness at playback.
Third Class: This class is an exploration of vocal recording techniques (mostly lead pop/commercial vocals, but some discussion of other musical genres, including classical, and the recording of background vocals) with many tools and tricks for handling the vocal sessions and the vocalists. Male and female vocalists will record (overdub to tracks) using several mic techniques which will then be compared for results.
Fourth Class: This class is an exploration of microphone techniques for recording drums and some hand percussion. An in-depth discussion of techniques and recording style variations with different musical genres, and a discussion of drum tuning and setup for recording (which is different from setup for live playing). A drum kit will be recorded (overdubbed to tracks) and the results evaluated at playback. There will be some discussion of MIDI tools and track supplementation and the use of compression and EQ to modify or to change the recorded response.
Fifth Class: This class consists of a discussion of recording techniques for recording ensembles in stereo, or surround sound, imaging. The 8 - 10 named techniques for stereo recording will be explained, with live experiments performed to expose their various advantages and disadvantages. A recording will be made by the class (of the class) of many of the techniques simultaneously, and played back and compared for optimal results.
All of the classes will include live recording exercises, so the piano, drum and vocal sessions, for example, will record actual performances of those instruments by accomplished, professional musicians.
After the conclusion of the classes, I will bring the students to a Tanglewood concert at Ozawa Hall where they (and I) will set up perhaps five of the various stereo recording mic placement techniques discussed in class on three tall mic stands across the front of the hall. The concert will be recorded in all of these chosen techniques simultaneously while the students listen to the concert (as members of the audience), sitting in the row closest to the mic stands.
The conclusion of this educational exercise will occur a few days later when we have the students go to a studio environment and hear the recordings played back and the various mic techniques compared with each other and with the students’ remembrances of the sound of the concert in the hall.
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ADDENDUM, below, just received, regarding the current job opening at Boston College. For that posting, see our web site or 3/17 e-mailing.
Send letter of application, summary of radio experience, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and three letters of recommendation to Ms. Colleen Crowley, Search Secretary, Department of Communication, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Application review beginning on April 1, 2004; applications accepted until position filled.
March 26, 2004
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Parsons Center for Audio Studies
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PRO TOOLS: INTERMEDIATE
If you have taken the Principles of Pro Tools training course at the Center for Audio Studies, or if you have experience with Pro Tools but aren't yet an expert, the Intermediate course is for you. The next offering begins soon (March 8). If you're interested, now is the time to enroll. You can do that by replying to this e-mail, or by contacting the Center staff (see contact info below). The Center offers four Pro Tools training courses, ranging from introductory to advanced. If you are unsure which of them would suit you best, please contact the staff, which will refer you to a faculty member to talk it over.
course description
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Most of us who use Pro Tools pick it up on the fly. We mouse and click, learning our way. We fool with it, record, do production, etc., and may become proficient at it. Like Photoshop, Final Cut, and other software used by professionals, however, Pro Tools is not just another intuitive piece of software.You will benefit from studying it more carefully. Wouldn’t it be nice to know what’s really going on—what those dialog boxes really mean; what all those tools are really capable of?
The Pro Tools: Intermediate course is for Pro Tools users who are ready to fill the gaps in their knowledge; to pull together, organize, and expand what they know, for themselves and their clients. The best way to accomplish that is interactively, in person, with an expert instructor. What you will learn will enable you to be more productive and creative in your work, and to take on new kinds of projects. The classroom, Parsons Audio’s Demonstration Room, contains complete Pro Tools systems. (Parsons Audio is New England’s full-line Digidesign dealer.) For classroom use by participants, it provides enough systems to give participants lots of hands-on time.
Taught by: Brian Doser, of Digidesign (see bio, below)
Classes: five 3-hour classes
Dates & times: 7-10PM, 5 Mondays, March 8-April 5
Prerequisites: Principles of Pro Tools, or solid familiarity with Pro Tools (with permission of the Instructor)
Location: the Demonstration Room at Parsons Audio
Coffee & snacks provided
Tuition: $595; 10% less for prior participants in multi-session courses
syllabus
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Class 1: Review of Basic terms and Principles -- lets make sure we’re all on the same page
a. Edit and Mix Windows
b. Plug-in architecture
c. File management
Class 2: Editing techniques
a. Cleaning the project
b. Using the Smart Tool
c. Repeat paste to fill
Class 3: Mixing Techniques
a. Assembling the mixer
b. Using Aux/Master tracks to their advantage
c. Routing to External Processing
Class 4: Plug-ins
a. Finding the right method -- Audiosuite, RTAS, TDM
b. The hidden parts
Class 5: Control Surfaces
a. Using them to speed the process
b. The “How and Why”
c. Wrap up
faculty biography
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Brian Doser has taught Pro Tools widely. Advising and instructing Pro Tools users is his day job, in fact: he is Digidesign’s Northeast Regional Product Specialist and Representative. Before that, he was Audio Engineering Manager for WERS-FM at Emerson College, in Boston; he was also an instructor in audio production there. He has engineered at numerous recording studios, including The Village Recorder in West L.A. He is an expert Pro Tools user—up-to-date on the system itself, and on the broad array of third-party hardware peripherals and software plug-ins that it works with. Brian is a graduate of the Tonmeister Studies program at SUNY, where he studied under David Moulton, another of the Center's faculty members.
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Parsons Audio & Center for Audio Studies
info@paudio.com • www.paudio.com
192 Worcester St., Wellesley, MA 02481 USA
781.431.8708, fax .8783
To unsubscribe from these occasional e-mailings, reply to this message. Include the word UNSUBSCRIBE in either the Subject field or the body of the message.
March 25, 2004
Vocalists Wanted
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The Center for Audio Studies is looking for two experienced vocalists, male and female, for Tom Bates' Microphones & Mic Technique course (April/May). We'll need each for only about an hour, but they would be welcome to attend the entire class/session. The class will take place in a Boston-area recording studio (to be determined), and will involve trying different mics and techniques, discussing issues related to miking vocals, and listening to results. It will be an education for the vocalists as well as for the students. (Tom has recorded many vocalists during his 8-Grammy-winning career!) Also, ideally, each vocalist will already have a multi-track or music-minus recording that Tom and the class can work with some. Travel stipend provided.
If you are such a vocalist, or know of one who might be interested, simply respond to this e-mail. We'll be grateful to you!
February 23, 2004
The next course at the Parsons Center is one of the finest: Critical Listening for Audio Professionals. It starts next week. If you are interested, now is the time to enroll. Just reply to this e-mail, or call the Center staff at 781/431-8708, x14 or x18.
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Critical Listening for Audio Professionals
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- Taught by David Moulton
- Classes: five 3-hour classes
- Dates & times: 7-10PM, 5 of 6 Thursdays, March 4-April 1 (reserve date: April 8),
- Prerequisites: none
- Locations: the Demonstration Room at Parsons Audio, and the state-of-the-art, surround sound listening room at Moulton Laboratories, in Groton
- Textbook: Total Recording, by David Moulton, available through Parsons Audio at a discounted price of $75, including CD
- Coffee & snacks provided
- Certificate of Completion (signed by DM) awarded to all participants
- Tuition: $595; 10% less for prior participants in multi-session courses at the Center
Critical Listening is one of David Moulton's signature courses. Class sizes are small (a maximum of ten), so it's a great opportunity to get real close to one-on-one with him. If you have taken courses with Dave before, or attended his talks at the Parsons Expo, or read his magazine articles or textbook, or used his Golden Ears CD's, or if you read either of the big articles about him in recent issues of the Boston Globe and New York Times (visit http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2004/02/03/a_sound_idea/ and http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/19/technology/circuits/19howw.html), you know what a treat is in store for you. As the front page of the Globe said a few weeks ago, he really is an audio guru. As well as being a long-time master teacher and noted author, he is a Grammy-nominated recording engineer, and now co-creator of one of the finest loudspeakers on Earth. People who study with him are richly rewarded!
Regarding critical listening, something Dave said in the Globe article stands out: "(S)peakers are instruments that make music. ...99 percent of all music is played on them." He knows how crucial listening is in the audio profession, and is a past master at teaching it.
Anyway, below are some particulars about the course. If you'd like to know more, or to talk it over, you can call the Parsons staff, or feel free to call Dave at 978/448-6828.
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Course Description
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Critical Listening will develop your listening skills for professional audio work. It will address the following topic areas:
- Using our ears for objective and subjective audio analysis.
- Monitoring concerns: how loud, how near, how long do we listen? Which monitors should we use, how do we set up the room, etc?
- The nature of stereophony, including the phantom image, localization, and perception of depth;
- Analysis of musical and production styles in recording,;
- The physical and psychological limits of our auditory sense;
- Analysis of dynamic and frequency ranges in recordings, and how they affect the recording;
- Surround sound: issues of production and monitoring;
We will learn detailed and systematic techniques for approaching the audio production process, by ear, in a consistent and professional way. There will be demonstrations and discussions of the underlying acoustical and psychoacoustical principles that affect how we produce and listen to recordings in all styles, both multitrack and live. Class will be in an interactive seminar format with a rich array of demonstrations and laboratory tools. Dave Moulton will describe monitoring practices for audio production, including how to listen, what to listen for, how to evaluate your work, etc., during tracking, overdubs, mixing and mastering. An extra bonus will be a section devoted to surround sound, complete with a discrete 6-channel surround monitor system and a variety of surround recordings to study. In addition, there will be several printed handouts provided and a gratis copy of Dave’s Critical Listening Evaluation CD.
The first 3-hour seminars will take place in the Demonstration Room of Parsons Audio, in Wellesley, MA. The last few will take place at Moulton Laboratories, in Groton, MA, and will include use of the remarkable new BeoLab 5 monitor speakers, in stereo and in surround. The course is an excellent complement to all other courses at the Center.
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Dave Moulton says of this course:
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“For me, listening is absolutely at the center of our work in audio. We listen for fun, and we also sometimes get paid to listen for profit.
“My Critical Listening course is about the latter — how we can systematically listen to our recorded work, and that of others, to understand more quickly, clearly and effectively what works and what doesn’t. We do this for the benefit of clients and ourselves. I love teaching this course. We get into some really interesting places, and we get to listen to recordings in ways that nobody normally does. We all learn a lot from it. We also start digging into style, moving past our personal tastes and prejudices and into something deeper and more effective: a sense of how recordings work to evoke various feelings, and how we can get them to do even more of that good mojo. That's valuable!
“Add in some stuff about perception, a fair amount about how loudspeakers and rooms work together (or don't work, as is often the case) and some really interesting ear training, and it’s a ball. Critical listening is a great subject. I think this course does it justice!”
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Syllabus
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Class 1, in Wellesley
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Introductions
Who We Are
Why We’re Here
Definition of Critical Listening
Critical Listening As An Objective Analysis Skill
Recognizing and naming frequencies, spectra, amplitudes, times and distortions.
A discussion of octaves of the audible spectrum.
Learning to integrate audio behaviors with “sonic signatures.”
Critical Listening As Subjective Production Skill
Evaluating and understanding styles
The relationship between technology and style (form follows function)
Correlation of production style, engineering style and musical style
Imagining (“auralizing”) sounds and styles
The Audio Window
Frequency
Amplitude
Time
The primary audio map: frequencies at amplitudes changing over time.
The Physical and Perceptual Bases Of Stereo
The Phantom Image
The Median Plane
Localization by Amplitude, Time and Early Reflection
Assorted Golden Ears Drills?
Class 2, in Wellesley
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Listening to recordings
Musical message vs. surface message
The role of lyrics
Analysis of style
Song Analysis Sheets
A+B/A-B listening
A+B/A-B as an analysis tool
A+B/A-B as a production style in multitrack recordings
The monitoring problem
Listening back to the source recording
Listening ahead to the end user’s world
End-user environments
Monitoring environments
Typical small production room
Live End Dead End
Quasi-anechoic environments
Other
Assorted Golden Ears Drills?
Class 3, in Wellesley
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More Song Analysis
Level Management and Loudness in Recording and Production
Acoustical and Electrical Signal Levels
Acoustical and Electrical Noise Floors
Sound-source-to-listener’s-ear-via-audio gain structures
An analysis of levels in commercial recordings
How many bits is enough?
How big a dynamic range do we really need?
Assorted Golden Ears Drills?
Class 4, in Groton
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More Song Analysis
Spectral and Levels Management
Using different monitors. Near-field and far-field/big vs. small,. etc.
Stereophonic manipulations and concerns.
Assorted Golden Ears Drills?
Class 5, in Groton
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More Song Analysis
Surround Sound
Demonstration
Discussion of future concerns
The various surround modalities.
Surround production of music recordings
Questions, answers and discussion.
Special measurements
Evaluations and certificates.
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Parsons Center for Audio Studies
192 Worcester St., Wellesley, MA 02481 USA
781.431.8708, fax .8783
http://www.paudio.com
To unsubscribe from these occasional e-mailings, simply reply to this message. Include the word UNSUBSCRIBE in either the Subject field or the body of the message.
February 4, 2004
Story About Dave Moulton in the Boston Globe, 2/3/04
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Yesterday's Boston Globe featured a delightful and informative story about Dave Moulton. Dave is co-founder of the Parsons Center for Audio Studies, a principal faculty member there, and long-time friend and teacher of the New England professional audio community. You can read it (without the photos and graphics) at http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2004/02/03/a_sound_idea/. Or, next time you're at Parsons Audio, ask to see our copy.
For those of you who missed it, here is some description. At the beginning of the banner on top of the front page of yesterday's Globe, right above the photo of the returning Super Bowl champs, was a graphic of a loudspeaker radiating sound, with this caption: "He listens well: audio guru redesigns the stereo speaker." The story itself was the top story on the front page of the Globe's Living/Arts section. (It ran _above_ the Janet Jackson story. Way to go, Dave!) Under a big color photo of Dave in his studio, sitting next to one of his B&O BeoLab 5 loudspeakers, was this headline: "A SOUND IDEA: David Moulton spent 20 years trying to design the perfect stereo speaker. He may have done it." Many people who have heard the Beolabs, as you may have done at our Expo last November, would not argue with that suggestion.
The story was written by Tristram Lozaw, a correspondent with the Boston Globe and also a student at the Center for Audio Studies, where he has taken courses with Dave, which led to the story.
Critical Listening course
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We probably needn't add that Dave teaches a courses in critical listening at the Center. A significant part of the course is spent at Moulton Laboratories, which is his studio in Groton (MA). There the class utilizes his surround sound array of Beolab 5's -- significant education for both the mind and the ear. The next offering of the course begins in a few weeks, on Thursday evening, March 4, at 7PM. You can enroll now. Class size is limited to twelve. For details, please contact us and/or visit our web site at http://www.paudio.com, where you can find a thorough course description and syllabus.
January 29, 2004
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PARSONS AUDIO & CENTER for AUDIO STUDIES
late January 2004 NEWS
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- product news: Digidesign AVoption; NTI Minstruments
- loaners available
- DAW demos
- Bargains galore
- Center for Audio Studies notes
- EXPO 2004: November 11
- great microphone site
product news
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Product news never ends at Parsons Audio. We're glad to inform or advise you, or loan you demos. For more about any of our 200+ product lines, please contact us. Here are a few particulars.
1. The Digidesign AVoption/XL brings Avid video into Pro Tools. It is designed for post production professionals who require integrated, broadcast-quality picture, and compatibility with Avid systems. It supports instant capture, import and playback of Avid JFIF video media directly within Pro Tools|HD, and is compatible with all Avid systems based on the Meridien video subsystem, including Avid Symphony, Media Composer|XL, and Xpress NT. The system includes a breakout box for component, composite, and S-video I/O (SDI optional). It captures and plays back all JFIF video from 15:1 all the way up to 1:1 (uncompressed). If you're interested, we have a demo system for sale at a reduced price.
2. Do you have a need in your facility for inexpensive, small (handheld, battery-powered), powerful test instruments that perform electronic (digital and/or analog) and acoustical testing? Something that makes just about any analog or digital signal (up to 96kHz sample rate) visible and audible? We have some in our Demonstration Room for you. NTI is the successor to Neutrik's test instrument division, based in Liechtenstein (that's a small country between Switzerland and Austria). They manufacture three devices: the Minirator audio signal generator ($215), the Minilyzer analog audio analyzer ($579; $854 with MiniLINK USB-based PC interface), and the Digilyzer ($1499; $1774 with MiniLINK). A MiniSPL calibrated measurement microphone adds $349. All of them are tiny, lightweight, rugged, cleverly designed, and fun to use. No specialized training is needed to use them -- not that knowledge of signal basics doesn't help! Despite their ease of use and low price, there's a lot of depth to them. They are real utility tools, good for generating and analyzing signals, but also for simply listening to signals (D or A) directly from outputs, for troubleshooting, etc.
The Minilyzer can display and measure levels, frequency, distortion, PPM and VU, polarity, and signal balance. It also has a scope mode, can sweep, includes all useful weighting filters, and does 1/3 octave spectrum analysis of either electronic or acoustical signals. (You can do certifiable acoustical measurements in clubs, performance venues, etc.) The Digilyzer handles virtually all digital audio formats. It can display complete channel status information, bit statistics, THD+N, VU+PPM, can log events, etc. Both analyzers can talk to a PC -- for logging, display, taking and storing snapshots, etc. We have all three devices here, as well as the microphone. For info, contact us and/or visit http://www. minstruments.com or http://www.nt-instruments.com.
loaners available
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If you've visited our Demonstration Room, you know that we have many dozens of items available for you to borrow and evaluate. They include:
- consoles: Sony, Yamaha, etc.
- loudspeakers: Genelec, Mackie, KRK, Earthworks, Quested, etc.
- processors: all kinds -- effects, converters, etc. Among other recent acquisitions here, we'll soon have a rack of the latest from Eventide.
- microphones: Neumann (including a pari of the new digital), Soundelux, Blue, Microtech-Gefel, Shure, AKG, Audio-technica, Groove Tubes, Audix, Royer, etc.
- audio test gear: see NTI, above
- and more: headphones, instructional CDs and books, all kinds of peripherals and accessories, etc.
DAW demos
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As ever, we're well equipped to demonstrate workstations and related items to you. We have a complete Pro Tools system here; same re Nuendo. And we're visited by specialists who can show you other DAWs that we sell, including SADiE and Merging Technologies' Pyramix system, which has been getting much attention lately. We're also a reseller for Apple Computer and all other DAW peripherals, many of which are on display here. (Have you seen the Apple Cinema Display?Forewarning: to see it is to love it.) For an appointment, please call our staff.
bargains galore
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Our two bargain Lexicon 960L's are gone, but many fine items remain that we are selling at reduced prices, often at or below Dealer Cost. They include a complete SADiE Artemis system, a demo Digidesign AVoption/XL, a Mackie MDR 24/96 Non-linear Recorder, Tascam and Sony CD recorders, Glyph CD-RW's (SCSI or Firewire), a Sony MD recorder, a Steinberg Houston VST Studio Controller, dbx Quantum II and 160SL, a variety of microphones, and dozens of other items. All are warrantied and returnable. Call us for prices or info. We'll produce a complete list soon.
Center for Audio Studies notes
----------------------------
1. A reminder to anyone who has taken -- or is currently taking -- multi-session courses at the Center: next Saturday, February 7, is our free Career & Professional Development Seminar, with Tom Bates, Dave Moulton, et al. It is exclusively for you. If you'd like to attend, we ask that you RSVP by next Wednesday (Feb. 4). It will take place in the Demonstration Room at Parsons Audio. 1-4:30PM: presentations and panel discussion; 4:30-5:30: social hour. Further details are at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning_Pars_Ctr_Courses.html. If you have any questions, please contact the staff. The seminar is _only_ for participants in our multisession courses. If you don't qualify -- i.e., have taken only Golden Ears, or no courses, at the Center -- but are interested, we'll have an expanded, weekend-long version in October; details at our web site.
2. From all reports, the Critical Listening Weekend (Jan. 17-18) with Tom Bates and Dave Moulton was a great success. If you missed it but would like to take the Critical Listening course, the 5-week version (with Dave) will begin March 4 and run for five of six Thursday evenings. Details at our web site.
3. Speaking of Dave, during the next few days (Monday morning, we think) you'll find a substantial story about him and his enterprises in the Living/Arts section of the Boston Globe.
4. Tom Bates is in Portugal just now, doing further production, engineering, mastering, etc. for his burgeoning record label--thereby collecting further experience with which to enrich the skills and knowledge of his students!
5. Principles of Pro Tools, taught by Lauren Weinger, and Principles of Audio, taught by Dave Moulton, are currently under way in our Wellesley and Groton studio/classrooms. Some Pro Tools students are finding it helpful to their work to bring in their own systems. Principles of Audio is proving essential for beginners, and a good refresher in audio basics for many working professionals. Both courses will repeat later this year.
6. In case you don't own them but would like to, Dave Moulton's CD's (Golden Ears audio ear training and the audio lecture series) and book (Total Recording) are available here. Details at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning.html. You're welcome to come try them, or to borrow them for evaluation.
7. Don't forget that if there's enough interest in audio training at your facility, the Center can bring its courses to you.
EXPO 2004
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Now that you're into the new year, you might want to enter the date of this year's EXPO into your calendar. It is Wednesday, November 11 (Veteran's Day), and will take place once again in the Wellesley Community Center from late in the morning until well into the evening.
great microphone site
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At http://microphone-data.com/ you can find data about just about every microphone that exists. The sponsor is Rycote. The site requires registration, but says this: "Rycote abide by the European Union Data Protection Rules, and will never share your data with a third party."
January 21, 2004
The PARSONS CENTER for AUDIO STUDIES
* Brief Notices
* Career & Professional Development Seminar
Brief Notices
------------
1. Tom Bates' launch of his record label, which includes a number of production and engineering projects in Europe, will keep him over there through much of February. We've had to cancel his Principles of Mixing course, which was scheduled to start February 11. We expect to offer it for five evenings this summer, August 16-20. We'll confirm that soon.
2. Brian Doser's Intermediate-level Pro Tools course will begin Monday, March 8, not March 1. It will continue for five consecutive Monday evenings.
3. Tom Bates' five-week Microphones & Mic Technique course will begin April 7, not March 31, and will continue on consecutive Wednesdays thereafter. This course is proving popular (not surprisingly -- see the description at http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning_Pars_Ctr_Courses.html). Spaces in it remain, however, on a first-come, first-served basis.
FREE Career & Professional Development Seminar
---------------------------------------------
- Saturday afternoon, February 7, 1-4:30PM, followed by social hour, 4:30-5:30PM
- Guided by the Center's faculty
- Location to be determined (depends on enrollment)
- Free of charge to all prior participants in multi-session courses at the Center -- that is, all courses except Golden Ears
- RSVP required, please: reply to this e-mail, or send to info@paudio.com, or call 781/431-8708, x18 or x14
As you all know, we offer audio training and education. Our courses present valuable technical knowledge and hands-on skills. But we know that what you are really working towards is a rewarding and successful career in audio. This free seminar is offered as our recognition of that fundamental truth. Early on, we decided your professional success would be a key element in our business plan. That's why we're offering this seminar. We hope you'll come! All that we ask is that you RSVP, please.
The Seminar is intended both for professionals who work or want to work within organizations ((studios, production facilities, pro audio companies, broadcasters, etc.), and for those who run or hope to run their own independent operations. At the Seminar, the likes of Tom Bates and David Moulton will give talks based on their considerable experience. Then there will be a panel discussion that includes all of us; it will explore a range of issues (see below) with all of you. Then we plan to get into one-on-one consultation with anyone who is interested. Finally, to develop and encourage the art of free-form schmoozing and networking, we'll hold a happy social hour.
Some topics we hope to touch on:
- Career planning techniques
- How to work for an employer, including how to get along in a hierarchy and how to deal with your boss. How to progress from one job to the next.
- Want to be an entrepreneur? How to start and run your business -- i.e., your own studio, or a freelance career as an independent producer or engineer, etc.
- How to market your enterprise. How to grow it.
- Adapting to changing markets.
- Financial management.
- Dealing with clients
- Maintaining standards in your work
- Using differing skill sets and ways of thinking about your work
- How to handle technical crises
- Coping with changing technologies
- How to select equipment
- When opportunity knocks: how to be ready, and how to _appear_ ready. Chance favors the prepared!
- How to get along with the majors
- Entertainment law and management (in brief)
- What's out there for education (NOT a pitch for the Center): self-taught; books, magazines, CD's; apprenticeship; various schools and courses, etc.
- Where the jobs are these days.
Most of these topics aren't simple. There won't be time to thoroughly develop them. If some of them particularly interest you, we'll encourage you to dig in to those with us during the panel discussion, one-on-one sessions, and social hour. Who knows, you may even convince us to offer a course covering some of them! In any case, we’re looking forward to seeing you and working with you February 7th.
January 7, 2004
The Parsons Center for Audio Studies
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Winter Session: Update
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- Enrollment
- Critical Listening Weekend
- Principles of Audio for Professionals
- Course changes
- Testimonials
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Enrollment
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Principles of Pro Tools, which begins next Monday (1/12), and the Golden Ears Audio Ear Training Seminar (1/15) are fully enrolled. They will repeat later in the year. Spaces remain in the other Winter Session courses, however. Now is the time to enroll in them, if you're interested. Enroll by simply replying to this e-mail; we'll take it from there. Or contact the Center staff at 781/431-8708, x14 or x18, or at Support@paudio.com. Anyone who has already taken a multi-session course at the Center qualifies for a 10% discount.
The available upcoming courses include, first of all:
- Critical Listening Weekend (1/17-18; $675 plus Total Recording textbook and CD, $75), taught by Dave Moulton and Tom Bates;
- Principles of Audio for Professionals (begins 1/22; $595 plus Total Recording textbook and CD, $75), taught by Dave Moulton.
And beginning soon thereafter:
- Principles of Mixing, taught by Tom Bates (from 2/11; $595)
- Critical Listening for Audio Professionals (five-week, five-evening version), taught by Dave Moulton (from 3/4; $595 plus Total Recording textbook and CD, $75)
- Pro Tools for Pros: Intermediate, taught by Brian Doser of Digidesign (from 3/8; $595).
You can find details about these courses at http://www.paudio.com, or by speaking with the Center staff. Also, if you'd like to talk over which course(s) might suit you best, you can call David Moulton (978/448-6828), the Center's "Dean" and a principal faculty member.
------------------------
Critical Listening Weekend
------------------------
Critical Listening Weekend, January 17 & 18, offers an opportunity to study personally and intensively (fifteen class hours), in a small group, with both Dave Moulton and Tom Bates. Talk about an apprenticeship! (For a good idea of the value of studying with them, see the below testimonials.) The syllabus at the Center web site (http://www.paudio.com/Pages/learning_Pars_Ctr_Syllabi.html#Anchor_Top_Pars_Ctr_Syllabi) details the course content and schedule. The schedule is rigorous, but allows ample opportunity to talk informally one-on-one with Dave and Tom, and with fellow students. Lunch on both days is included, as is dinner on Saturday, and bagel/donut/coffee periods first thing each morning.
-------
Dave Moulton says of Critical Listening Weekend:
"As you probably know by now, I think Critical Listening is at the center of audio professionalism. I've taught the course a lot of times, in a lot of guises, for National Public Radio, at SUNY, Berklee, SMFA, Emerson and dozens of guest lectures at colleges and schools around the country and in Europe.
"But this Critical Listening Weekend is going to be really special, partly because I've got Tom Bates joining me and partly because of the way the course lays out when you try to do this kind of immersion instruction over two days.
"Imagine this:
"Saturday during the day we'll work at Parsons in Wellesley, reviewing some of the fundamental physics and psychoacoustics of it all, taking a hard look and listen at exactly what critical listening is, plus some REALLY wild listening techniques, such as Sum and Difference Listening, that will really blow your mind.
"Then we will all pile in cars, head out to my place, have a nice dinner in my antique Colonial home, light a nice fire in the studio fireplace and switch on the floodlights so you can look out into the snowy winter evening right down the median plane. It's close to heaven! Then we'll start some serious listening to multiple arrays of speakers, listening as engineers, listening as producers, listening as musicians. I expect we may go on pretty late. The bar will be open, snacks will be available, and it should really be a good time!
"Sunday, after bagels and coffee, we'll keep working at my place. Tom and I will take you through BOTH of our experiences with level management, different speakers and so on. After lunch, we'll start in with surround sound, and you are in for a serious treat: 5 BeoLab 5s is an absolutely fabulous way to to listen to sound all around you!
"By the time we wrap, late Sunday afternoon, you are going to be so filled with new sounds, new ideas, new ways to approach recordings, listening and your work that you probably won't believe it until you actually experience it! I suspect you may even find it life-changing. At Parsons, we all think it's going to be fabulous!
"I hope you'll join us. Thanks for listening."
Dave Moulton
---------------------------------
Principles of Audio for Professionals
---------------------------------
Dave Moulton, who teaches this course, says:
"It's a truism among college teachers that the hardest courses to teach are
the basic ones. But I get a lot of pleasure from trying to. I
enthusiastically volunteer to teach such classes, and take great pleasure in
watching light bulbs go on, new ideas take hold, and big steps in learning
and understanding occur in the minds of my students. The fun of it is a big
part of why I teach.
"Principles of Audio for Professionals is a basic course for people who
already know quite a bit, but didn't get their information in an organized
and systematic way. Most of us picked up audio on the fly, and we have
numerous gaps in our understanding. Over and over, I run into people who
wish to go back and fill in the gaps, not really sure what they are missing,
but ABSOLUTELY SURE they don't have it all! If you're such a person,
Principles of Audio for Professionals is designed for you.
"We'll start at the beginning, but we'll concentrate on filling in your gaps,
building on what you already know, weeding out the misconceptions,
clarifying some of the mythology, and giving you the stuff you need to
really move ahead quickly in your work.
"We'll consider basic audio, signal flow, and digital audio the first class.
The second class will deal with microphones and loudspeakers. You will
learn A LOT! Then it's on to consoles, recorders, DAWs and the production
process. The fourth class, at my place, will deal with EQ, compression and
reverb. The last class, also at my place, will cover the basics of how to
mix, how to edit and how to master stuff, as well as something even more
important, how to think about it all!
"If you are a true beginner, with NO audio experience, you may be able to
handle this just fine. But we should talk first, so I can get a sense of
whether you can do this. If I think you can handle it, I'm willing to give
it a really good shot if you are.
"Thanks for listening. I hope to see you there!"
Dave
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Course changes
--------------
The Center for Audio Studies has added an intermediate-level Pro Tools course, to be taught by Digidesign's Brian Doser for five Monday evenings (15 hours total) beginning on March 8. The Center now offers a comprehensive Pro Tools curriculum, listed below. We have adjusted the first semester 2004 Pro Tools course schedule as follows:
- Principles of Pro Tools, taught by Lauren Weinger, five of six Monday evenings, 7-10PM, from January 12 (no change);
- Pro Tools for Pros, Intermediate, taught by Brian Doser, five of six Monday evenings, 7-10PM, from March 8;
- Pro Tools for Pros, Advanced: Music Creation & Production, five of six Monday evenings, 7-10PM, from April 12;
- Pro Tools for Pros, Advanced: Production for Video, Film & Radio, dates TBD
- Pro Tools Weekend, June 26-27 (no change)
The above courses will repeat during the Summer and Fall Sessions. Another 2004 course change: we have switched Tom Bates' two mixing courses.
- Principles of Mixing, five of six Wednesday evenings, 7-10PM, from February 11;
- Mixing Master Class, 7-10PM, Monday-Friday, August 16-20
-----------
Testimonials
-----------
What is the best way for you to acquire useful -- and necessary -- knowledge, skills, understanding, and love of your craft? Since last summer, faced with the same question, more than a hundred audio professionals have taken one or (often) more courses at the Center. A number of those people have written to us about it. Below is a sampling:
-----
"Tom Bates' credentials stand as part of recording history's record, but my experience as his student was something quite unexpected. Tom communicated the unwritten rules - the stuff that everyone needs to know and no one tells you - the technique, etiquette and business of being a producer/engineer. I wish we could do a brain upload because I know I only scratched the surface - I intend to take every course he ever runs (sorry, Tom - you'll get used to me!). And just for the record, Tom, I'll read your book of music business stories when you write it.
"Dave Moulton helped me hear sound in a way I never had before. I will never be the same producer again. He is an amazing teacher, who has a way of communicating the most subtle details with an accessible simplicity I hadn't experienced before.
"Both of these men have helped me hear deep into the sound through the art, beyond the music, right into the decisions and style of the producers and engineers, and further, to glimpse the compromises and conflicts in the studios of the recording industry.
"This is the stuff for the real world. Don't waste your time and money going to college. This is where it's at!"
Steve Herbert
Founder, Frogpond Studios
Littleton, MA
(Steve has taken Golden Ears, Fundamentals of Audio, and Signal Processing I & II.)
-----
"There's nothing like learning from a real human being--- especially an experienced, articulate, and humorous human being!"
Peter Viscarola, about Dave Moulton
-----
"The opportunities to study with someone of Tom Bates' caliber are few and far between. The courses exceeded my every expectation. Tom's vast knowledge and experience, coupled with his dedication and preparation of the course materials, make for a profound educational adventure in audio. Even more impressive is the commitment, concern and generosity he extends to each and every participant, that makes him an ideal mentor in every sense of the word. Many thanks!"
Joe Ierardi, Sound Designer, re Signal Processing I & II
-----
"Tom Bates is a great teacher. He is able to explain and illustrate the most difficult concepts with ease and wit. For some audio professionals, the idea of taking this class may seem like a simple refresher course. It is not! Within ten minutes into the first class, one knows it is not only a explanation in detail of audio signal processing devices, but a very personal look at the last 30 years of audio signal processing development.
"This is a very “hands-on approach” course. Tom goes over specific pieces of gear in common use today, showing how he approaches each tool, what reasons he uses them, and what he does to make his beautiful, warm, rich sound. Students have the opportunity to try his approach to mic placement, EQ and compression.
"Tom Bates is open about sharing his "secrets" to making a wonderful sounding CD. He volunteers outside class time to listen to your work, and offers specific comments on ways to improve your sound. No matter what your skill level, you will walk away from the class having picked up some very useful tricks of the trade to improve your mixing, plus some inspiration, and more knowledge about what you thought you already knew. It is clear why he has won so many Grammies, and is considered a master in his field. We are lucky to have his teaching available to the New England audio community."
Jane Pipik
Staff engineer, WGBH Radio, Boston
re the Signal Processing I & II courses
-----
"You can't imagine how much I enjoyed every second of every class. In my professional radio life, there is not a lot of time to think about production techniques and audio quality because there is always another job that has to be done immediately. The classes at Parsons gave me the freedom to think about different important production topics in a professional environment. In addition, they expanded my production knowledge tremendously. The courses helped me to speed up my work process, and to raise the quality of my productions at the same time - just awesome! I learned more in ten classes than in four semesters of college. Tom Bates is not only a Grammy Award winning engineer, but also a great teacher and mentor.
Michael Stuber
Imaging Production WBOS, WMJX and WTKK, Boston
re Signal Processing I & II
-----
Then there's this about Total Recording, David Moulton's definitive textbook, required for a number of the Center's courses:
"Dave,
"I have worn out a CD player listening to your audio examples that came with the book "Total Recording" and the "Playback Platinum Series" of audio lectures. I have nearly 100 books on audio and recording and yours are, always, the ones that I keep coming back to, time-after-time. To say that the materials you write are "informative" would be a rather significant understatement!"
Darwin Kornowske
---------------------------------------
Parsons Audio & Center for Audio Studies
info@paudio.com • www.paudio.com
192 Worcester St., Wellesley, MA 02481 USA
781.431.8708, fax .8783
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Copyright 2004, Parsons Audio. We welcome your questions, comments, and contributions >>>Webmeister@paudio.com.
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mailings: 2004