I've been busy getting everything sorted for the first consultation event which takes place next week, here at the Audio Lab research and teaching facility in York. The event is now fully booked and there is a waiting list for places (although it's not too long so it's still worth letting me know if you're interested in attending). I'm really pleased at the level of interest and this bodes really well for the rest of the project.
Meanwhile I've had the opportunity to interview a dubbing mixer with over thirty years experience in television and film sound. Neil Hillman is managing director of The Audio Suite and his skills are widely recognised, not least by the Royal Television Society who gave him their Best Production Craft Skills Award in 2010. This interview, along with others that are planned, will form part of the publicly available project archive and, with material from the transcripts of events such as the one in York next week, will inform the research outputs from this project. It was a fascinating discussion and I'm looking forward to sharing it with everyone.
I'll be back soon to report on how the first event goes.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game
This was the title of an episode of Imagine, the BBC HD arts program edited by Alan Yentob, which was aired this week (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0171r6x). It was a feature-length look at the making of their final album Bridge Over Troubled Water which was released in January 1970. I grew up with this album but had not heard it for many years when I watched this documentary which featured extensive interviews Simon and Garfunkel but also the engineer and producer Roy Halee. Clearly S&G both felt that his input had a huge influence on the sound of the album but what also struck me was the extent to which they kept referring to him as an engineer, often with superlatives such as 'genius' appearing in close proximity.
Embarking on this project has made me super-sensitive to word 'engineer' when I come across it in any context relating to audio technology and the act of the recording sound in particular; and it kept cropping up in this piece. Because Halee is also credited, along with S&G, as producer on this record there wasn't always a clear distinction between what he was doing in this role, and when he was acting as engineer but there were some examples of when others present during the recording felt he was doing what they considered to be 'engineering' things well. An example of those was moving around a room clapping his hands and identifying positions for instruments and the microphones with which to record them. So as I'm watching this, I'm thinking 'is that engineering?'.
A hand clap is an impulse-like sound and impulses are useful in audio testing and evaluation because they are short-lived and contain all frequencies of sound. The latter means that we can test something (the response of a room in a particular position in this case) at all those frequencies and the former means that the original sound dies away fast enough for us to actually be able to hear the room's response to that sound. But atucally a clap isn't a perfect impulse - it isn't as brief as we'd really like and it doesn't contain equal amounts of energy at all frequencies. When I go out and measure the impulse responses of buildings for use with convolution reverbs (which can be found here) I take a load of expensive kit, record a swept sine-wave in the room, and then do some processing on that recording to give me a very-nearly perfect impulse response. Even if that technology had existed back in the very late sixties, it wouldn't have been practical for Halee to go to these lengths to evaluate the room response at candidate spots for placing the drum kit would it? I'm not aware of anyone who would do this even now (I certainly don't when I'm recording - only when I'm doing the specialist job of measurements for convolution reverbs); the 'clap and listen' test suffices, right? Thinking of some current definitions of engineering in general (i.e. outside of audio recording) which seem to be along the lines of 'the use of quantitative and analytical methods, along with scientific knowledge, to solve problems', does the 'clap test' measure up? Does it matter or not if it measures up? Do we wish to limit our definition of engineering to the one I've just given? Given the sheer quality of the human auditory system (astonishing dynamic range capability for starters) and the fact that this is the 'target receiver' for any audio recording, isn't the ear, rather than a measurement microphone the best thing to use in such a situation? Is it ever right to abandon the sense of hearing and defer to the measurement of machines when recording? But is hearing a way of actually quantifying an audio signal or is it impossible to separate sense from perception? Do engineers only measure rather than sensing and perceiving?
I don't think there are simple, straightforward, catch-all answers to any of these questions; that's why I'm doing this project! But when I watch a documentary like this which takes the time to explore the writing, performing and then recording of an album, these are the questions that rattle around in my mind.
Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game will still be available to view on BBC iPlayer for a few days. If you're interested in these questions I'd recommend taking a look (having a read of this interview too: http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_roy_halee/) and asking yourself whether you think what Roy Halee does is engineering.
Embarking on this project has made me super-sensitive to word 'engineer' when I come across it in any context relating to audio technology and the act of the recording sound in particular; and it kept cropping up in this piece. Because Halee is also credited, along with S&G, as producer on this record there wasn't always a clear distinction between what he was doing in this role, and when he was acting as engineer but there were some examples of when others present during the recording felt he was doing what they considered to be 'engineering' things well. An example of those was moving around a room clapping his hands and identifying positions for instruments and the microphones with which to record them. So as I'm watching this, I'm thinking 'is that engineering?'.
A hand clap is an impulse-like sound and impulses are useful in audio testing and evaluation because they are short-lived and contain all frequencies of sound. The latter means that we can test something (the response of a room in a particular position in this case) at all those frequencies and the former means that the original sound dies away fast enough for us to actually be able to hear the room's response to that sound. But atucally a clap isn't a perfect impulse - it isn't as brief as we'd really like and it doesn't contain equal amounts of energy at all frequencies. When I go out and measure the impulse responses of buildings for use with convolution reverbs (which can be found here) I take a load of expensive kit, record a swept sine-wave in the room, and then do some processing on that recording to give me a very-nearly perfect impulse response. Even if that technology had existed back in the very late sixties, it wouldn't have been practical for Halee to go to these lengths to evaluate the room response at candidate spots for placing the drum kit would it? I'm not aware of anyone who would do this even now (I certainly don't when I'm recording - only when I'm doing the specialist job of measurements for convolution reverbs); the 'clap and listen' test suffices, right? Thinking of some current definitions of engineering in general (i.e. outside of audio recording) which seem to be along the lines of 'the use of quantitative and analytical methods, along with scientific knowledge, to solve problems', does the 'clap test' measure up? Does it matter or not if it measures up? Do we wish to limit our definition of engineering to the one I've just given? Given the sheer quality of the human auditory system (astonishing dynamic range capability for starters) and the fact that this is the 'target receiver' for any audio recording, isn't the ear, rather than a measurement microphone the best thing to use in such a situation? Is it ever right to abandon the sense of hearing and defer to the measurement of machines when recording? But is hearing a way of actually quantifying an audio signal or is it impossible to separate sense from perception? Do engineers only measure rather than sensing and perceiving?
I don't think there are simple, straightforward, catch-all answers to any of these questions; that's why I'm doing this project! But when I watch a documentary like this which takes the time to explore the writing, performing and then recording of an album, these are the questions that rattle around in my mind.
Simon and Garfunkel - The Harmony Game will still be available to view on BBC iPlayer for a few days. If you're interested in these questions I'd recommend taking a look (having a read of this interview too: http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_roy_halee/) and asking yourself whether you think what Roy Halee does is engineering.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Have Your Say!
The date for the first public event is now set: Wednesday 7th December at 2pm. The event will be held at the Audio Lab's new facilities at Genesis 6 on the Science Park at the University of York. The main business is a discussion amongst professionals and students about what recording is: the skills, knowledge and experience that are needed and the identity of the 'recording engineer'. There will also be a talk by Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, co-author of 'What is Music Production?' and with considerable experience in the pop music industry. In addition there will be the chance to have a look around the Audio Lab's facilities, not forgetting the all important break for tea, coffee and biscuits. These discussion groups form a core part of this research - it really is your chance to have your say about what the recording profession is and what you think it should be.
IMPORTANT: The discussion group will be recorded and transcribed but contributions will be anonymous and will be run in line with the University's ethical policy on this kind of research.
If York is a long way away from you then don't worry: other similar events are planned in different parts of the country, the next being at Glyndwr University in Wales. If you'd be interested in having such an event at your college or university then please let me know via email.
Places are limited so if you'd like to attend then please send me an email (jez [dot] wells [at] york [dot] ac [dot] uk).
IMPORTANT: The discussion group will be recorded and transcribed but contributions will be anonymous and will be run in line with the University's ethical policy on this kind of research.
If York is a long way away from you then don't worry: other similar events are planned in different parts of the country, the next being at Glyndwr University in Wales. If you'd be interested in having such an event at your college or university then please let me know via email.
Places are limited so if you'd like to attend then please send me an email (jez [dot] wells [at] york [dot] ac [dot] uk).
A trip to the Royal Society
I spent yesterday at the Royal Society in London, honing my science communication skills at a workshop run by none other than Judith Hann (a household name amongst those old enough to remember Tomorrow's World) and John Exelby (co-founder of BBC World News). It was a fascinating day spent working with other scientists and technologists on effectively communicating issues in these areas and what I learned will be of great use in letting the world know about the outcomes of this project and about what engineers and sound recordists actually do in their day to day work.
Friday, 21 October 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Get involved! First event happening next month in York.
A large part of this project is concerned with finding out how different groups of people view recording and its relationship with engineering. These groups are:
1. Audio/recording professionals (past or present)
2. Those currently in higher education on courses about, or related to, sound recording (for example audio/music technology, popular music, audio engineering).
3. Those currently in further education/sixth form/years 12&13 aspiring to a career and/or higher education in audio/recording.
In order to gather views and ideas there will be a series of events in different parts of the country. These will involve various activities, usually over half a day. The first one is currently being planned to take place here at the Audio Lab on the University of York's campus at the end of November. I'll post more information up here as the plans progress but places will be limited so, if you fall into one of the above categories, and you think you'd like to be involved then please drop me an email at:
jez[dot]wells[at]york[dot]ac[dot]uk
with your name, age and which of the above groups you fit into and I'll put your name on a mailing list for the event.
You don't have to be connected with the University in any way in order to attend - all are welcome from any of these groups. I'll hopefully see some of you in November!
1. Audio/recording professionals (past or present)
2. Those currently in higher education on courses about, or related to, sound recording (for example audio/music technology, popular music, audio engineering).
3. Those currently in further education/sixth form/years 12&13 aspiring to a career and/or higher education in audio/recording.
In order to gather views and ideas there will be a series of events in different parts of the country. These will involve various activities, usually over half a day. The first one is currently being planned to take place here at the Audio Lab on the University of York's campus at the end of November. I'll post more information up here as the plans progress but places will be limited so, if you fall into one of the above categories, and you think you'd like to be involved then please drop me an email at:
jez[dot]wells[at]york[dot]ac[dot]uk
with your name, age and which of the above groups you fit into and I'll put your name on a mailing list for the event.
You don't have to be connected with the University in any way in order to attend - all are welcome from any of these groups. I'll hopefully see some of you in November!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Flaming recording!
Now that the project is underway, Dave and I have been beavering away with our initial research. One of the things that I've been finding out more about is what people think engineering and recording are, as well as what they are not. Web forums can be a very useful source of primary material on what people think about a subject but they can also quickly become fractious places. In 2010 an article was published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society called "Recording Electric Guitar—The Science and the Myth"and it caused quite a stir on the journal's web forum. In fact that 'stir' became more like a flame war at times. It's an interesting read because it's an argument about some of the things that a sound recordist does, and the decisions they make, whilst going about their work. I'll leave you to see what you make of it:
https://secure.aes.org/forum/pubs/journal/?ID=17
A slightly less flame-ridden but still-a-little-spiky discussion appears on the 'talk page' for the Wikipedia entry on 'Audio Engineering':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Audio_engineering
One of the things that occurs with heated debate is that it very quickly becomes polarising, we rush to identify with one 'side' or the other. This is useful in one sense, because we very quickly become aware of where we are positioned (in black and white terms at least) in a debate, but not at all useful in other ways because it stops us cooperating with, and understanding, other points of view.
I'd be really interested to hear people's thoughts on the issues raised in the above discussions but, in the interests of fire safety, please be nice :-)
https://secure.aes.org/forum/pubs/journal/?ID=17
A slightly less flame-ridden but still-a-little-spiky discussion appears on the 'talk page' for the Wikipedia entry on 'Audio Engineering':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Audio_engineering
One of the things that occurs with heated debate is that it very quickly becomes polarising, we rush to identify with one 'side' or the other. This is useful in one sense, because we very quickly become aware of where we are positioned (in black and white terms at least) in a debate, but not at all useful in other ways because it stops us cooperating with, and understanding, other points of view.
I'd be really interested to hear people's thoughts on the issues raised in the above discussions but, in the interests of fire safety, please be nice :-)
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