This course is a conceptual introduction to audio production techniques. Students will understand to digitize sound and apply it to their work. Students will also learn how to produce appropriate audio effects and transitions.

Instructor: John Keston

Meeting Times and Location Section M1 (M/W):
Session 1 / Session 2
Room 009 8:00am – 9:00am
Room 233 9:00am – 11:00am

Meeting Times and Location Section M2 (F):
Room 009 8:00am – 9:00am / Room 233 9:00am – 11:00am
Room 009 11:00am – 12:00pm / Room 233 12:00pm – 2:00pm

Syllabus:
CA2431 Audio Production M1 Winter 2010
CA2431 Audio Production M2 Winter 2010

Glossary of Terms: ca2431glossary.doc

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6
Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11

What’s the difference between analog and digital recording? Analog recording translates the sound waves into an analog electronic signal which is then stored on magnetically sensitive tape. Digital recording samples the sound at intervals in time. The rate of these intervals is called the sampling rate and is indicated in Hertz or KiloHertz. The faster the rate, the higher the recording quality. The sampling bit depth indicates the resolution of the sample, or how the amplitude of the sampled sound wave is divided. CDs use 16 bit resolution and a sampling rate of 44.1Khz (KiloHertz). The information is then stored on some type of digital media such as a hard drive in a computer, a CD, or a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) cassette.

DSP or Digital Signal Processing is the manipulation digital audio without converting it to analog. There are many different types of DSP. Each type is essentially a different algorithm with a set of user adjustable parameters used to manipulate digital audio. Some examples of DSP include level or volume adjustments, equalization or filtering, panning, looping, delay or echo, reverberation, time compression or expansion, and pitch shifting.

Please bring a set of closed ear headphones and a CD which contains some audio to sample from for our in class exercise week 1, session 2. The assignment will involve basic ProTools techniques including sampling and signal processing.

Required Reading:
Recording Technology History
Digital Audio Basics
Reading:
Real World Digital Audio, Chapter 1 – Understanding Digital Sound

Files:
Sine wave files

Session 2: Today we will be sampling from a cd of your choice and then using DSP to loop and manipulate a small segment of a piece of digital audio from your CD. Use iTunes convert a track from your CD into a .wav file, then import the audio into ProTools. I will be demonstrating this process in the lab.

Once you’ve converted your track, use Protools to select a reagion or loop of audio that you want to work with. Apply pitch shifting and at least two more kinds of processing in order to come up with a new and completely different sounding loop. When you’re happy with the results bounce the audio to a new file and copy the loop to the drop off drive in the “John Keston” folder under “ca2431″ in a directory named . We will listen to the loops in class on so make sure you have finished before Session 1, Week 2.

Protools 7 Quick Keys for Macintosh

Our next assignment is to create sound effects. Stock sound effects are available in the LRC, but even with a vast library of recordings available, often recording your own sounds gives your productions more character. This assignment will have two parts. The first part is to create five sound effects by manipulating audio that you have available to you. Use DSP to modify the sounds so that they become something of your own. Keep the original sounds so that you can demonstrate how you changed what you started with.

Assignment 1: SFX Project Requirements

Search the sound effects available in the LRC.

Generally online resources are not acceptable for this project, but a new online resource called Freesound offers high quality sound effects uploaded by registered users. This online community licenses the content under Creative Commons, making the sounds legally available for most uses.

Reading:
Real World Digital Audio, Chapter 7 – Processing and Effects

Session 2: What are dynamic microphones and how do they differ from condenser mics? How do you choose the right mic for the right situation? How do microphone polar patterns effect he response of the mic? These are some of the questions we’ll be answering during lecture. After lecture we will be demonstrating the audio qualities of some of the different microphones that are available in the Cage by making some test recordings using the ProTools system. For your own purposes the DAT field recorder is available to check out from the Cage.

Knowing about the different types of microphones and how to use them is crucial to engineering high quality audio recordings. Dynamic microphones such as the Shure SM57 are very durable and excellent for recording loud signals such as close miked drums, guitar amps and so on. More sensitive condenser mics such as the Shure KSM32 or AKG c4000b are excellent for capturing the nuances in voices and quieter acoustic sounds.

Now that you have a basic understanding of microphones it’s time to start experimenting with them. This brings us to part two of our sound effects assignment. Record at least five unique sound effects using at least two different microphones. Be creative. You can use your own voice to create effects. Shutting doors, stomping on floors, breaking glass or hammering on pots and pans are a few examples of creating sound effects. Please have both parts of the assignment finished by the beginning of class on Session 1, Week 4 and we’ll listen to what you’ve created.

Reading:
Real World Digital Audio, Chapter 6 – Recording Instruments and Sound
Microphone Reading Assignment

For the DAT recorder buy a DAT tape and checkout the DAT field recorder with microphone(s). DAT tapes can be purchased at Guitar Center or the Supply Store.

Recording with the TASCAM DA-P1 DAT recorders (decks):
1. Insert DAT tape into the recorder and make sure the write protect tab is enabled (closed position)
2. Connect your microphone(s) to the XLR inputs in the DAT recorder
a. Use the left channel for mono recording
b. Use both channels for stereo recordings
3. Set the ANALOG INPUT switch to the MIC position
4. Set the INPUT switch to ANALOG
5. Enable the PHANTOM power when using condersor microphones
6. Press the RECORD button to arm the DAT deck for recording
7. Adjust the input levels until you have a strong signal without clipping
8. Press and HOLD the RECORD button and PLAY to start recording

Transfering your recording to ProTools via SPDIF and the MBox:
1. Connect the DIGITAL OUT from the DAT recorder to the SPDIF in on the MBox
2. Start a new session in ProTools
3. Create a new stereo or mono track for your recording
4. MBox 1 (light blue model): Under the “Setups” menu choose “Hardware Setup” and switch the inputs from “Analog” to “SPDIF”
5. MBox 2 (dark blue model): Change the track I/O to S/PDIF (L Mono) or S/PDIF (L/R Stereo). The I/O view can be enabled under View > Edit Window > I/O.
6. Press the “R” (record arm) button on your track
7. Press PLAY on the DAT recorder to monitor the input in ProTools
8. Press “Record” and then “Play” on the transport in ProTools to start transfering your recordings

Session 2: Let’s start working on our next assignment which involves multitracking. Please mix 5 or more tracks of audio in ProTools utilizing the techniques we discussed in class. Avoid clipping and keep noise to a minimum. When looping try to find “zero crossings” within the wave to avoid pops. Use equalization to “place” individual tracks within the mix. Use several sound sources, such as dialogue or vocals recorded with microphones, sound effects from the sound effects collection in the library, sounds effects (Foley) recorded with microphones and/or musical instruments. Follow the link below to download the project requirement details in MS Word format.

Assignment 2: Multitrack Project Requirements

Plugins/Inserts: So far we have been applying DSP with the Audio Suite menu in ProTools. This method manipulates the selected audio and creates a new waveform which replaces the original audio on the track. This technique is know as destructive editing. The advantage to apply effects this way is that the processing happens only once and does not continually tax the CPU of your computer. The disadvantage is that the processing is destructive; unless you undo or revert to the original, you cannot easily return to the previous state or adjust the effect once it’s applied. This is why it is much better to use non-destructive DSP plugins (or inserts) in your projects. Inserts are processed in real-time so that you can make adjustments to the effect as you listen to the track, temporarily disable (bipass) the effect, or remove the effect comletely without having to revert to the original audio.

TDM – Time Division Multiplexing
RTAS – Real-time Audio Suite

Reading:
What is a Software Plugin?
Video on how to create Aux Sends in Pro Tools

Finally, when working on projects with multiple tracks it is critical that you set up a master fader in order to be able to visualize how the tracks levels are interacting. Each additional track that plays simultaneously increases the overall levels of the project. A master fader will illustrate the combined levels in the project so you can avoid clipping while keeping your levels as high as possible to prevent excessive noise.

Finally let’s take a careful look at Equalization in ProTools. Equalization, or EQ, is critical when mixing multiple tracks of audio together. Layering sounds with similar frequencies can often cause a “muddy” mix unless each track is taylored with EQ to work well together. The following article has an excellent explanation of a few different types of eq filtering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equalization_filter

Session 2: Check out these links to other digital audio software programs. In this class we’ll be focusing on just a few examples (Sound Forge, Vegas, Pro Tools and Reason), but there are dozens of excellent and innovative applications for creating music, manipulating audio or generating new sounds never heard before.

Digital Audio Production Software
ProTools – www.digidesign.com
Sonar – www.cakewalk.com
CuBase – www.steinberg.net
Logic – www.apple.com/logic
Digital Performer – www.motu.com

Soft Synths
Reaktor – www.native-instruments.com
Absynth – www.native-instruments.com
B4 – www.native-instruments.com
Kontakt – www.native-instruments.com
Reason – www.propellerheads.se

Odd stuff
Ableton LIVE – www.ableton.com
Recycle – www.propellerheads.se

Writing Assignment: Write a one page paper on an audio production application that we will not necessarily use in this class. Discuss what makes the software unique and how you and professionals in the industry might use the software in projects. This paper will be due on Session 2 of Week 5.

Animation Listening Exercise

FYI: The entire Cowboy Bebop series is available in the library. Directed by Watanabe Shinichirou and music by Yoko Kanno (her music compositions are excellent, and make the series for me). Here’s a few links to peak your interest:

http://www.cowboybebop.org/english/ – The official Cowboy Bebop: The Movie site.
http://www.cowboybebop.org/english/door/interview/index.html – Interview with the director.
http://www.ex.org/4.5/16-interview_kanno1.html – An excellent interview with Kanno Yoko.

Session 2: Starting next week I’ll be demonstrating more techniques in both ProTools and Reason. Here are the requirements for the final Project options. The final project involves combining visual imagery with sound. One of the key competencies is synchronizing the sound with the visuals or vice versa. Typically if you are creating animation you will record the sound first. For video, you generally need to replace the existing sound. You piece can be an animatic created from storyboards, an interactive piece, video, or animation. Another acceptable method is to create a derivative work fropm footage in the public domain. A vast amount of archival footage can be viewed and downloaded from archive.org.

Option 1: Final Animatic Project
Description: The Final Animatic is a two minute visual piece without a second project and intended for longer more complicated animated sequences or visuals (video, interactive, etc.).
Due: Session 1, Week 11
Points: 50
1. Minimum length is 2:00. If working in groups of two 4:00.
2. A minimum of 8 panels if creating animatic (16 if paired) are required. Other visuals are acceptable including flash animation, slide shows, video, etc.
3. Use ProTools LE (with mBox) or ProTools 24 (in 007) to produce your audio.
4. Use foley techniques to records 50% of your Sound Effects.
5. A one page script is required which includes dialogue and, more importantly, sound design notes.
6. Compile your project in one of the following accepted formats: .mov, .mpeg, .avi, or .swf
7. A minimum of 10 tracks of audio in ProTools is required.
8. Include 2 screenshots of your ProTools work in progress with your project.
9 . Try to maintain the highest possible audio quality. For MP3s do not compress your audio any more than 44.1khz and 128Kbps. Wave files should be rendered as 44.1k 16bit.
10. Copy your project with screen shots to the student drive in room 009 before it is due.
11. Use mastering techniques to finalize your mix.
12. 5% of grade is awarded for presenting your work in class.

Option 2: Combined Final Animatic Project
Description: The Combined Final Animatic is a one minute visual piece and a second project without visuals. This is intended to satisfy those of you who wish to try your hand at some music or experimentation with Reason.
Due: Session 2, Week 11
Points: 50
1. Minimum length is 1:00. If working in groups of two 2:00.
2. A minimum of 6 panels if creating animatic (12 if paired) are required. Other visuals are acceptable including flash animation, slide shows, video, etc.
3. Use ProTools LE (with mBox) or ProTools 24 (in 007) to produce your audio.
4. Use foley techniques to records 50% of your Sound Effects.
5. A one page script is required which includes dialogue and, more importantly, sound design notes.
6. Compile your project in one of the following accepted formats: .mov, .mpeg, .avi, or .swf
7. A minimum of 10 tracks of audio in ProTools is required.
8. Include 2 screenshots of your ProTools work in progress with your project.
9. produce a 2nd non-visual audio piece, the minimum length for the 2nd project is 3 minutes (without visuals).
10 . Try to maintain the highest possible audio quality. For MP3s do not compress your audio any more than 44.1khz and 128Kbps. Wave files should be rendered as 44.1k 16bit.
11. Copy your project with screen shots to the student drive in room 009 before it is due.
12. Use mastering techniques to finalize your mix.
13. 5% of grade is awarded for presenting your projects in class.

If you’re in the animation program your “Animatic Project” may involve synchronizing lip movements with dialogue. This article is an excellent introduction to basic lip sync positions and techniques used to make an animated character appear to speak pre-recorded dialog.

Lip Sync Animation

If you are planning on using Flash there are several ways to make sure your sound is Synchronized properly. The best way is to enable “Stream” on the first keyframe of your sound layer. This may cuase Flash to drop frames, but the synchronization will be maintained. The following link has details on how to maintain the synchronization of audio in Flash.

What are some ways to synch audio in Flash?

Session 2: Today we’ll be taking the Audio Production Midterm Quiz. The quiz is worth 15 points toward your grade. Midterm grades are due this week. Please make sure all of you meet with me to make sure that all your projects are turned in properly.

This week I’ll be demonstrating how to use the equipment in the recording studio as well as discussing concepts such as Foley. Check out this website for a list of Foley articles and descriptions of some techniques. http://www.filmsound.org/foley/

Don’t forget to create at least 50% of your sound effects using Foley. The following reading assignments will help you get a clear idea about the process of Foley, and how you can create your own Foley for your project.

What is Foley?
Foley Artist Share Their Secrets
Interview with Dustin DuPilka

Session 2: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, but is used for much more than connecting instruments and computers. MIDI has far exceeded it’s expectations at it’s conception. Today we’ll discuss a little about the history of MIDI and how we can make use of this technology in our projects.

Wikipedia MIDI Resources

In class I’ll demonstrate how to manipulate MIDI information and interface Reason within ProTools. Today we’ll also meet in small groups for group lessons. Our group lesson will be on how to use automation in ProTools documents.

1. Import a .mid file into Reason (File > Import > MIDI File). Use www.classicalarchives.com or www.creativecommons.org to find a MIDI file use can use for this exercise. Other sites, like mididb.com have many files available as well.
2. Add a 14 channel mixer device in Reason (Create > Mixer).
3. Create instruments for each of the tracks in your MIDI file.

4. Assign the instruments to each track in the MIDI file (shown in demo).
5. You can create multiple instances of the same device, but do not assign the same instance to more than one track because conflicts can occur in the controller data.
6. Render your document to an audio file named midi_exercise1.wav and copy it to the drop off under John Keston/ca2431/<your name>.

Session 2: We’ll be covering audio compression today in our group lessons. Audio compression (not to be confused with file compression) is a way to automatically adjust the dynamics of sound. Mixing multiple tracks of audio can often become difficult when some of the audio has varying or inconsistent levels. Audio compression can help resolve these difficulties. It as also widely over-used, especially in the mastering process resulting in the “loudness wars“. Please look at the following articles regarding compression for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_level_compression
Compressor / Limiter (article with audio examples illustrating compression)
The Death of Dynamic Range (Atricle on the so called “Loudness Wars”)

We will also talk about some of the hardware available for home studios. Professional quality audio is currently produced in inexpensive home studios around the world. Professional quality sound cards are available for as little as $129 (see http://www.m-audio.com/). With an inexpensive mixer and some reference monitors you can be on the way to building a “bedroom studio” of your own.

Session 2: How do you import movies into Pro Tools? How do you then display the movie? How do you get the audio from the QuickTime movie onto a track in Pro Tools? This is very important when producing audio for video. These are some of the things we’ll be going over today.

Final Project Milestone #1
Also, today I’ll be asking each of you to demonstrate that you are making progress on the final project. The following is a list of what I am expecting you to illustrate to me during our scheduled lab time today.

1. Show an example of the visuals that you are using for your final project.
2. Open and play a Pro Tools document that includes at least one track of audio.
3. Make sure that you have a master fader applied to your document.

The sound quality is fantastic, and the software with a decent computer could take the place of thousands of dollars worth of studio equipment (see www.propellerheads.se for more information). Although Reason has amazing capabilities, you shouldn’t rely on using it exclusively for your final projects. Reason does not allow you send MIDI to external devices, or directly record audio input. Today during the group lessons we’ll experiment with Reason and Rewire within Pro Tools.

Session 2: Mastering is something that ideally is done by a seasoned professional, however, it’s not always possible to afford to pay an experienced mastering engineer. We’ll discuss some of the basics of mastering in class, such as sequencing, sweetening, and loudness. For more information please see the article linked below.

Mastering FAQ

In order to complete your final projects you will be required to mix down and render your audio to a two track master. This master will most likely be a .wav or .aiff file which can be transferred to either CD or DVD. This process used to be completely manual, but today we have the aid of computer automation allowing us to produce much more precise mixes in a fraction of the time.

Session 2: On the last day of class we will be continuing our final project presentations. Thanks for your participation. I hope you enjoyed the class as much as I did. Keep your ears open and have a great break!

Getting Started:

1. After getting a pass card from the Cage, login to the Mac with username: studio and password: studio.
1. You may need to turn on the projector to see the menus.
2. To change this under System Prefs > Display > Arrangment drag the menu bar icon to the preferred monitor.
2. Turn on the Digidesign 192 I/O and wait for it to completely finish its boot process.
3. Start Pro Tools once all the lights have stopped blinking on the 192 I/O.
4. Turn on the Mackie monitors with the button on the front of each speaker.
5. Start a new session in Pro Tools and save it on the Student Drive
6. Start a new track
1. Use tracks 1-8 for microphones in sequence
2. Plug the mics into corresponding inputs on the snake (i.e. 1 -> A1, etc.).
3. Set the “source” on the Control 24 to “mic” for tracks to record from mics.
4. Use the “gain” to adjust the input levels before recording
7. Important: when you are finished turn off the monitors before exiting Protools or shutting down the system.
8. Set the I/O on your tracks based on the following:
1. A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8 for mono mic input tracks (set source to “mic”)
2. A1-2 for analog input from the CD player (set source to “line”)
3. A3-4 for analog input from the DAT deck (set source to “line”)
4. A5-6 for analog input from the Yamaha keyboard (set source to “line”)
5. A7-8 for analog input from the internal Mac sound card (set source to “line”)

Recording to the Fostex FR-2LE
1. Install four AA batteries or connect the unit to an AC outlet using the power adapter.
2. Flip the power switch up and release it to turn on the unit.
3. If the compact flash card needs formatting follow these steps (all data on the card will be lost).
    a) Navigate in the menu to “Disk > Format”
    b) Use +/- to move to “FS/BIT Mode”
    c) Choose “BWF44/16″ for CD quality
    d) Set the “Track Mode” to either mono or stereo
    e) Choose “[EXECUTE]” and press MENU / ENTER
    f) Choose “[EXECUTE]” again and press MENU / ENTER again

4. Plug your Mic(s) into the Analog in XLR jacks on the left side of the unit.
5. If you are using a condenser microphone that requires phantom power in the menu go to “Setup > Phantom” and set it to “On”.
6. Press the grey “REC STBY” (record standby) button to prepare for recording and check your levels.
7. Use the “MIC TRIM” knobs to adjust your levels.
8. Press the red “REC” (record) button to start recording, “REC STBY” to pause, or “STOP/CANCEL” to stop.

Transferring Your Recording to a Computer
1. Connect a USB cable from the unit to a compter
2. In the MENU go to “USB Mode > USB Device Mode”
3. Drag and drop your recording to the hard drive on the computer
4. You can now import your recordings into Protools.