Understanding Sound in the 21st century

[dwardMICS]

So as a teacher, I try to continue to update my knowledge base so I'm teaching the kids relevant information.

I have quickly realized that I am kind of functionally illiterate in terms of Sound Design and Engineering. Like I can set up a board, patch mics, set speakers, monitors, record some sound effects and set up a playback list, but those are the old school skills!

I've dipped my toe into the world of Digital Audio and the idea of audio scenes kind of blew my mind. I need some help. I know enough to be dangerous, but not enough to teach kids to be good.

Do you wise and wonderful people have some recommended reading to help me get up to date so I can teach my kids more relevant information?

 

[MNicolai]

Buying a book to learn about sound is like buying a chair to get better at running.

You'll learn a lot more, faster, by looking at YouTube videos of sound designers talking about shows they're doing, but nothing compares to actually sitting down in a theater and trying some things out, preferably with an experienced designer to guide you.

Another good exercise is to go to professional shows and try to reverse engineer what the designer must've done, or better yet ask if you can get a tour or a behind the scenes meeting with a designer or a sound op.

It used to be the only way to learn to mix or design was to do shows and learn a little at a time over several years of gradual experience. The new big thing in schools is playing back a multitrack recording into a console and practicing to mix.

For example, a Dante-based system can record all of the inputs coming into it over Dante, straight off of the mic preamps before it gets mixed. Then you can play those back into the console whenever you want and practice doing sound checks, EQ'ing channels, setting gates/compressors/reverb, and practice mixing a show without the risk of getting murdered by feedback in front of a live audience.

While you yourself may not have a console capable of that, I'm sure there are ways of putting together a workshop with a local theater that does or a nearby rental house.

Most students I've worked with on audio have had the best learning experiences hands-on in mentorship with someone more experienced at times when the stakes are low & they have though time to be tweaky about the quality without delaying house opening.

You can read all you like about gates and compressors and strategically locating effects speakers but there's still a Grand Canyon between knowing what they do and being able to use them effectively.

There is no absolutely no substitute for hands-on experience, trial, and error, especially when you're trying to push past the "knows enough to be dangerous" phase.