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Shaping Sound in the Studio and Beyond Audio Aesthetics and Technology Gary Gottlieb #2007ThomsonCourseTechnology,adivisionofThomsonLearning Publisher and General Manager, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or Thomson Course Technology PTR: transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, Stacy L. Hiquet including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission from Thomson Course Associate Directorof Marketing: TechnologyPTR,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsinareview. Sarah O’Donnell TheThomsonCourseTechnologyPTRlogoandrelatedtradedressare Manager ofEditorial Services: trademarks of Thomson Course Technology, a division of Thomson Heather Talbot Learning Inc.,and may notbeusedwithout written permission. Digidesign Photos and Pro Tools Screen Displays # 2006 Avid Marketing Manager: Mark Hughes Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. 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ISBN 10:1 59863 391 0 ISBN 13:978 1 59863 391 7 eISBN 10:1 59863 760 6 LibraryofCongress CatalogCard Number:2007900081 Printed intheUnited StatesofAmerica 07080910 11TW109 87 65 43 21 Thomson Course Technology PTR, adivisionof ThomsonLearning Inc. 25Thomson Placen Boston,MA 02210n http://www.courseptr.com This book is dedicated to my three ‘‘one and only’’ girls: Kyla, my baby girl; Miranda, my big girl; and Melanie, my best girl. Foreword If you’re looking for a book that’s going to tell you in five easy lessons which buttonstopushtomakeahitsingleinGarageBand,ShapingSoundisn’tit.Thisis a serious book: It’s for people who take sound seriously and are serious about learning about it. This book will take you to that very important place where technology and art meet, where the technical decisions you make will have a profound effect on someone’s art, and where the art will define how you use the technology. Which is not to say that it’s ponderous or heavy. Far from it. It’s thorough, but it’sclearandlogicalandcarriesyoualongquitesmoothly.Gary’sstyleisthatof a friendly, patient teacher, who is eager for you to understand what he’s talking about and wants to be sure that you do before you move on to the next topic. Whichallmakessense,sinceGaryisafriendly,patientteacher,asIlearnedwhen we worked together in the Sound Recording Technology program at UMass Lowell. I met Gary when he was making the transition from practitioner to educator, taking his years of experience at the craft of recording and figuring out how to pass on his knowledge and wisdom to students. Intheyearssince,hehaslearnedalotaboutteachingandhowstudentslearn.He has built a terrific program at Webster University, and this book is one happy result of that achievement. InShapingSoundyouwilllearnfromGarynotonlywhatrecordingengineersdo, but why they do it, and not only what the equipment does, but why we need it. You’lllearnhowourtools canmakethingssoundbetter,andalsohowtheycan make things sound awful. He’s always providing context, making sure you have thebackgroundtoabsorbwhatcomesnext.Hestartsatthebeginningandtakes you efficiently through the physics and acoustics that you’ll need to know to get themostoutoftherest ofthebook.Whenhetalksaboutrecordingandediting, he makes it clear that today’s digital techniques didn’t just pop up overnight: They followed years of research, experimentation, and practice in the analog world.Heknows,andconveystothereader,thatunderstandinghowourcurrent tools and practices evolved is critically important for anyone who wants to call himself or herself an audio professional. But like all good recording engineers, Gary’s primary concern isn’t the theory, the gear, or the techniques—it’s the music. Gary has recorded and produced a huge variety of stuff, under a wealth of different conditions, and knows what iv Foreword v works and what doesn’t, what sounds good and what doesn’t. And he knows why. Now he’s not only telling us, but also giving us ways, with the text, the CD, and the exercises in each chapter, to learn what he knows through experience. I’m listening, and you should be, too. Paul D. Lehrman Medford, Mass. April 2007 Paul Lehrman is Director of Music Technology at Tufts University and is the ‘‘Insider Audio’’ columnist for Mix magazine. Acknowledgments Many people have helped me over the years. In my professional career in New York,BarryLazarowitz,JerryRagovoy,GaryChester,Tommy“Monst”Civillo, Ben Wish, and Leslie Mona-Mathus all taught me about the skills and psychol- ogy needed to succeed in audio. Thanks also to Brooks Brown and the crew at WEQXinManchester,Vermont;workingthereremindedmehowmuchfunone could have at work. AsIbeganmycareerasaneducator,thosewhohelpedmealongthewayinclude mymentorsPaulNelsenandWillMoylan,bothofwhomtaughtmethevalueof sharingmyknowledgeandthebestwaystopassthatalong.Mypeersandfriends ineducation,suchasBarryHufkerandPaulLehrman,contributedtothisbookin ways of which they were probably unaware. I also learned more from my stu- dentsthanIshouldadmit,atMarlboroCollege,CenterforMediaArts,Plymouth State College, Castleton State College, University of Lowell, Massachusetts, and now at Webster University. Thank you all. And you probably thought you were the students, when I was actually the one learning. Iwouldalsoliketothankthosewhohelpedmeinthecreationandproductionof thisbook.Thegoodpeoplefrom Thomsonwho madethispossible: acquisitions editor, Orren Merton; my production editor, Cathleen Snyder; technical editor, Barry Hufker; and the Man with the Handshake, Paul Lehrman. Personally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support throughout the years. Irving, Shirley, and Lisa Gottlieb; all my cousins; and my friends going all the way back to high school, too numerous to name. You know who you are. I love you all, and thanks for all the help. vi About the Author Longtime music business professional Gary Gottlieb refers to himself as a music generalist. A professional musician since age 13, he worked in radio on and off for 25 years, and was a music critic for 9 years. As a recording engineer and music producer in New York, Gottlieb’s long and distinguished career includes work with numerous Grammy Award winners and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. His credits as a sound designer include numerous off-off-Broadway productions, along with community and college theatre productions throughout New England. Along with his history as a music critic and entertainment writer for the Deerfield Valley News in West Dover, Vermont, and a disc jockey for WEQX, a major modern rock station in Manchester, Vermont, Gottlieb owned and operated amobile DJ service. In 2002he accepted a position as Pro- fessorofAudioProductionatWebsterUniversityinSt.Louis,wherehenowruns the Audio program. vii This page intentionally left blank Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv PART I BASIC AUDIO THEORY 1 Chapter 1 Audio Aesthetics and Technology 3 In Search of Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Audio and Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Audio Technology Meets Aesthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Chapter 2 The Properties and Characteristics of Sound 17 Sound as a Waveform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Sound as a Form of Perception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 The Speed of Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Human Perception of Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Loudness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Timbre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Environmental Effects on Perception of Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Fletcher Munson Equal Loudness Contours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 The Behavior of Sound Waves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Additional Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 ix