SOND 3 28007 Workbook

Resources for Performing Arts Technology Unit Standard 28007 – Select and apply a range of processes to enhance sound in a performance context Level 3 6 Credits By Duncan Ferguson Learning Ideas Limited Learning Ideas Limited PO Box 21-246 Christchurch New Zealand www.learningideas.co.nz Copyright © 2013 Learning Ideas Limited All rights reserved. This digital resource may be reproduced only for students within the school that purchased it. Notice of Liability The information in this book is distributed on an “as is” basis, without warranty. Every effort has been made to make sure all aspects of the question and answer guides are consistent with the guidelines as set out by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority in February 2013. However, it is likely that these guidelines will change over time. Learning Ideas Limited accepts no responsibility for inconvenience caused as a result of any subsequent changes that may affect the accurateness of information in this book. Introduction Welcome to the Learning Ideas Limited workbook for the new SOND 3 unit standard – Demonstrate and apply knowledge of sound for a performance context using control and enhancement processes. This unit standard is a continuation of the SOND 1 (26687) and SOND 2 (27703) unit standards. The focus of these has been to use Live PA and Recording systems for a variety of ‘performance contexts’. The main focus of this standard is for students to build upon their experience and knowledge and to bring it all together to produce a much higher quality ‘product’. This standard starts with a lot of the theory behind how sound travels and how we perceive it. I also touch on how it is converted to digital. I believe this knowledge is essential and how well students apply this knowledge to their decisions in their practical setup and operation of PA and recording systems is what will determine whether they get Achievement, Merit or Excellence in their assessments. In addition to this workbook I have also produced a very detailed and extensive video tutorial (over two hours in length). In this video I have endeavoured to demonstrate many of the PA and Recording setup and operation tasks required of students in their practical assessment. Use it as a guide in addition to the many other tutorials available online. You can download it from: http://tinyurl.com/sond3small or; http://tinyurl.com/sond3large In this workbook you will find recommendations that students revise material from SOND 1 and 2 as well as the MUSTEC 3 (27658) workbook from Learning Ideas Ltd. This is because in those books I went further than what was required for those particular standards. So rather than repeat too much here I have provided some direct download links should you not have your workbook handy. Finally, depending on the nature of your assessment for this standard you may also find that it meets the requirements for Outcome One of unit standard 23730 (level 3, 8 credits). You probably just need to add in a track or two of a recorded MIDI performance and you will find that the one task can be used for assessment in two standards. Duncan Ferguson, April 2013 © Learning Ideas Limited, 2013. 3 This workbook may only reproduced for students of the high school that purchased it. Any other copying is strictly prohibited. No sharing between schools and studios is permitted. Outcome 1 – Select and apply a range of processes to enhance sound in a performance context. Range processes used to – amplify; enhance tonal balance, control dynamic range, create ambience, filter; balance multiple sources; create effects; capture, edit. a minimum of six processes are used. Before we start getting into the nitty gritty of the Evidence Requirements let us discuss the above outcome and ‘range’. Firstly, “select and apply a range of processes to enhance sound in a performance context” basically means: things you do on the various parts of a PA or Recording system to make it sound good! “Performance context” can be anywhere there is a musical performance – such as a live concert (rock or jazz concert, kapa haka, etc), recording studio, music theatre production, etc. The “processes” or ‘things you do’ relate to: • Amplification – this is perhaps the most obvious purpose of a PA system – it amplifies a performance so everyone in a venue can hear the music. We’ll get into what kinds of amplifiers and speakers you should use (how to match power ratings so you don’t blow anything up!) and also recommended ‘monitors’ for a recording studio. • Enhance tonal balance – this is where you use EQ or Equalisation on individual instruments and the overall ‘mix bus’. However another tool you can use is a multi-band compressor which links nicely to the next process: • Control dynamic range – this is where we’ll use compressors, limiters, gates and expanders to reduce the difference (as appropriate) between the soft and loud sections of a performance (individually and collectively – i.e. on an instrument by instruments and whole band or ‘mix’ basis). • Create ambience – this is to do with manipulating the ‘space’ around a sound using tools like Reverb and Delay. Using these tools we can alter the environment that a performance sounds like it was in and provide ‘depth’ to a sound. • Filter – basically filters are any kind of processing that you run audio through. Many DAW’s and video editing applications (like Final Cut Pro) have filters for noise reduction, hum removal, de-essers, noise and crackle removal. Usually these are just combinations of EQ’s, dynamics, etc with particular presets (which are usually adjustable). • Balance multiple sources – this is perhaps the first thing mixing engineers tend to do in the mix process. This is when you are moving the faders and ‘gain’ knobs, as well as adjusting the panning knobs on tracks, to create a balanced or ‘good’ mix. Part of our journey in this area will be learning about maintaining ‘unity gain’. • Create effects – this is when you are putting any ‘candy’ on the sound. It could be a specific distortion, chorus (type of delay), autotune or other ‘plugin’ or fx unit, or it could be clever use of one of the above (such as a technique called Parallel Compression). • Capture – this is when you are recording the performance. This is not only applicable to a recording context as many ‘live’ digital mixing desks give you the option to record all the channels or tracks of the mixing console, allowing © Learning Ideas Limited, 2013. 4 This workbook may only reproduced for students of the high school that purchased it. Any other copying is strictly prohibited. No sharing between schools and studios is permitted. you to produce a higher quality mix for release on CD, DVD or the internet (although it could also be as simple as using the ‘tape out’ function of an analogue desk to record to a CD recorder unit or, God forbid, cassette tape!). • Edit – this is only really applicable to a recording studio context. It is where you edit the quality of recorded tracks prior to starting the mix (although, more and more the line between editing and mixing is being blurred). It could involve deleting mouth noises and breaths on a vocal track, or muting a microphone when it’s instrument isn’t playing (or a host of other editing techniques). In the assessment of this standard you are required to demonstrate and articulate your knowledge of all of these processes in a practical demonstration. You should not be tested on each isolated process individually, but on every process at once, over the course of a ‘performance’. Balancing, enhancing tonal balance, controlling dynamic range, creating effects… are all just part of mixing. And that is what you are being assessed on: how well you are able to mix, using the above processes. Before we get started on the Evidence Requirements I encourage you to go back to SOND 2 (27703) - Demonstrate and apply knowledge of sound control and enhancement processes required for a performance context. That resource gives you a great outline of the mix process and goes into reasonable depth discussing all of the above ‘processes’. Also useful is the discussion on mixing in MUSTEC 3 (27658) - Demonstrate and apply knowledge of electronic music production and music notation application(s). You should ensure that you understand everything in those resources from Learning Ideas Ltd before proceeding. © Learning Ideas Limited, 2013. 5 This workbook may only reproduced for students of the high school that purchased it. Any other copying is strictly prohibited. No sharing between schools and studios is permitted. 1.1 Sound processes selected and applied to enhance the performance context are described using sound theory. Range frequency, phase, wavelength, amplitude, pitch, sound pressure level, fidelity, reflection, absorption, sampling rate. a minimum of six theories are required While the following are rather technical, you’ll soon see that to be a good sound engineer you need to have a firm knowledge of the theory behind these words. Don’t believe me? Here is one example: A common technique for recording kick drums is to use two microphones – one inside the drum close to the beater head to capture ‘attack’, with another mic a couple of feet outside the drum to capture the ‘fullness’ of the tone (because it takes a few feet for some low frequencies to fully develop – another bit of theory we’ll cover later). One mic will have great attack that can cut through a mix while the other is nice and full, but will lack the ability to cut through the mix. The solution? Use them both right? What sometimes happens (at first) is when combining them the overall kick drum sound is rubbish.

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