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Engineering in Recording ++ 4th International Symposium for Engineering Education, 2012, The University of Sheffield, July 2012, UK + ENGINEERING IN RECORDING ++ Jeremy Wells* Audio Lab, Department of Electronics, University of York Abstract: One does not have to look very far to find controversy in the use of the name ‘engineer’ in the field of audio recording. It is a ubiquitous term but there are those who firmly believe that the act of ‘recording’ is not ‘engineering’. This paper briefly surveys definitions of engineering which exist in the literature and then applies these to specific, documented examples of recording processes. These processes are described in terms of the knowledge, training and technology they require for their execution. The purpose of these case studies is not to prove that recording is or isn’t engineering; rather it is to highlight how activities undertaken by those who make sound recordings can overlap with generally accepted notions of engineering. The primary motivation for this work is pedagogical: the presented activities can be used as examples in general engineering education and to illustrate the nature of engineering within degrees in sound recording and music technology. Links to materials for supporting teaching are also provided. Keywords; Audio, Sound Recording, Multidisciplinarity, Professional engineer. *Correspondence to: J. Wells, Department of Electronics, University of York, YO10 5DD, UK. E-mail: [email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Is Recording Engineering? Whilst the popularity of sound recording and music technology courses continues (Boehm, 2007 ) it is often asserted that “engineering suffers from an image problem” (Robson, 2012). Is Recording Engineering? is a public engagement project, supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, which is intended to explore the relationship between these two fields in both industry and education. Its inspiration is the idea that engineering as a discipline can be more widely understood by the broader public if the way in which it permeates a popular multidisciplinary subject area such as music technology and/or sound recording is explored with them. As the title of the project acknowledges, a connection between engineering and what happens in a music recording studio is not universally accepted. However this paper argues that there are specific aspects of sound recording, and approaches to its execution, which can act as examples of engineering in action. The project and this paper specifically focus on the term ‘recording engineer’ as opposed to ‘audio engineer’; the latter is often used more generally and can be applied to less controversially defined endeavours such as the design of audio equipment. Before presenting these examples of ‘recording engineering in action’ it is first necessary to + This work is supported by an Ingenious public engagement fellowship with the Royal Academy of Engineering. 4th International Symposium for Engineering Education, 2012, The University of Sheffield, July 2012, UK survey some definitions of engineering. With an overview of these definitions in place they are then applied to three varied recording situations/tasks which can be explored in engineering or music technology teaching. For the engineering student there is the opportunity to reflect on the nature of their discipline via an accessible and recognisable scenario. For the music, or music technology student, there is the opportunity to recognise facets of engineering in their subject area, and also to import good engineering practice in their approaches to that subject; in short, to become more ‘engineer-like’. For these latter students there is the employability benefit to being exposed to a more STEM orientated approach to such tasks, improving numeracy and science skills as well as gaining an understanding of engineering. The attractiveness to employers of such skills and understanding is well documented (e.g. CBI, 2008). 1.1 What is a recording engineer? A common, broad definition of engineering can be summarised as the application of “scientific and technical knowledge to the design, creation and use of structures and functional artefacts” (Open University, 2011). This is a useful starting point: the use of organised and verifiable knowledge about the physical world to create and use things within it. However this simple statement does not specify how to move from the knowledge and understanding to the artifact and how success in doing so might be measured. Despite attempts to rouse public support for legislation to better define the identity and role of the engineer (e.g. Robson, 2012) it remains the case that in the UK anyone may refer to themselves as an engineer, in contrast to so-called protected titles such as ‘doctor’ and ‘architect’. In contrast, there is no such clamour to protect via legislation the term ‘musician’. Whilst the latter point may seem facile, the medical doctor and the musician might be considered to be at opposite ends of a continuum, and engineering must lie somewhere along this continuum. It seems reasonable to assume that there is widespread agreement that the protection of the title of doctor is beneficial but that a similar protection for musician is impractical and unnecessary. That said, recognised qualifications are often required for some roles, such as instrumental teaching (for example a ‘licence’ to teach, such as the licentiate of Trinity College, London). Using both music and medicine for comparison David Blockley (2008) explains one facet of engineering that pushes it towards one end of the continuum: Many years ago I was listening to a well know jazz critic interviewing Louis Armstrong on the radio. After a long erudite discussion of the contrapuntal complexities of his trumpet playing the critic asked ‘Louis how do you do it?’ The reply delivered in typical rasping style was, ‘Man I just blows.’ Why is this relevant to engineering? Because, like Louis, much of what practitioners actually do is as a result of experience - they learn from doing the job. However if Louis had blasted a wrong note then his career would have suffered - but little else. The consequences of engineers or indeed many professional practitioners such as medics, making a wrong decision can be loss of life. Although Blockley does not appear to be claiming that engineering must involve critical activities whose outcomes determine life or death, the reliance of modern civilisation on engineering is often cited when defining the importance of this discipline (e.g. Willis et al, 2009). Just as Armstrong blasting a wrong note is unlikely to be matter of life and death, neither can a poor recording place anyone in mortal danger. However, the transferability of skills in engineering from life-critical to relatively trivial applications (e.g. between image processing systems for medicine and those for domestic television) suggests that engineering can exist within the apparently trivial. Therefore the application is not considered here to be a determinant of whether an activity is engineering. 4th International Symposium for Engineering Education, 2012, The University of Sheffield, July 2012, UK If we cannot use application as an indicator of what engineering is, then how else can it be separated from science, craft and art? Lewin (1983) identified ‘Two Cultures’ of Arts and Sciences which dominate universities and proposes Engineering as a third. He observes: Though today engineering artifacts draw extensively on scientific knowledge, it has not always been so, and up to the end of the nineteenth century the methods of manufacture and natural science were quite distinct. Indeed the development of the steam engine, often quoted as a ‘product of science’, was the work of men like James Watt and George Stephenson who were predominantly skilled craftsmen and certainly not knowledgeable in scientific matters. Thus engineering can be said to predate science, which is still relatively young, and man’s development has been, and still is, determined essentially by his capacity to make artifacts and improve upon his environment rather than the systematic accumulation of knowledge. The distinction that Lewin makes between the two is that science often (although not always) deals with systems which are ‘closed’, isolated from the real world, whereas engineering is concerned with open systems which must serve and operate within real-world situations. From this we might consider that engineering, in a recording situation, delivers ‘what is possible’ given what is known about laws of nature and the limits of technology, along with ‘what is desired’ according to aesthetic considerations. However there is still Lewin’s delineation of the ‘designer craftsman’ and ‘designing engineer’ to consider. He elevates the status of engineering above that of a skilled craft or trade in stating that “the design of artefacts such as a communication system, computer software system ... etc. require[s] a high level of intellectual skills rather than simple craft skills”. Rogers (1983) states that “craft is the power to produce a preconceived result by consciously controlled action: the craftsman always knows what he wants to make in advance” whilst the engineer will innovate and have to choose from a number of solutions to a problem. Engineer is not the only title (rightly or wrongly) attached to the process of making sound recordings. Borwick (1973) describes the ‘Tonmeister’ concept, which he adopted as the head of the first degree in music and sound recording to be offered at
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