Introduction

The book is well suited to developing the student’s music production skills and artistry. It is designed to stimulate thought about the recording process as being a collection of creative resources. These skills and creative ideas can then be applied to the act of crafting the music recording artistically.

As a textbook for sound evaluation and listening skill development, The Art of Recording can be used for instruction at various skill levels. The instructor may determine the level of proficiency required of the students in performing listening evaluations. The development of listening skills is a lengthy and involved process that will go through many stages of accomplishment. The book is useable by students at the beginning of their studies or at the most advanced levels, graduate students as well as undergraduates.

Graphing the activity of the various artistic elements is important for developing listening and evaluation skills, especially during beginning studies. It is also valuable for performing in-depth evaluations of recordings that allow us to study how the artistic aspects of recording have been used by accomplished recording producers. This process of graphing the activity of the various artistic elements is also a useful documentation tool. Working professionals through beginning students will find the process useful.

Finally, it is hoped this book will clarify communication in some small way and in some small segment of our industry.

All audio professionals are required to communicate about sound. The many artistic and technical people of the industry need to communicate clearly. We in the industry presently function without this meaningful exchange of ideas. We often do not communicate well or accurately. In order for communication to occur, a vocabulary must be present. Terms or descriptions must mean the same thing to the people involved, and the terms must apply to something specific within the sound. This book might serve as a meaningful point of departure for an audio recording vocabulary to be devised.