Listening Skills and Audio

¶ … Technical and Engineering Skills of Engineers and Producers The practices of producers and engineers are both an art and science where the success involves a high level of critical thinking skills, technical skills and understanding of theoretical concepts related to production and recording. Typically, an engineer must rely on a combination listening skills and technical knowledge to complete their works successfully. For example, an audio engineer must have a technical knowledge of digital signal processing, analog electronics, and audio equipment.

Moreover, engineers must have a solid understanding of audio engineering principles to make decisions on recording project such as mix balance, microphone choice, fader levels, location and signal processing. Moreover, engineers need to have a theoretical expertise, possessing technical expertise and technical knowledge of sound. The objective of this project is to examine the critical listening skills, professional skills and technical skills of two audio engineers or producers prior to 1990. Two Audio Engineers or Producers prior to 1990 David Richardson is an audio engineer, and English music producer born in England.

In 1968, David Richardson founded a Sky Studio that later became a leading Sound Recording Technology and facilities house. At the age of four, Richardson had a passion for sound recording, electronics and learned to play with piano when he was in a tender age. By the age of 16, Richardson had already assisted many Jazz artists to record their music. As a young producer, Richardson established the production contracts with major music companies such as Sony and EMI.

After some years, Richardson recorded combination of music that include Rock, Pop and Jazz music. With few years, Richardson was able to master the Compact Disc recording technique, and his skills were based on his engineering skills in recording.

Richardson was able to achieve success in his career based on his technical skills in signal processing, equalization, and dynamics processing, As an audio engineer, Richardson has developed a critical listening skills that allow him to identify distortion, noise, hum and buzz that can affect the quality of music production, and he had developed strategies to reduce or eliminate their presence. Richardson is able to achieve success in his career based on his audio engineering skills.

The technical aspect of audio engineering involves the ability to operate or install sound recording equipment, sound broadcasting equipment and sound reinforcement equipment. Over the years, Richardson had acquired the ability to record different types of music as well as having practical and theoretical knowledge in different aspects of sounds. In the contemporary audio environment, audio engineers are required to employ their listening and technical skills to identify subtle problems, discern sounds and having ability hear hidden distortions, identify frequencies and reconcile conflicts in audio elements.

The best audio engineers should be able to train their ears to identify problems and to distinguish between the quality and not quality sounds. In the Richardson audio engineering career, he is able to estimate the change's level of sound as well as estimating a frequency of sound limitation and distinguishing between male and female voices. Andrew Johns is another audio engineer and American record producer in 1970s.

Johns was born in 1950 in England, and his producing skills started as early as his teen ages where he played guitar with a popular band in the UK and learned a technique of recording with his elder brother Glyn, who had established his producing career with the Rolling Stones and Beatles. Johns started his career at Olympic Studios in 1967, and developed his audio engineering skills in 1970s where he learned to manipulate, and record using the electronic effects, equalization, reproduction, mixing and sound reinforcement.

During John's career as an audio engineer and producer, he has the developed the strategy of using the technologies to develop quality music. Moreover, Johns has extensive knowledge in the techniques and principles of audio engineering. He also developed an understanding on the use of different instruments.

Historical Developments of Sound Capture and Playback Technology Morton, (2004) argues that the development of sound technology starts from the Unite States and Europe in 1857, and the technology that led to a recording of sound was one of the greatest invention in the 19th century. Typically, sound recording has pervaded every face of the past and present life. However, the time when both David Richardson and Andrew Johns were practicing was during the magnetic and digital era. Essentially, the magnetic era was between 1945 and 1975.

During this period, the audio industry used the magnetic tape to record music ad films. Starting from 1950s, the magnetic tape became the standard method of recording films, music and radio. (Cunningham, 1996). Towards the end of 1960s, the use of magnetic tape for recording expand rapidly allowing producers, composers, and engineers to record powerful music and films. (Morton, 2004). The era of using digital method to record has started from 1975 which has transformed the history and dynamic changes of audio recording.

Both Richardson and Johns took the advantages of the digital era to improve their audio recording. Unlike the previous technology, the digital recording technology lead to the production of digital compact disc. Thus, Richardson and Johns used the compact disc to record music because the CD assist in recording music that have no distortion and provide perfect clarity. In 1980s, Richardson developed interest in the digital music and used the vinyl record manufacturing to develop the acetate discs.

His big success as a recording engineer came where he used the digital technology to record the "One Step Beyond", which was the biggest selling jazz music during the period. Analysis Historical Relationship between Technical skills, Critical listening skills and Professional skills of Audio Engineers Between 1970s and 1980s, both David Richardson and Andrew Johns had acquired technical knowledge I audio signals with ability to achieve the critical listening skills and make a good judgement about what they hear.

Corey, (2010) argue that critical listening skills in the audio engineering profession can be improved and developed gradually as engineers work in audio's field. While audio engineers can acquire professional training, however, development of listening skills happens while on the job. Thus, it is common for beginner engineers to work with experienced engineers in the audio industry to improve their both listening skills and technical skills. Although, in the present technological environment, the audio industry has experienced gradual changes.

Despite the present evolution in the industry, the technical skills as well as critical listening skills are still important tool for audio engineers. The skills allow them to make quality mix sound, recording for films and music. In the professional careers of both Andrew Johns and Richardson, they have developed the audio attributes and aura skills in the audio signal processing. They also have the knowledge of sound reproduction systems that include dynamics processing, equalization, and reverberation.

(Moorefield, 2005).Typically, an advanced technical skills involve a knowledge audio signal processing with the ability to identify changes in sound which is the aspect of critical thinking skills. During the David Richardson and Andrew Johns' career as audio engineers, they have developed the technical skills on dynamic processing. It is.