Postgraduate course of Music Production Techniques and Technology

The Postgraduate course in Music production techniques and technology consists of four interrelated subjects

Sound recording technology and techniques - 18 hours

• Be it on-location or in the studio, capturing sounds implies taking decisions which utterly affect the final outcome. With no "undo" available, it is essential to understand the acoustics envolved, the musical genre, the musician and the music sources. All these factors shape the sound object and help us choose the appropiate recording technique (mono, stereo, multi-mono, hybrid), the microphone technology and its placing, the ideal track grouping for recording, etc.
• All decisions should be rooted on the knowledge of room acoustics, basic organology (how instruments are build and how do they radiate, how timber is affected by humidity/temperature), physics and psicoacosutics (Fletcher-Munson curves, logarithmic response, temporal and spectral masking), current and signal infrastructure, as well as the correct reading of analysis tools (phase, spectrum, vumeter/picometer) and its bounds to critical listening

Post-production: Mixing, generating and applying effects – 21 hours

• Sound mixing has a key role in musical production, be it on an artistic or a technical level (error correction). Processing and editing for objective improvement in sound quality allows us to reduce errors in musical performance, erratic or non-uniform acoustic response (room modes, coupled spaces) or arguable microphone placements
• From an artistic point of view, sound synthesis or sampling in post-production, as well as the application of effects aimed to modify sound both in the temporal domain (EQ, delay, chorus, flanger/phaser, reverb) and in space and dynamics (panning, upward/downward compression, limiter) define the colour and character of a musical production. Through critical listening, editing practice, style recreation and free experimentation mixing criteria may be gained

Applied technologies: DAWs, interfaces and audio networks – 18 hours

• Knowledge about the groundings of digital technology allows us to discard myths and properly judge capabilities and limitations from NLE. How do all these technologies affect our musical production? How can we benefit from them?
• Our goal here is to understand the resolution window, the various coding schemes (from PCM to ?-? and perceptual coding), electronic implementation of A/D/A converters, resolution parameters ( fs, wordlength, dither, noise shaping) and its audible effect, simple transduction between analog and digital circuits and systems (filters, delays, reverb) thru Z-transform, bilineal transform and DSPs, interfaces, protocols, digital networks for transmission/reception, and ultimately, all paramaters defining the DAW environment

Mastering, adjustment to medium and distribution – 12 hours

• Beyond the DAW environment, which ara the pros and cons from different reproduction and recording media? (magnetic, optical, solid-state, radio)? Which are their historical and technical roots? Are we dealing just with audio (CD, MP3, radio) or are we blending sound with image (cinema, TV, multimedia)?
• Beyond technology, we need to know who is going to hear our music... Who is the listener? Does he (or she) have experience on what he's hearing? Is he a critical or a casual listener? Where is he listening to? At home, at work, in the elevator, while driving, jogging? Does he listen for the pleasure of it, for its information content? When is he listening to? Does he listen carefully or is it just a secondary action? All those parameters, and even other far more subtles, do determine the mastering process of a musical production

alongside with

• Practical workshops at the ESMUC Recording Studio and Laboratories – 33 hours
• Specific, professionally-oriented masterclasses given by experts in the field – 18 hours
• On-location recording and post-producction practical workshops within the Grans Conjunts concert's season at L'Auditori Concert Halls (Concerts de l'Acadèmia ESMUC)

Practical workshops

• Sound Recording Technology and Techniques
• Post-procution and applied technologies
• Grans Conjunts ESMUC/L'Auditori

Professionally-orientied masterclasses

• Organology and acoustics
• Jazz recording
• Multimedia (cinema/TV) recording
• Sound studio technical layout
• Modern music production
• Classical music production

To qualify it is essential to attend at least 80% of the classes, carry out the work of the subjects, and approved the final draft of course.

All those participants who meet the knowledge requirements set by management of the program but who do not possess a university degree and have completed the program, approving and carrying out the work and the final draft of the course receive a diploma awarded by the IDEC.

Postgraduate course in Music production techniques and technology:

• Classroom study hours (teacher and group working on an activity together): 120 teaching hours
• Directed work hours (hours of work "considered necessary" for the completion of work given): 250 hours
• Individual hours of work (hours which participants dedicate to activities related with the programme on their own initiative): 130 hours

TOTAL: 500 hours (20 ECTS credits)