Letter of Intent
Cameron Kennedy
I have chosen a field I am interested in and already interested in for my senior project. This is audio engineering. Being a lifelong musician and member of multiple school bands. The technical side of recording and the post-production of music. For about a year and a half now I have been recording and mixing both my music and others and am homing in on this as a career. Besides this, I am far from an expert and lacking experience. For this summer I have been an intern for Vincent Freeman at The Underground Recording Studio in Randolph VT. He has also agreed to be my mentor for this project. I am using this as an opportunity to gain essential skills, experience and knowledge in a small, competitive industry. Audio engineering is a vast field that takes years of practice to master, and I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have to learn from experienced professionals.
My paper will be devoted to the advances in audio engineering in the last two decades revolving around the spread of digital technologies and the widespread and revolutionizing changes they have brought to the industry. There will be a comparison between the sound, the workflow, and the accessibility of “in the box” mixing compared to the old analog ways. This paper is an opportunity for me to research and learn more about analog recording and mixing, because everything I have done and learned up to this point has been digital. Additionally it will give a better perspective of the massive changes brought about by the digital revolution and add background to the rest of the product.
My final product will be 4 pre-recorded multi-tracks of different genres, mixed by me with the assistance of my mentor. I will have different revisions of each mix with both my observations of what could improve and my mentors. With each mix I will record my process for the mix and go through the science and importance of the 3 major sections of a mix, balance and panning, compression, and EQ. My mentor, as previously mentioned, is Vincent Freeman of the Underground. The actual mixing of the tracks is a relatively quick process, but I will be spending much more time working there than just necessary, because of my internship. I'm really using this opportunity to learn as much as I can in a field that I truly enjoy.
Since I work there a couple hours a week (depending on schedule) I plan on spending a considerable amount of time on this project. Not all of the work that we do is pertinent to this project and some will not be included. I want to take as much time learning before I actually start the mixing process, with an estimate that I should be done with the product by April.
I look forward to learning more in this amazing field and I appreciate your consideration for my project.