Promotion of Effective Studio Operations (Branding of Audio-visual Console Mixer)
CHAPTER ONE
PREAMBLE OF STUDY
Audio visual mixing, at the highest level, can be understood as engaging with the various sounds within a performance or composition as a blended entity, a meta-performance consisting of all the individual parts (Moylan, 1992). The act of the mixing engineer is to engage in shaping this level of perspective and establishing qualities and relationships between them (Moylan, 2017). The mix engineer effectively delivers the song by ‘shaping its dimensions to match, complement or enhance the character of the song, its message and expression’ (ibid, p.50). This process is goal-oriented, with the aim being a desired change in the emotional effect of a sound (Sauer et al, 2013).
CHAPTER TWO
DEVELOPMENT OF AUDIO – VISUAL MIXING
In the 1940s, when recording with tape was still in its infancy and many studios recorded directly to acetate disc, all the audio sources were recorded simultaneously onto one track. Since there was just a single track, there was no conceivable way for the producer to adjust the individual levels of the recorded instruments after the initial recording. Direct recording relied on microphone placement, equalisation, acoustics and mixing before recording (Channan 1995). If the mix wasn’t satisfactory, or if a musician made a mistake, the music had to be performed again until the desired balance or performance was achieved.
In the early 1950s, this limitation was overcome when American composer and technician Les Paul commissioned the Ampex Corporation to build a custom tape recorder in which eight separate audio tracks could be simultaneously recorded onto one-inch audio tape. Its introduction created the possibility for an incremental approach to mixing. The producer could now hear parts of the production in isolation, repeating and correcting for technical, musical, or creative reasons until satisfied. The development of multitrack recording was a major progression in music recording and can be understood as a critical step in the history of music production. With its inception, instead of trying to capture a recording at the time of performance, it could be enhanced and changed after the event. “An hour after the session or even the next day, you could sit down and readjust the balance of the bass or the guitar on a particular recording to create a whole new different mix” (Cunningham, 1998, p.48).
Multitrack tape machines soon developed beyond eight-tracks, with sixteen-track recorders available by the late 1960s and twenty-four track tape machines following soon after. Since the 1990s, multitrack tape has largely been replaced by hard-disc recording (though analogue tape is still favoured by some studios). This has reduced the limitations of the channel count that tape imposed, and modern AVCs offer the potential for unlimited tracks in multichannel recordings, the consequences of which are discussed in more detail below.
Development of Mixing Desks
The move to multitrack recording signalled a fundamental change in the production process where the recording could be separated from the mixing process for the first time. The introduction of multitrack lead to the development of a plethora of new mixing techniques and equipment including delays, reverberation units, equalisers, filters, compressors and limiters (Channan 1995). Soon, recording studios started to realise the need to develop mixing desks to fully realise the potential of multitrack mixing (Cunningham 1998). While it should be acknowledged that mixing desks had been in use prior to multitrack recording, they were relatively primitive, with early studios like Sun Studios in Memphis often using broadcast equipment or rudimentary rotary mixers, which offered limited functionality (Cogan 2003).
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Experimental Approach
Both Repeated Measures and Independent Measures test designs have been used in the studies reported herein. Repeated Measures tests were used when the participants were required to use all the experimental interfaces being assessed. This helped to reduce the variability between participants (Field & Hole 2003), such as when the participants came from different populations or had varying levels of experience. When using Repeated Measures, the order in which interfaces were presented was alternated for each participant to ensure the influence of listening fatigue, continued use of the interface, and continued exercise of critical listening were accounted for.
Independent Measures were used when participants were required to use only one of the experimental interfaces. When running Independent Measures tests, all subjects were taken from the same population and had an equivalent amount of exposure to mixing using AVCs. This was done to compensate for potential variations in participants. Furthermore, in the Independent Measures tests, random assignment was used to assign participants to the different condition groups.
Participants
Recruitment and Ethical Considerations.
Participants with experience of audio mixing using AVC interfaces have been recruited for the studies, with a strong emphasis on beginners, students and non-experts. We recruited participants from several music technology courses. Where staff were used in addition to pupils, these were non- music technology staff within the colleges and schools, who self-classified themselves as beginners, giving them a broadly similar mixing background to the students recruited.
CHAPTER FOUR
VISUAL FEEDBACK AND CRITICAL LISTENING
For this first experiment we have purposefully designed a broad, high-level investigation into bi-modal attention while mixing. This is done in the anticipation that the knowledge gained will provide a starting point for further studies, set future directions for interface design and crucially, begin to address our first research question; namely to what extent does visual perceptual load interfere with or support the processing of auditory information?
When mixing using analogue mixing desks, engineers will often adjust the equalisation without looking at details of the control. Instead, they engage in a proprioceptive action, in which they listen while moving the mixing desk dials and faders (Valeriote 2016). However, when applying equalisation using AVCs, the visual feedback cannot be so easily ignored (Bell and Ratcliffe 2015). Since there is no tactile response (as turning a dial on a physical mixer) users must engage with the pictorial representation of the equaliser, requiring an increased level of visual engagement (ibid). As discussed in section 2.2.2, there is contrasting evidence regarding the influence of increased visual attention on aural modalities. Some researchers maintain visual stimuli can strongly modulate perceptions of auditory events and inhibit auditory perception and aural acuity (e.g. Colavita 1974., Sinnet et al 2007., Soto-Faraco & Spence 2010) while others posit the notion of independence of attentional resources for vision and audition (Triesman and Davies., 1973., Alais et al., 2006., Santangelo et al 2010).
CHAPTER FIVE
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study has found that for simple single channel equalisation tasks, the use of a visual representation of frequency changes does not minimise the attentional resources given to the auditory response, though in the case of the current study this may be due to lack of strong enough perceptual load on either the visual or auditory modalities. Furthermore, the use of a visual representation did not improve accuracy or speed, suggesting that visual feedback per se is not necessarily an aid to mixing.
Progression to Subsequent Study
In our next study we wish to better understand the reasons for our null result. Specifically, we wish to clarify whether it is due to human perception per se, or whether the interface used by the participants may have been a contributing factor. Indeed, even on moderately small mixes, a typical AVC such as Logic or Cubase will present a large amount of visual information, far surpassing the level of visual load found in the current study’s interface designs. This visual feedback includes multiple channel strip UI elements such as dials and faders, and moving meters, including channel volume and frequency spectrum analysers. In order to replicate the workflow encountered when using such software displays, it may be necessary to introduce more visual load, thereby making the experience more comparable with actual use of a AVC. Accordingly, our next chapter introduces a study where mixing interfaces with increased amounts of channels, visual feedback and interface navigation are assessed. By so doing we hope to better clarify whether these factors play a part in participant responses to audio changes during interface interaction.
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