Workshop: Improving Audio – An introduction to the tools and techniques of sound production
Standard £150
Freelance/Student £125
Members £100
This is one-day technical workshop is designed for anyone wanting to create, enhance or edit audio content for media projects.
Discussing sound for narration, interviews, field recordings, ambiances and performance, the workshop will focus on general principles of sound production and will be relevant to users of most recording or editing systems.
The workshop would suit self-shooters, podcasters, video editors, producers of any media content who have not previously focused on sound or others entirely new to audio.
Topics covered include:
- Recording environment considerations
- Terminology and technical standards
- Equipment: Cables, connectors, software, recorders, signal processors and more
- Monitoring: Evaluation of sound by listening and use of meters
- Microphone types, techniques and placement (a selection will be available on the day to try)
- Frequently used production tools
- Commonly encountered sound issues and how to avoid them
- Selecting a recording or editing system to suit your project.
Here’s what participants had to say about Robin’s recent workshop at the club:
“This is was an incredibly useful workshop – a great starting point in terms of terminology and technology.”
“The topic was all new for me but surprisingly accessible. Robin is an excellent and approachable instructor.”
“An extremely informative workshop. It was very useful and a great help to my work.”
“Thank you so much for the very informative course, I found it incredibly useful.”
“It was great to hear from someone so experienced. I really felt like a lot of it has now ‘stuck’ which is testament to Robin’s patience and delivery.”
No previous knowledge of audio production is necessary but some familiarity with any recording or editing systems may be of advantage.
Audio demonstrations will be made on Avid’s Pro Tools software, but the same principles will apply to the following systems, many of which are available for free download, and more: Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, GarageBand, Audacity, Logic Pro, iMovie, Adobe Audition and Premiere Pro, Cubase, PreSonus Studio One and TwistedWave.
Although not a requirement, participants are welcome to bring a laptop to the workshop to try any techniques discussed. Please ensure that you are reasonably familiar with the basic audio operations of your software beforehand. The trainer has familiarity with several common editing systems (Pro Tools, GarageBand and Audacity in particular) but specific operating knowledge for others may be limited.
Please bring a pair of headphones.
About the trainer
Robin Green is a sound recording and post-production engineer. He has worked on numerous documentary, drama, factual and animation productions for broadcast and film distribution. He has worked on productions for the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, National Geographic, Discovery, The History Channel, PBS and 20th Century Fox.
If you are interested specifically in audio and radio recordings, you may be interested in our How to Make a Radio Documentary workshop, running the day before this one. On Friday 19 February, David Prest and Deborah Dudgeon of Whistledown Productions will be leading a one-day workshop, covering the editorial essentials such as spotting an idea, building a narrative structure, finding the right contributors, as well as how to use sound creatively to grab the listener’s attention.
