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MIDI is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices for playing, editing and recording music. The specification originates in a paper published by Dave Smith and Chet Wood then of Sequential Circuits at the October 1981 Audio Engineering Society conference in New York City then titled Universal Synthesizer Interface.
In sound recording and reproduction, and sound reinforcement systems, a mixing console is an electronic device for combining sounds of many different audio signals. Inputs to the console include microphones being used by singers and for picking up acoustic instruments, signals from electric or electronic instruments, or recorded music. Depending on the type, a mixer is able to control analog or digital signals. The modified signals are summed to produce the combined output signals, which can then be broadcast, amplified through a sound reinforcement system or recorded.
A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties.
Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including filmmaking, television production, video game development, theatre, sound recording and reproduction, live performance, sound art, post-production, radio and musical instrument development. Sound design commonly involves performing and editing of previously composed or recorded audio, such as sound effects and dialogue for the purposes of the medium, but it can also involve creating sounds from scratch through synthesizers. A sound designer is one who practices sound design.
The light board operator or moving light programmer, is the electrician who operates and/or programs the light board. Depending on the scale and type of production, the board op may be responsible for conventional or automated lighting fixtures, as well as practicals and, in some instances, controlling video as well.
Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from an entertainment control system, which is specific to a single theatrical department, system or effect, one which coordinates elements within a single entertainment discipline such as lighting, sound, video, rigging or pyrotechnics. A typical entertainment control system would be lighting control. An example of show control would be linking a video segment with a number of lighting cues, or having a sound track trigger animatronic movements -- or all of these combined. Shows with or without live actors can almost invariably incorporate entertainment control technology and usually benefit from show control to operate these subsystems independently, simultaneously, or in rapid succession.
MIDI Show Control, or MSC, is a significant Real Time System Exclusive extension of the international Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) standard. MSC enables all types of entertainment equipment to easily communicate with each other through the process of show control.
Richmond Sound Design Ltd. is a theatre sound design and show control systems and software developer and manufacturer. It was founded in 1972 by Charlie Richmond. The company began as a manufacturer of specialty mixers and theatre sound design consoles. It is a leader in digital audio and show control software and hardware for live entertainment.
Harrison Audio Consoles is an international company based in Nashville, Tennessee that manufactures mixing consoles, Digital Audio Workstations (DAW), audio plugins, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video production, broadcast, sound reinforcement and music recording industries. The company is renowned as an industry innovation for its "inline" mixing console design that has subsequently become the standard for nearly every large format music console. Over 1,500 Harrison consoles have been installed worldwide, presenting a significant percentage of the overall world market share for high-end audio consoles. The company founder, Dave Harrison, was inducted as a Fellow in the Audio Engineering Society for this technical contribution of the recording industry and in particular the first 32-bus "in-line" console.
Meyer Sound Laboratories is an American company based in Berkeley, California that manufactures self-powered loudspeakers, multichannel audio show control systems, electroacoustic architecture, and audio analysis tools for the professional sound reinforcement, fixed installation, and sound recording industries.
The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and technology, and to generally promote their interests. To this end, the USITT mounts conferences and exhibitions, promulgates awards and publications, and supports research. USITT is a non-profit organization which has its headquarters in Syracuse, New York.
An audio engineer helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the "...technical aspect of recording—the placing of microphones, pre-amp knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer ... the nuts and bolts." It's a creative hobby and profession where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for film, radio, television, music, and video games. Audio engineers also set up, sound check and do live sound mixing using a mixing console and a sound reinforcement system for music concerts, theatre, sports games and corporate events.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to stagecraft:
Phil Dudderidge is a British sound engineering entrepreneur. He is a notable figure in the professional audio industry, having worked as Led Zeppelin's concert sound mixer, and later co-founding Soundcraft Electronics Ltd before serving as Chairman of Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd.
Graham Blyth is an English audio engineer who is known for designing mixing consoles. He is a co-founder of Soundcraft, a manufacturer which Blyth helped form into a world leader in sound reinforcement and recording mixers, establishing the "British sound". After succeeding in electrical engineering he became a professional organist, performing on pipe organs around the world. Blyth is a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Audio Engineering Society (AES). In 2012 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in science from the University of Hertfordshire.
Dan Dugan is an American audio engineer, inventor, and nature sounds recordist. He was the first person in regional theatre to be called a sound designer, and he developed the first effective automatic microphone mixer: the automixer. Dugan's sound design work was acknowledged in 2003 with a Distinguished Career Award by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology.
George Charles Izenour, MPhys, AIEEE was an author, educator, designer and leading innovator in the field of theatrical design and technology. Best known for creating one of the first electronic theatre lighting dimming system, over the course of his career he invented and developed multiple technologies at the core of modern theatrical productions.
Metalworks Institute is a private career college located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The Institute was founded by Gil Moore of the Canadian rock band Triumph, and is the educational extension of Metalworks Studios, Canada's largest music recording studio, and Metalworks Production Group. The institute offers online courses and 30-week, one and two year diploma programs in a variety of entertainment art disciplines. In 2016, Metalworks Institute received the inaugural Canadian Music & Broadcast Industry award for Music School of the Year.
Richard Kenneth Thomas is an early practitioner/advocate for theatre sound and composition for live theatre. He began his career at his recording studio, Zounds Productions, which he founded and co-owned with Brad Garton in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Zounds Productions produced among many other bands, legendary punk band Dow Jones and the Industrials.
Abe John Jacob is an American sound designer and audio engineer. Called the "Godfather of Sound", Jacob greatly influenced the design of sound reinforcement in modern musical theatre, and was one of the first persons credited in the role of sound designer on Broadway, with a sound designer credit in Playbill in 1971.
References
- ↑ John, Leonard (April 2003). "Show Control Systems for Theatre". UK 18th Conference: Live Sound. Audio Engineering Society.
At the forefront of this group were Andy Meldrum of Vari*Lite and Charlie Richmond of Richmond Sound Design
- ↑ "A Practical Theatrical Sound Console". AES E-Library. Audio Engineering Society. February 1975. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
- ↑ Theatre crafts. 25. Theatre Crafts Associates. 1991-01-01. p. 172.
Show control has existed for quite some time; theme parks such as Disney and Universal have made extensive use of ... The Command/Cue, manufactured by Charlie Richmond's Vancouver- based Richmond Sound Design, started as
- ↑ "2000 Thea Award Winners". Themed Entertainment Association. October 5, 2000. Archived from the original on November 29, 2001. Retrieved September 27, 2011.
- 1 2 3 Mainprize, Julian (April 2003). "Mushroom Studios: in the late 1990s, Mushroom Studios, one of Canada's oldest recording studios, was on the Vancouver real estate market". Professional Sound.
- ↑ Huntington, John (2007-08-07). Control Systems for Live Entertainment . Focal Press. p. 281. ISBN 978-0-240-80937-3 . Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ↑ "Charlie Richmond, Fellow of the Institute". United States Institute for Theatre Technology. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ↑ "Sound Related Awards". United States Institute for Theatre Technology. Archived from the original on 8 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2011.