For anyone looking to grow as a recording engineer, music producer, or musician, Colorado Sound Media Labs has you covered. Let me take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Kyle Dean and I am a student currently in the middle of my Intermediate Recording course offered by Colorado Sound Media Labs. I just finished my fifth lesson with Steve Avedis and I have already learned more things than I can count.
Here’s some insight into what you can expect from CSML, given my experience thus far:
To start things off, in Lesson One, Steve and I sat down and discussed my specific needs and what I was looking for throughout the course. Steve is very genuine, enthusiastic, and collaborative. He is willing to work with your needs and tailor the lessons for your experience level. That said, there is a curriculum to follow and we do follow the lesson plan to some extent. First, we discussed the basics of the studio, the studio layout, differences in project studios vs. professional studios, and opportunities in the music industry outside of the studio.
In Lesson Two, we discussed the basics of sound, transducers, decibels, and the human ear. Steve always allocates some time to focus on my needs at the end of the lesson, so about 15-30 minutes before the end of our lesson we open my current project and Steve helps me lay it out in Pro Tools, get a rough mix, and shares his decades of experience on my own song. This is invaluable.
In Lessons Three and Four, Steve and I discussed microphones. Microphone designs, characteristics, preamps, placement techniques, and selections. He walked me through the various models of microphones they have in the studio which includes a beautiful Neumann U47 Tube. Find their extensive mic list along with the rest of the Studio A gear collection here. In Lesson Five, we went over the basics of Pro Tools, setting up the preferences to work with my home studio and what is involved in the tools and menus.
One of the greatest benefits of taking these courses has been the ability to sit in on some sessions with Steve and an artist directly. You gain invaluable experience in these sit-ins. Watching how he handles the artist while they’re in the vocal booth or the way he works with a producer while managing the session in Pro Tools is a masterclass of its own. I can’t wait to continue my course, and maybe I’ll get to share the rest of the experience with you in the future.
Written by Kyle Dean