Digital Video - December 2007 - (Page 54) AUDIO SOLUTIONS BY JAY ROSE CONFESSIONS OF AN AUTODIDACT TEACH YOURSELF TO CREATE BETTER TRACKS. bargains. (If I miss one of your favorites, drop a note and I’ll spread the word.) BIT BY BIT The Web is a wonderful thing. Google and Wikipedia answer almost any question you throw at them, sometimes even with correct and unbiased information. After the skepticism and cross-checking that a good Web search requires, they’re still great resources. So are Wikiversity.org (free introductory courses on a bunch of subjects) and Wikibooks.org (exactly what you’d expect). In fact, you can spend some profitable hours just poking around the world of user-contributedand-edited content at Wikimedia.org. The Open Source movement, similar to the Wikis, does the same thing with free software. Some of its programs are great production tools, like the Audacity multitrack audio editor I’ve mentioned before. Some are just fun to play with, which can also be educational. Many include documentation. Open Source’s home is sourceforge.net. Manufacturers, industry organizations, magazines and individuals like me also sponsor sites where you can learn about audio and electronics. Among the best, in alphabetical order: Cinema Audio Society (www.cinemaaudiosociety.org) An organization primarily of production sound mixers, with an informative online journal, an active discussion board, and links to other film sound technical societies. Digital Playroom (www.dplay.com) My Web site, which has a large tutorial section and index to my columns in DV, as well as some streaming audio humor about our industry. ePanorama.net This is the current home of engineer Tomi Engdahl’s Web site, one of the www.dv.com What’s on your shelf? There’s nothing obsolete about books as a learning and reference medium. Here are some of my favorites. (Yes, I wrote two of them. But I also recommend the others.) I got a call from my insurance agent. Not about coverage—could I talk to her high school son? He loves sound, and is always playing with audio on his computer and editing new tracks for TV shows. But he doesn’t know whether to go to film or engineering school; get a liberal arts degree or save the money and look for an internship. Maybe I’ll have a better idea after I hear the kid’s work, but for now, all I could say on schools is, “They’re all good, and they all have drawbacks.” This isn’t a knock on higher education. Lots of my friends teach at film and engineering schools, or media courses at major universities. But school can be expensive, and some people don’t flourish in that kind of setting. Fortunately, you can learn a lot—even about something as technical as film and video sound—without ever setting foot in a classroom. dv december 2007 I should know. My last serious math and physics classes were in high school. But I’ve built complicated studios and kept them running, programmed some wellrespected pieces of digital audio equipment, and written books used in engineering schools and film classes. My secret— which I hereby share with my insurance agent’s son and you—requires just four things: a few books, a Web browser, a little luck and a lot of loving what you do. The luck part involves finding mentors and opportunities to practice your craft. These are important, and a good college can provide them both. It can also give you lists of books and help you find Web resources. But if you want to be any good, you have to keep learning throughout your career—whether you’ve taken college courses or not. So let me list some non-school resources that are part of my own continuing audio and film education. Many are free, and all are 54 http://Wikiversity.org http://Wikibooks.org http://Wikimedia.org http://sourceforge.net http://www.cinemaaudiosociety.org http://www.dplay.com http://ePanorama.net http://www.dv.com
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