Why I'm Glad Sound Recording Technology is a Music Degree

I'm a music major, with an emphasis in sound recording technology. A lot of people find this very confusing. Why would sound recording be in the music program? Doesn't that belong in Engineering, or Physics, or some other technical school? I've also noticed some engineers ignorantly say, "why do I have to take music theory and history classes if I'm going to be a sound engineer? Learning about Leonin and Perotin doesn't make me a better engineer. Learning how to resolve a german augmented sixth chord doesn't help me know when I need to apply reverb."

I'm in an even more complicated situation because I'm in the classical voice studio for my instrument. Most of my colleges have chosen contemporary studios such a voice, guitar, drums or synthesizer. I feel fortunate because this gives me a perspective that most other musicians never have.

I've come up with a list on how being a musicians has helped me as a sound engineer and vice verse:

- Once, someone was recording a cello track in a pop song. The cellist was improvising, but the student "producer" wasn't happy with some of the notes he was playing. I was able to identify that he was playing the dominant when what we wanted to hear was the tonic. Identifying the key and matching that with my knowledge of the cello's range, I was able to suggest this change to the student. The results were much better.

- I record audition tapes for students trying to get into festivals or Master's programs. Having been a classical singer I'm able to better identify with what classical singers want in their recordings. Most of these goals in recordings are shared by instrumentalists as well. I recently got a compliment from one of the voice faculty about the recordings I've made for his students. "We like the recordings you make downstairs best." He's been recommending me to all his students.

- I learned in music theory how dissonant and jarring unresolved tri-tones can be in tonal music. This helped me learn why half-octave equalizers never became popular, because half of an octave is a tri-tone. Half-octave equalizers don't work as well to our ears as full-octave or third-octave equalizers do. That's the reason why.

- Most of us can tell when someone is singing or playing out of tune (or so out of tune that we consider it "off-key"). But how many of us can tell when someone is 25, 10, or 5 cents off? Or what we can do to fix it? Learning and performing music has sharpened my ears into a greater perception of tuning. I wouldn't be able to say "that's 14 cents too sharp," but I can hear it much more now than ever before.

- Sound recording has taught me to listen much more than I've ever done before. In sound recording we've learned and practiced two different ways of hearing: "Critical listening," and "Analytical listening." "Critical listening," is more about listening for the quality of the tone, while "Analytical listening" has more to do with the meaning of the tone.

This isn't close to a comprehensive list of everything, but these are some pretty big things that I can remember right now. My main feeling is that sound recording should be treated more like an art than as a science. I don't mean to downplay science, it's very important in my field, but science without art is dead. I considering this to be one of the best degrees available, and I'm glad I chose it.