Audio Engineering - The Sound of Music

Mr. Nambi Thirumalai takes his passion for music from an early age and converts it into a pursuit for his family and community by also utilizing his engineering training.

Mr. Nambi Thirumalai, EEE 1986

Introduction

Being a former member of my college music group, appropriately called “TechMusic,” the mention of PSG College of Technology always brings back golden memories of old melodies to my mind.

In addition to regular concerts on campus, TechMusic also used to give public performances off-campus for the community in and around the City of Coimbatore. Once, TechMusic had to perform on campus soon after well received open air performances at the hill station of Nilgiris and at the nearby town of Thirupur.

The band was confident that the performance at the PSG Assembly Hall would be a definite success following our hit performances off campus. To our disappointment, the show at our college campus was a disaster despite excellent individual performances from each member of the team.

In both the open air performances out of town, professionals were hired to take care of the audio set up. However, for the concert in our own assembly hall, we missed the extensive preparatory work that goes into setting up the sound system. Without the perfect blend of the vocals and instruments, harmonious music was simply missing. With an openly critical review from our college community on this audio fiasco, we were careful not to repeat the mistake again in the future. For me, this lesson went beyond this searing incident on the college campus amidst my friends and professors.

Resonating Reconnection

My music activities in terms of my own performance took a backseat when I started a full time job following my graduate studies in computer science and business. Years later, I felt reconnected when my kids started getting involved in music.  Attending my son’s Jazz and Carnatic music concerts rekindled my appreciation towards the art and technology of media production, delivery, and the electro acoustics involved in sound engineering.

Early this year, we got an opportunity to experience professional music production in a local recording studio designed by a world renowned studio designer.  Vocalists, percussion and instrumentalists assembled to produce high quality recording with the guidance of a Carnatic music maestro from Chennai. This fellowship project was organized by a commercial venture founded by a young entrepreneur with an engineering degree from IIT and MBA from the MIT Sloan School.

A few months later, my son played the percussion arrangements for a dance production.  This sold out show performed entirely by young students, involved live and recorded music.  For producing the recorded music, my son worked with a team involving engineering, business and medical students.  The team using entry level recording software and hardware was able to produce inspirational music of studio quality. Such ease of production, enabled by technology combined with the powerful reach of the internet, made it possible for Boston based Shankar Tucker to make it big in Indian music through his Shruti Box recordings by using a “Viral Video” approach on YouTube.

Innovations in Sound

Human beings are very sensitive to sound quality. A person may find it hard to guess the correct scale of a music piece, but can instantly recognize a sour note in the rendition. It may also be hard for people to compromise on sound quality.

Disappointed with the inferior quality of a stereo that he bought, Dr. Amar Bose from the MIT invented a new type of stereo speaker in the early 60’s. Later, he founded Bose Corporation which became synonymous with high-quality audio systems.

Later, with a combination of iTunes and the iPod, the great innovator, Steve Jobs catalyzed personal music consumption and also set the stage for launching the iPhone in Apple’s revolutionary comeback as market leader. Apple’s investment in music continued with their recent acquisition of Beats Electronics, a company known for its premium audio products and services.

Music holds a special place within our hearts and provides opportunities for engineers and artists to blend technology and art. Designing and delivering quality audio products and services involves multiple fields of engineering.

Sound and Sound Engineering

Sound is a longitudinal wave which travels outward in a medium. It is slower than light and is subject to reflection, refraction and interference.  The lifecycle of sound involves the Production, propagation and perception of sound, also known as the three P’s of sound. Audio engineering involves two broad categories of specialization – Sound Systems Engineering and Product Research and Development Engineering.

Sound System Engineers are the brain behind the audio system setup for successful performance shows and sound production. They understand the requirement of the show or production at hand. Based on the available products and budget, they design a solution with their technical expertise and field experience as studio engineers and sound designers. The challenges with large live performances for both indoor and outdoor are numerous. It takes a team of seasoned engineers and media experts to bring success to big shows.

Product research and development in sound engineering includes architectural acoustics that deals with engineering sound quality in a performance hall through sound reinforcement. It also involves electro acoustics dealing with the design of products like microphones, headphones, loudspeakers, recording technologies and sound reproduction systems. With strong technical background and solid musical ideas, the audio engineers strive to create sonic signatures and brands such as Allen Heath, Shure through innovation.

New frontiers in Sound

From vinyl records to virtual reality, a revolution is taking place in the field of audio engineering, from personal space to performance stage, with the decibels of pleasure peaking decade after decade. Movie production and gaming industry are driving technologies like spherical audio for total audio immersion. 3D headphones are already in the market, setting the trend for the next decade.

Princeton University has developed a way to play three dimensional sound recordings from standard stereo laptop speakers. 3D Soundscape technology has crossed the boundaries of entertainment space into human wearable application. The 3D wearable camera for the blind from Microsoft, tricks the wearer’s brain into thinking they come from certain directions creating a "3D soundscape" for safe navigation.

Resources for acquiring knowledge

Audio engineering can be a highly rewarding career or a favorite hobby for an engineering student with a love for music.  Convergence of computer technology and Music Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) has ignited a revolution in recording and music production industry.

A.R. Rahman’s KM Music Conservatory in Chennai in collaboration with Middlesex University in the UK offers audio engineering and electronic music production courses. Carnegie Institute of Technology in the US offers a Master of Science in Music and Technology. The program offered both by the School of Music and School of Computer Science consists of courses spanning both music and technology and a comprehensive capstone project.

There are many magazines and journals in print and electronic media making the learning of audio engineering a fun experience.  Magazines like “Sound on Sound” recognized as the bible of hi-tech music recording industry, publishes highly informative articles on music technology, and also features in-depth product tests of  monitors, microphones, mixing consoles, keyboards, synthesizers, music computers, and virtual instruments.

The Audio Engineering Society (AES), a professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology founded in the United States in 1948, has grown to become an international organization today uniting audio engineers, scientists, students and creative artists worldwide. The society helps in spreading knowledge in research and development in the field of audio engineering.

AES conducts a worldwide Student Design Competition during AES Conventions as an opportunity for aspiring hardware and software engineers.  Students seeking bachelor, master or doctoral degrees participate in the audio product design competition and get recognized for their ingenuity, technical creativity, and hard work.

Summary

My interest in audio engineering and technology was rekindled by my involvement with the music activities of my kids. Even with little exploring, I realized that the field of audio engineering is so extensive, yet exciting.  Scientists and engineers through innovation have brought powerful applications to the homes of musicians and listeners to create or enjoy wonderful music. As technology pushes the boundaries in this domain every day, the future world of the sound of music sounds exciting and offers glorious career opportunities for the “Tech & Music” oriented talent.

About the author:

Nambi Thirumalai lives with his family in Dallas.   He is an Information Technology professional.  He was a day scholar at PSG, graduating in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.