Hal Weary, Moderator
2:30 - Learning by Recreating: Exploring the Educational Value of Cover Projects
3:00 - Three Methods to Improve Students' Music Mixing Abilities
Learning by Recreating: Exploring the Educational Value of Cover Projects
Frank Dremel, Middle Tennessee State University
The recreation of master works, including classic recordings and contemporary hits, is a powerful pedagogical tool in audio production education. While traditional music education emphasizes that students cultivate a repertoire of significant works, audio production students are often assigned projects that primarily involve original compositions by relatively unknown artists. Although recreations are occasionally present in audio production curricula, they are frequently informal and underutilized, despite their potential to provide profound, hands-on learning opportunities. Through critical analysis and replication of iconic recordings, students can gain valuable insights into the artistic decisions, technical workflows, and collaborative dynamics foundational to professional music production.
This paper examines the pedagogical value of structured recreation projects, drawing on specific case studies, such as a recreation of The Beatles’ Abbey Road and insights from MIDI-based courses. These examples demonstrate how such activities enhance students’ critical listening abilities, expand their musical and production lexicon, and strengthen their proficiency in sound design, mixing, and arrangement. Furthermore, engaging with contemporary works enables students to grasp current musical trends, preparing them to produce competitive, market-relevant projects.
This paper advocates for the integration of structured recreations into audio production curricula, supported by case studies and practical recommendations. It emphasizes how such projects facilitate the bridging of tradition and innovation, equipping students with the skills necessary to excel in the contemporary music production industry.
Three Methods to Improve Students' Music Mixing Abilities
Jan-Olof Gullö, Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden
Hans Gardemar, Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden
Bo Westman, Royal College of Music, Stockholm, Sweden
Innovative digital technologies have profoundly transformed the music creation landscape in recent decades. Consequently, many students, particularly in higher music education, dedicate considerable time and interest to songwriting and music production. Higher education enhances these initiatives through specialized programs and courses that empower students to create and produce their own music. Our ongoing research project, “Searching for Sophia [Wisdom] in Music Production,” explores critical factors contributing to successful music production by examining Music Production through the lenses of music education, musicology, psychology, and sociology. This study focuses on methods how to improve students’ music-mixing abilities.
A challenge that many educators encounter is that today’s digital audio workstations allow students to experiment with musical ideas easily, work on various tracks, and produce numerous alternative takes throughout their creative processes. This can sometimes result in students creating complex compositions with tons of tracks, making it a formidable task to edit and mix the music into a production suitable for presentation or publication. In this project, we have explored various approaches to enhancing students’ skills in music mixing.
In music mixing literature, the skilled mixing expert is sometimes described as having a unique insight into what is good and bad in any given situation. They can intuitively respond appropriately, both in their emotions and actions, allowing their expression to be reflected in how the music is mixed. In addition to the extensive literature on music mixing, there is a plethora of instructional videos of varying quality. These can serve as valuable sources of knowledge for students eager to learn more about music mixing. However, these resources are often technical-oriented and provide insufficient support for students to develop their judgment, critical skills, and self-confidence. Conversely, many students feel lost after engaging with instructional videos or literature. This can lead to a cognitive bias, resulting in a systematic deviation in students’ judgments away from established norms or rationality, causing them to mistrust their taste and experience when mixing. Students also often struggle to prioritize their approach methodically. For many experts, a crucial strategy for mastering music mixing is to be methodical and distinguish between facts and opinions, preferences, and dislikes while adhering to a structured plan for how the project should advance.
In this paper, we present three different methods that can be used in education to increase students’ competence in mixing music. The first method is a priority exercise that can be conducted as a preliminary study before mixing. In brief, it involves listening to music, analyzing it, and determining what is most important in the music. What is the second most important? What is the third most important? And so on. Thereafter, the students mix the music according to that priority. Exercises of this kind can be carried out in seminars but individually and can help students sort through large amounts of material. The following method is based on ancient Greek philosophy, once formulated by Zeno of Elea (c. 490 – c. 430 BC), who argued that virtue is practical knowledge (phronêsis) expressed in various forms. When phronêsis relates to what is owed to others, or, in this case, what we owe to the music we are mixing, it embodies justice (dikaiosunê); when it pertains to what ought to be chosen, it represents moderation (sôphrosunê); and when it involves what must be endured, it signifies courage (andreia). In the act of mixing, we therefore show respect for the music through justice, we mix with moderation, and, last but by no means least, we approach the music with courage. The third model involves micro-rhythm and micro-timing manipulation in digital music production during mixing and post-production. Micro-timing adjustments, which involve small temporal shifts of audio tracks, enhance phase coherency and alter groove perception, impacting the listener’s experience. Drawing on the Haas effect (1951), we conducted experiments using micro-timing strategies in drum recordings and recordings of other instruments, revealing the influence of micro-timing on groove and sound unity. Modifying the timing of different audio tracks in a mix to affect the overall feel can offer students a deeper insight into the potential for subtle and impactful micro-editing during the mixing process while also significantly improving their critical listening skills.
