Find Your Sound With NYAA

This is what we do…

Yamaha Baby Grand Piano In Engine Room Live Room

We know choosing the right learning environment is important, so we wanted to give you a peek at what you’ll work on in your first month as an NYAA student.

Click here to download a detailed course summary

Week 1

Welcome to the Studio - An introduction

You will meet your mentor and go over the course outline. Your mentor will get to know your intentions, interests, and goals for the course.

  • What is a studio? Recording studio, mixing suite, mastering lab

  • Studio management

  • Music business and law, overview

  • Key Ideas: defining a control room, project studio, live room, and portable studio.

Week 2

The Science of Sound and Hearing

We will answer the fundamental question: how does sound work exactly?

  • What is a waveform?

  • Types of waveform: square, triangle, sine, sawtooth

  • Characteristics of a waveform: amplitude, frequency, velocity

  • Range of human hearing

  • Key Ideas: envelope, frequency, phase

Week 3

Studio Design and Monitoring

In this module, you will explore professional studio design and acoustics.

  • Understanding how sound reacts in a room (e.g. standing waves, reflections)

  • how studios are designed to be an optimal listening environment.

  • What materials are used when constructing a professional studio?

  • Key Ideas: isolation, separation, reverberation, balance

Week 4

Microphones

Discover the different kinds of microphones used in recording studios as well as their individual strengths and weaknesses

  • How do microphones capture sound?

  • What is a Polar pattern? Omnidirectional, bidirectional, cardioid, etc

  • Phantom Power

  • Types of microphones: dynamic, condenser, ribbon, tube.

  • Anatomy of an XLR cable

  • Phantom Power

  • Signal flow: preamps, mic level, instrument level, line level, speaker level

Later on you’ll explore…

Protools Plugins Used By Professional Audio Engineers

Analog and Digital Workflows

Week 6


Amplifiers

Week 10


Digital Audio Workstations

Week 11


Dynamics & EQ

Week 12


Mixing - Console & In the Box

Week 15 & 16


MIDI

Week 17


Mastering

Week 23


Placement Meeting

When you reach the halfway point in your NYAA journey, you’ll sit down with founders Mark and Scotty and discuss your trajectory in the program as well as your goals for the future. We’ll help you identify the best path forward based on your interests, and work to connect you with our friends in the field who might be able to help you get started in your career as an audio professional.

Mark Christensen Is the owner of Engine Room Audio and Founder of NYAA

Program Costs and Course Details

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