The fourth Art of Record Production Conference, hosted by Professor William Moylan of University of Massachusetts Lowell and featuring a program of industry specialists and academics, will take place November 14-16, 2008 at the Doubletree Riverfront Hotel in downtown Lowell, Mass. and in Durgin Hall on the University of Massachusetts Lowell campus; a shuttle bus will connect the two locations.
Phil Ramone is the keynote speaker, and other scheduled speakers include Maureen Droney (executive director of the Recording Academy’s P&E Wing); Sarah Jones (editor, Mix magazine); Mike Howlett (chairman of the UK Music Producer’s Guild); Steve Savage (Robert Cray, John Hammond, the Gospel Hummingbirds); Steve D’Agostino (Depeche Mode, John Foxx, Steve Jansen); Albin Zak (author of The Poetics of Rock); Paul Theberge (author of Any Sound You Can Imagine); Anne Danielsen (author of Presence and Pleasure: The Funk Grooves of James Brown and Parliament); Mark Butler (author of Unlocking the Groove); and Professor Moylan (author of Understanding and Crafting the Mix and The Art of Recording).
“There are going to be around 50 academic papers this year, as well as the industry discussion panels and listening sessions,” says Simon Zagorski-Thomas, the director of the Art of Record Production Conferences. “The paper topics range from Brian Eno to Public Enemy, from Mitch Miller’s 1950s production oddities to Radiohead’s In Rainbows, and from the way studios are reacting to new business models to the way that ‘old-school’ producers reacted to ‘new-school’ technology. And that’s just a taster: the full list of abstracts and the draft program will be on the Website shortly. It’s going to be a stunning weekend. I can’t wait.”
“UMass Lowell’s exceptional recording studios, control rooms and critical listening room will be featured,” Moylan says. “There will be an ongoing ‘Unraveling the Mix’ mixing/production session offering a significant, practical experience where an active multitrack mix—stereo or surround—sits in the control room for evaluation, hosted by the mix engineer. Advanced recording and processing strategies are discussed and demonstrated in isolation and in the context of the mix. The centerpiece of this experience will be our API Vision console—capable of simultaneous surround and 2-channel mixing.
“Critical listening sessions will take place in our extremely accurate Critical Listening Studio to provide the experience of high quality surround sound and hi-res listening in comparison to compressed MP3. Attendees are invited to submit recordings with short abstracts for inclusion in the organized play list for these critical listening sessions.”
Special room rate of $99 U.S. per night (plus tax) is available at the Doubletree Riverfront Hotel for conference attendees. The registration fee for the conference is $250 ($150 for students).
The Art of Record Production (ARP) is a community of scholars, recording professionals, musicians and organizations that have an interest in how the recording process transforms music.The ARP community now involves academics from more than 80 universities in 18 countries.
For more information, visit www.artofrecordproduction.com.
