"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...

Why? who does acoustical recording these days?

The Edison National Historic Site, for one.

That's industrial archaeology, rather as a blacksmith might make a sword
using the technology of the Iron Age. The object of the exercise is to
fill-in the gaps in our historical knowledge of the techniques involved now
that those who practised this art for real are no longer with us.

We study the technical aspects of acoustical recording, not because any of
the students expect to do it, but because it helps place into perspective
the technical, and social, and economic, and musical issues which have
shaped recording and the recording industry.

Clearly the early history of the recording industry was significantly
constrained by the fundamental limitations of acoustic recording technology.
But there is a huge difference between teaching the history of a technology,
and teaching it as a skill to be used. The implication of the answer "yes"
to the question "do you also teach acoustical recording" was the later,
actually you teach *about* acoustical recording.


The analog recording class is an entirely different story. Our students
learn the technical and practical aspects of analog recording because it's
still being done, particularly at the higher ends of the food chain, and a
student who knows not only how to use an analog recorder but also how to
calibrate it properly has a leg up in getting a job in the industry.


My initial response to the thread was prompted by the way analogue audio
tape recording was being discussed as though it was still "state of the
art". Reference was made to "modern" tape formulations, how old are these
"modern" tape formulations?, 20 years?, 25?, hardly "modern". The
manufacture of analogue tape machines has effectively ceased and the number
of manufacturers of analogue audio tape has dwindled to a two or three each
making only one or two types, this is a dying technology. I realise that a
few studios still offer analogue recording to those clients who like
distortion, but it is a kind of technological ludditeism.

David.