Yong siew toh conservatory
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DoubleBlade
New member
What is your current academic qualification?
Any past achievements with regards to audio production?
Any reference testimonials from any influential people in the industry?
Any past achievements with regards to audio production?
Any reference testimonials from any influential people in the industry?
phantom_killer
New member
I'm a 2nd year student majoring in recording arts and science.
It is a more academic based course unlike the rest of the students majoring in an instrument/composition. You have to do alot of basic engineering/math/physics modules like MA1505, MA1506, PC1431, PC1432, plus your major study (Basic Recording, Multi-Track Recording, Psychoacoustics, etc) in addition to common modules everyone in the conservatory does, the major one being Musical Concepts and Materials (Or simply just music theory, but with stuff like ear training and practical projects). All faculties are extremely busy. For instrumentalists they got concerts week in week out, and for us recording students we gotta take turns to record these concerts as part of our "studio classes", in lieu of say a piano student having a one on one studio lesson with a teacher.
One more thing to note, you will be exposed to almost nothing but classical music in the conservatory (Common Practice Period - Atonal Modern Works). For recording arts students like myself, once in awhile we will be exposed to jazz or rock if we get to record them for our assignments.
For recording arts and science, you need to have passes in A Level H2 Mathematics and H2 Physics and some ability to play an instrument would be prefered. Audition criteria can be found here:
http://www.nus.edu.sg/music/03e_students_apply2.html#Recording
It is a more academic based course unlike the rest of the students majoring in an instrument/composition. You have to do alot of basic engineering/math/physics modules like MA1505, MA1506, PC1431, PC1432, plus your major study (Basic Recording, Multi-Track Recording, Psychoacoustics, etc) in addition to common modules everyone in the conservatory does, the major one being Musical Concepts and Materials (Or simply just music theory, but with stuff like ear training and practical projects). All faculties are extremely busy. For instrumentalists they got concerts week in week out, and for us recording students we gotta take turns to record these concerts as part of our "studio classes", in lieu of say a piano student having a one on one studio lesson with a teacher.
One more thing to note, you will be exposed to almost nothing but classical music in the conservatory (Common Practice Period - Atonal Modern Works). For recording arts students like myself, once in awhile we will be exposed to jazz or rock if we get to record them for our assignments.
For recording arts and science, you need to have passes in A Level H2 Mathematics and H2 Physics and some ability to play an instrument would be prefered. Audition criteria can be found here:
http://www.nus.edu.sg/music/03e_students_apply2.html#Recording
MadWerewolfBoy
New member
the 4 modules that was listed up there are killer modules even amongst engin students. calculas, double integral, triple integral, line integral, surface integral, various partial deferential equations etc.
nightmares
nightmares
Li Xiao'an
New member
@phantom_killer
Just out of curiosity, if you only record jazz/rock ensembles once in a while, what does a degree in recording arts at YST involve? Is there less emphasis on actual recording/miking and mixdown techniques and more of a concentration in acoustic space design etc.?
Just out of curiosity, if you only record jazz/rock ensembles once in a while, what does a degree in recording arts at YST involve? Is there less emphasis on actual recording/miking and mixdown techniques and more of a concentration in acoustic space design etc.?
phantom_killer
New member
Hi Xiao'an,
A detailed description of the entire course can be found here:
http://www.nus.edu.sg/music/03c_students_dpt6.html
The rarity of recording rock/jazz bands might be due to the fact that in my first year, we were supposed to record with only a stereo pair. That didn't stop me from inviting a guitar pop singer songwriter in for completing my project. Can check out the session here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDemQy0YDCI
We can't escape from mainstream type spot mic'ing cos the entire 2nd year will be spent doing multi-track recording. Jazz bands from the outside are invited in for that purpose, but i'll have to see how goes.
The main issue for prospective students is that you have to be independent in finding ensembles to record projects and almost all of the people in the school are classical performers and composers, where in a sense the "modern" stuff will be atonal/abstract music ala john cage/schoenberg. The upside is the the standard of performance in the conservatory is pretty high and the fact that you can get to record full orchestras.
And yes, acoustic space design is really a big part of the course, nearly as rigorous as the conventional recording subjects. It is under further core in the course description.
A detailed description of the entire course can be found here:
http://www.nus.edu.sg/music/03c_students_dpt6.html
The rarity of recording rock/jazz bands might be due to the fact that in my first year, we were supposed to record with only a stereo pair. That didn't stop me from inviting a guitar pop singer songwriter in for completing my project. Can check out the session here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDemQy0YDCI
We can't escape from mainstream type spot mic'ing cos the entire 2nd year will be spent doing multi-track recording. Jazz bands from the outside are invited in for that purpose, but i'll have to see how goes.
The main issue for prospective students is that you have to be independent in finding ensembles to record projects and almost all of the people in the school are classical performers and composers, where in a sense the "modern" stuff will be atonal/abstract music ala john cage/schoenberg. The upside is the the standard of performance in the conservatory is pretty high and the fact that you can get to record full orchestras.
And yes, acoustic space design is really a big part of the course, nearly as rigorous as the conventional recording subjects. It is under further core in the course description.
Li Xiao'an
New member
Oh ok, that sounds about right, I just thought it was a little unusual for you guys to record only classical music in a recording arts major.
Li Xiao'an
New member
Oh shoot Jordan I didn't know it was you, haha.
phantom_killer
New member
haha yeah xiao'an, been a long time.
ymmak
New member
=phantom_killer
Gosh, I didnt know that arts and music students take MA1505, MA1506, PC1431, PC1432. These are suicide modules for non-engineering students. My opinion is that in these modules, the non-engineering students are free-frag for the engineering students to get their As.
Anyway, out of curiosity, why would recording arts and science need to learn about double, triple, line and surface integral? Why would you want to know about ODEs, PDEs, matrices and transfer functions?
Gosh, I didnt know that arts and music students take MA1505, MA1506, PC1431, PC1432. These are suicide modules for non-engineering students. My opinion is that in these modules, the non-engineering students are free-frag for the engineering students to get their As.
Anyway, out of curiosity, why would recording arts and science need to learn about double, triple, line and surface integral? Why would you want to know about ODEs, PDEs, matrices and transfer functions?
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phantom_killer
New member
Well, same reason why a mechanical engineer learns all the hard math and exam smarts and never get to use them at all in his work when he graduates, since the computer does all the calculations for him. In NUS, everyone learns alot of redundant knowledge in varying degrees I guess? The only thing vaguely related to audio is perhaps fourier series. after awhile, i learn to take things like that in my stride. No use complaining...
squarehero
New member
Nice stereo recording in your post, phantom_killer. Love that natural hall reverb and vocal quality. What was the recording technique? Was it blumlein?
centralcatchment
New member
Limpeh got a maths degree from a place that's got higher rep than NUS.
I dun understand all that heavy emphasis on mathematics in engineering classes. The only thing I can think of - all that fancy maths is really cool when you want to do research, it's good to put all that stuff in a paper. And since unis are mainly about research they teach you the research and you attend uni and hope that it puts you in good stead for life. (haha). Maybe it's the part of knowledge that you don't really learn in real life, and it's better / easier to learn all this stuff in a university environment. But it doesn't teach you all that much about the practical aspects.
I studied pure maths, because everybody agrees that pure maths ain't worth shit, and it's really all about logic. I like that because nobody's pretending that stuff that isn't true is true. I start to get suspicious when ppl do applied maths because that's like saying that real world behaves just like the way the maths says it does. You have to be suspicious of that claim. Always. So I dun really buy the idea that engineering is applied maths.
I like the idea that music education is in classical music. I think that all musicians should be trained in classical music. It hasn't stopped me from appreciating jazz / hip hop / punk / funk later in life. The rigour is there. Classical training can help you internalise the rules, which is important because for the rest of your life you're going to be figuring out how to break them. It will help you to analyse all music. But I don't like the idea that they're emphasising modern avant garde. I don't know how that will teach you what is melody and harmony. I just think that if unis were to teach stuff that ppl already know, then ppl look down upon it your uni ranking will fall and then you can't get your research funding. So it's all politics.
Pop music gets a bad rep in academia because it's not intellectually challenging. But that is based on a faulty understanding of music. Music doesn't have to be complicated and intellectual to be good.
