In today’s tute, we discussed sound recording, and it’s importance and relevance in production. Sound is at its most basic, air pressure changing, coming in the form of waves. Sound however, is different from noise, in that sound underpins noise and as such noise must be a sound. There are 3 types of sound, as mentioned by Rachel in class, and these are: music, speech and miscellaneous sounds.

We also discussed the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing refers to the process absorbing the sounds of the environment around you. Listening refers to focus on a particular noise, and interpreting it through your brain. In other words, one hears many different sounds while walking down the street, but only listens to specific things of his/her choice (eg. A conversation with the person you’re walking with).

Rachel asked the class if we could think of times where we actively listen to not hear, and immediately I thought of the train, simply because I do it all the time. It is one of the rare times in a day where I can focus on having a very inward experience and often, this involves blocking out everyone else around me. I do this through my music, and often this helps me interpret the sounds I listen to through my headphones in a very different manner than I do when I’m not completely focused on it. This is very helpful with hip-hop music, as interpreting the words of an MC can change your opinion on a track so drastically that it can determine if it’s a good track or not.

That said, no matter how many inward train experiences I have, 2 Chainz will never be Shakespeare to me. Not ever. I’ve tried believe me.