Class 5: Further Operations and Signal Processors

This class was a continuation of the subject from the previous class. We continued to explore the preparation and operation of sound for theatre, and began looking at some more advanced operational topics, specifically using signal processors (effects processors) with the sound system to create effects.

I felt that this class would really need a lot of listening material for the students to grasp the effect that different signal processors create. However, I felt that to have prepared recorded audio material for the students to listen to would not be sufficient, as the students would need to understand the relationship between the parameters and controls of a signal processor, and the effect on the sound. So I decided to create material ‘live’ in the class. We had microphones and recorded ourselves counting and speaking in different ways, then played those recordings through processors live and experimented with the parameters. This approach was fun and engaged the students, and seemed successful in helping the students understand the relationships between parameters and sounds. For this exercise, I had the students teach me some Cantonese words so that I could join in with the speaking, which they enjoyed, and further helped the students become more relaxed with me.

The student feedback was very positive about the activities in the class, and many noted that the practical experimentations really helped them understand the topics. Most of the negative feedback was requests for more information and to go more in-depth into signal processors. I felt that the level to which we covered this in class was sufficient for the module, but added additional resources to the module Moodle site for those who were interested to do some further exploration.

This was the class I referred to in my previous post here titled ‘Interesting Feedback’, which noted that the students were becoming a lot more chatty, and one student noted in their feedback about the strict nature of their other classes.