Audio Technology, Music, and Media

Julian Ashbourn is an experienced and successful author on topics ranging from computer science and identity management through to geoscience and the natural sciences in general. His publications include the Springer titles Biometrics in the New World, Guide to Biometrics for Large-Scale Systems, and BANTAM User Guide. Last 20 years, he’s undertaken three concurrent activities: Working for British Airways IT Dept; Working with Government agencies around the world re the application of biometric; Working in the Natural and Physical Sciences producing an archive for the Geological Society. He has retired but has taken up numerous projects, including recording symphony orchestras, concert bands, folk groups, choirs and other musicians; composing both symphonic works, jazz and other music; authoring additional books on specialist subjects; recording and analyzing bird song and natural sounds. He has published with Springer many times in many subject areas.

• Introduction.- How the war changed audio.- The V record label for US troops.- Stereo sound, multi-channel sound, film sound and more.- The physics of sound.- The advent of tape and moving coil microphones.- The development of microphone techniques.- Multi-channel Tape recorders.- The advent of the Big Studios.- The record business.- The Maverick producers and freelance engineers.- The big time with 24 track everywhere and heaps of signal processing.- How the technology changed the music.- Classical music recording is effectively broken by the technology.- Digital arrives, but something is not right.- A to D and D to A convertors and compressors in the digital domain.- High resolution Digital recording and re-sampling.- Lossless compression.- The revolution in playback technology.- The social revolution in consumed music.- The change in musicians.- How to do things properly.- The use of Digital Audio Workstations and the impact on music.- Why recordings sound worse now than they did inthe 50s and 60s.- Music and Civilisation and why it is important.- Where is the future archive for serious music being produced now.- Are advances in technology always good.- Teaching Audio Engineers.- The future.- Conclusion.