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We watched a short video showcasing the studio rooms at Warm Studios. They have very robust rooms, including one with an SSL AWS console and ATC monitors. Their Studio A live room is 26 feet tall.
Kyra Phillips (Vice President of CRAS AES) opened the meeting by asking all in attendance to answer the question, "What is your favorite CRAS Snack from the vending machines" Some of the responses included; turkey croissants, chicken salad croissant, Chips Ahoy, oatmeal, Watermelon Sourpatch Kids, Tostitos, brownie, Pop Tart, Nerds clusters, monster, 5 Hour Energy, Uncrustables, Sourpatch energy drink, Cosmic Brownie, protein cookies, Clif Bar, snickerdoodle cookie, Fairlife shake, personal pan pizza.
Rhii then described to the group what AES is and the benefits of joining, stating: "AES is an international organization that unites audio engineers, creative artists, scientists, and students worldwide by promoting advances in audio and spreading new knowledge and research." She spoke of the member benefits available for joining such as meetings and activities, discounts, career resources, as well as news and information regarding the industry.
Kyra then introduced the CRAS AES office holders in attendance: President - Matt Lindsey, Secretary - Beattie Therrell, Co-Secretary - Zo Greer, Vice Secretary - Moriah Paynes, Co-VP - Kyra Phillips Co-VP - Rhiannon Ward, Tech - Spencer Halpin, Tech - Les Danglar, Tech - Josh Rife.
Kyra then spoke about the CRAS Mentor Program, an all-important tool provided to students to ensure their academic success by connecting them with upper cycle students for help with any topics that they are struggling with.
We then talked about the "Pass the aux" Spotify playlist. Started and ran by CRAS students, this playlist will showcase all of the best musical and engineering talent at the conservatory. Each week the playlist will refresh giving everyone a chance to be a part of the playlist.
For the mix tip of the week, we watched a short clip of David Gibson's "The Art of Mixing". He went over everything there is to know about reverb, different types of reverb, different reverb parameters, and even showcased how reverb looks in a mix with some super vintage, but very helpful 3D graphics.
This week's free plugin of the week was Softube Saturation. Zo gave us a super informative demo on all there is to know about this plugin. He showed us some A/B tests on vocals, synths, and drums, and also showed off how the parameters worked.
We then had a brand new segment called "Audio Aesthetics". Today's topic was fearful sound and the sound design of horror games. We watched a video on the sound design and mixing of the video game "The Castillo Protocol". It was some very scary stuff, and we got to see the art of mixing different stems to match up with different cues in the game. If a specific event would happen in the game, it could trigger a low baritone sound, to a shrill, squeaky sound. These sounds were blended on top of lots of other sounds to create an ambient atmosphere.
We then discussed Rhiannon Ward's Vocal lessons class, she has been professionally trained for 5 years and has over 1 year teaching experience; prices are $25 for a half hour, and a full hour is $45.
Current AES Subgroups were briefly discussed, including Songwriting subgroup, Sound design subgroup and Synthesizer subgroup
We then played a Kahoot to test our knowledge on the cycle 3 MIDI curriculum.
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