More than in other academic disciplines, the practical aspects of Audio Technology require a focus on the facilities of the program. As the purpose of the degree is to train audio engineers in the operation and maintenance of recording equipment, it is essential that students receive training on technology comparable to industry standard. American University has made substantial progress in this area since 2003, with the addition of two new buildings, the Greenberg Theatre and the Katzen Arts Center. At present the facilities that are used by the Audio Technology program consist of three performance spaces (the Greenberg Theatre and the Abramson Recital Hall and the Studio Theater at the Katzen Arts Center), one recording and control room space, one sound synthesis studio, four digital audio workstations, two shared multi-station classrooms, and two repair and maintenance for the studio manager and studio assistant, respectively.
Please see more below about our facilities:
Greenberg Theatre
The Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre opened in March 2003 with the mission of providing the Washington, D.C. and American University communities a place to experience live performances in music, theatre and dance. Audio is run at the Greenberg Theatre by an Audio Technology student, hired to a part time position. In addition, students in the Audio Production major learn lighting, ser design, technical operation, and other related issues in courses run by the theater department. In 2004, the Greenberg Theatre hosted the Washington premiere of Most High, a film scored by audio technology professor Paul Oehlers.
Katzen Arts Center
The Cyrus and Myrtle Katzen Arts Center brings all the visual and performing arts programs at American University into one 130,000 square foot space. Designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, the new center provides state-of-the-art instructional, exhibition, and performance space. The facilities in the Katzen Arts Center used by the Audio Technology program consist of the Abramson Recital Hall, the Studio Theater, and two shared classrooms, Katzen 135 and Katzen 210.
The Abramson Family Recital Hall provides a second concert venue. As with the Greenberg Theatre, students in Audio Technology assist in the operation and maintenance of this facility. The control room contains a Pro Tools system, a Soundcraft mixing console, and other outboard digital signal processors. The hall is equipped with an automated microphone, video projection, and lighting systems. The opening event in the hall was a concert featuring the music of composers from the Music, Multimedia, and Audio Technology programs.
The studio theater provides a black box configuration for students to set up lighting sets, and audio and experiment with production techniques. Current projects utilizing the studio theater include the recording of dramatic monologues by theater students for the inclusion on portfolio DVDs made by Audio Technology students.
The computer classrooms in the Katzen Arts Center provide interactive and hands on learning experiences for the students. In previous classes, teachers in Audio Technology had to design the curriculum with class discussions that consisted almost entirely of passive learning experiences. The new classrooms in the Katzen Arts Center provide active learning experiences for students at all levels in the program. The two classrooms used by Audio Technology are Katzen 135 and Katzen 210.
Katzen 135 contains eighteen iMac workstations, with M-Boxes and keyboard controllers. Each station also has software such as Pro Tools and several plug-ins, as well as music software such as Sibelius and Finale. The typical lecture style configuration lends itself to classes that require more of a lecture/demonstration approach, such as the introductory class, Fundamentals of Audio Technology, and its related lab course.
McKinley Building
The McKinley Building contains the primary recording, editing, and maintenance facilities for the program. The recording studios are housed in McKinley Rooms 6, 8, 9, and 10.
McKinley Room 6 serves as an advanced laboratory for individual student use, particularly for more advanced projects in 5.1 mixing and mastering using a 32-channel API 1608 recording console and a 36-channel Wunderbar. The studio consists of a Pro Tools TDM system with a Digidesign Control 24 control surface and a 5.1 monitoring system. McKinley Rooms 8 amd 10 are the primary recording studio for advanced student projects. It is a semi-professional recording studio, which includes a control room (McKinley Room 8) and a session room (McKinley Room 10). The control room houses a Pro Tools TDM system running on a 2.0 Ghz dual processor PowerMac G5, a Studer A-80 24 track two inch tape machine, a Soundcraft Ghost, and other professional grade monitoring and outboard units.
The session room is a large space, acoustically designed for recording instruments and other audio sources. The session room is equipped with a drum set, professional microphones, and amplifiers. Perhaps the largest addition to this room in the past three years is the new projection system. The session room is directly linked to the control room via picture-in-picture projector and television. Since the control room is a relatively small space, this communication link allows classes to see what is being taught in the control room, while standing in the session room.
Students can now watch the software or observe the instructor or student in the control room while discussing recording and editing techniques through the video projection and intercom system. The system also allows for ADR (automated dialogue replacement) and foley (adding sound effects) for collaborative video projects to be recorded in the studio.
In addition to these studios, McKinley Room 9 provides the students with an advanced laboratory for individual student use, particularly for more advanced projects in Sound Synthesis. The studio consists of synthesizers that span the history of electro-acoustic music from a Moog 900 Series synthesizer, an EMS Synthi, and an Arp 2600 to the latest software synthesizers. In this studio, students experiment with Fourier Synthesis, Wavetable Synthesis, Subtractive Synthesis, Physical Modeling, and Granular Synthesis.
