Greetings!

Greetings to everyone! this is a brand spanking new blog that's going to deal with a specific issue dear to my heart: Audio and Electronics for the Composer.

Now, there are tons of books out there, getting nitty gritty on audio engineering (I keep my copy of the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook nearby at all times) and there are books on programming and electronic music (ahem, The Computer Music Tutorial by Roads anyone?) slews of books on recording and mastering, even specific manuals on how to use programs. In the end, to me, no one book is practical for my needs as a composer/engineer. And, i'm not sure, practically speaking, there ever will be a book that can be published that will contain all the info needed.

I don't intend for this blog to become "book-like." The goal is, instead, to tackle issues that have come up as a composer/engineer in my time. Things like "What are some good microphones to buy for recording vocals? or for violin?" or "How do i get rid of this clicks in my PD patch?" or "in a simple straight forward way, explain FFT."

This is meant to be a nice supplement to something you've been doing. A practical guide, if you will, of the contributors' experiences and our conclusions. I've invited some friends along for the ride, and hope to get a few more. feel free to leave comments, give your opinions, question my opinions, and have a nice lively discussion. I decided to do it as a blog, or rather, in my mind, a series of articles, instead of an open forum just to give contributors time to really write a useful document, rather than a quick response (as i find myself often doing as i hit the forums.)

i am hoping this will be a nice supplement to all of our learning. I am sure I will learn a great deal from everyone else interacting with the blog. Hopefully we can all walk away learning a trick or two about how to be a composer, an engineer, an electrician, and, most importantly, an artist.

- John Chittum