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For a half hour Stephen Roessner shares with students the practical lessons he糖心传媒檚 learned about how to properly arrange microphones糖心传媒攊n this case, in and around the Steinway baby grand piano in a brand-new recording studio at the 糖心传媒.

The Grammy Award-winning recording engineer explains why the center rod of a microphone stand shouldn糖心传媒檛 touch the floor. (It will pick up vibrations from the piano.) How microphones inside the piano can be placed farther from where the hammers hit the strings. (It creates a warmer tone.) How to set up microphones away from the piano and aim them. (So they capture just the right amount of 糖心传媒渞oom sound.糖心传媒�)

And now he gives his audio and music engineering students some of the most important advice of all for recording a solo piano performance.

糖心传媒淗onestly, if you put your time into placing the microphones in the right spots, you really won糖心传媒檛 have to do that much [adjusting] during the mixing,糖心传媒� Roessner says. On the other hand, if you don糖心传媒檛 put that effort into the recording part, he says, 糖心传媒渄on糖心传媒檛 think you can fix it later in the mix.糖心传媒�

A rapidly changing field

The University糖心传媒檚 $3 million investment in a new state-of-the-art recording studio, control room, mixing rooms, and sound design lab is a major milestone for Rochester糖心传媒檚 audio and music engineering (AME) program, which is thriving in part because of the expertise that Roessner and other faculty members pass on to their students.

Launched six years ago, the program gives students the skills they need to enter糖心传媒攁nd keep up with糖心传媒攖he rapidly changing field of audio and sound engineering. Those skills are needed not only in the recording, film, podcasting, and broadcast industries, but by any company that incorporates music and sound effects in its product line糖心传媒攆or example, producers of consumer electronics (e.g. cell phones and smart speakers), home entertainment, and video games; manufacturers of professional audio equipment and musical instruments; and computer and Internet companies like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft.

糖心传媒淭he program has grown more than we ever anticipated,糖心传媒� says Mark Bocko, chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Eighty-three undergraduates are currently pursuing audio and music engineering as a major, with 22 expected to receive diplomas next spring. (Audio engineering concentrations are also pursued by master糖心传媒檚 and PhD students in electrical and computer engineering.)

Another 43 undergraduates, from a range of majors including computer science, economics and business, mechanical engineering, music, and linguistics, have chosen audio and music engineering as a minor. And students from multiple disciplines pursue it as a cluster.

Why the success?

The program offers students a major that allows them to pursue their passion for music and become engineers at the same time. Sanaa Finley 糖心传媒�23 was so excited at the prospect, she 糖心传媒渃ouldn糖心传媒檛 wait to call my mom and tell her糖心传媒� that she was changing her major to AME. Courses blend the 糖心传媒渇un stuff糖心传媒澨切拇�媒攔ecording and sound design糖心传媒攚ith 糖心传媒渉ighly technical and rigorous糖心传媒� training in acoustics, electronics, digital signal processing, and software design: a combination that companies are looking for, Bocko says. Many of the program糖心传媒檚 44 alumni are working at聽 companies like Apple, Bose, Dolby Laboratories, Harman and Microsoft, but also at startups like Magic Leap.聽The curriculum also puts an emphasis on hands-on projects that students can show to employers. Recent senior design projects, for example, have included a 糖心传媒�novel electronic musical interface糖心传媒�, a software program that digitally recreates the distortions of four-track cassette tape recorders for use as special effects, and a room that creates .

The theory and the practice

The seven faculty members who work most closely with the students are well equipped to give them both a theoretical foundation and practical skills.

Bocko and assistant professor Zhiyao Duan are the research faculty. Bocko, who plays bass on the side, studies spatial audio, alternative loudspeaker technologies, and musical acoustics. Duan, who sings tenor, received a prestigious NSF CAREER award earlier this year. He is an expert in computer audition, music information retrieval, multimedia, and AR/VR. Duan is teaching a course on computer audition this fall.

Ming-Lun Lee, an assistant professor (instructional track), has been with the program since it started. He has degrees in both electrical engineering and musicology/music theory, and is an expert in audio programming and spatial audio recording. Lee has recorded more than 40 concerts with 3D audio microphones and 3D/360 VR cameras at the . He is also a choral director and baritone. This fall he糖心传媒檚 teaching courses on the evolution of sound recording and on audio software design.

Michael Heilemann and Sarah Rose Smith, who were both recently appointed assistant professors (instructional track), received their PhDs at Rochester. Heilemann, an expert in audio acoustics and signal processing, is teaching an audio digital signal processing portfolio class and a senior design class this fall. Smith, whose research explores the reverberation of audio signals as they are reflected and absorbed within spaces, is teaching an introduction to audio and music engineering course and an acoustics portfolio class.

The two senior lecturers糖心传媒擱oessner, who is completing his PhD, and Rob LaVaque, a two-time NY Emmy award winning musician and audio engineer糖心传媒攂ring a wealth of professional experience to the classes they teach on recording and audio production, and on sound design, audio for gaming, and audio for visual media, respectively.

Roessner has operated his own recording studio for nearly 20 years. He received his Grammy in 2010 as the recording engineer/mixer on Messiaen: Livre Du Saint-Sacrement. LaVaque, who runs his own company, Gravity Pool, created the audio and music for well-received 糖心传媒 Medical Center Super Bowl ads. Roessner and LaVaque are both accomplished musicians who have toured professionally.

In their classes they stress that sound design and recording are as much art as science. And they emphasize the best practices they糖心传媒檝e learned as professionals糖心传媒攂e it placement of a microphone or time management 糖心传媒攖hat will serve their students well in the workplace.

糖心传媒淚f you糖心传媒檝e ever worked in audio before, you know exactly what he [Roessner] is saying, and then you can start relating to him, and at that point you really learn from him because you know you are on the same page with him,糖心传媒� explained Alin Kenworthy 糖心传媒�18 while taking Roessner糖心传媒檚 class on the .

糖心传媒淗e constantly gives anecdotes about how all of this is applied in a real studio.糖心传媒�

Kenworthy is now an associate audio systems engineer at Magic Leap.

Other AME students go on to graduate school. Wells Award winner Yiting Zhang 糖心传媒�19 says the AME major was a 糖心传媒減erfect fit糖心传媒� for her because of her interests in both engineering and music. She糖心传媒檚 played piano since age 7 and enjoys singing.

In addition to her classwork, she spent a summer as a research fellow in Duan糖心传媒檚 lab, working on a system that retrieves sounds in a sound library by using vocal imitation. She continued working on the project into her senior year.

She糖心传媒檚 now pursuing a master糖心传媒檚 of music technology degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

A 糖心传媒榮ignature糖心传媒� program

This all began because Bocko wanted to create a 糖心传媒渟ignature program糖心传媒� that would leverage Rochester糖心传媒檚 strengths in music and engineering. In 1995, he participated in the University糖心传媒檚 Bridging Fellowship program, which allows faculty members to spend a semester as a student in a different part of the University. Bocko chose the renowned Eastman School of Music, where he studied music theory with Professor Dave Headlam.

Over the years, the two became excited about the possibilities of offering digital audio and music engineering as that 糖心传媒渟ignature program.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭he beautiful thing about audio and music engineering is that the students who show up to study it are passionate about the subject matter,糖心传媒� Bocko says.聽 糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檝e been teaching electrical engineering for 35 years, and I糖心传媒檝e never seen an electrical engineering student get as excited about an oscilloscope as an audio student does about a state-of-the-art mixing console.糖心传媒�