Description:

Ken Lopez, Clinical Professor of Music Industry at the University of Southern California, talks about teaching acoustics. Lopez explains that today, everyone has a small project studio at home. Anyone can go to the music store and buy everything required. However, the single missing component is the acoustic environment. Therefore, Lopez educates students on the basics of acoustics, such as how microphones function, the properties of the acoustical environment, and how sound behaves in a high level situation. The art of listening is taught as well. He points out that it all comes down to controlling the environment and eliminating hidden variables. Also in this segment, Lopez explains that the class is not teaching students to be acousticians. Instead, he is simply giving students defensive training so an unknown acoustic problem will not destroy a concert or recording experience. However, Lopez points out that some students continue with it anyway.