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Foundational skills of Audio Engineering and Archiving- Using technology to Serve the Creative Process

Seth Paris

601 Computer Studies Building

Abstract: In this talk, Preservation Specialist and Music Producer, Seth Paris, discusses the foundational skills needed to be a successful and creative audio engineer or archivist in the modern studio landscape. Using the lens of the best practices of Audio Preservation Seth will discuss the technical knowledge needed by any audio engineer to successfully understand and use all the tools at their disposal. These tools will then be discussed with the focus on how technology can serve or interrupt the creative process. Drawing on years of experience as a performer and audio engineer, whether making field recordings in West Africa or behind a large format console at premier NYC recording studios, Seth will also share practical tips on topics like audio preservation, setting up and managing recording sessions, client relations, and how to find recording studio work after school. 

Bio: Fulbright Scholar Seth Paris is an accomplished musician, educator, producer, audio engineer, and audiovisual archivist with a passion for sound and music. Currently he runs his own production and preservation company called Nice One Audio & Design while also working as an assistant and technical engineer at NYC's famed Electric Lady Studios. Seth brings the highest standard of quality to all his endeavors, from performances at New York City's Lincoln Center to audiovisual preservation work at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). This standard has earned him the opportunity to perform, teach, record and produce music and sound for film all over the world, from his native San Francisco to Cape Town, South Africa. Since Seth moved to New York in 2002 to study at New York University, he has been a sought after musician, acclaimed for his versatility in performing rock, pop, jazz, avant-garde, classical, Latin, and Afro-Pop. In 2007, Seth's dedication to the preservation of recorded music led him to Accra, Ghana. With the support of a Fulbright Grant, the NYU Office of Global Education, and the NYU Africana Studies Program, he worked with the music archive of Kofi Ghanaba ("The Divine Drummer"), the Bokoor African Popular Music Archive Foundation (BAPMAF), and the Cape Coast Gramophone Museum. When Seth isn't recording or playing music you'll probably find him riding a bike, reading Sci-Fi or, on a really good day, scuba diving in some far flung tropical locale.

Pizza and soda provided