[MUSIC] As you're defining the sonic signature of the record that you're going to make You want to ask yourself, what do you want this record to sound like? How does sonics fit into the prosody of what you're trying to accomplish? Do you have a sound in your head already? In the sound is the performer on stage. What kind of a hall are they in? Or is the performer inside your head talking directly to your thoughts? Or is this maybe pillow talk, between two lovers? Or, perhaps, out on the street singing to the passersby. Think about what you want it to sound like. Also, is this modern production style perhaps? Or is this a production style from the 60s or the 70s or the 80s or the 90s. It's a good idea, if you have an idea of what kind of production sound you want to go for, that you listen and immerse yourself in records from that era. And really notice what the sounds are, what instruments are being used? And what type of instruments, what are the sounds of them? You could probably get a long way even using midi instruments. And some of them are even labeled, 60s Rhodes piano or something like that. So you can find the sounds that you're looking for, if you have the intention in mind and you know what it is that you're trying to find. And how about the overall sonics of the record? How bright do you want the record to be? Most popular records are very, very bright, and they've gotten brighter as the decades have gone on. Through the use of really bright microphones, and also even amping up the high end of the record. But you do have to watch out for something called sibilance when you start getting very bright. Which is the s's and things like that popping out. Then how wet or dry do you want your record to be? Wetness is generally how much reverb or delay or echo is on the record. How much does it sound like you're in a large hall or a cathedral or a cavern or something like that. We're going to talk this week about wetness and getting some ambience on the record, even if you're using single point recording. So you're recording with your phone or your laptop. But then, you can also do this, of course, in your digital tools. And not just reverbs and delays, but compression, which is something that limits dynamic range. And at the outset that may sound like not a great thing to do to your music. But this has been something that we've been doing to music ever since we started recording it. And it's been a real staple of recorded music throughout the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and beyond. And now most of the recordings you grew up listening to have compression as a component in them. And learning how to use that is also important. There's so many tools at our disposal right now in terms of in the digital domain, and they're not very expensive. Also there are a lot of tools including here in Coursera and Berklee Online. Where you can learn how to use all of these different effects, all these different devices, to make your recordings even better. So think about what you want your record to sound like and why, and then go after that sound with intention.