Music Technology study guides

A deep-dive SQA National 5 Music Technology guide to music technology in context: the contexts music technology is used in (studio, live sound, broadcast and media, theatre and events) and the roles that apply it, plus intellectual property (copyright, samples, royalties) and the health and safety issues of audio work.

A deep-dive SQA National 5 Music Technology guide to technology concepts: microphone types, polar patterns and placement; audio effects and processors (reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, distortion, EQ, compression) and their controls; the main equipment and signal path; and the key technological terms such as gain, clipping, sampling rate, bit depth, panning, sibilance and dynamic range.

A deep-dive SQA National 5 Music Technology guide to the practical skills assignment: capturing audio (microphone selection and placement, input gain, monitoring, signal path, overdubbing) and manipulating audio (editing, equalisation, time-domain and other effects, mixing techniques and mixing down to an audio master), with how the assignment is assessed.

A deep-dive SQA National 5 Music Technology guide to understanding 20th and 21st century music: the music concepts (melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, dynamics, texture, structure, timbre) you must identify aurally, the main styles and genres and their features, and how technological developments shaped the music for the listening question paper.