When Ask Video announced the release of their dvd 'The Studio Edge: Studio Concepts, Gear & the Physics of Sound' I immediately wrote them asking for an NFR for review in one of the magazines I'm writing for. After two failed attempts transporting something so simple as a dvd from Canada to the heart of Europe I forgot about all it until Ask had a holiday sale some months ago.

This time the dvd arrived safely and as quickly as I had my perverted hands on it I shredded the shrink-wrap to pieces and jammed the disc into my computer, hoping that I in a few hours time would be much wiser and some desperately needed light would be spread on areas where my knowledge is - ehem - less than satisfactory, such as microphones and what lies behind all those cryptic studio connector acronyms.

After watching it from beginning to end I am indeed wiser, but as The Stones once so famously put it - you can't always get what you want. For those who don't like reading I'll give the verdict right away: 'Studio Concepts, Gear & the Physics of Sound' is a tutorial that spans from absolutely brilliant to pointless.

As a product, The Studio Edge is an instructional video aimed for people who are recording at home instead of going to professional studios. As most people know by now, while the technology for making music have become widely accessible to everyone, it's not enough to have the right equipment. You also need to know how to use it.

All in all the dvd contains 92 videos spanning over three hours. It starts with the explanation of what sound actually is, slowly working up to frequencies and decibels and further to signal routing, microphones and microphone placement. All this during three hours? Yes - while most would agree that many of the subjects would need three hours separately (at least!) it actually gives you a damn good round up on what you need to know.

The idea of 'Studio Concepts, Gear & the Physics of Sound' is a noble one and definitely fills a void among video tutorials, compacting years of practical learning into a few hours. The information on the disc is not unique - anyone with decent googling-skills could dig up the information on this disc from various sources. But this package is designed to be convenient and to the point.

The structure of the lessons is good - no, great actually. The tutorial starts at the fundamentals and starts early on with a discussion on frequency response and phasing. In the first 30 minutes I learned things it probably would take me years to understand by myself. The teacher, Jim Pavett, not only talks about things - he also gives lots of practical demonstrations and within minutes I had a clear understanding of the capability of my personal hearing and the way the signal trails off when the frequency starting to reach my limit of 16 kilohertz.
Apart from approaching each subject in a logical manner, there are regular stops where you as a watcher are sent off to complete a few practical tasks. These tasks are generally easy to accomplish and are very effective. For example, I knew about phasing issues before but after spending five minutes with the test files I now know much more on their acoustic signature.

The balance between technical fundamentals and practical issues is generally good. Apart from three horrendous chapters on Ohm's law and circuits which I managed to go through halfway before I realized nothing of use would come of it: too technical and with too little connection with actually recording instruments.

I would say that this contrast - the obscurity and relevance of Ohm's law vs practical lessons such as phasing issues - is unfortunately quite typical for this dvd.

Another example of this is when Jim Pavett discusses microphones. He talks about different types and where and when to use them. There is also a very good clip when Jim plays a trumpet and you can hear how the different types of microphones interpret the sound. Hearing is understanding, and in situations like this Ask Video and Jim Pavett truly show their potential. But this high level does unfortunately not continue and the dvd takes a nose dive when we reach the part where I'm always getting so damn confused: cables and different formats.
While the section of circuits was just a waste of time for my needs, this part of the dvd reached its lowest point. Jim Pavett is basically sitting at a table speaking for a few moments about the format, without actually showing the cable and telling more about their practical use nor how to solve problems with them. For example, I don't know how many times I've had issues with digital formats such as Toslink and S/PDIF and for this dvd I had been nurturing a hope that I would somehow get some deeper understanding on why it's so damn easy to get them out of sync. This was not the case and from my point of view this part of the dvd is a wasted opportunity.

When in complaining mode, although Jim Pavett obviously knows his thing well, his way of teaching is stiff and it really looks and feels like he's reading from a teleprompter. But that's just a minor complaint that doesn't have any real impact on the material. He know's his stuff and that's the main thing.

CONCLUSION
From the point of view that it shed some real light on subjects I didn't fully grasp before, I would say 'Studio Concepts, Gear & the Physics of Sound' is a good tutorial dvd. It most definitely made me wiser, and that is always a good verdict. But seeing the potential I feel there are a couple of missed opportunities here. If Ask Video and Jim Pavett would have worked a bit harder to keep the quality high in all lessons, this would not just be a good dvd - but an essential dvd.

Ask Video The Studio Edge: Studio Concepts, Gear & the Physics of Sound
Web: www.askvideo.com
Price: 70 dollar.
Good: Good material...
Bad: ...but sometimes they rush through important parts.

Review copy: bought from Ask Video.

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