In 2011, two Pune-based recording engineers – Harshad Sathe and Ronak Runwal – planted their flag in the ever-expanding music community of their city. Gray Spark Audio, a haven for both, the sonic adventures of independent, alternative artists from the growing scene as well as commercial producers and musicians, is located on Baner Road.
Gray Spark Audio started as a recording studio with the goal of creating a space that could handle all ranges of projects and clients and has finally evolved into a recording complex comprising of 4 Studios!
The studio attracted a lot of newer engineers from various Audio schools and were again trained at our facility as Assistant and Associate Engineers; what struck us was that though these bright engineers were coming into the studio they lacked a sense of practical knowledge which in a field like this is a must. This is where the idea for Gray Spark Audio & Sound Engineering Academy was born.
With an eye on the growing talent, Gray Spark Audio aims to equip and mentor the audio professionals of tomorrow with specific courses designed around audio engineering and sound production. That’s where the Gray Spark Audio & Sound Engineering Academy comes in.
Since its conception, our Academy has trained numerous Audio Professionals across sectors like Film, Music, Audio Electronics, Acoustics and many more. Our goal is to contribute to the ever growing community of Audio Professionals in this country one great student at a time.
2. A B O U T U S
Gray Spark Audio Academy was established in 2011 by Ronak Runwal. It operates
out of a fully functional, state of the art sound production studio called Gray Spark
Audio. It is a name to be reckoned with not only in the independent artist
community but also the commercial music production industry.
In addition to sound production, Gray Spark also offers its expertise in sound
designing, on location re riding, ADR, Audio Retrieval and enhancement among
other services. In a short span of 13 years Gray Spark Audio has worked with some of
the biggest names in the music industry.
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T W O
3. OUR MISSION
We aim to create a talent pool of competent
audio engineering professionals who have
extensive practical knowledge that complements
their theoretical understanding of sound
production and engineering.
With the help of this course, we intend to set new
benchmarks through a group of professionals who
successfully apply studio philosophy in the industry.
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By facilitating a hands on approach and a mentor
ship model, the course gives students an
opportunity to learn from the industry’s finest
professionals. A module based course structure
gives students the flexibility to chose their subject
of interest.
Students will have the necessary but rare
opportunity to learn in a fully operational studio
and assist ongoing projects, enabling a
synergistic combination of theory and practice.
Through an intellectual give and take with the
industry’s finest professionals, the course gives
them space to create their unique sonic identity
irrespective of prevailing norms.
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T H R E E
OUR
APPROACH
4. With an eye on the growing talent, Gray
Spark Audio aims to equip and mentor
the audio professionals of tomorrow with
specific courses designed around audio
engineering and sound production.
That’s where the Gray Spark Audio
Academy comes in.
Since its conception, our Academy has
trained numerous Audio Professionals
across sectors like Film, Music, Audio
Electronics, Acoustics and many more.
Our goal is to contribute to the ever
growing community of Audio
Professionals in this country one great
student at a time.
O U R C O U R S E
Extensive Practical training to complement
theoretical knowledge
Certificate from a professional recording studio
Flexible Course structure with elective modules
Chance to interact with the industry’s top
professionals and independent artists.
W H Y G R A Y S P A R K A U D I O A C A D E M Y
In depth knowledge of software’s like
Protools and Ableton on Macs.
Monthly Installments/ Payment
Flexibity
Value for Money.
Experienced Working Professionals as
Faculty.
Free Access to all Gray Spark Events
and Workshops throughout the year.
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E F O U R
5. OUR FACILITY
At Gray Spark Audio Academy, we have 4 state of the art, well equipped studios out of which 2
are also used for professional recording sessions.
The theory lectures take place in our classroom located in our studio facility itself.
Studio A (Commercial) features
Spacious Live room
State of the Art equipment
Outboard Gear
Mastering Suite
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Studio B (Commercial) features
Compact
Vocal Recording
Dubbing
Editing
6. OUR FACILITY
While Studio A and B are our commercial studios, Studios C and D are dedicated for
our students to work on their projects and assignments. Our students also do their
assistant-ship in Studio A and B
Studio C features
Artist Room
Programming Suite
Production Room
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Studio D features
Dedicated studio space for
Academy students
Spacious
7. Ronak Runwal is the co founder of
Gray Spark Audio Academy. He formed
the Academy with the goal to equip
students with the skill sets needed to
be competent audio professionals.
Ronak has worked as a Recording /
Mixing and Mastering Engineer for over
10 years . He has also worked as a
Chief Acoustician for multiple projects
across the country and brings his
cumulative experience in these fields
to train the students of our Academy.
A music producer & an audio engineer
from India with a Masters in Music
Production, Technology and Innovation
from Berklee College of Music.
While being chief engineer at Gray
Spark Audio, he also does production
work and teaches at our Academy.
FACULTY
R O N A K R U N W A L
N I T I N M K R I S H N A
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E S E V E N
8. With over a decade of experience as an
FOH/Monitor engineer, He has
travelled throughout India and around
the world mixing music for bands. This
is not just work but passion and love.
Some artists he's worked with- Neeti
Mohan, Amit Mishra, Vir Das, Neeraj
Arya's Kabir Cafe
He has been in the live sound circuit
for the last decade. Experienced in
mixing FOH and Monitors. He has a
good amount of international touring
experience under his belt.
Efficient in mixing on Digico, Avid,
Soundcraft, Yamaha and always up for
a new challenge.
A sound designer & creative editor with
a post-graduate degree in Sound
Recording and Designing from the
prestigious Satyajit Ray Film and
Television Institute, Kolkata.
He has more than eight years of
experience in the sound design and
music composition for audio-visual
industries.
FACULTY
J O H N S T O N D S O U Z A
M A L A Y V A D A L K A R
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E E I G H T
9. Saurabh is an engineer/producer
based out of Pune who has over 6
years of experience in the field.
Working with various bands and other
artists, he's worked on a wide
spectrum of genres which includes
three of his own musical projects that
he plays bass for.
Shardul holds a performance diploma
in Violin awarded by the Associated
Board of Royal Schools of Music.
He is also the founder of Pune School
of Music and has been teaching violin
for over 8 years. Besides this, he plays
with bands like Easy Wanderlings and
a bunch of other indie musicians
FACULTY
S A U R A B H L O D H A
S H A R D U L B A P A T
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E N I N E
10. STUDENTS SPEAK
'My experience at the academy was part study,
part practice. Because the theoretical concepts
that I was taught in the morning would be
cemented permanently the moment I applied them
on a real project later in the day.'
Kartikeya Dixit : Batch of 2016-17
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'Because I was a part of real projects instead of
doing senseless assignments I slowly built my
repertoire and courage in a field I was certainly
not a natural in. This is what really excited me
about the course. A sure indicator of whether or
not you’ve found your true calling is whether or
not you wake up in the morning, excited to tackle
the next challenge thrown your way.
And that’s exactly what happened to me. We
were taught all the nitty gritties which helped us
execute demanding projects. I was taught
everything I needed to know in order to work on
projects that include mixing several tracks and
live acts, working on films, ads and even
voiceovers. We even soldered wires in Module 1
and it was totally worth it!'
Tushar Verma - Batch of 2016-17
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T E N
To become an audio engineer was always my
dream, and the day when i joined Gray Spark it
was like a dream come true. The faculty of the
academy is always ready to give! It was an
amazing experience. Truly got to learn many new
things within this short span! Its going to help me a
lot in my future. My sincere thanks to Gray Spark!
-Abhinav Mali - Batch of 2018-19
11. The Job of a music producer can be
anything from co-writing, directing
performances, figuring out
arrangements, finding the sound of the
musician etc.
Sometimes the job of a producer might
also involve small tasks like figuring out
which studio to record at or to budget
the recording expenses.
C A R E E R S I N
S O U N D
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E E L E V E N
M U S I C P R O D U C E R
A recording engineer essentially works
with a producer to find out and create a
sound for an artist. This usually involves
small tasks like figuring out the kind of
microphone and signal chain to use to
develop a specific sound.
The recording engineer also navigates
through all the equipment and the
console in the recording studio to get the
artist the best possible recording.
R E C O R D I N G E N G I N E E R
The job of a mix engineer is to build on
the idea that the recording engineer has
put the sounds together and layer them
on top of each other and combine these
individual elements in such a way that it
enhances the emotion of the music.
To make sure that you have a good
sounding record you need to set the
levels and the tone of the instruments so
that all the important elements and
sounds from the music
storytelling/emotion are highlighted.
M I X E N G I N E E R
12. The job of a live sound reinforcement
engineer is to apply your audio
engineering principles to make a live
performance sound its absolute best.
This job entails a lot of small tasks like
setting up the PA, tuning the speakers,
keeping the input list and setup ready for
the performing artist, mixing their
sounds through a mixing board and
most importantly troubleshooting.
As odd as it may sound a live sound
engineers job is to quickly resolve any
problems that the artist might face in a
live performance environment (trust me,
they don’t end) and make sure that the
show goes on without any hitch.
C A R E E R S I N
S O U N D
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T W E L V E
L I V E S O U N D
R E I N F O R C E M E N T
The job of a film mix engineer is to mix
all the different elements that a sound
designer lays down in the film like the
ambience, foley sounds, dialogue, the
background music and the sound
effects.
The art in this field is to design a
coherent storyline using these various
sounds and bring out the emotion that
needs to be conveyed.
F I L M S O U N D M I X I N G
E N G I N E E R A mastering engineer’s job entails taking
a mix and adding a finalizer and fix any
errors in the mixing stage before it goes
out to the audience.
This usually entails tasks like setting the
loudness and dynamic range of the
stereo track. Setting the overall tonality
of the track so that it sounds as
consistent as it can when on other
listening devices.
M A S T E R I N G E N G I N E E R
13. Acousticians are experts who
understand how sound operates in a
closed listening environment. Their job
usually entails designing the structure of
a room, finding the right speakers that
will work with the room and creating a
balance between the reflections and
absorptions in the room so that sound
can be heard in its ‘Purest’ form.
This job involves a very in-depth
understanding of Physics and
mathematics. Usually an acoustician
designs spaces like Theaters, home
listening environments, live venues,
studios and even office spaces.
C A R E E R S I N
S O U N D
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T H I R T E E N
A C O U S T I C I A N
Sound Designers are audio engineers
who manipulate the sound using the
technique of synthesis to create specific
sounds that a project might require.
For example creating a sound of a
spaceship using synthesis and
manipulation of already existing sounds.
This is a complex job that involves a lot of
creative and technical knowledge to be
able to create sounds that may either be
used for films or games and sometimes
even music.
S O U N D D E S I G N E R
The primary role of a music arranger is to
arrange a piece of music based on the
needs or requirements of a performer, a
group of performers, a conductor,
producer or music director.
The arranger makes sure that every
aspect of a music piece is well
harmonized, from the instruments down
to the tempo. The music that an arranger
works on may either be an original or an
already existing music piece.
M U S I C A R R A N G E R
14. This is a very similar role to that of a
sound designer, but this job role needs
the added understanding of basic
coding and understanding how gaming
platforms work.
This job role entails understanding
concepts of spatial localization and using
them with software to create a 3D sound
environment.
C A R E E R S I N
S O U N D
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E F O U R T E E N
G A M E S O U N D
D E S I G N E R
The job of a Location sound engineer is
to essentially capture the sound of the
performers on a film set. This involves not
only recording the dialogues on the set
but also recording the ambiences the
sound made by the performers so that a
realistic feeling can be re-created later
during the post production stage.
A location sound engineer needs to have
a good understanding of how films are
made.
L O C A T I O N S O U N D
E N G I N E E R
Audio forensics is the field of forensic
science relating to the acquisition,
analysis, and evaluation of sound
recordings that may ultimately be
presented as admissible evidence in a
court of law or some other official venue.
A U D I O F O R E N S I C S
15. Definition and understanding of Sound; Waves and Oscillation,
Simple Harmonic Motions
Frequency, Amplitude, and Wavelength and how it relates to
Audio.
Co-relation between Frequency/Pitch, Wavelength and
properties of a Wave
Understanding Phases and Polarity,
Evolution of Sound
Measure the Harmonics Across various Instruments
Introduction to Analog Vs Digital
Digital Recording Technology
Understanding Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Aliasing, and Shanon
Nyquist Theorem
Understanding Harmonics and Overtone and how it relates to
the music
Frequency Bandwidth and Octave Ranges
Decibels and Metering
Difference between various dB measurements, i.e dB FS, dB
VU, dbU, dbV, dBLUFS, dB SPL
Introduction to Signal Flow
Noise, Distortion and Basic Electronics
M O D U L E I : B A S I C P R I N C I P L E S
O F S O U N D
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E F I F T E E N
16. P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E S I X T E E N
M O D U L E I I : M U S I C T H E O R Y
Basics of tonality *
Chord building and voice leading *
Introduction to modes *
Cadences and progressions *
Building melodies *
Harmonic treatment of melodies *
Introduction to Lenz Law
What is Electromagnetism, how do the forces of Electricity and Magnetism
co-relate
Working of a Dynamic Microphone
Overview of Microphone Characteristics
Analyzing Various Sources using a Dynamic Microphone
Introduction to Capacitance
Working of a Capacitor Microphone
Recording Experiment using Various Microphones
Electret and Ribbon Microphone
Directionality and Polar Patterns
Dynamic Speaker Functionality
Full Range, Mid, Tweeter, and Subwoofer
Speaker Design, Crossover, and Monitor Configuration
Understanding all Speaker Specs
Building your own Speaker
M O D U L E I I I : M I C R O P H O N E ,
S P E A K E R S & S I G N A L P R O C E S S I N G
17. P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E S E V E N T E E N
Introduction to Pro Tools *
History of Avid *
Types of Protools System *
Basic Recording *
Signal Flow, i/o, playback, preferences, buffer size *
Hardware Software Configuration *
Editing/ Time Quantization *
Beat Detective, TCE, Types of Grids, Manual editing, Elastic Audio *
Introduction to MIDI *
Balancing *
M O D U L E I V : P R O T O O L S
Understanding Frequency Spectrum
Listening exercise
Signal flow Studio A
Patching, Routing
Pro Tools Configuration in Recording
Microphones (application)
Preamps
Setting up Pro tools
Recording Techniques (Mono and Stereo)
Understanding Characteristics of mic
Record - vocals, guitar, amplifier, piano, percussion
Set up Drums
Multi Micing for drum recording
Understanding Timbre of an instrument
Record in the context of the song
Assignment Make a cover song with record elements
Studio Etiquette
Role of a Recording Engineer.
Assignment Live Band Recording
How to record Overdubs
M O D U L E V : R E C O R D I N G T E C H N I Q U E S
18. P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E E I G H T E E N
Ear Training
Creating a Balance, key factors that determine
Understanding Width, Depth, and Height of a Mix
Understanding Frequency Range on Instruments
How to Create Space
Working with Effects
Compression as a transient shaping tool
Taking a correct brief for a Mix
Philosophy of Mixing and different approaches
Developing a Focal Point in your Mix
Working with Low End
Building your Balance
Deconstruct Mix 1
Deconstruct Mix 2
Different approaches to Mixing
Intro to Mastering
the driving force of a Mix
M O D U L E V I : M I X I N G & M A S T E R I N G
19. Intro to Ableton
History of Ableton
Looping
Special Features of Ableton
Creative Audio Sequencing
Wrapping and Sampling
Max for Live
Advanced MIDI
Synthesis
Music Appreciation Session
Deconstruction of Music
Implementation of everything to structure a composition
Programming Percussion / Rhythm
Creating a song from scratch (practical + assignment)
Creative use of Effects
M O D U L E V I I : M U S I C P R O D U C T I O N
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E N I N E T E E N
Setting Up for Live Sound *
Know your Console *
Monitor Mixes *
Mixing at FOH *
Speakers, Amplifiers and Signal Processors *
Problem Solving *
Expanders, Noise Gates Applications and Settings *
Planning your processing and Mix *
M O D U L E V I I I : L I V E
S O U N D
20. Intro to Location Sound 1
Intro to Location Sound 2
Understanding Edits and Tracklaying
Surround Setups and Art of Panning
Location Recording Practical
Intro to Sound Design
Foley
Mixing in Surround 1
Mixing in Surround 2
Film Appreciation and Sound Design Breakdown
F O L L O W E D B Y 3 M O N T H S I N T E R N S H I P
P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T W E N T Y
M O D U L E I X : F I L M
S O U N D
Setting Up for Live Sound *
Know your Console *
Monitor Mixes *
Mixing at FOH *
Speakers, Amplifiers and Signal Processors *
Problem Solving *
Expanders, Noise Gates Applications and Settings *
Planning your processing and Mix *
M O D U L E X : A C O U S T I C S
& A U D I O E L E C T R O N I C S
21. Booking amount of 20000/- (to confirm
admission)
Single installment of 182000/- before the course
begins
Registration Fee: 20,000/- (to confirm
admission)
1st installment: 91000/-
2nd Installment: 91000/-
-If you choose to pay in 1 installment
-If you choose to pay in 2 installments
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22. Registration Fee: 20,000/- (to confirm
admission)
1st installment: 60,700/-
2nd Installment: 60,700/-
3rd Installment: 60,700/-
-If you choose to pay in 3 installments
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P A G E T W E N T Y T W O
27. P R O S P E C T U S
P A G E T W E N T Y S E V E N
GRAYSPARKAUDIOACADEMY@GMAIL.COM
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A C A D E M Y . G R A Y - S P A R K . C O M
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