Jason Munn currently serves as the lead audio technology instructor at the SAE Institute in Nashville. Formerly a school band director and music teacher, Munn decided the time had come for a change three years ago and chose to pursue a career as an audio engineer. Upon graduating from SAE Institute Nashville in 2012, he joined the staff and saw his role expand to his current position teaching five courses this semester. Throughout Munn’s teaching and his continuing work as a freelance engineer, one constant is HARMAN dbx compressors, crossovers, and limiters.
As a musician, Munn had been using dbx gear since the late 1990s, but it wasn’t until moving to Nashville to pursue a career as a professional Audio Engineer did he become well versed with the brand. As an instructor at SAE, Munn currently teaches subjects such as signal flow, live sound, audio post production and multimedia.
For Munn, there is a certain clarity and functionality about how dbx products are designed that make using them for teaching extremely intuitive. In one of the introductory courses at SAE, compression and limiting concepts are taught using the dbx 1066. Because the 1066 is a stereo gate/expander, compressor and limiter, the students learn to gate the signal, then compress it, and finally limit the signal to attenuate any remaining transients that might result in clipping. “The metering is clear, everything is labeled with industry standard terminology, and the knobs and pots are durable; plus, if you need to look something up, the manuals are thorough and well written,” added Munn.
“I love the dbx 160 for compressing drum mixes; its a classic piece of gear. With the dbx 160, I can have the drum mix lightly compressed or absolutely crushed. It’s simple to use and it just sounds awesome, especially the attack and release for drums. This is just one of those pieces of gear I will always have a soft spot for.”
Munn continues to mix in some freelance work when he can and of course always stays current with what is coming down the line from dbx. “I’m really excited about the new 500 series products that are going to be available soon. I have a feeling they will be in my personal home studio.”
dbx is distributed in the UK and ROI by Sound Technology Ltd. For more information please call 01462 480000 or visit www.soundtech.co.uk/dbx
