RSR410 - Dan Pfeifer - Audio Professor of Engineering and Production at MTSU - Recording Studio Rockstars

RSR410 – Dan Pfeifer – Audio Professor of Engineering and Production at MTSU

Would you say no to a session with Bono and Edge? Dan talked about working at Memphis Sound Productions, recording B.B. King & Paul Schaffer, writing manuals for API, mixing with SSL, and teaching at one of the top recording colleges in Nashville TN.

My guest today is Dan Pfeifer a professor in the Department of Recording Industry and Graduate Faculty Member at Middle Tennessee State University, and a native of Louisville, Kentucky. He got his Bachelor of Music degree from Middle Tennessee State University in 1983 and Master of Arts degree from the University of Memphis in 1987 with an emphasis in audio engineering and music production.  

Before to coming to MTSU, Dan worked professionally as an audio engineer and producer, working with artists that include B.B. King, ZZ Top, Albert Collins, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, and many others. He has also served as 2nd Vice President and member of the Board of Governors for the Memphis Chapter of the NARAS, and he is a voting member of the Recording Academy and a professional member of the Audio Engineering Society. 

Dan has received many awards including the MTSU Alumni Association True Blue Citation of Distinction for MTSU Faculty, the MTSU Distinguished Achievement in Creative Activity Award, the Tennessee Board of Regents Academic Excellence and Quality Award, the MTSU Outstanding Teacher Award, and the Recording Industry Outstanding Alumni Award for University Service, and was inducted into the MTSU Band of Blue Hall of Fame.

But most significantly for this interview, Dan was my audio teacher 30 years ago when I was at MTSU as an undergraduate student learning the basics of audio and recording. Dan taught me with a black board and three recording studios everything audio including the difference between various types of microphones, audio signal flow, the science of sound and hearing, flow charts for mixing consoles, and how to align an analog tape machine. Basically, Dan was the first teacher in my life to teach me stuff that would carry forward to change my life and career and inspire me to make records for 30 years. And the only part I regret is making those stupid bubble charts to represent audio mixes. You know the ones with a big bubble for the kick drum and a little bubble for the hi hat. "Writing (or drawing) about music is like dancing about architecture."

This episode is dedicated to Ben Morton my classmate from MTSU. Ben may your bass have six strings on it in heaven and may you never have to change them again.

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Website Links:

https://www.mtsu.edu/faculty/dan-pfeifer

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko

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