Hyunjoung Yang started her career as a audio engineer during her undergraduate program at DIMA (Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts, Bachelor of Arts). Her area of expertise is sound reinforcement/public address and recording. She is currently completing her Master of Music and working as a recording, live sound and webcast technician; and has also been a Research Assistant for the ODESSA and ACTOR research projects run out of the Schulich School of Music.
Hyunjoung recently published her first paper during the Audio Engineering Society's 147th Annual Convention, entitled Immersive Recording of a Wind Ensemble Using Height Channels and Delay Compensation for a Realistic Playback Experience. The recording that accompanied the paper won a bronze prize in the Student Recording Competition presented at the Convention, where she also gave a poster session on the paper.
Where are you from?
I'm from Daegu, which is a town in the south-east part of South Korea.
What made you choose McGill for your studies?
After I finished my undergraduate in audio production in Korea, I was looking for an audio-related graduate school for further studies. One of my mentors who also graduated from McGill’s Sound Recording program suggested McGill. As McGill’s Sound Recording program not only has a strong reputation and faculty, but also a lot of collaborations with other departments and the CIRMMT research centre, I chose McGill as the next step in my studies.
How has being a McGill student influenced you and your research?
The support from the faculty and my colleagues has given me the confidence to explore in any direction I choose. The musicians at McGill are open to new ideas, and do not hesitate to share their inspirations. All the faculty have the knowledge and background to help me when I have questions, and my colleagues are open in sharing their opinions too.
Briefly explain your research:
I am interested in how immersive audio can aid musicians and listeners in a live sound environment, which is a somewhat different experience than reproduction in playback. I'm also interested in how immersive audio affects the performance of musicians.
What led you to this particular topic?
The majority of my background in audio engineering before McGill came from live sound, where I needed to interact with the musicians and audiences real time. And as immersive audio provides a three-dimensional sound experience, the number of concerts using immersive systems is growing. I thought it would be interesting to study how it enhances the experience. As it is pretty new, there are a lot of elements that still need to be explored – which is a topic I can contribute to!
Has there been anything surprising so far?
I learned from one of my professors that many people have a less accurate auditory localizing perception than they expect, even though we track what's happening around us with our ears every second.
What are your next steps?
I have an internship with Galaxy studio - where Auro 3D was invented - during the summer, and need to decide if I will stay in school for further study, or start my professional career. Either way I am looking for a place where l can pursue my interest in immersive audio.
What advice would you give to new students in your program?
Explore more and more, even outside of McGill, and share your ideas with others. Take advantage of all opportunities!
Where is your favourite place to study?
Either my room or CIRMMT! Both are quiet and cosy places that makes me focus on my work. Especially CIRMMT, which has a nice open view from the 8th floor. Sometimes it also allows me to take a short escape from hectic days - it's always nice to have a chat with other CIRMMT members about studies and life.
Where in Montreal can you be found on a day off?
There's a nice tearoom near Notre-Dame which is one of my favourite places in Montreal - it has an amazing selection of tea. I could spend entire days there enjoying teas and hanging out with my friends.
What is your earliest musical memory?
I remember when my mother suggested that I learn the violin, I think I was 7 years old. I said ‘yes!’ and a week later I started my first violin lesson. I still regret that I didn't practice more, so I could still ‘play’ at least one instrument…
If you hadn’t ended up in music, what would your alternate career path have been?
An astrophysicist! I've always been fascinated by astronomy, as it's the study to seek how this universe started and how it works, in a precise and logical way. I still read random books and articles related to it.
What was the last book you read?
I shouldn't say it was a manual for a piece of audio equipment, right? I think it was Meathooked by Marta Zaraska. It describes why a lot of people still love animal protein and where it comes from, even though we can easily see the danger posed by meat-eating.
If you were offered a return plane ticket to anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Any place that I can see the Northern Lights or humpback whales. These are both on my bucket list!
