The Ten Basics Of Audio

I appreciate the mentors who helped me when I was coming up in the studio. This summer I plan to pay that forward, which got me to thinking: For someone just getting started, what Ten Basics should s/he learn first? So I started an Audio Fundamentals list. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

01 Listening Skills
02 Basic Acoustics
03 Transducers: Microphones, Speakers, Amplifiers
04 Microphone Placement
05 Analog and Digital Audio: Sampling Theory, Digital Interface, Workstation
06 Noise Floor, Distortion Ceiling, and Gain Staging
07 Digital Audio Editing
08 EQ, Compression, and Effects
09 Signal Flow: Busses, Auxiliary Sends, Returns
10 Mixing: How To Reveal More Than One Sound At A Time

And I really appreciate a list sent by Rene Coronado: patience, persistence, written skills, aesthetic, critical thinking, humility, curiosity, computing and backup skills.

What do you think?