I think it's interesting to make the distinction between an academic portfolio and a professional portfolio. I see that the latter tends to usually focus purely on the product whereas in an academic learning environment I understand that it's more important to focus on the processes, because those are what are being taught. In art disciplines it however becomes a bit confusing, because there aren't necessarily right or wrong ways in doing things and the product is what generally matters in the professional world. So one might question the need for presenting anything else than the product. And one might question the reason for an academic portfolio to be something else than what's used in the professonal world.
I would, however, like to see more of the academic style portfolios in the professional world, because focusing only on the product really only tells what you ended up with, not how you did it and how you work. I think opening up the process becomes very important when collaborating with other people, because it demonstrates that you're able to communicate about your work and can systematically plan the work process (very important when working with others and in larger projects). I think it also clearly adds to the credibility of the person in the professional world when he/she demonstrates the ablility to break down the process and reason his/her intentions and talk about best approaches and practices. And I don't believe there's simply much need to "hide" anything, it just isn't the point, especially when working with "non-audio artist" clients or other artists. And good communication skills (written and verbal) are always valued and a good way to demonstrate those is to write and/or speak about the work. I would see more process-describing portfolios advantegous for standing out from the crowd when most of the portfolios only showcase products and I think employers and other artists could be increasingly interested in people that demonstrate good work-ethics, versatility with different methods and good communication skills rather than are just "able to get stuff done".
I, however, am not sure how to go in combining those two types of portfolios (product- and process-oriented) in a concise way. Many people seem to keep personal blogs to describe more of the processes and then have a simpler portfolio (e.g. a video demoreel) that simply shows the products. As you know, the intention is to keep the product-portfolio simple enough so that it's fast to view. I don't see some kind of hybrid approach bad though, because I think there are advantages in process-oriented portfolios in the professional world, when kept reasonable, as described above.
