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Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
There are many different digital audio recording and processing programs running under several computer operating systems for all purposes, from professional through serious amateur to casual user. Knowing a little theory behind the available functions will open up new horizons.
Even if you already have lots of studio experience we hope that you might find the information below helpful. Recording studio time is expensive, and even if you're recording in a home studio, whoever's doing the work behind the computer is putting in valuable time. Making the most of the time you've got in the studio is really, really important.
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Once upon a time, surround sound was very much touted as The Next Big Thing. What's more, in the movie and video game worlds, its promise has been fulfilled. However, in the music sector, the benefits and possibilities of multi-channel audio aren't getting people as excited as they once did.
This raises various questions: is it simply the case that listeners have no appetite for surround sound music. or are there technical and cultural reasons why producers don't mix for more than two speakers? And if surround setups have no future for music, what kind of potential is there to get a '3D' experience from our existing hardware. or to experience it in a live context? Perhaps the biggest reason surround sound has failed to capture the public's imagination is that audiences have been busy with other technology - MP3, iPods, etc. |
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Read more... [Is Stereo Enough?]
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We've all heard tracks that just beg to be taken further. A haunting vocal that cries out to be paired with a filthy wobble bass; a tune t hat would work so much better if it was playing over a more inventive chord structure; a metal track that could live a new life as an old·school rave anthem. This desire to appropriate the music of others and take it to new places isn't a new thing: even early classical composers would create new arrangements of existing compositions, sometimes merely re-orchestrating but at other times going as far as adapting the ideas in order to include a significant amount of original material.
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Read more... [The Art of Remixing]
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In digital audio, the level of detail at which an analog audio signal can be captured, stored and recreated largely dictates the resultant sound quality. A digital audio file comprises a string of samples - i.e., tiny snapshots in time, each representing the amplitude of the analog audio signal at that particular moment.
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Read more... [Digital Audio File Formats]
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In the early days of recording, engineers and sound designers faced an ongoing struggle to preserve audio fidelity. Capturing or playing back audio from an analogue recording medium would always add a certain amount of unwanted sonic artifacts and distortion to the signal, caused by the noise present in electrical circuitry. In fact, even the basic act of storing recorded audio on a format like magnetic tape would incur a degree of degradation over time.
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Read more... [Audio & Sampling]
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The Acoustic Army are well and truly back on the march. From the in die rock of Vampire Weekend to the "grass roots" antifolk of Mumford And Sons, there are a number of movements recontextualizing the "real" sound of 'real' instruments. And by the looks of the charts, the good old music-buying public are clearly down with the sounds of a group of folk belting out good, honest songs that you could actually sing around a campfire with your mates.
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Read more... [How To Record, Mix And Master An Acoustic Band]
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The evolution of the digital audio workstation (DAW) has revolutionized the way most of us compose and record music. As computers - and the software they run - become more powerful, the need for hardware sound generators and processors has diminished to the point where many composers and producers today work within totally self-contained digital environments, with a level of flexibility, fidelity and, of course, portability that would have been inconceivable in the past.
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Read more... [Vintage Synthesizers - Digital Audio Workstation Integration]
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The idea of digital headroom is a popular cause for concern among producers. Most of us know roughly what it means - the breathing space we leave rather than trying to push all our levels as high as possible - but what about those tricky questions that keep cropping up? Do peak indicators really matter? Is it OK to clip channels? How do you set the master output level? This article will answer these questions and plenty more.
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Read more... [Digital Headroom]
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You probably know more or less what preamplifiers do. Commonly known as preamps or just pres, these devices are used to amplify low level signals and prepare them for further processing. But there's a lot more to it than that, and if you want to get the most out of your preamps, there are a few important things you should consider.
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Read more... [Preamplifiers]
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Over the last forty years, the vocoder has helped to create some of the most enduringly popular sounds in Electronic music. Singing pads, talking basslines and countless other effects can be achieved using subtly different techniques based around the same principles.
The story of the vocoder starts in the 1920s and includes everything from military voice scrambling techniques to more musical '80s Electro-Funk stylings. In this article, we'll look at the history of the technology, see how the sounds are created and look at ways they can be used in your productions. We'll also take a quick look at related vocal effects such as the talkbox and the Sonovox before rounding up some of the hardware and software vocoder options currently available.
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Read more... [Vocoders]
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One subject that seems to cause more confusion than any other among beginners and experienced engineers alike, is dynamic control. With thousands of compressors, limiters, leveling amps and maximizers on the market, it's perhaps little wonder that the subtle differences can be hard to grasp. We'll explain what these subtly different tools are, how they work and how they can help you.
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Read more... [Limiters]
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At its most basic level, a clock or timecode is used to transmit information about the tempo or position of your track. From an audio perspective, we're mainly interested in synchronizing pieces of audio equipment for timing purposes, so we're going to be taking a look at all the most important standards and ways in which timecode can make your life easier. In the '80s and '90s, timecode could be a bit of a minefield.
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Read more... [Timecodes]
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Are you dazed by decibels? Struggling with spectrograms? Modern audio gear and software comes loaded with meters to try and give visual indications of signal levels and a host of other information. The problem is that a lot of us don’t really understand exactly what our meters mean and what they’re trying to tell us. There are dozens of ways that understanding how to interpret meter readings can help you, so in this month’s Knowledge Base we’re going to take a closer look at decibels, then examine some of the various meters, dials, gauges and indicators in more detail, to help you understand how they all work and how they might be able to help you in your productions.
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Read more... [Audio Metering]
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Although you may not be aware of it, the way we perceive sounds is strongly affected by a series of psychological effects known as psychoacoustics. Our hearing is not quite so clear-cut as you might imagine, and a number of psychoacoustic phenomena can dramatically affect the way we respond to the sounds we hear. Now we'll take a brief look at three very important characteristics of audio-frequency, volume and timing - in order to show some of the ways the human ear responds to sound and how our perception can be affected by subtle variables.
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Read more... [The Science of Psychoacoustics]
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Having examined the roots of sampling technology, now we're going to look at the more advanced sampling features available on modern samplers and some clever methods for getting the most from your use of samples. A lot of users don't realize the potential to use the sampler as an instrument in its own right, so we'll examine some of the features that make this possible. We'll also see how the advanced functions can be used to take even more control of your sample-based music and along the way, we'll look at some useful tips and tricks for getting creative with the way you use sampled material. The tips here should apply to most software and the majority of hardware, so whatever you're using to sample your audio you should be able to put our advice to good use. |
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Read more... [Sampling Techniques]
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Quantization can refer to a number of different processes depending on the context, and we already discussed one meaning when we looked at analog-to-digital signal conversion. However, nine times out of ten when someone mentions quantization in the context of music production, they're referring to it as a tool that aligns notes or drum hits to the nearest beat. Quantization generally refers to MIDI data, and a MIDI piano roll is probably the easiest way to visualize the process.
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Read more... [Quantization]
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Having talked in the Mastering Theory article about how professional mastering engineers take your tracks and apply the finishing touches, now we're going to look at the DIY approach. We'll guide you in the right direction so that you can have a go at mastering tracks yourself rather than sending them off to the pros. Mastering is a notoriously difficult skill to learn, but it's possible to achieve good results at home if you put a bit of time into training your ears and learning the tools of the trade. We'll focus mainly on software since it makes sense that most beginners to DIY mastering will choose the cheaper software-based approach. Armed with the tips on offer here you should soon be able to get started with mastering your own tracks. |
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Read more... [Home Audio Mastering]
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With the ability to manipulate sound in hundreds of different ways, its important not to forget the basics and have a grounding in what's going on, in order to produce the best results. Let's look at the history of sampling technology, examining the development of the equipment itself, explaining the theory behind it before finally checking out your options for sampling in the 21st century.
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Read more... [A History of Sampling]
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One of the most mysterious aspects of the music making process is mastering. Thanks to a combination of misinformation and good old-fashioned misunderstanding, a number of myths surround the mastering process, so we'll try and dispelthem here, as well as talking you through the equipment, processes and knowledge which mastering engineers use to add the finishing touch to your tracks.
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Read more... [Mastering]
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A lot of the time, drum synthesis gets overshadowed by the more glamorous forms of instrument synthesis. However, there are just as many ways of synthesizing a drum sound as there are of synthesizing a piano. a guitar or an earth-shaking analog monosynth bass patch and the effect it has on your overall sound is just as important.
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Read more... [Drum Synthesis]
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Whether you're mixing a three-piece band, a Progressive Techno masterpiece or a full orchestra, you need to know how stereo works if you want to get the most out of your music. We'll look at the aims of stereo mixing, how the technical sides of things work, a few basic ground rules and how we can use stereo to complement our mixes.
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Read more... [The Science of Stereo - Mixing]
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