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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................................................................................... ix
PREFACE ................................................................................................................................................................................. xi
Thank you to Nick Batzdorf of Recording magazine for giving me permission to draw
from my “Take One” series. For my education, thank you to the College of Wooster,
Crown International, Shure Brothers Inc., Astatic Corporation, and all the studios I’ve
worked for.
Thank you to Megan Ball, Mary LaMacchia, Jeff Dean, Peter Linsley, and Alison Daltroy at
Focal Press for their fine work and support, as well as Autumn Spalding at Apex CoVantage.
My deepest thanks to Jenny Bartlett for her many helpful suggestions as a layperson con-
sultant and editor. She made sure the book could be understood by beginners.
We appreciate the following manufacturers who provided photos of their products: TAS-
CAM, Zoom, M-audio, Whirlwind, Mackie, Shure, Royer, Neumann, Lexicon, E-MU,
Alesis, IK Multimedia, CDBaby, Mixlr.
Finally, to the musicians I’ve recorded and played with, a special thanks for teaching me
indirectly about recording.
ix
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Preface
It’s every musician’s dream: to create and record your music and release it as an album or
digital downloads so that others can enjoy it. This book will help you do that.
Recording is a highly skilled craft combining art and science. It requires technical knowl-
edge as well as musical understanding and critical listening ability. By learning these
skills, you can capture a musical performance and reproduce it with quality sound for
the enjoyment and inspiration of others.
Your recordings will become carefully tailored creations of which you can be proud. They
will be a legacy that can bring pleasure to many people for years to come.
This book is intended as a hands-on, practical guide for beginning recording engineers,
producers, musicians—anyone who wants to make better music recordings by under-
standing recording equipment and techniques. I hope to prepare the reader for work in
a home studio, a small professional studio, or an on-location recording session.
Practical Recording Techniques offers up-to-date information on the latest music recording
technology, such as hard-disk and flash memory recorders, computer recording, tablet xi
recording systems, loop-based recording, keyboard and digital workstations, MIDI, Web
audio, realtime streaming, and online collaboration. But it also guides the beginner
through the basics, showing how to make quality recordings with the new breed of inex-
pensive home-studio equipment.
The first chapter overviews the recording process to instill a system concept. Next, the
basics of sound, studio acoustics, and signals are explained so that you’ll know what
you’re doing when you adjust the controls on a piece of recording equipment or build a
studio. Then advice is given on equipping a home studio for any style of recording, with
examples of equipment manufacturers.
Studio setup is covered next, including cables and connections, choosing and using
monitor speakers, and preventing hum.
Each piece of recording equipment is explained in detail, as well as the control-room
techniques you’ll use during actual sessions. Special attention is given to microphones
(including detailed microphone techniques), EQ, effects, and signal processors.
Next is a detailed description of hardware mixing consoles, both analog and digital.
A chapter is devoted to the technology of digital audio. That is followed by a chapter
on computer recording, which includes a section on audio for video. The text continues
with chapters on DAW signal flow and DAW operation.
xii Preface
A special chapter explains how to judge recordings and improve them. The engineer must
know not only how to use the equipment, but also how to tell good sound from bad.
After covering audio recording, the book offers a chapter on MIDI sequencing for musi-
cians who want to record in that mode.
After all the equipment and procedures have been explained, a chapter on session pro-
cedures tells how to run a recording session. Following that, mastering and CD burning
are described as the final stages in the process.
So far the book has focused on studio recording. The next two chapters explain on-
location recording techniques for both popular and classical music.
The latest developments in recording are Web audio, realtime streaming, and online col-
laboration. These topics are covered in detail in the final chapter.
Finally, five appendices explain the decibel, suggest how to optimize your computer for
multitrack recording, explain impedance, provide information on phantom power, and
review legacy recording devices.
If you want more education in recording technology than this book provides, be sure to
check out this book’s companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/bartlett. It has links
to several books, magazines, videos, audio equipment stores, and literature.
Listen Online In the book’s companion website, audio samples demonstrate various topics explained in the
book. Throughout the text, references to specific tracks on the website guide the reader to relevant audio demon-
strations. These are highlighted in Listen Online Boxes like this one. Listen to Audio Clip 1 for an introduction. The
companion website also includes articles with audio, suggested activities, and an extensive list of weblinks.
to record local bands for free while you gain experience. You might specialize in one
genre of music that matches your market and your recording skills.
You’ll need to promote your studio. Post flyers in music stores. You can advertise
your recording service for free on Craigslist. Create a website where you list your
studio’s musical instruments, recording equipment, and customers. Find potential
customers at clubs or festivals, and give them demo CDs and business cards with
your website’s URL.
If you can’t find much recording business, consider taking another job in a related
industry—such as audio equipment design or sales—and record on weekends as a sec-
ond job.
The usual way to join a commercial recording studio is to have an interview. Supply
examples of your best work. Be willing to start as a gofer, and show that you can drum
up business for the studio, perhaps bringing clients with you. Work your way up to
operating recorders, placing mics, and copying/backing up files. Eventually, if you have
personal and musical skills as well as technical skills, you can hope to sit at the console
as a mixing engineer. Good luck!
instead of just feeling excited while listening to an impressive lead-guitar solo, listen to
what the guitarist is actually playing. You may hear some amazing things.
Here’s one secret of really involving yourself in recorded music: imagine yourself playing
it! For example, if you’re a bass player, listen to the bass line in a particular record, and
imagine that you’re playing the bass line. You’ll hear the part as never before. Or respond
to the music visually—see it as you do in the movie Fantasia.
Follow the melody line and see its shape. Hear where it reaches up, strains, and then
relaxes. Hear how one note leads into the next. How does the musical expression change
from moment to moment?
There are times when you can almost touch music: some music has a prickly texture
(many transients, emphasized high frequencies); some music is soft and sinuous (sine-
wave synthesizer notes, soaring vocal harmonies); and some music is airy and spacious
(lots of reverberation).
WHY RECORD?
Recording is a service and a craft. Without it, people would be exposed to much less
music. They would be limited to the occasional live concert or to their own live music,
played once and forever gone.
With recordings, you can preserve a performance for thousands of listeners. You can hear
an enormous variety of musical expressions whenever you want. Unlike a live concert, a
record can be played over and over for analysis. Tapes or discs are also a way to achieve
a sort of immortality. The Beatles may be gone, but their music lives on.
Records can even reveal your evolving consciousness as you grow and change. A com-
puter audio file or CD stays the same physically, but you hear it differently over the years
as your perception changes. Recordings are a constant against which you can measure
change in yourself.
Be proud that you are contributing to the recording art—it is done in the service of music.
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CHAPTER 1
Welcome to the brave new world of 21st-century recording! This book will show you an
overview of current recording technology, help you choose the equipment that best suits
your needs, and guide you in using it to create great recordings. And it will explain the
technical jargon in plain English.
As a recording engineer, you are a key player. Your skills help artists realize their visions
in sound. Your miking techniques capture the vibrancy of the performance, whether
it’s the shimmering overtones of a string quartet or the sonic assault of an electric blues
band. Your “post” work in the studio—adding effects, tweaking levels, etc.—will take the 1
raw material of the performance and shape and blend it into a polished musical state-
ment. As you master the technology and become fluent with the audio tools at hand, you
will produce exciting recordings that will delight your clients and give you a real sense
of pride and achievement.
Be sure to practice what you learn in this book. There’s no substitute for hands-on expe-
rience. You might offer to record a band’s rehearsal for free while you experiment and
master the gear. Be patient, let yourself make mistakes, and above all, listen to how the
sound changes when you move a mic or tweak a knob.
CAREERS IN AUDIO
This book focuses on music recording, both in the studio and on-location. There are
dozens of related audio careers, each with its own textbooks: live sound, film sound
recording and post production, TV, radio, computer games, CD duplication, online dis-
tribution of audio, nature recording, newscasts, electronic news gathering, live music
TV and radio shows, streaming concerts, documentaries, instructional videos, forensic
audio, audio equipment and software design, studio design, museum audio, tour bus
and airplane audio, sound insulation, concert hall design, sound-system design, foley,
voiceover, commercials, and more.
2 Chapter 1 A Basic Overview of the Recording Process
TYPES OF RECORDING
Let’s get started. Currently there are six main ways to record music:
■ Live stereo recording
■ Live-mix-to-2-track recording
■ Multitrack recorder and mixer
■ Digital multitracker (recorder-mixer)
■ Computer digital audio workstation (DAW)
■ MIDI sequencing
This chapter provides a brief overview of these methods, and later chapters explore them
in depth.
FIGURE 1.1
The recording chain for live stereo recording.
Practical Recording Techniques Chapter 1 3
5. The signals from the microphones go to a 2-track recorder such as a handheld digital
recorder or laptop. The signal changes to a pattern stored on a medium, such as mag-
netic patterns on a hard disk. During playback, the patterns on the medium are con-
verted back into a signal. During recording, signals are stored along a track—a path
or channel on the medium containing a recorded signal. A single medium can record
one or more tracks. For example, a 2-track hard-disk recording stores two tracks on
hard disk, such as the two different audio signals required for stereo recording.
6. To hear the signal you’re recording, you need a monitor system: headphones or a
stereo power amplifier and loudspeakers. You use the monitors to judge how well
your mic technique is working.
The speakers or headphones convert the signal back into sound. This sound resembles
that of the original instruments. Also, the acoustics of the listening room affect the sound
reaching the listener.
Live-Mix-to-2-Track Recording
This method is used mainly for live broadcasts or recordings of PA mixes and some
orchestral recordings. A PA is a public address or sound reinforcement system. Using a
mixer, you set up a mix of several microphones and record the mixer’s output signal on
a 2-track recorder (flash memory recorder or computer hard drive). Each mic is close to
its sound source. Figure 1.2 shows the recording chain for this method.
FIGURE 1.2
The recording chain for live-mix-to-2-track recording.
4 Chapter 1 A Basic Overview of the Recording Process
FIGURE 1.3
The recording chain for multitrack recording.
FIGURE 1.4
The recording chain for a multitrack mixdown.
FIGURE 1.5
TASCAM DP-03, an example of a recorder-mixer.
(Courtesy TASCAM.com)
Other names for this device include “digital multitracker,” “personal digital studio,” or
“portable studio.” Most recorder-mixers have built-in effects.
FIGURE 1.6
Computer with a choice of audio interface and recording/editing software.
MIDI Sequencing
With this recording method, a musician performs on a MIDI controller, such as a piano-
style keyboard or drum pads. The controller puts out a MIDI signal, a series of numbers
that indicates which keys were pressed and when they were pressed. The MIDI signal is
recorded and stored by a standalone sequencer or sequencer program in a computer.
When you play back the MIDI sequence, it plays the tone generators in a synthesizer
or sound module. The synthesizer can be hardware or software (as a “soft synth,” also
Practical Recording Techniques Chapter 1 7
FIGURE 1.7
MIDI sequencing system.
called a “virtual instrument”). A MIDI sequencer also can play samples (digital record-
ings of musical notes played by real instruments). Like a player piano, MIDI sequencing
records your performance gestures rather than audio. Figure 1.7 shows the process, and
Chapter 18 gives a detailed explanation of MIDI.
MIDI/digital audio software lets you record MIDI sequences and digital audio onto a
hard disk. First record a few tracks of MIDI sequences, then add audio tracks: lead vocal,
sax solo, or whatever. All these elements stay synchronized.
can postpone mixing decisions until after the performance. Then you can monitor the
mix in quiet surroundings. This method is more complex and expensive than live-mix
recording.
If you use a separate multitrack recorder and mixer, each component can be used inde-
pendently. For example, you might do a PA job with just the mixer. Or, if you already
have a mixer, all you need to buy is a recorder. This system also works well for multitrack
recording of a live concert from the PA mixer’s insert jacks. You need to connect cables
between the mixer and recorder, and between the mixer and outboard effects units.
A recorder-mixer is easy to use because it is a single portable chassis that includes most of
your studio equipment: recorder, mixer, effects, and often a CD burner. It doesn’t require
cables except for the mics, instruments, and monitor speakers. High-end units let you
edit the music. They also have automated mixing: memory chips in the mixer remember
your mixdown settings and reset the mixer accordingly the next time you play back the
recording.
A computer DAW is inexpensive, powerful, and flexible. It lets you do sophisticated edit-
ing and automated mixing. Several plug-in (software) effects are included, and you can
purchase and install other plug-ins. Recording software can be updated at little cost. As
for drawbacks, computers can crash and can be difficult to set up and optimize for audio
work.
MIDI sequencing lets you record musical parts by entering notes slowly or one at a time
if you wish. After the sequencing is finished, you can edit notes to correct mistakes. You
can even change the instrument sounds or the tempo. A huge variety of sounds are avail-
able in synthesizers, sound modules, and soft synths. However, you are limited to their
sounds unless you use MIDI/digital audio software, which lets you add miked instru-
ments to the mix.
Listen Online Audio samples, hosted on the companion website, are highlighted throughout the book in boxes
like this one to demonstrate relevant topics. Audio Clip 1 introduces the clips, and Clip 2 demonstrates: