My Passion “Audio Awareness”: It’S All About “Audio Recording” & “Live Sound” Experience

By Alphonso Soosay

By reading this book on audio, individuals will learn how to create a truly quality sound within their final audio mix. Individuals will also discover everything required to become an accomplished audio wage earner. Its a practical information book on audio that takes the mystery out of audio recording studios, audio reinforcement, and room acoustics issues.

Explained in detail are also many problems individuals will encounter in practical recording sessions and how to overcome issues.

The purpose of this audio awareness guidebook is to guide individuals to become a respectable recording studio technician, managing live sound for their band and having a better understanding of audio.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524518745

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Alphonso Soosay.

Library of Congress Control Number:         2016917948

ISBN:         Hardcover         978-1-5245-1876-9

         Softcover         978-1-5245-1875-2

         eBook         978-1-5245-1874-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/15/2016

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

741460

Contents

Foreword

Testimonial

Preface

Special Thanks

Introduction

Important Audio Recording Facts to Consider

Chapters

Chapter 1 Audio Recording Awareness

Chapter 2 Audio Microphone Awareness

Chapter 3 Audio Equalisation Awareness

Chapter 4 Audio Compression Awareness

Chapter 5 Audio Mixdown Awareness

Chapter 6 Audio High-Resolution Awareness

Chapter 7 Audio Mastering Awareness

Chapter 8 Audio Amplifier Awareness

Chapter 9 Audio Speakers Awareness

Chapter 10 Audio Impedance Awareness

Chapter 11 Live Concert Sound Awareness

Chapter 12 Room Acoustics Awareness

Chapter 13 Audio Digital Recording Awareness

Chapter 14 Audio Production Awareness

Chapter 15 Audio Definitions Awareness

Reference List for 741460

In this book publication, you will find out how to create a truly professional quality sound within your final mix. And you will discover everything required to become an accomplished audio wage earner. Example: If you are a music composer, singer, songwriter, musician, or producer, then there has never been a better time for putting together professional sounding tracks with affordable possible expense. Plus fourteen other bonus audio-related chapters.

Foreword

Today’s world of modern audio recording timbre is multifaceted. It consists of a world of creative individuals comprising audio recording: mix and mastering engineers, producers, musicians, singers, narrators, manufacturers, and business people who are the experts in such fields as room acoustics, electronics, music, audiovisual media, production, marketing, and the wide-ranging day-to-day recording studio performances of the venture of CD music and sound effects.

The combined efforts of this talent pool work together to create a single end product called the master of multichannel audio recordings. It’s only when the audio recording process is mixed and completed that the audio mastering comes into the final stage which then can be manufactured when required into a final saleable disc called CD, SACD, Blu-ray, or DVD-audio.

High-definition audio 96/24-bit and Dolby digital surround sound are becoming more and more sophisticated and are capable of sound reproduction quality that to a large extent exceeds the state of the art a decade ago. But the capabilities of modern HD Dolby digital surround sound and high-fidelity stereo systems are often compromised or defeated by unfortunate acoustic environments. Acoustic troubleshooting is complex, with the control and optimisation of those physical characteristics that affect reflections of sound waves within a listening area and thereby can achieve the audible range natural environment.

Note that young school-leavers and young audiovisual technicians who work in small clubs, worship places, home theatre, and hi-fi showrooms will find a wide-ranging volume of useful information in this book. It will be especially appreciated by the younger school-leavers and sales personnel in audio showrooms that will become more knowledgeable and thereby be more effective in dealing with setting up and giving advice to their audio user clients.

Chapters in this book cover scores of important aspects of audio recording and audio reinforcement guide and they are suitable for any technical school or university that offers audio courses; also, it is very educational for any home theatre lovers from beginner to knowledgeable status.

The book is objective; it is not sponsored or linked to providers of equipment and services. It is used as an audio recording and audio reinforcement knowledge guide / reference book. New hardware and software for audio companies creep into the market almost every other day, and no print text can claim to contain state-of-the-art information. This book is not a guide to the latest products but a guide to universal audio principles and techniques that will remain relevant for a long time.

This book will reveal some of the secrets of audio proficiency and I congratulate Xlibris on the publication of Alphonso Soosay’s Audio Awareness. I am sure this audio awareness book will find its way into scores of schools and university library’s in USA and beyond.

Stephen Rando / B Juris. LLB

Testimonial

Having been a performer for 30 years and moving on to opening a recording studio in my 50’s, I started to do productions for Television Broadcasts, Movies and Theme Parks, like Universal Studios Singapore and the Dubai Parks Resorts till now.

Alphono Soosay who was my mentor from the early 80’s taught me about Sound Reinforcement, Cabling, Microphones, Room Acoustics, EQ’S, Compressors, Studio Design and more. He was so knowledgeable in the Audio area and it was mind blowing..

My band Gingerbread benefitted from the knowledge that he shared with me, and we had the best sound in Singapore, so to speak. When he was a Studio Engineer and doing work for Warner Brothers, he recorded six albums with us and many turned Gold.

It was then, that I thought to myself that this genius should write a book. It would benefit the future generations, and this would be a good reference book to have on the table. Our prayers have been answered. This book is beyond imagination and Audio knowledge at it’s best.

I have to tutor my son now, who is in his first month in Audio College. He asked me many questions regarding theory, some of which I have forgotten the names.

This Audio Awareness book couldn’t have come at a better time. The detailed explanation of Cables, Jacks, Studio Monitors etc are not found in other books, as precise as this. It is amazing that you can find anything here. Even Wikipedia don’t have that much information.

There is a wealth of knowledge in this book. Everything and anything related to Audio, is in this book, and he didn’t leave anything behind.

The younger generation should be happy that something like this has been written in this century.

As for people like me who is in this business- there are topics that we have forgotten, and gone complacent. Alphonso has reminded to clean up our data before Mixdown and gave some more information on Stereo Imaging and Widening. The Tips and Tricks segment is also a big plus.

Thank you so much Alphonso Soosay for sparing your time and sharing your knowledge with me and the world. It will be here for more generations to come.

Jason Shahul

Managing Director

Gingerbread Studios

Singapore

Welcome to Audio Awareness.

Audio Recording Mixer

Preface

I have worked in many audio recording studios in the last forty-five years and I have seen the changes that have come to light. The remarkable technical developments available in today’s audio recording studio have proceeded hand in hand with the proposition of record producers and CD/record buyers for a worldly-wise musical end product. Digital technology has become a leading part of the audio studio equipment changeover. The introduction of MIDI, personal computers, sequencers, drum machines, samplers, digital signal processors, and digital audio workstations (DAW) all materialised during my career in audio. The transformation has profoundly changed the way recordings are produced today and where it is all made.

These days it is not necessary to book time in an expensive recording studio in order to make professional-sounding records anymore. All you need is a fast computer, respectable audio interface hardware, up-to-date software like Pro Tools, Apple Logic Pro-X, Cubase, Reaper, Reason, Ableton Live, Studio One, reputable microphones, a direct box, and some selected plug-in software. Quality plug-ins by Universal Audio and Waves are very popular and have replaced most of the equipment we once had in the expensive outboard racks, and I have noticed that virtual instruments have done away with real musicians performing. All you need is a reputable vocal microphone and Melodyne (the autotuning software), and the next step is fame and fortune if you are in the right place at the right time or at least on YouTube.

Many of the all-inclusive specialised recording studios are really struggling these days, except for people like Sony and others. The modern record companies are not concerned where the recordings are made anymore. They are looking for final products with results. These days, creative and intellectual bands or performing artists are purchasing their own digital recording equipment and are trying in making their final mixes and masters in their home recording studios. This is possible if you know what to do and how to set up a home recording studio correctly.

Creative music writing has become very popular and that’s largely been a beneficial thing for the music industry of the world. Real professionals can still produce records that stand well above the output of the beat machines but there’s a whole lot more music being written, produced, and obtainable on social networks.

I am glad that I have lived through this change. I can’t imagine a better time to be part of the audio recording industry to know and appreciate analogue and digital formats the way they have been. And now to finally see the potential of high-resolution audio 96/24 bits caps it all. All we have to do now is get more songwriters, musicians, performing artists, and audio engineers to explore and adopt the new 96/24 bit HD technologies and the proficiencies it offers. I call it the absolute musician’s sound.

Audiophilia may perhaps be acknowledged as the love of listening to good music when it’s recorded and captured precisely. Generally, audiophiles love to listen to inspiring, well-performed musical compositions / songs using the very best method of audio recording possible. Audio has been significant to my life’s path since I was a young teenager in the 1960s. Music is an absolutely amazing art form that can easily bring forth joy and excitement as well as tears and sorrow. And those who dedicate themselves in the search of better and better sound do so because they are simply craving for the best.

Special Thanks

Significantly to all my musician friends, singers, WEA Records Singapore / Malaysia, Audio Visual Workshop Singapore, Audiotek Recording Studios Singapore, No Sweat Recording Studios Australia, and record producer friends with whom I have worked on countless volumes of audio recording and live concerts over the forty-five years, not forgetting the wonderful, supportive music arrangers who have graciously allowed me to share their ideas into the late nights of sessions.

Thanks to Stephen Rando for his sincere foreword in the introductory page.

Jason Shahul of Gingerbread Studios Singapore for his in-depth opinion of this book plus the graphics and photos supplied

Siva Choy for keeping me proper on the subject of grammar bits.

Jenny Cheng for encouraging me to launch this second book of my profession

Nigel Silver, IT team leader of Edith Cowan University, for his noteworthy view

Finally but obviously not least, my special thanks goes to my family and close, valued friends; without their belief, I would have never started writing this book in the first place.

Thank you all for photos used. Copyright of photos remains with respective owners.

Introduction

This new easy-to-understand book is a comprehensive guide to learning all about how audio recording is formulated in a home environment, managing live concert sound, understanding room acoustics and how they work and how to use them in a wide variety of applications. It’s a proactive book that takes the mystery out of home recording studios. It shows you how to record almost anything from voices to musical instruments. It clearly explains how to get the beneficial sounds out of a well-thought-of final mix. It’s a book for anyone who is searching for accurate sounds through short cuts. By reading this book or e-book, you will find out how to create a truly professional quality sound within your final mix. And you will discover everything required to become an accomplished audio wage earner.

Plus, the wonderful reality is that if you are a songwriter, a musician, or a singer who dreams of single-handedly recording your own choice of music, you can now set up your own home recording studio for a few thousand dollars rather than hundreds of thousand dollars. A home recording studio has never been easier and currently it’s most affordable. This great audio technology has been driven by today’s digital revolution, whereas once all recording equipment had to exist in physical form and your performances were captured on multitrack tape and two-track master tape. Now the vast majority of recording equipment has been virtualised and it runs as software on your computer. But, there are some items that will always remain in real-time like microphones, studio monitors, room acoustic treatment, acoustic and electrical musical instruments that you must get your hands on to play with. Note that the expensive audio processors that used to cost thousands of dollars for each item can now be replicated with a quick and affordable download version from the suppliers of plug-ins. The only recording hardware item that you definitely will need is a computer and a digital audio interface. These recording devices are the successors of the old analogue tape machines of the 1950s to the 1990s. Current new software recording mixers are more advanced now, displaying more tracks than you will ever need, with high-capacity digital storage, countless editing options, and limitless selection of affordable special effects. The important benefit from modern audio recording DAW (digital audio workstation) console is that you are getting something that looks familiar to hardware multitrack mixers and recorders on your computer screen. Using current DAW software programs like Pro Tools 11 is just like using an ultra-powerful mixer, multitrack recorder and, with a quality audio interface like Apollo Quad, which I use, will give you the inputs and outputs you will need to plug in your musical instruments and microphones. Once you have got your favourite software installed on your 32- or 64-bit computer and your audio interface hooked up, the music world is in your hands for what you dream to do. Please note that the power to enhance audio fidelity is certainly within the power of complex algorithms and modern computer processors.

Also, there’s a wealth of tutoring on advanced techniques and on other recording requirement issues, understanding acoustics, harmonics, distortion, and using your studio’s routing and grouping options for maximum effect. It’s overwhelming to believe that analogue audio recording studios that once cost several thousands of dollars are now digitally smart enough to get up to speed with modern technology. So if you are a composer, singer, songwriter, musician, or producer, then there has never been a better time for putting together professional-sounding tracks with the affordable possible expense. In spite of this, there are situations when specific know-how technical expertise from the professionals can help.

Other discussions are the nature of sound and the behaviour of sound waves, from the basic through the specifics of acoustics in home studio recording. Explained in detail are also the many problems you will encounter in practical recording sessions and how to overcome them. Importantly, you are informed as how to make a practical selection of a microphone to suit your use of musical instruments and vocals.

Home recording studios are increasing in popularity day by day because of the affordable hardware and software applications like Apollo Audio interface, Presonus, Pro Tools, Apple Logic Pro-X, Cubase, Reaper, Reason, Ableton Live, Sonar-X3 Studio One, and many more that are now available. The equipment used for these applications has become more sophisticated, practical, accessible, and affordable. More and more teenage school-leavers are getting involved in experimenting with these types of audio projects. I have worked in audio productions for more than forty years and I have learnt that audio quality can be very successful or a disappointment in any audio project.

Subsequent to reading this e-book, there will be a new churn out of audio accomplishing individuals who will find their way in the world of creating modern music, pre- and post-production, radio and TV, games, and location sound. Some of them will find major professions in recording label studios and others will find work in local theatres or in their church. The innovative ones will start their own studios and reel out demos for local musicians and aspiring singers. Many will stay in touch and others will never look back at their time spent with these home study materials.

The purpose of this audio awareness guidebook is to guide you to become a respectable home recording technician, managing live sound for your band and even having a better understanding of audio when creating audio for your podcasting, which is the in thing that’s happening right now. Note that Songwriters and musicians create and generate pleasure from their music because it can connect people both physically and emotionally. How many times have you felt your toe start to move with the rhythm of a music track or been brought to tears when a sad song is played on a CD in your home or heard over your local radio station? Quality music does have the ability to really move us in many ways.

This audio awareness guidebook takes you through a variety of steps that you will be going through capturing audio principles, use of audio equipment and placements, as well as guiding you through some of the most common audio problems you will encounter. That’s why this e-book on audio awareness know-how was created. Inside this e-book you will find highlights to get you started, keep you motivated, and get your recording equipment functioning as it should be.

Important Audio Recording Facts to Consider

Note that musical instruments, voices, mechanical devices, and other natural phenomenon produce oscillations or periodic motions that can excite our ears, resulting in electrical impulses to our brains. Also, there are areas where sound imperfection can occur in the making of an audio recording and in its production. Following are chapters where audio awareness will grab hold of your achievements.

Chapters

1. Audio Recording Awareness The recording, for example, has more issues that can affect the ultimate recording quality. For instance, the acoustics of a recording room, the microphones and choice of pattern applied, miking technique implemented between stereo vs. mono application and its placement, making sure of correct cables used, choice of microphone audio interface or preamplifier, using the correct ADCs, choosing correct recording format, applying audio filters, plus others. Each and every one of these specific stages can have an effect on quality or degrade the fidelity of any recordings.

2. Audio Microphone Awareness In this chapter, you will learn the facts you need to know before shopping for a microphone. It’s important to understand the main characteristics of the microphone, and after that, the world is yours for creating truthful sound. With home recording studios, you don’t have to go expensive to get the best sound. There are a lot of microphones that are considered ‘surprises’ microphones that replicate a certain characteristic of a historic microphone. These are generally sold by small authorised manufacturers and have a much lower price than the original.

3. Audio Equalisation Awareness In this segment, equalisation is explained; it means boosting or reducing (attenuating) the levels of different frequencies in a given signal. Equalisation is most commonly used to correct audio signals which sound artificial. For example, if a sound was recorded in a room which accentuates high frequencies, an equaliser can reduce those frequencies to a more natural level. Equalisation can also be used for purposes such as making sounds more intelligible and reducing problem-causing feedback.

4. Audio Compression Awareness This chapter is about a process that calculatedly reduces the dynamic range of audio signals. When used correctly, it reduces the volume of peak and loud sounds or amplifies quiet sounds by narrowing or compressing an audio signal’s dynamic range. Compression is commonly used in studio sound recordings, live concerts, and reproduction of broadcasting. There are options of using a dedicated electronic hardware component or audio plug-in software to apply compression. Audio compressors use attack and release controls that fine-tune the audio rate at which compression is applied to smooth the audio (vocals, musical instruments, and music) effect.

5. Audio Mixdown Awareness ‘The Final Mix’ is an interesting chapter that refers to the process of positioning multitrack vocals, musical instruments of audio together to make that one final stereo music track. When you come to the stage of final audio mixing, the intention is to make your music listening journey as seamless as possible. The idea is to make individuals enjoy what they are listening to. But these days, mixing audio has obviously become a progressively more specialised process in both studio and live situations, and the increasing channel count and complexity of most contemporary projects can only put additional complication on the essential task of manipulating the music down to a proper stereo mix. If the correct procedure is not applied, any audio tech/engineer can run the risk of getting lost in the multitrack management instead of focusing on the creative side of the music.

6. Audio High-Resolution Awareness In this segment, you will find out more about high-resolution audio, and there’s the whole concept of going beyond the limitations of CDs and analogue tape and discovering real HD audio recordings that have been made that use the full potential of the new equipment available, DACs. With true high-resolution audio there is no up-sampling or conversion from older standard definition formats such as analogue tape or standard definition digital. Remember how HDTVs transformed your viewing experience? Now high-resolution audio will take your listening enjoyment to a similar thrilling new level. It really is like being in the recording studio or at a live performance, letting you discover subtleties and clarity of sound that bring your favourite tracks to life.

7. Audio Mastering Awareness Audio mastering refers to the process of enriching the final mix using all sorts of available mastering elements such as all noise cancellation, equalisation, compression, stereo enhancement and creating industry audio levels for all songs as seamless as possible. The question is, What type of individual does it take to be a mastering engineer? Is it exceptionally necessary to be a musician, a highly skilled audio engineer with extensive knowledge of audio hardware and software systems, or an audiophile with golden ears? The ability to carefully listen to a selection of music and identify individual timbre characteristics and make adjustments for the better and to transform them is compulsory. A mastering engineer’s primary job is to listen with the ears of musicians and make adjustments with the skill of audio recording and mix engineer. Whatever you do in mastering, do not allow the algorithm of a plug-in to work its magic for you automatically within minutes (presets). You have to listen to the music from top to bottom and identify individual timbre characteristics and make adjustments in real time as improvements.

8. Audio Amplifier Awareness This chapter explains the functions of taking micro-power from an input source and controlling that output to match the input signal shape but with a superior amplitude. The input signal to an audio power amplifier may measure only a few hundred microwatts, its output may be hundreds of watts for a home recording studio, home theatre system, and thousands of watts for a live concert sound reinforcement system. Using high-quality modern amplifiers, the open loop response is at least 20 kHz, cancelling TIM distortion. However, TIM distortion is still present in most low-cost home power amplifiers. Its important applications include recording studio systems, home theatre systems, concert sound reinforcement systems, theatrical and domestic systems such as stereo system and musical instruments systems.

9. Audio Speakers Awareness In this chapter, you will understand how an audio speaker works by moving air, and physics dictates that the more air you wish to move, the greater the cubic capacity needs to be. Your speaker system will be governed by your choice. There are various objectives that you should be aware of when it comes to choosing speakers, and the pair of speakers that is correct for you is the one whose compromises you can live with. Note that your listening habits and interests will dictate the speakers that appeal to you. If you listen to music at very high levels, you will fall in love with a larger and highly efficient speaker. If you listen primarily to chamber music, your choice will be different from someone who listens to heavy metal. There are many very good small and enticingly pleasing speakers on the market. Just don’t expect them to sound like a full-range live concert system.

10. Audio Impedance Awareness When you purchase any audio equipment, I bet you must have read the technical specifications of, for example, audio mixer, preamplifier, microphone, or pretty much any other piece of audio equipment and you might have come across the term ‘impedance’. Input impedance, output impedance, terminating impedance, matched impedance, and characteristic impedance are all fairly common terms in the technical specifications, but what do they all mean and why are they relevant? In this chapter, I will explain in detail what you need to know about impedance in practical terms, without much maths or science.

11. Audio Live Concert Awareness This chapter edifies with know-how that has been used to amplify and reinforce live concert events. It also reveals how the apparatuses are required to stage, amplify, and reinforce live events. Live audio mixing is the technique of electrically mixing together a variety of musical instruments and voices at a live event using an audio mixing console. The term ‘concert sound’ has taken on a new meaning in recent years. These days, however, it has become more and more universal. Obviously, an important factor is to understand how to get the best out of a sound reinforcement system. Firstly, the audio operator has to consider what must be put on the air and to whom. Secondly, an important factor is to work closely with the producer, composer, music arranger, and musicians. The job is to find out the type of feel these artists want and together translate it into musical equipment and adjust mix settings to make it work. Concert sound is also known as sound reinforcement system, and it is the combination of microphones, signal processors, high-powered speakers with separate power amplifiers that create live or pre-recorded sounds to a higher level and it will also distribute those sounds to a larger audience. A sound reinforcement system is used to enrich the sound of musical instruments on the stage.

12. Audio Acoustics Awareness Acoustic control is about introducing acoustic panels into a home recording studio or performance room; not only do you remove unwanted echo or reverberation but you can improve the sound quality significantly. The many home recording studios I have visited have shown that most of them are having problems with monitoring issues. So I have decided to explain the important acoustic principles in this e-book and allow any individuals to get their own control room sounding the correct way.

13. Audio Digital Recording Awareness This digital recording chapter elucidates the conversion and statistics of sound into an on/off format called binary. This binary reproduction is called a digital recording, and it is achieved using an analogue-to-digital converter (ADC). Digital audio identifies the reproduction and transmission of sound stored in a digital format. This includes CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray audio as well as any sound files stored on a computer’s hard drive. Digital audio has advantages in audio recording, manipulation, mass production, and distribution of sound. Digital audio technology can be used to record, store, generate, manipulate, and reproduce sound using audio signals encoded in digital form. Currently it is also rapidly replacing analogue audio technology in most areas of sound recording and reinforcement sound engineering.

14. Audio Production Awareness This chapter explains actualities of music / audio / high fidelity production. It consists of the rudimentary mechanisms of music and what they contribute to the art of music. What is a musical pitch? What is the involvement between the basic parameters of music and the science of acoustics? What brings about audio recording to record the elements of music? What systems are used to record and reproduce audio? What tools and recording formats have been used to create audio recordings? What production techniques are used to avoid feedback? What improvements become obvious to the final master during distribution? What are the very important facts that establish the fidelity of a music recording?

15. Audio Definitions Awareness Modern audio recording is all about high-definition stereo sound, HD audio, Blu-ray audio, DVD-audio, and HD Integrated Amp 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound systems. Audio recording vocabulary has never been clearly defined for the common person. To be fully well informed about this subject of audio recording and sound reinforcement mixing, one must understand the vocabulary and language of audio recording. For that reason, some of the most basic and common terms are clarified in this detailed glossary.

Please remember that these above chapters are recommendations, tried and tested techniques that have been used to achieve high standards of creative sound engineering. Some explain basic practice; others will fire your creativity. A sound recording engineer’s function is to act as an interface between sound equipment, musicians, singers, and the audience. He or she must translate producer’s ideas into microphone placement and electronic adjustments then create a high-quality production of the artists’ performance. To do this effectively, the engineer must be well versed in the profession, in the operation and limitation of each control knob of sound recording equipment, plus he or she must know how to use them creatively to produce the preferred results.

Before we go any further, a characteristic professional audio recording studio consists of a room called the studio or live room, where instrumentalists and vocalists perform, and the control room where sound engineers at times with producers operate either professional audio mixing consoles or computers with specialised DAW with software suites to manipulate and route the sound for analogue to digital recording.

Audio recording studios are used all over the world to record singers, musicians, voice-over talents for advertisements or dialogue requirements for TV and movies, or cartoon inserts.

More often than not, there will be smaller rooms called isolation booths present to accommodate loud instruments such as acoustic drums and electric guitar, to keep these sounds from being audible to the microphones that are capturing the sounds from other instruments, or to provide a drier room for recording vocals or quieter acoustic instruments.

The true facts of audio recording are (1) Quality sounds equal quality microphones for its appropriate use, (2) Correct microphone placement, (3) Precise input gain settings, and (4) Detailed output level. These are the four important basic practicalities that contribute to a good recording. Other important possibilities consist of the acoustic environment and type of sound / musical instrument being recorded are more specific to a given recording session, going through these phase accomplishments will deliver a respectable starting point for any audio recordings.

Audio recording progression originates with the generation of a sound. Sound consists of waves, and in a recording studio, the medium through which the waves travel is known as air. Waves are generated by a moving form in contact with surrounding air. This process could be a singer’s voice, the skin of acoustic drums which vibrates in the air, strings of acoustic guitar that vibrate the body, a reinforcement speaker system that when in use vibrates the air next to it, etc.

Note that our ear identifies both the frequency and the amplitude of these variations in pressure and translates them into the sensations of pitch and volume respectively. Of supreme importance to good sound is to start with one precious principle: aiming for a superior original source in recording or in a live situation, so you will have an advantageous final audio output mix.

Therefore, your main aim is to make sure that your initial set-up and recording of musical instruments and voices provide good starting points for mixing and combining into a final stage. To give yourself the most flexibility, you need to be able to control and edit each voice or instrument individually. In order to retain the waveforms, microphones are used to decipher waves into electrical impulses. Electrical impulses from the microphone flow through wires (or wireless microphone) to an audio mixing console with level controls to the reinforcement audio speakers or to the recording storage component, which could be a hard drive or a multichannel tape recorder where the recording is stored.

‘Home recording’ is the term used for any recording created outside of a traditional professional recording studio. This term can be misleading today, because recording equipment has become so compact, easy to use, and affordable that there might be no difference between the equipment used in a traditional recording studio and what is used in today’s home project studio. Today, a home recording studio might be located in a spare bedroom, office space, basement, or garage and are capable of producing professional quality content. A traditional recording studio still offers one critical component that is missing from most home recording studios: a really quiet room that is most suitable for recording sound.

There are heaps of annotations to keep in mind as to on what audio technologies and what specific equipment to use during a recording session. First of all, an audio recording studio is a facility for audio recording and audio mixing. Preferably, both the recording and monitoring spaces should be specifically premeditated by an audio acoustician to accomplish best possible acoustic properties with acoustic isolation, diffusion, or absorption of reflected sound within the recording studio that could otherwise interfere with the sound heard by the listeners in the studio.

In practical terms, what I can say is that a microphone and its recorder are not worth anything unless the microphone is with you practically when you are hearing these sounds. As for me, it is the most important factor when I balance against reliability. So the initial analysis is to ask yourself is if your project going to be recorded using analogue or digital recording equipment for this project. Does your approach include multitracking (many layers of tracks), or perhaps the project is a live recording situation? However, one of the most important technical decisions that an audio technician/engineer must create when working in the digital domain is which sample rate to start with (16 bit or 24 bit). This issue really matters because despite claims to the contrary, the fidelity of a recording is locked in at the time of the original recording and cannot be fundamentally enhanced during any subsequent post-production or remastering. Characteristically once you move into the digital domain, there are potentials to extend even further, but then again by good preparation and experimenting at the preliminary stage of audio recording, one can enhance their capability to produce some accurately establish sounds.

In an ideal world of audio recording, we all want the timbre acoustic energy produced by musicians to be captured, stored, and reproduced with complete integrity. One of the definitions of fidelity is ‘the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced’. The key word in this definition is ‘exactness’. A perfect reproduction or something with absolute fidelity can be produced from the original. That’s what we want with regards to the music that we enjoy.

Studio recording is not like live concert sound. Audio technicians and engineers are challenged to capture and process acoustic energy, sound waves with an array of equipment such as microphones, preamplifiers, amplifiers, recorders, and others. And unlike our ears, which can accept an incredible range of frequencies and amplitude levels, quality audio equipment must exist within a set of firm limitations. Stepping outside of those boundaries causes fidelity to suffer and it happens all too frequently.

This e-book provides a comprehensive guide to each link in the recording and live chain, which students, new entrants, and anyone who is motivated for the world of audio recording will find stimulating and informative, in this e-book from A to Z.

A comprehensive understanding of the audio equipment used to record, transmit, and reproduce vocals and music of the operational techniques will be achieved in this e-book. You will realise that this profession deals with many aspects of technology as well as human factors. Among other things, you must stay alert, be able to make quick sensible decisions with productions and use of equipment, all this knowledge and decisions with the greatest of speed. Your self-interest and ability to help musicians and producers must be an important prime motivation with three points in mind: (1) audibility, (2) intelligibility, and (3) fidelity.

The following pages are crammed with practical audio awareness on all aspects of what you need to know about controlling sound. I am confident that everyone reading this e-book will become a competent and better sound recording and mix engineer for studio and live concert situations. Enjoy your reading and good luck with your next recording session.

Chapter 1

Audio Recording Awareness

The Basics of Audio: What Is Audio?

Audio is sound in the bounds of acoustic range audible to individuals. Audio frequency is an electrical alternating current surrounded by 20 Hz to 20 kHz radius which is utilised to produce acoustic sound. Audio in the air is frequently generated by the vibration of diaphragms such as a singer’s vocal cords, a variety of musical instruments, sounds from the radio and TV, reinforcement audio speakers, public ambient sounds, and sound effects of animals in the jungle. Audio also has a twofold nature: it may perhaps be envisioned as a noticeable intrusion in a medium such as air, or it possibly will be seen as a psychophysical awareness resulting from nerve impulses inspiring the acoustic cortex of our human brain. In audio, we are virtually concerned with both. Our ear itself governs the quality of audio signals but the sound is carried to the ear through physical inducements. As for audio to be communicated from one place to another, a medium is required and air has these vital characteristics. When an air particle is amplified by a diaphragm, it moves, passing on energy to adjoining particles as it strikes them. But the original air particle is then pulled back towards its original position by elastic forces residing in the air. When any particular air particle vibrates about its equilibrium position, it receives movement from collisions and passes on momentum to other particles, which then pass it on to others and shadowed on. The waves of audio pressure are called periodic waves because they repeat over and over again. The terms ‘speed’ and ‘velocity’ are often related, but in precise technical awareness, these terms are not the same. ‘Speed’ means rate of change of position in units such as miles per hour, feet per minute, meters per second, and shadowed on. ‘Velocity’ of a body is a direction quantity, having the same magnitude as its speed but including also the direction of motion. If there is no directional information within reach, then ‘speed’ is the recognised term. But if direction of broadcast is involved, then ‘velocity’ is the correct term. The swiftness of audio in air is generally rounded off to 1,130 feet per second for normal conditions.

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Audio computes sound and it is the reproduction of sound. Precisely, it refers to the range of frequencies detectable by the human ear, approximately 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It’s a good idea to memorise these numbers. Twenty hertz is the lowest pitched (sub) sound we can hear and feel; twenty kilohertz is the highest pitch the majority of us can hear. Audio work involves the production, recording, manipulation, and reproduction of sound waves. As for home recording studio, you will always be successful with a balanced-sounding acoustically treated room to make breathtaking-sounding recordings. To appreciate audio we must have a good understanding of three major issues: (1) audio waves: what they are, how they are produced, and how we hear them; (2) audio equipment: how to make a distinction between audio equipment, what they do, how to choose the correct equipment, and importantly how to use it correctly; (3) audio equalisation: the process commonly used to alter the frequency response of an audio system using linear filters. Equalisers are used in recording studios, broadcast studios, and live sound reinforcement to correct the response of microphones, instrument pickups, loudspeakers, and hall acoustics. Equalisers are also used in music production to adjust the timbre of individual instruments by adjusting their frequency content and to fit individual instruments within the overall frequency spectrum of the mix. Equalisation is also used to eliminate unwanted sounds, make certain instruments or voices more prominent, enhance particular aspects of an instrument’s tone, and combat feedback (howling problems) in a reinforcement audio system. The most common equalisers in music production are parametric, semi-parametric, graphic, peak, and program equalisers. Parametric equalisers require more expertise than graphic equalisers, and they can provide more specific compensation and correction around a chosen frequency.

Thank goodness it’s not obviously difficult. Audio theory is simpler than video theory and once you understand the basic path from the input sound source through the sound equipment output to the ear, this is where it all begins to make judgement in audio. Note: In physics, sound is a form of energy known as acoustical energy.

What is an audio wave?

It is essential to understand how basics of sound waves work before using any audio recording equipment. This awareness will outline the basis of everything one does in the field of audio recording and listening. Sound waves are triggered by an audio source, such as the pulsing diaphragm of an audio speaker. The audio source creates vibrations in the surrounding medium and as the audio source continues to vibrate the medium, the vibrations disseminate away from the audio source at the speed of sound, as a result creating the sound waves.

The actual obviousness of audio in any individual hearing is restricted to a range of frequencies. The upper limit diminishes with age; however, people normally hear audio frequencies between 20 Hz and 20,000 Hz.

When an audio source is moving, this progress may increase or decrease the total speed of the sound wave, depending on the direction of the movement. For instance, sound moving together with wind will have its speed of circulation increased by the speed of the wind if the sound and wind are moving in the same direction. If the sound and wind are moving in opposite directions, the speed of the sound wave will be reduced by the speed of the wind.

Sound waves are often made easier to describe in terms of frequency, wavelength, amplitude, sound pressure, intensity, speed of sound, and direction. Although there can be many intricacies relating to the transmitted sounds, at the point of hearing audio, sound is readily divisible into two simple elements: pressure and time. These indispensable values form the foundation of all sound waves.

Waves and Rays

Sound waves can be described as a movement that travels through a process from one position to another location in a room. The audio drive that we placed into our listening rooms, recording studios, and home theatres comes in two essential acoustic topics. They are waves of energy and the other is rays. For motivations of this learning, let’s identify all room energy that is below 500 Hz as waves and all other energy within a room that occurs above 500 Hz as rays.

Note that in audio a medium is a natural resource that carries the audio wave. Waves and rays have contrary forms. Waves of sound energy are just like ocean waves; these can travel over long distances and act similar to ocean waves. Waves move through our rooms with peaks and valleys, just like ocean waves. A wave’s size depends on the audio reinforcement power and the area over which the waves are moving. They move in cycles and rise and fall against any room surfaces just like waves fizzling upon a beach.

On the other hand, rays are shorter, tinier, and more direct line in travel. Just imagine the energy within rooms that occurs as similar in nature to rays of sunlight.

Readily available are two key acoustical examples that you must understand if you are going to learn how waves and rays move within a room: sound pressure and boundary reflections. Waves form the basis and foundation of the sound pressure within our rooms.

Rays and Their Reflections

Rays accomplish a part specifically to reflections. Since rays are tinier and shorter, they strike a room boundary surfaces and then dart back and forth across the room, striking as many surfaces as their energy levels will allow. The entire reflections take on a sonic signature of their own and enhance what we identify as its room sound. At all times, it is that enhanced balance between room sound and the direct or near-field sound from the monitor speakers that we most often try to accomplish.

Sound Pressure and Its Impact on a Room Sound

Our ear does not hear audio power directly as the power must be first converted into sound waves. The intensity of the sound wave produced is directly proportional to the power which produced it, and therefore the ratio of the two intensities is equal to the ratio of the two audio powers which produced them. Note that energy of waves that go down below 250 Hz is prolonged in length. Usually energy below 100 Hz is not suitable for small rooms (4 m × 4 m). A 100 Hz wave can be difficult to manage in small rooms. At these lower frequencies, they travel through the room, the walls, and even into the next rooms.

Air That Is Trapped

When waves reach a room capability, in the region of between the ceiling and floor that they do not accept, then they start to resonate. The air space concerning the two physical dimensions takes on a continuation of its own and starts to move. This restricted energy builds up and loads into another room location.

Occurrences that happen to find their way into this ‘tidal wave’ may be heard and felt or sometimes may not be heard. It varies on the phase of the mode. Those frequencies that are heard may be amplified in strength; others will seem as if these have fallen into a dark hole and not be heard again.

The length of any given frequency will react differently in room locations that are too small for the lower frequency energy to move around in. These situations occur throughout the room space.

Music

Music is comprised of four major components. They are melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamics, and performance.

A melody is the structure of a tune; it is also a linear progression of musical timbres that the listener recognises as a single song. In its generally precise sense, a melody is an incorporation of pitch and rhythm, although more symbolically, the term can include progressions of other musical fundamentals such as tonal colour. Melodies often consist of one or more musical phrases or themes and are usually repeated throughout a masterpiece in numerous forms. Melodies may also be distinctive by their melodic motion or the pitches or the intervals between pitches, range, stiffness, consistency, tempo, and release.

Harmony is the use of synchronised pitches, notes, tones, or chords. Harmony is also the vertical formulation of three or more notes involving a chord or an interlude, which are two notes assembled on top of each other. The analysis of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions; it involves the ideologies of music structure that administer them. There are many adaptations of harmony: modal, tonal, atonal, quantal, and much more.

Pitch can be focused only in sounds that have a frequency that is pure and steady enough to distinguish. Pitch is the characteristic that makes it possible to evaluate sounds as higher or lower in the sense associated with musical melodies. High pitch signifies very quick oscillation, and low pitch corresponds to slower oscillation. Standard pitch is a more extensively accepted principle.

Rhythm generally means an activity noticeable by the structured succession of strong and weak elements. In the performing arts academy, rhythm is the timing of events on a human scale of musical sounds and silences. It is at all times also known as the beat, because it has a tempo to which listeners listen as they tap their feet while sitting down or when dancing to a variety of music.

Dynamics, in simple terms, means how loud or quiet the music or sound effects are. Dynamics are instructions in musical notation to the performer about hearing the loudness of a note or phrase. In dynamics, basically three words are used to specify gradual changes in volume. ‘Crescendo’ translates as increasing, ‘diminuendo’ translates as lower, and ‘decrescendo’ means progressively becoming softer. Dynamic levels are not something that can be evaluated precisely. The important factor is that dynamic levels should be correct in relation to one another. If a selection of music doesn’t possess dynamic variation, it lacks one of the most expressive aspects of music. A singer or instrumental performer spends hundreds of hours practicing dynamic variation. They know the level of subtlety that is required to engage a listening situation from the loudest sounds to the quietest sensation. Application of all of them at the right time is important. The glory of a superb performance must include the complete range of dynamic levels.

Audio Equipment

Audio equipment is the combination of microphones, equalisers, reverbs, compressors, noise gates, headphone preamps, power amplifiers, and monitor/loudspeakers that makes studio, live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience. In specific instances, a studio and sound reinforcement system are also used to enhance the sound of the sources, as opposed to simply amplifying the sources unaltered.

A recording studio and sound reinforcement system can be very complex, including various types of microphones, complex audio mixing and signal processing systems, a few thousand watts of output power, and multiple loudspeaker arrays, all overseen by a team of audio engineers and technicians. In spite of this, a studio and sound reinforcement system can be as modest as a small portable studio or a public address system consisting of a hard drive recorder and single microphone connected to an amplified loudspeaker. In both cases, these audio systems reinforce sound to make it louder or distribute it to a recording system and a wider audience. These primary audio parts involve varying amounts of individual components to achieve the desired goal of recording/reinforcing and clarifying the sound to the mix engineer, audience, performers, or other individuals involved.

When recording, there is definite benefit of using 24-bits especially when you are recording a new master. You can drive the audio signal level higher to take advantage of the extra dynamic range while the musicians are playing. Having the added headroom means that you can be relaxed a little more about going into distortion. When you have captured excess levels of dynamic range, you can then deliver it with better quality.

Audio Recording Engineer

Have you ever wondered why some recording engineers are more successful in the studio at accomplishing their goals than other individuals who are equally or more musically talented? Here’s what I, as a recording engineer, have observed about successful people in the recording studio business.

I have noticed successful people come in all personality types, from the very shy and soft-spoken to the energetic outgoing person, but they all share a common trait: most of them have a very specific vision of the songs they are working on and how they create the final mix and pass it on to the listener. The practical side of the vision for recording engineers includes the process of getting the song finished and recorded in the studio, hopefully communicating and emoting the vision to a CD-buying audience. In spite of this, audio recording engineers are seriously involved with the daily recording, manipulation, mixing, and reproduction of sound. Contemporary audio engineers these days creatively use software technologies to produce sound for creative original music, radio, TV, film, electronic products, and computer games. Alternatively, the term ‘audio engineer’ can refer to a scientist or engineer who develops new audio technologies working within the field of acoustical engineering. Also, audio engineering concerns are focused on the creative and practical aspects of sounds, including sample voices and sampled music, as well as the development of new audio plug-in technologies and advancing scientific understanding of audible sound.

When an audio engineer is visualising what technologies and what specific equipment to use during a new production, there are lots of considerations to keep in mind. Some of them are more important than others. So the first question to ask yourself is, will your project be recorded using analogue or digital recording equipment? Does the plan include multitracking many layers of sound, or is the project perhaps a live recording? However, one of the most important technical decisions that an audio engineer must make when working in the digital domain is which sample rate to aim for.

This issue really matters because despite claims to the conflicting issues, the fidelity of a recording is locked in at the time of the original recording and cannot be fundamentally enhanced during any subsequent post-production or remastering. In the world of PCM, the Nyquist theorem puts a cap on the highest frequency that can be captured, and interpolating new samples through up-converting or adding new samples doesn’t change that fact.

In an ideal world of audio recording, we want the timbre acoustic energy produced by musicians to be captured, stored, and reproduced with complete integrity. One of the definitions of fidelity is ‘the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced’. The key word in this definition is ‘exactness’. A perfect reproduction or something with absolute fidelity can be produced from the original. That’s what we want with regards to the music that we enjoy.

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Working Hard, Smart, and Proficiently: There are large numbers of individuals who would like to work in the audio business. But it’s not possible for all to succeed. Why? For the reason that people who will succeed in achieving and maintaining an audio career will be those who work harder, smarter, and more efficiently. Note: working enthusiastically alone is not enough. It means working longer hours, and not giving way to distractions while you are working. Working smart requires finding better ways to do things, while maintaining high standards. Working efficiently means having a system of work so that you have a smooth process that goes all the way from taking on a new job to delivering the work to the client, well ahead of any deadline. The first impression of pleasing people is that you must not disappoint them at any stage from first contact.

Audio Profession Speciality: The speciality of audio is limitless; wherever we go and whatever we do, there is always audio involved with numerous areas of entertainment. The world uses audio for all sorts of things, and audio professionals can be discovered in a huge range of vocations. Some worldwide areas of audio work include:

Professional recording studio as audio specialist producing audio (jingles) for television, film, and advertising agencies

Managing live reinforcement systems as audio specialist

Owning a home recording studio and dealing with recording, producing, and marketing your own creative music, for a production company and to compose and record music for recording labels

Employment in a recording studio, television, radio, concert sound companies, theatre sound in your country, and servicing the weekly entertainment events industry in hotels

Field recording audio specialist

Sound effects specialist

Software audio specialist

Servicing the entertainment events industry, such as musician at a session

Assisting singers at a performance

Music producer at a final mix session

Audio editor

Post-production audio creator

Radio station audio technician

Film/television audio recordists

Assisting disc jockey at radio and disco sessions

Working as volunteer in a house of worship on Sundays or in an amateur dramatic society helping new talents with your specialised knowledge

In addition to the above, many other professions require a level of audio