Audio and Recording for Everyone

By Earl R. Dingman

Designed for: Songwriters, Vocalists, Bands, Podcasters, Budding Engineers or Producers

A primer on audio recording, home studios, audio engineering, producing singers and bands, selecting mics, mixing boards and dedicated preamps. Covers liabilities, copyrights, trade and service marks. Primer for composing music. Music publishing. Performance Rights Organizations with a world-wide listing. Music writing software. Introduction to tube and transistor electronics. How tone controls work. Signal paths. Press and promotion. Primer for making web pages with basic HTML code. Accounting and taxes. Setting up a recording session. Mic setup for drums, bass, keyboards and guitar. Mic setup for recording an orchestra or chorale group. Location recording. Buyers guide for mics, mixers, preamps, self-powered PA and floor monitor speakers, headphone amps, etc.

Shows the singer, podcaster, or budding producer how to get started and make good recordings with your home computer for under $300.

Details equipment using in recording priced from $80 to $25,000 and what makes the high-priced gear so high priced.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Earl R. Dingman
• Release date: Dec 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201258900

Earl R. Dingman

The author has recorded albums and singles with “current performance” status from ASCAP getting airplay around the world. He has done live sound at L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Devonshire Downs, Madame Wongs, The Troubadour, FM Station and other live venues. Was a partner in a multi-track recording studio, and did projects at other studios in Los Angeles including Hit City West, Rusk and Clover. Written articles on recording and music for Mix, Music Connection, Moving Image and other magazines. Did press and promotion for bands getting photographs and events in a variety of magazines including BAM, Music Connection, Pro Sound News, L.A. Weekly, etc. He attended Valley College and learned audio recording from the head of CBS-TV Sound Department. He was entertainment editor of Issues Magazine. He’s played bass and keyboards in a variety of bands over the years. His mother and uncle were both professional musicians working union gigs in Chicago during the 40s and 50s.

Book preview

Audio and Recording For Everyone

Songwriters, Vocalists, Bands, Podcasters, Budding Engineers or Producers

Includes an Equipment Buyers Guide

by Earl R. Dingman

10222

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Copyright © 2021 Earl R. Dingman, All Rights Reserved.

Printed and Made In The U.S.A.

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This book, in any form, may not be posted on the internet. No PDF copies are authorized for sale or distribution.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021922887

PRINT BOOK ISBN 9798758436752

AMAZON AISN B09NCL2MZT

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Product names, trade names, and trademarks appear in this book for education, example, review, and comparison only. No endorsement is expressed or implied by the author or companies listed. No suitability for use is expressed or implied by either the Author or the Companies listed. Test things out before you use any product in a production! Search out the best prices and support policy, and try before you buy. When buying products, compare prices, sources, and specifications. Note: Any prices listed in this book were effective at the time of writing from the sources we found and are subject to change without notice. All prices are in U.S. funds and might be rounded off and are without tax or shipping. Your local retailer will determine the final price on any item listed in this book. Items talked about or listed may be discontinued by the time you read this book. Wrong prices or typesetting errors are accidental and will be corrected in future editions if brought to our attention.

Creative Commons Photo Credits and Licenses

Picture on page 85

Binaural head photo was taken from a web posting:

https://staff.aist.go.jp/ashihara-k/mhs.html

Creative Commons License:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Head_and_torso_simulator.jpg

Author 2014AIST

The picture on page 186 is a compilation of:

NPN BJT with forward-biased B–E junction and reverse-biased B–C junction

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NPN_BJT_Basic_Operation_(Active)_jP.svg

Author Jp313159

AND

The assorted discrete transistors photo (rotated).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transistorer_(cropped).jpg

Author Mister rf at English Wikipedia

AND

PNP and NPN transistor symbol with case

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BJT_PNP_symbol_(case).svg

Author Zedh

These have been combined on one photo with several transistors.

Picture of Tubes (valves)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triody_var.jpg

Author: RJB1

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Special thanks to Alan Mayer at Starfish Recording for assistance and information on DAW software, dedicated preamps, ProTools, and the new digital technologies. Also for use of the photos in The Home Studio chapter.

Starfish Recording - Recording Studio, Music Production

https://www.starfishrecording.com/

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE HOME STUDIO

MICROPHONES

THE SOLO ARTIST & PRODUCER

THE PODCASTER

MULTI-TRACK RECORDING

THE LIVE PERFORMER

COMPUTER

DAW SOFTWARE

AUDIO CONNECTORS

COMPUTER CONNECTORS

MISCELLANEOUS CONNECTORS

SIGNAL PATHS

AMPS, WATTS & FUSES

THE PRODUCER

THE ENGINEER

YOUR MICROPHONE COMPLIMENT

ENGINEERING A SESSION

RECORDING TECHNICALITIES

SETTING UP A SESSION

A BOOKED SESSION

PROMOTION & PUBLICITY

COPYRIGHTS, TRADE & SERVICE MARKS

WHO WROTE THE SONG?

LEGALITIES

INVESTORS

THE BASICS OF MUSIC & COMPOSING

PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS

MUSIC PUBLISHING

MUSIC WRITING SOFTWARE

ELECTRONICS AND AUDIO

EQUIPMENT BUYERS GUIDE

MICROPHONES

FOAM RUBBER INSULATION WARNING!

MIXING BOARD RECORDERS

ENTRY-LEVEL MIXERS

DEDICATED PREAMPS

PA & MONITOR SPEAKERS

HEADPHONE AMPS

PARTIAL LISTING OF DEALERS

PARTIAL LISTING OF MANUFACTURERS

THE COMPANION BOOK

INTRODUCTION

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If you’re already an experienced engineer or producer you probably don’t need this book. But if you’re just starting this book will be an invaluable tool.

We’re going to jump right into audio and recording, starting with bare-bones for the singer, songwriter, or budding producer.

We may use terms and model numbers for things like microphones and talk about mixers or preamps. Some of this might go right over your head. If it does, look in other chapters where I put all the boring details about connectors, plus an explanation about microphones with a buyer’s guide, along with more details for mixing boards and preamps.

I figured you wanted to get right into things and learn about studios, along with setting up the session, learning what the engineer does, what all those controls mean, and what the producer does.

Later in the book, you’ll find a basic music course for composing and arranging.

We cover copyrights, performance rights, licensing, getting your songs out there, and possibly making some money back from your labors.

We have an equipment guide covering cables, cords, adapters, mics, mixers, preamps, and powered speakers.

We show you quality mics and gear priced from $80 to the ones used by top singers and producers costing upwards of $26,000. You’ll learn why they cost so much, and you’ll also discover you can get started for as little as $250 plus computer and instruments like synths, guitar, and bass. In some instances, you don’t even need instruments! Just a mic, a MIDI controller, a computer, and software.

In showing you things, we start small, for the person with little money and from there we go up to what you should have with unlimited funds. This is a direction you should aspire towards. Becoming a big deal in the industry instead of just a small fry!

About the eBook. Pictures had to be aligned left. It took hours and hours to make things work for the ebook and you are going to see empty areas and text starting at a picture. Can’t be helped. That’s the nature of eBooks as they are based on HTML and thus images float like ice cubes in a glass. I could have taken out the pictures or packed them at the end, but I find that defeats the idea of pictures which say 1,000 words instead of me writing 1,000 words.

THE HOME STUDIO

A studio in your home is probably the most viable way to go these days, as the cost of commercial space is rising out of hand. Where once you could rent a huge loft space in Los Angeles for $400 a month today, they are charging over $2,000. Not that houses are lower in price, but in some areas you can still find a nice house with a full basement on a good size plot of land starting around $200,000 or less.

Another factor for the home studio is that it’s usually illegal to live in commercial space, however, I knew studio-owner-engineers who did just that. They had a bed back in another room, a microwave oven, beer refrigerator, and a coffee pot. That’s all the dedicated producer-engineer needs.

On the flip side, you’ll get in trouble in most residential areas doing a commercial enterprise where clients come and go all day in cars and there’s a lot of traffic in and out of your house.

Today there are more solo artists than full bands or orchestras. You, as a singer, songwriter, or budding producer can probably work out of an apartment so long as you don’t use real drums, horns, sax, or amplified instruments. How so? You work with headphones and small speakers. Recording keyboards, guitar, and bass using a direct line into the computer or recording device (we’ll talk more about this in later sections). A MIDI controller to give you beats, bass lines, orchestra instruments, etc. The loudest thing you will have is when you record the vocals or mix the tracks through speakers.

Some will tell you that you need a tuned room specially constructed for recording, but by keeping the vocalist close to the mic, you don’t need to worry that much about the room. Fixing most rooms can be done with rugs, drapes, and layers of foam you can buy at hardware stores.

Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas recorded their first songs and albums in the bedrooms of their parent’s Los Angeles house. These bedroom recordings won over 5 Grammy awards. What they did have was great equipment, an excellent mic, good computers and software like ProTools or Logic. Good guitars like a Fender Strat or a Gibson Les Paul. A full-size MIDI controller and good synths.

YouTube artist Dini Kimmel, who does cover tunes, also works with top-flight gear. Gibson Les Paul, Fender Bass, full electronic drum kit, laptop computer, DAW software, an electronic synth pad, acoustic guitar, and a good quality condenser microphone. This is all it takes, along with some talent, to make a good recording.

To see an example of a song put together by this solo artist piece by piece check out this site, you’ll also get to hear vocals recorded with what looks to be an AKG C-3000B $300 microphone:

(353) Barely Breathing - Duncan Sheik (Dini Kimmel Multi Instruments Cover) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFguUiQgc44

The Mona Lisa Twins also record their songs at home in the UK. Their father was a recording engineer and studio owner who produces their sessions, also playing bass and keyboards. If you want to hear what the $1,500 AKG C414 mic sounds like, listen to some of their songs. They use that mic almost exclusively to record vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, etc. The mic they use is very close to the $420 C214 in sound quality.

They also perform live on stage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and their videos look and sound great. They have their recording, video production, and editing techniques down pat.

(353) MonaLisa Twins - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWK_fTtt5p1nBw__P_V_qBw

(353) I'll Follow The Sun - MonaLisa Twins (The Beatles Cover) - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4826n_gMxY

They started their career doing Beatles covers at their home in Austria. They moved their entire operation to Liverpool, played live acoustically on the streets and this led to them becoming a regular at the famed Cavern Club where the Beatles got their start. They have since branched out doing other covers and original songs.

Another YouTube artist making waves and getting lots of followers is Malinda, who has two channels, her original song channel features some very nice videos of her compositions that have been professionally recorded either with friends or session players. She also does a very good job with production and has someone who helps shoot her videos.

(353) MALINDA - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/c/Malinda

Her other site is comedy, where she takes concepts like explaining how to do something, types that into a foreign language using Google Translate, then takes that foreign language and translates it back into English with unexpected results. On this video you can also hear room sound and reflections that comes from NOT using a close microphone (probably used the built-in camera mic). Some of this could have been cleaned up with a third-band equalizer in post-production. A body recorder and tie-tack mic would have reduced or eliminated those room reflections.

(353) Google Translate Explains Climate Change - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOjSMoXbKww

YouTube is now the free-to-use space where singers, songwriters, bands, comics, podcasters, bloggers, and experts have found a mass audience, some gaining fame, sponsors, and even getting money from the commercials on their sites.

To hear what a Shure SM7B sounds like check this YouTube site out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvsf48iGaFw

A bit of explanation on the artists I’ve listed. YouTube at the current time has licensing agreements with about 90% of the publishers, allowing anyone to cover most published songs by recording new versions with new players. Now and then a given artist or publisher might complain to YouTube. That will get you a Copyright strike. When that happens, you will have to take the video down, but 90 times out of 100 you will have no problems unless you SELL the videos or audio records or try to post them ELSEWHERE like Vimeo or Tik Tok, as they don’t have licenses.

If you want to sell cover songs you need to LICENSE THEM and pay 9.1 cents per CD or DVD to the publisher. We get into licensing later in this book.

Another facet of the copyright law is called FAIR USE and that allows educators, critics, and satirists to make use of copyrighted material in a limited fashion to analyze, critique, and poke fun at something.

While in most instances you can post an original artist’s song or video on YouTube, you CAN’T put your own video to that song without another form of LICENSE called a SYNC LICENSE. You can, however, post the original artist’s album cover, photograph, or an edited montage of their promotional photographs that are NOT in copyright by a private company.

To get started my equipment recommendation to new artists and producers starts at around $250 not including computer and instruments.

As for instruments, a nice Yamaha acoustic guitar, a Chinese Fender Bass, or  Squire Strat clone will cost between $120 and $450 depending on the model. A Casio or Yamaha kid’s keyboard priced between $150 and $300 is good for the novice who can’t play with both hands. A computer that’s at least an I3 with 8 GB of RAM and a nice size hard drive will get you by with free software like Waveform 11, Pro Tools First, Garage Band, or a low-cost DAW like the one NCH offers that has a 30-day free trial.

Now, if you want to record more instruments at one time, like a full band or orchestra, this will only work if you have enough space and are so isolated that drums, cymbals, and trumpets blaring day and night will not get you a visit from the police.

Pianist, arranger, producer Scott Bradlee records his Postmodern Jukebox videos with 6 to 12 musicians and vocalists in various rooms that look like empty bedrooms or living rooms in a house or apartment. The players use small amps, horns, reeds, and upright or double bass. A simple drum kit that can just be a snare drum. Bradlee is usually on an acoustic piano. The sessions are live with the singers using mics that cost from $100 to $8,500. The instruments are recorded with either dynamic, small condenser, or ribbon mics generally priced under $2,000.

If you want to see and hear what live recording in a room sounds like check out his site:

https://www.youtube.com/c/postmodernjukebox

His players are usually top-quality union musicians. He records singers like Broadway performer and recording artist Morgan James. He covers existing compositions with his arrangements.

These are paid sessions. Bradlee does all the arranging. He also takes this Postmodern Jukebox act out on tour around the world. This is what producing is all about. Finding the performers. Finding a place to record them. Marketing the finished product with everyone making some money from the effort.

To get an idea of how a mic in the $3,000 to $9,000 range can record a whole acoustic ensemble, check out this live recording done with just two mics (one is by the electronic kick drum as you can see far left, and the other is in front of recording artist Ben Folds also capturing his backup ensemble known as yMUSIC a group of highly trained classical musicians who have played Carnegie Hall, toured with Paul Simon and others). The main mic seems to be either an original Telefunken U47 or a 47-clone mic from a major company like Peluso, Sound Deluxe, or Bock Audio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FmUjMGL9gU

This kind of recording is done by carefully placing the musicians, doing test after test to make sure their sounds are balanced, and as you can see some move forward to sing harmony. An entire Big Band album was once recorded in the 1950s using just a single, stereo AKG C24 mic. That’s the difference between a $100 mic and a $26,000 mic. (I’d like to hear more vocal and less horn on this cut.)

Some of these artists record at home (or at least make their videos there) and some use professional studios or venues. Whatever the location you need to be sure you aren’t disturbing the neighbors.

Don’t think just because you’re isolated with neighbors off on the horizon that nothing will happen. We once played a live gig with a 200-watt PA and a full band in a desolate area where you could not see another house on the horizon. We got visited by the local authorities after we finished our gig. So, even if there are two miles of space around you people can complain about the music. And I’m sure if they had a 200-watt stereo playing CDs at that party, it would have also brought the police.

As one apartment landlord told me over my 10-watt guitar amp: Everyone has a TV and a stereo, not a guitar and amp. I got shut down in apartments even with acoustic guitar in the middle of the day!

Our second studio occupied two upstairs bedrooms of a house next to vacant lots. We recorded heavy metal music at two in the morning without complaints. Our nearest neighbors didn’t even know we played music. Then they built houses next door and we started getting complaints from the new owners.

There are a lot of producers working out there today with home studios because a lot of music doesn’t need real drums, trumpets, violins, or bass. It just needs keyboards, drum machines or beats, and a vocalist.

I have that in my home studio. I have a two-channel board I got for $50. A keyboard I got for $50. A guitar was loaned to me by my old studio partner. My bass is from when I was a traveling musician. One dynamic microphone. With this, a computer and a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) – in this case Cubase – I layer my tracks for doing movie soundtracks for my cooking videos and book trailers.

To make YOUR home studio totally effective you need to be able to house a live heavy metal band with full-stack 100-watt Marshall amps, drums, bassist using an SVT amp with 15" speakers, along with a full horn section, and you need to be able to do this 24/7 without bothering your neighbors. Otherwise, you are working with headphones and small bookshelf speakers.

The Sound Police once visited a rock club in North Hollywood where I was running sound for a band. (Yes, Los Angeles has actual sound police armed with a high-end decibel meter, and they have been trained to use it properly.) They shut the club down because of noise being heard by people in apartments hundreds of feet away, on the other side of a 10-foot-high wall. Under Los Angeles Sound rules you can’t raise the background sound by more than +5 dB and in the case of percussive sounds such as drums you can’t go 1 dB over the background. Background outside the club was around a 65 dB average, so the sound of the music coming through the walls of the club couldn’t raise the level to more than 70 dB and there could be NO percussive bumps. (Needless to say, government crews with jack hammers tearing up the streets are exempt from these sound level restrictions.)

The police finally decided that we couldn’t use microphones on the drums or put them through the PA. It sounded really weird that way.

The L.A. sound police eventually forced the Universal Amphitheater, an outdoor venue, to build a soundproof enclosure with a roof, making it a weatherproof all-year venue instead of just a summer fun center until it was closed in 2013 to make way for a Harry Potter exhibit.

This is what you face with a home studio. It is what you could face even on commercial property.

One rock band tried using their parents’ business in an industrial complex building that sat 20 feet across from a brick wall that was 8 feet tall and homes that were 30 to 40 feet away. The police came and shut the band down on a weekend in the daytime, even though they were 60 feet from the nearest house, in an industrial complex, and behind a rolling steel door.

Another band we knew used a similar type of building, but this one was by two boulevards (which increases the background noise) in a North Hollywood industrial center, so there was nothing around them except other warehouses. They had no problems playing there at night.

When I asked the head of sound recording at CBS how to soundproof, he said to build an inner wall. So, you may have to do that in your studio and make sure you have fire extinguishers, air conditioning inputs and outputs, emergency lights, and a clear route out of the place should a fire start.

An associate of ours who is a licensed general contractor turned his backyard garage into a rehearsal recording studio with Cerwin Vega V-35s mounted high on the walls and a very small control room by the front door. To date, his neighbors have never complained, but he doesn’t play late at night, that’s when problems usually occur. Early mornings or late at night.

One way to combat this is to build an inner room in your house or garage after the police come to your door and tell you next time the band plays, you’ll get fined.

This may not always solve the problem as you can’t do much about the floor in many instances, but you can give it a try and it should be done by a contractor unless you want to sell a house that isn’t up to code.

You can’t just slam up a one-inch plywood top bottom and sides. You need a two-by-four frame and studs over which you will install that one-inch plywood or sheet-rock, as that is more fire-resistant, with fiberglass insulation, air conditioning vents, and electrical connections.

You can also try putting up thick, fireproof theatrical curtains along the wall or nailing up carpeting. This will absorb the sound and deaden the room considerably. Again, you want to lessen your workspace from being a fire trap. If you can’t do that, have a long hose connected to a cold-water faucet to have just in case of an emergency.

You will also need to do that in your plywood inner room, as well. Drapes, soundboard, strips of rug. For the plywood or hardwood floor, you want a rug or series of rugs you can roll up and stow away because wood floors are great for recording string sections.

Ideally, you’d want to vary the room from live to dead by using drapes that can be opened and closed.

When you design the room, you might also want to consider making it with walls that don’t quite face each other, as that causes echo.

Another concept is to build a drum room. This should have a sliding glass door in front (glass is a very