Recording

The most realistic sound effects may originate from original sources;
the closest sound to machine-gun fire that we can replay should be an
original recording of actual machine guns. However, real life and
actual practice do not always coincide with theory. Often recordings
of real life do not sound realistic on playback. The realistic sound of
bacon frying is the crumpling of cellophane. Rain may be recorded as
salt falling on a piece of tinfoil.

Less realistic sound effects are digitally synthesized or sampled and

sequenced (the same recording played repeatedly using a sequencer).
When the producer or content creator demands high-fidelity sound
effects, the sound editor usually must augment his available library
with new sound effects recorded in the field.

When the required sound effect is of a small subject, such as scissors

cutting, cloth ripping, or footsteps, the sound effect is best recorded in
a studio, under controlled conditions .Many sound effects cannot be
recorded in a studio, such as explosions, gunfire, and automobile or
aircraft maneuvers. These effects must be recorded by a sound effects
editor or a professional sound effects recordist.

When such "big" sounds are required, the recordist will begin
contacting professionals or technicians in the same way a producer
may arrange a crew; if the recordist needs an explosion, he may
contact a demolition company to see if any buildings are scheduled to
be destroyed with explosives in the near future. If the recordist
requires a volley of cannon fire, he may contact historical re-enactors
or gun enthusiasts.

A counter-example is the common technique for recording an

automobile. For recording "Onboard" car sounds (which include the
car interiors), a three-microphone technique is common. Two
microphones record the engine directly: one is taped to the underside
of the hood, near the engine block. The second microphone is covered
in a wind screen and tightly attached to the rear bumper, within an
inch or so of the tail pipe. The third microphone, which is often a
stereo microphone, is stationed inside the car to get the car interior.
The sound effect can be shaped by the sound editor or sound designer,
not just for realism, but for emotional effect. Once the sound effects
are recorded or captured, they are usually loaded into a computer
integrated with an audio non-linear editing system. This allows a
sound editor or sound designer to heavily manipulate a sound to meet
his or her needs.

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing.

Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially
designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties
(acoustic isolation or diffusion or absorption of reflected sound that
could otherwise interfere with the sound heard by the listener).

Recording studios may be used to record musicians, voice-over artists

for advertisements or dialogue replacement in film, television or
animation, or to record their accompanying musical soundtracks. The
typical recording studio consists of a room called the "studio" or "live
room", where instrumentalists and vocalists perform; and the "control
room", where sound engineers sometimes with producer(s) as well
operate either professional audio mixing consoles or computers (post
1980s) with specialized software suites to manipulate and route the
sound for analogue or digital recording. Often, there will be smaller
rooms called "isolation booths" present to accommodate loud
instruments such as drums or electric guitar, to keep these sounds
from being audible to the microphones that are capturing the sounds
from other instruments, or to provide "drier" rooms for recording
vocals or quieter acoustic instruments.

Design and equipment

Recording studios generally consist of three rooms: the studio itself,
where the sound for the recording is created (often referred to as the
"live room"), the control room, where the sound from the studio is
recorded and manipulated, and the machine room, where noisier
equipment that may interfere with the recording process is kept.
Recording studios are carefully designed around the principles of
room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties
required for recording sound with precision and accuracy. This will
consist of both room treatment (through the use of absorption and
diffusion materials on the surfaces of the room, and also consideration
of the physical dimensions of the room itself in order to make the
room respond to sound in a desired way) and soundproofing (also to
provide sonic isolation between the rooms) to prevent sound from
leaving the property. A recording studio may include additional
rooms, such as a vocal booth — a small room designed for voice
recording, as well as one or more extra control rooms.

Equipment found in a recording studio commonly includes:

 Mixing console
 Multi track recorder
 Microphones
 Reference monitors, which are loudspeakers with a flat
frequency response
 Keyboard
 Acoustic drum kit

Equipment may include:

 Digital audio workstation

 Music workstation
 On Air or Recording Light
 Outboard effects, such as compressors, reverbs, or equalizers
Digital audio workstations

A digital audio workstation (DAW) can consist to a great

part out of software. are usually software suites composed
of many distinct software components, giving access to
them through a unified graphical user 

General purpose computers have rapidly assumed a large role in the

recording process, being able to replace the mixing consoles,
recorders, synthesizers, Samplers and sound effects devices. A
computer thus outfitted is called a Digital Audio Workstation, or
DAW. Popular audio-recording software includes Apple Logic Pro,
Digidesign's Pro Tools—near standard for most professional studios
—Cubase and Nuendo both by Steinberg, MOTU Digital Performer—
popular for MIDI. Other software applications include Ableton Live,
Cakewalk Sonar, ACID Pro, FL Studio, Adobe Audition, Auto-Tune,
Audacity, and Ardour.

Current software applications are more reliant on the audio recording

hardware than the computer they are running on, therefore typical
high-end computer hardware is less of a priority unless midi is
involved. While Apple Macintosh is used for most studio work, there
is a breadth of software available for Microsoft Windows and Linux.

If no mixing console is used and all mixing is done using only a

keyboard and mouse, this is referred to as mixing in the box ("ITB").
"OTB" is used when mixing with other hardware and not just the PC
software.

Audio editing software is software which allows editing and

generating of audio data. Wave Editors are digital audio
editors and there are many sources of software available to
perform this function. Most can edit music, apply effects and
filters, adjust stereo channels etc.
Audio Editing Software Terms and Definitions

Audio Editing 
All programs should include play, record, cut, copy, paste
and so on; this rating goes beyond the basic editing tools to
include tools such as equalizers, processors, mixers, preset
effects, filters as well as analyzing tools like the waveform
or spectrogram.

Recording/Editing Ability 
The best products have the ability to "record" sounds
saved on the computer from a file, the sound card or from
downloaded CDs as well as from outside sources such as a
line-in from a stereo or a microphone.
It is also nice if the product includes burning software so
that users can use their CD or DVD burner to save their
edited audio files.
To be the most compatible, the product must be able to
work with and convert many file formats, like the various
WAV file types, or MPEG as well as Windows Media
Audio (WMA).

Ease of Use 
All major features of the product should be easy to find
and use. It is helpful if the product contains preset effects
and filters placed in the drop down menus, mouse zooms,
right click edits and unlimited undos. Quick recorders
that look for sound cards or streaming audio, without
manually having to set the source is also a nice feature.
For use with music
Editors designed for use with music typically allow the user to
do the following:

 The ability to import and export various audio file

formats for editing.
 Record audio from one or more inputs and store
recordings in the computer's memory as digital audio
 Edit the start time, stop time, and duration of any sound on
the audio timeline
 Fade into or out of a clip (e.g. an S-fade out during applause
after a performance), or between clips
(e.g. crossfading between takes)
 Mix multiple sound sources/tracks, combine them at various
volume levels and pan from channel to channel to one or
more output tracks
 Apply simple or advanced effects or filters,
including compression, expansion, flanging, reverb, audio
noise reduction and equalization to change the audio
 Playback sound (often after being mixed) that can be sent to
one or more outputs, such as speakers, additional
processors, or a recording medium
 Conversion between different audio file formats, or
between different sound quality levels
.
Comparison of Destructive and Real-Time Editing
Destructive editing modify the data of the original audio file, as
opposed to just editing its playback parameters. Destructive
editors are also known as "sample editors".
Destructive editing applies edits and processing directly to the
audio data, changing the data immediately. If, for example, part
of a track is deleted, the "deleted" audio data is immediately
removed from that part of the track.
Real-time editing does not apply changes immediately, but
applies edits and processing on the fly during playback. If, for
example, part of a track is deleted, the "deleted" audio data is
not actually removed from the track, but is hidden and will be
skipped on playback.
Advantages of destructive editing

 In graphical editors, all changes to the audio is usually

visible immediately as the visible waveform is updated to
match the audio data.
 The number of effects that may be applied is virtually
unlimited (though may be limited by disk space available for
"undo" data).
 Editing is usually precise down to exact sample intervals.
 Effects may be applied to a precisely specified selected
region.
 Mixing down or exporting the edited audio is usually
relatively quick as little additional processing is required.
Limitations of destructive editing

 Once an effect has been applied, it cannot usually be

changed. This is usually mitigated by the ability to "undo" the
last performed action. Typically a destructive audio editor will
maintain many levels of "undo history" so that multiple
actions may be undone in the reverse order that they were
applied.
 Edits can only be undone in the reverse order that they were
applied (undoing the most recent edit first).
Advantages of real-time editing

 Effects can usually be adjusted during playback, or at any

other time.
 Edits may be undone or adjusted at any time in any order.
 Multiple effects and edits may be 'stacked' so that they are
applied to the audio as an effect chain.
 A stack of effects may be changed so that effects are applied
in a different order, or effects inserted or removed from the
chain.

Limitations of real-time editing

 The waveform does not usually show the effect of
processing until the audio has been mixed-down or
"bounced" (rendered) to another track.
 The number of effects that may be applied is limited by the
available processing power of the computer or editing
hardware. In some editors this may be mitigated by
"freezing" the track (applying the effect stack destructively).
 It is not usually possible to have an effect only on part of a
track. To apply a real-time effect to part of a track usually
required that the effect is set to turn on at one point and turn
off at another.
 In multi-track editors, if audio is copied or moved from one
track to another, the audio in the new track may sound
different from how it sounded in the original track as there
may be different real-time effects in each track.
 In some applications, mixing down or exporting the edited
audio may be slow as all effects and processing needs to be
applied.
Editing Tools

Batch Processing/ Conversions 

This command or tool is used to convert a set of files from
one format to another and/or to apply effects to a set of
files.

Channel Mixer 
Used to swap, mix, invert, or combine left and right
channels.

Cue Points 
Used to mark and describe or hold information pertaining
to a specific position of an audio track. For example, a cue
point can hold information about a singer or artist or can
mark and hold looping points.

Effect Chain Editor 

This tool enables the editor to chain a number of effects
together to process at one time.

Effect Preview 
Before saving a new edit, this preview will play and
display the changes before implementation.

Equalizer 
A device or computer algorithm that increases/decreases
the volume of specific bands of frequencies in an audio
signal.
Format Converter 
Many programs have the ability to convert file formats,
for example from a WAV PCM signed 16 bit stereo file to
a MPEG Audio (mp3) Layer-3 ACM 44100Hz 128 kbps
joint stereo file.

Frequency Tuner 
Similar to an equalizer or a parametric equalizer, it is
used to adjust frequencies.

Labels and Regional Markers 

May also be referred to as a bookmark, it can mark or
label a specific time location in an editor window.

Meta Information Editor 

Enables editors to enter or edit artist, title, album, year,
genre or other information of the selected file.

Mixer 
A device or algorithm, which enhances or directs audio
signals to other destinations, singly or together. May also
be used to combine selections, for example a techno music
file with an audio voice file to create a new techno mix.

Mouse Scroll Zoom 

A handy feature that allows users to select a section of the
waveform and use the mouse scroll to zoom in and out.

Parametric EQ 
An electronic filter that adjusts frequency, attenuation,
amplification and bandwidth on each parametric channel,
which can all be used simultaneously or individually
bypassed.

Processor 
A device used to alter the dynamic properties of the
recording.

Punch In/Out 
The process of re-recording sections of a previously
recorded track, starting a punch may be called "punching
in" and ending a punch "punching out."

Right Click Edits 

Features accessible through the right click button of a
mouse, that may include such functions as play, copy,
paste or zoom.

Signal Analysis Tools 

Tools used to analyze audio signals as they travel through
audio cables, equipment or other system.

Track Splitter 
Many programs have the ability to separate the tracks
into left and right channels, whereas others, depending on
the file type, have the ability to break apart multi tracks.

Variable Speeds 
Increases or decreases the playback speed.

Audio Effects
Amplify 
Changes volume or loudness.

Chorus 
An effect in which multiple copies of a signal are played
together slightly off time from each other.

Compressor 
Reduces the dynamic range of a signal, making loud
sounds quieter and the quiet sounds louder.

Crossfade 
Fades out one sound while fading in another.

Delay 
An effect in which a copy of a signal is played back later
than the original.

Doppler 
Dynamically changes a pitch.

Dynamics 
Volume changes in audio.

Echo 
A delay-based effect where copies of a signal are
introduced then trail off to silence.

Expander 
Reduces the level of a signal when it falls below a set
threshold in order to overemphasize its dynamic range.

Fade In/Out 
Changes level over time increasing/decreasing in
amplitude from/to silence.

Feedback 
Delayed repeated signal that produces multiples of the
original signal. Or, a loud squeal created when a channel
is receiving its own output.

Flange 
Generates a swirling sound by adding a slightly delayed
copy of a signal in which the delay time fluctuates.

Harmonizer 
Can add odd and even multiples of a fundamental
frequency to provide a characteristic (or timbre) to give
each instrument or voice a unique sound.

Invert 
Changes positive offset to negative and vice versa.

Interpolate 
Smoothes out the waveform between start and finish
markers, often used to remove a pop or click.

Mechanize 
Adds a robotic or mechanical characteristic.

Modulate 
An electronic process, in which one source modifies the
characteristics of another signal source.

Noise 
Adds a noise to a selected location, often a Gaussian or
White noise.

Normalize 
Process by which the gain of digital audio is increased to
its maximum volume.

Off Set 
Adjusts or removes a dc offset in a selection by shifting the
waveform up or down.

Pan 
Adjusts the left/right positioning of a signal within a stereo
mix.

Phaser 
An effect, which is a modified flange that adds a swirling
sound to a signal.

Pitch 
Changes the frequency of the selected part of an audio file,
increases or decreases timbre

Reduce Vocals 
May reduce vocals from certain stereo recording by
subtracting the left and right channels or by using a
bandstop filter.

Resample 
Takes a single parameter "sample rate" and recalculates
existing audio data using the new sample rate.

Reverb 
An effect in which the ambience of a physical space is
simulated, this is achieved by copying a signal many times
and repeating it at decreasing levels at intervals so close
together that they are heard like one sound.

Reverse 
Plays the audio backwards.

Silence 
Can insert silence at a selected portion of the audio.

Stretch 
Changes the frequency, duration and pitch of a selected
part of the audio

Time Warp (stretch) 

Changes the playback speed or stretches/compresses the
length of the selection

Trim 
Removes sounds outside of the selected part of audio.

Vibrato 
A rhythmic fluctuation in pitch.

Filters
Band Pass 
Allows only the band of frequencies surrounding the
cutoff frequency to pass through.

Band Stop 
Does the opposite of Band Pass filters, blocks all
frequencies within a specified range.

High Pass 
Only allows the frequencies higher than the cutoff
frequency.

High Shelf Pass 

Filters frequencies above a selected frequency.

Low Pass 
Permits all frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency
through.

Low Shelf Pass 

A type of filter in which all frequencies below a selected
frequency are affected.

Noise Reduction 
Reduces unwanted noises within a sound, such as a
background hisses, hums or interference, cannot however
be used to separate or remove vocals or voices.

Notch 
Often referred to as a "band reject filter", attenuates
frequencies closest to the center frequency of a filter
setting, used to minimize hum or acoustic feedback.

Pop/Plick 
Eliminates abrupt changes in a sound, often used in
restoration.

Silence Reduction 
Deletes silence from a selected part of an audio file

Smoother 
Reduces hiss and crackle, often used when restoring old
recordings or LPs.

FFT 
Applies Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) filter to a selected
part of an audio file, smoothes amplitude transitions at
various frequencies, points above zero amplify and filter,
points below zero attenuate and filter.

Display Features
Waveform 
A graphical representation of an audio file that is a
mathematical representation of a wave, obtained by
plotting a characteristic of the wave against time.

Spectral 
Visual display of a frequency graph, the horizontal axis is
frequency in Hertz (Hz) and the vertical axis is magnitude
in decibels (dB).

VU Meter 
Displays the peak volume of the waveform.

Spectrogram 
Displays frequency information over time, the horizontal
axis is time in seconds (s), the vertical axis is frequency in
Hertz (Hz), and the color represents the frequency's
magnitude (dB). Often used to analyze amplitude versus
frequency.
Recording Ability
Line-In 
Has the ability to record from a line-in such as a
microphone, stereo or other device.

Streaming Audio 
Can record sound from the internet, such as an internet
radio station or other streaming audio.

CDs 
Has the ability to either record from a downloaded CD or
can rip directly from a CD.

Video File 
Can pull audio from a video file.

MIDI Files 
Can record from Musical Instrument Digital Interface
(MIDI) files, such as those created from a keyboard.
`
Sound Card 
Has the ability to record what is playing on the sound
card, which means that nearly anything can be recorded.

Burning Software
Audio 
Has the software component needed to "burn" CDs.

Video 
Includes the software module needed to "burn" DVDs.
Help And Support
FAQ 
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) answer questions
commonly asked by users.

Free Updates 
Allows free intermediate upgrades of purchased software.

Forum 
An online discussion relating to audio editing topics and
the software, often can help with common errors,
troubleshooting or simply to learn new ways to use
features.

Glossary 
A helpful resource that defines terms used in the program
that relate to audio editing.

Help Section 
An inter-program feature that provides quick access to
help.

Technical Support Contact 

The manufacturer posts contact information, through
either telephone or email, for technical support.

Product Manual 
The product includes a comprehensive product manual
either inter-program, online or through a download.