Recording set up

Here I will explain how it is that things are connected and set up for recording. First ill list the pieces of equipment and explain what they are. Computer- has recording program, receives a digital transmission and lays the data in an easy to view form. Digital Interface-the interface is the box with the knobs on the front (not the big one) this is the one that is on top of the cabinet with the doors. The interface converts data from analog to digital. What does this mean exactly? Well it means that the mixer transmits electrical charges through the cables, those charges make the sound we hear, but the computer cant process those electrical charges, the interface turns those electrical charges into binary (data). Instead of electrical charges now we have digital data, so we can send that data into the computer in a way that can be processed, also it allows the computer to record 8 separate recordings at once. So basically it turns electrical data into digital data. Without the interface I would have to connect the mixer to a microphone input of the computer (headphone jack) and this would be horrible for quality and it would be horrible cause you can only record one signal at a time. Mixer- the big sound board. This is what we can call a very complex volume controller. The whole point of the machine is to control volumes and route signals. The mixer has many inputs in each input you connect an auxiliary device (mic, guitar, etc.) then you must regulate the volume so not one of them is too loud, aside from volume control the mixer serves as a routing system. You can make several inputs be routed to one output to consolidate (minimize) the total outputs needed.(Ill explain this further later on.) Auxiliary Device- anything that creates sound and is connected to the mixer. This can be a microphone, an instrument, a guitar pedal, the keyboard, the drums, a sampler, a cd player, ipod, anything that goes into the mixer . DAW- Digital Audio Workstation- this is a program (Logic, Protools, Fl studio) that is used for recording, it allows editing, cutting, processing, mixing, and mastering. Basically this is where you get a simple recording and make it extraordinary. Also this is what is used to make beats, or instrumentals for techno, hiphop, house, etc. So here is the overview : Auxiliary Device Mixer Digital interface Computer DAW

Auxiliary devices
Mono- no this isnt something you get from kissing microphones, it basically means that there is only one channel. One channel means that the sound comes in only one path, how do I explain that, well, think of headphones, you have two speakers, a left and a right, mono would mean only the left one working, so all the sound has to come through one side. Stereo- stereo means it comes through two channels a left and a right, the reason they have this is so some sounds can come through the left and others through the right for example drums on the left, guitars on the right, and singer through both, its makes a cool effect and makes it sound more realistic Surround- basically the same concept as stereo but they want even more speakers, so they can do more effects and tweaks. There is a standard for these. Youll see it like this: 5.1 7.1 8.1 4.1 12.2 the first number means how many speakers, the second means how many subwoofers the subwoofer is like a big bass makes the deep sounds, kind of like the big thing people put in a trunk. And the speakers are just speakers, they make the higher pitched sounds. Ok so now that you know what each of those are, ill now explain how that relates to Auxiliary Devices. Mono Auxiliary Devices- guitars, bass, microphones (this is if they are connected directly to the mixer) Stereo Auxiliary devices- electronic drums, keyboard, Ipod, guitar pedal(effects pedals) Surround Auxiliary devices- you wont find any in the studio. Thats more for like making movies. So whats the deal with these? Well cables primarily, if its mono you only need one cable to connect it, if its stereo you need two cables to connect it. Note: the guitar is mono but when you connect it to the pedal the signal becomes stereo cause the pedal has stereo sound.

Routing

So connected to the mixer are two guitar pedals a microphone, and the keyboard, everything else gets connected when needed only. Now ill give an example for routing,(ill explain better when youre here.) The drums are two inputs, the guitars are four inputs, the bass is one the keyboard is two, and lets say we are using two mics, thats another 2 inputs. Thats a total of 11 inputs but the interface only has 8. This is where we use routing. We connect the drums directly to the interface so we can enjoy stereo quality, , so now we have 6 inputs for 9 inputs on the mixer, we do the following, we have 4 busses(mono) and one main(stereo) We put the bass on bus one (1) We put guitar one on bus two, this made a stereo into a mono (1) We put guitar two into bus three, this made it from stereo to mono (1) We put the keyboard into bus four, this made it stereo to mono (1) We connect all the mics into the mains. This means we can get four mics and make them go to a stereo signal we want to use stereo for mics since there are times you have two or more singers for effects. (2) Now we have turned 9 into 6. So we can now connect them all to the interface and be able to record them all without having to pull out cables. Thats basically what the routing is for in the mixer, it makes it easy to make changes by flipping switches instead of switching cables.

Mixing
This is the sections that will explain the basics of mixing Mixing is all about volume, you want to have regulated volume so your can hear each instrument in a recording. You will deal with mixing three times. The first time is physically, at the main mixing board, the second time is in the daw, to regulate the volumes for the headphones while they record and the third time is at the daw to finalize the track and lay the final mixdown. The first time- this is at the main mixing board, the purpose of this is to maximize the volume of the instruments for the daw to record it well, (you dont go by your ears on this one, you go by the monitors on the DAW, basically you wanna have the

highest volume possible without getting clipping, so that later on when you are working with the tracks you have ample headroom to work with basically youd rather lower the volume on the computer than increase it cause you may run out of increasing ability. So at the main soundboard your basically tuning it for recording. The second time- this is in the DAW since the first mix is for recording quality, you have to offset the bland straight line sound, so you change the volume to make it easy for them to record, notice we still dont care about the sound of the final product, this is just to make it easy for them to hear themselves through the headphones while playing. The third time is once everything is recorded and you need to lay the final mixdown, this is pretty much the final leveling of the tracks before they get put on a cd, this is a difficult thing to do and both of us will have to work on this as four ears are better than two. So here are the basics of mixing. Ill define some key words. Level- pretty much means volume. Clipping- when the sound is so loud that it enters a device and starts making distortion. Distortion- a crackling sound, caused by clipping, once its on a track it cannot be removed. Gain- this is the first increase in volume usually the greatest, for example you have a guitar and a piano, the guitar is lower than the piano so you increase the gain, when you mix, you have relatively similar volume from both instruments before the faders. Also gain is the first thing you want to reduce when your getting clipping. Fader- this is the things you drag on the mixer they slide up and down and are at the bottom of the mixer. They regulate the volume. And have a scale on the side, anywhere below 00 is reducing the volume 00 is where the volume is exact, and anywhere above that is an increase in volume. Mute- this mutes the channel. Low- this affects the volume of low frequency sounds (deep sounds like a bass of tuba) mid- this affect the volume of mid frequency sounds (mid range sounds like a guitar or saxophone) high- this affects the volume of high frequency sounds(bright sounds like a flute or piccolo)