Modern Recording Techniques
Table of Contents
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- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- CHAPTER 1 Introduction
- The recording studio
- The control room
- The changing faces of the music studio business
- The project studio
- The portable studio
- Knowledge is power!
- Whatever works for you
- Making the project studio pay for itself
- Live/on-location recording: a different animal
- Audio for video and film
- Multimedia
- The people who make it all happen
- The artist
- Studio musicians and arrangers
- The producer
- The engineer
- Assistant engineer
- Maintenance engineer
- Mastering engineer
- The DJ
- The VJ
- Studio management
- Music law
- Women and minorities in the industry
- Behind the scenes
- Career development
- The recording process
- Preparation
- Recording
- Overdubbing
- Mixdown
- Mastering
- Song sequence editing
- Product manufacturing
- Marketing and sales
- The transducer
CHAPTER 2 Sound and hearing- The basics of sound
- Waveform characteristics
- Amplitude
- Frequency
- Velocity
- Wavelength
- Phase
- Harmonic content
- Envelope
- Loudness levels: the decibel
- Logarithmic basics
- The decibel
- The simple heart of the matter
- The ear
- Threshold of hearing
- Threshold of feeling
- Threshold of pain
- Taking care of your hearing
- Psychoacoustics
- Auditory perception
- Beats
- Combination tones
- Masking
- Perception of direction
- Perception of space
- Direct sound
- Early reflections
- Reverberation
- Doubling
CHAPTER 3 Studio acoustics and design- Studio types
- The professional recording studio
- The audio-for-visual production environment
- The project studio
- The portable studio
- Primary factors governing studio and control room acoustics
- Acoustic isolation
- Symmetry in control room design
- Frequency balance
- Room reflections and acoustic reverberation
CHAPTER 4 Microphones: design and application- The microphone: an introduction
- Microphone design
- The dynamic microphone
- The ribbon microphone
- The condenser microphone
- Microphone characteristics
- Directional response
- Frequency response
- Transient response
- Output characteristics
- Microphone preamps
- Microphone techniques
- Pickup characteristics as a function of working distance
- Stereo miking techniques
- Surround miking techniques
- Microphone placement techniques
- Brass instruments
- Guitar
- Keyboard instruments
- Percussion
- Stringed instruments
- Voice
- Woodwind instruments
- Microphone selection
- Shure SM57
- AKG D112
- Beyerdynamic M160
- Royer labs R-121
- Neumann KM 180 Series
- AKG C3000B
- MXL V67i
- Telefunken M216 stereo mic
CHAPTER 5 The analog tape recorder- To 2-inch or not to 2-inch?
- Magnetic recording and its media
- The professional analog ATR
- The tape transport
- The magnetic tape head
- Equalization
- Bias current
- Monitoring modes
- To punch or not to punch
- Tape, tape speed and head configurations
- Print-through
- Cleanliness
- Degaussing
- Backup and archive strategies
- Backing up your project
- Archive strategies
CHAPTER 6 Digital audio technology- The language of digital
- Digital basics
- Sampling
- Quantization
- The devil's in the details
- Fixed- vs. floating-point processing
- The digital recording/reproduction process
- The recording process
- The playback process
- Sound file sample rates
- Sound file bit rates
- Regarding digital audio levels
- Digital audio transmission
- Signal distribution
- What is jitter?
- Wordclock
- Digital audio recording systems
- Samplers
- Hard-disk recording
- Hard-disk multitrack recorders
- Portable studios
- Flash memory handhelds
- Older technologies
CHAPTER 7 The digital audio workstation- Integration now -- integration forever!
- DAW Hardware
- The desktop computer
- The laptop computer
- Accessories and accessorize
- System interconnectivity
- USB
- FireWire
- Networking
- The audio interface
- Audio driver protocols
- Latency
- DAW controllers
- Sound file formats
- Format interchange and compatibility
- Sound file sample and bit rates
- DAW Software
- Sound file recording, editing, region definition and placement
- MIDI sequencing and scoring
- Real-time, on-screen mixing
- Mixdown and effects automation
- Power to the processor -- Uhhh, people!
- Get a computer that's powerful enough
- Make sure you have enough memory
- Keep your production media separate
- Update your drivers!
- Going dual monitor
- Keeping your computer quiet
- Backup and archive strategies
- Session documentation
- In closing
CHAPTER 8 Groove tools and techniques- The Basics
- Time and pitch change techniques
- Warping
- Beat slicing
- Looping your DAW
- Loop-based audio software
- Reason
- ReWire
- Groove and loop hardware
- Groove and loop plug-ins
- Drum and drum loop plug-ins
- Pulling loops into a DAW session
- DJ Software
- Obtaining loop files from the great digital wellspring
CHAPTER 9 MIDI and electronic music technology- MIDI production environments
- What is MIDI?
- What MIDI isn't
- System interconnections
- The MIDI cable
- MIDI phantom power
- Wireless MIDI
- MIDI Jacks
- MIDI Echo
- Typical configurations
- The daisy chain
- The multiport network
- Exploring the spec
- The MIDI message
- MIDI channels
- MIDI modes
- Channel voice messages
- Explanation of controller ID parameters
- System messages
- System-exclusive messages
- MIDI and the personal computer
- Connecting to the peripheral world
- The MIDI interface
- Electronic instruments
- Inside the toys
- Instrument plug-ins
- Keyboards 342
- Sample CDs, DVDs and the Web
- The MIDI keyboard controller
- Percussion
- Sequencing
- Integrated workstation sequencers
- Software sequencers
- Basic introduction to sequencing
- Recording
- Setting the session tempo
- Changing tempo
- Click track
- Multiple track recording
- Punching in and out
- Step time entry
- Saving your MIDI files
- Editing
- Practical editing techniques
- Editing controller values
- Playback
- Transferring MIDI to audio tracks
- Mixing a sequence
- Music printing programs
CHAPTER 10 Multimedia and the web- The multimedia environment
- Delivery media
- The CD
- The DVD
- The web
- Delivery formats4
- Digital audio
- Uncompressed soundfile formats
- Compressed codec soundfile formats
- Perceptual coding
- MP3
- MP4
- WMA
- AAC
- RealAudio
- FLAC
- Tagged metadata
- MIDI
- Standard MIDI files
- General MIDI
- Graphics
- Desktop video
- Multimedia and the web in the “need for speed” era
- Thoughts on being (and getting heard) in cyberspace
- Uploading to stardom!
- Copyright protection: wanna get paid?
- Secure digital music initiative
- Internet radio
- The virtual E-dub
- On a final note
CHAPTER 11 Synchronization- Synchronization between media transports
- Timecode
- Synchronization using SMPTE timecode
- MIDI-based synchronization
- Video's need for a stable timing reference
- Digital audio's need for a stable timing reference
- Real-world sync applications for using timecode and MIDI timecode
- Master/slave relationship
- Audio recorders
- VCRs
- Software applications
- Digital audio workstations
- DAW support for video and picture sync
- Routing timecode to and from your computer
- Keeping out of trouble
CHAPTER 12 Amplifiers- Amplification
- The operational amplifier
- Summing amplifiers
- Distribution amplifiers
- Power amplifiers
- Voltage- and digitally controlled amplifiers
CHAPTER 13 The art and technology of mixing- The recording process
- Recording
- Overdubbing
- Mixdown
- Understanding the underlying concept of “the mixing surface”
- Channel input
- Auxiliary send section
- Equalization
- Dynamics section
- Monitor section
- Channel fader
- Output section
- Channel assignment
- Grouping
- Monitor level section
- Patch bay
- Metering
- Power- and ground-related Issues
- Balanced power
- Power conditioning
- Digital console and daw virtual mixer technology
- Mixdown level and effects automation
- Write mode
- Read mode
- Drawn (rubberband) automation
- Mixing and balancing basics
- Need more inputs?
- A final footnote on the art of mixing
CHAPTER 14 Signal processing- The wonderful world of analog, digital or whatever
- Plug-ins
- Plug-in control and automation
- Signal paths in effects processing
- Inline routing
- Parallel routing
- Effect processing
- Hardware and virtual effects in action
- Peaking filters
- Shelving filters
- High-pass and low-pass filters
- Equalizer types
- Applying equalization
- EQ in action!
- Dynamic range
- Metering
- Dynamic range processors
- Compression
- Multiband compression
- Limiting
- Expansion
- The noise gate
- Time-based effects
- Delay
- Reverb
- Psychoacoustic enhancement
- Pitch shifting
- Time and pitch changes
- Multiple-effects devices
- Dynamic effects automation and editing
CHAPTER 15 Noise reduction- Analog noise reduction
- The compansion process
- Single-ended noise-reduction process
- The noise gate
- Digital noise reduction
- Fast Fourier transform
- Restoration
CHAPTER 16 Monitoring- Speaker and room considerations
- Speaker design
- Crossover networks
- Actively powered vs. passive speaker design
- Speaker polarity
- Monitoring
- Monitor volume
- The big bad bottom end
- Monitoring configurations
- Mono
- Stereo
- Stereo + sub
- Quad
- Surround minus an LFE
- Surround with an LFE
- Theater plus an LFE
- Monitor level control
- Spectral reference
- Monitor speaker types
- Far-field monitoring
- Near-field monitoring
- Small speakers
- Headphones
- Your car
- Monitoring in the studio
- Headphones in the studio
- Speakers in the studio
CHAPTER 17 Surround sound- Surround sound: past to the present
- Stereo comes to television
- Theaters hit home
- Surround in the not-too-distant future
- Monitoring in 5.1 surround
- 5.1 speaker placement
- Practical placement
- Active/passive monitors in surround
- Surround interfacing
- Surround mastering and delivery formats
- Dolby digital (AC3)
- Dolby pro logic
- SRS
- WMA
- MP4
- Up-mix to 5.1
- Mixing in surround
- Surround mixers
- Reissuing back catalog material
CHAPTER 18 Mastering- The mastering process
- To master or not to master--was that the question?
- "Pre"paration
- Mastering the details of a project
- Sequencing: the natural order of things
- Relative volumes 568 EQ
- Dynamics
- Multiband dynamic processing
- File resolution2
- Dither
- The digital audio editor in the mastering process
- On a final note
CHAPTER 19 Product manufacture- Choosing the right facility and manufacturer
- CD manufacturing
- The process
- CD burning software
- CD-R/RW media
- Burning speeds
- Rolling your own
- CD labeling
- CD and DVD handling and care
- DVD and blu-ray burning
- Vinyl disc manufacture
- Disc cutting
- Recording discs
- The mastering process
- Vinyl disc plating and pressing
- Producing for the Web
CHAPTER 20 Studio tips and tricks- Preparation and the details
- What's a producer and when do you need one?
- Do you need a music lawyer?
- Long before going into the studio
- Before going into the studio
- Setting up
- Session documentation
- Recording
- Mixdown
- Backup and archive strategies
- Household tips
- Musicians' tools
- Record your own concerts and practices
- Protect your investment
- Protect your hardware
- Update your software
- A word on professionalism
- In conclusion
CHAPTER 21 Yesterday, today and tomorrow- Yesterday
- Today
- 1's and 0's
- The WWW
- Tomorrow
- Happy trails
- APPENDIX A Continuing education
- APPENDIX B Tax tips for musicians
- INDEX