Practical recording techniques: the step-by-step approach to professional audio recording

Bruce Bartlett0240811445, 9780240811444

Hands-on practical guide covering all aspects of recording, ideal for beginning and intermediate recording engineers, producers, musicians and audio enthusiasts. Filled with tips and shortcuts, this book offers advice on equipping a home studio (both low-budget and advanced), suggestions for set-up, acoustics, choosing monitor speakers, and preventing hum. This best-selling guide also tells how to judge recordings and improve them to produce maximum results. New material covered in the 5th edition to include: * complete revision and update of digital media sections * new section on mixing tips * new section on podcasts and file sharing * new section equipment and connector levels * new section function and connector types * new section on digital metering * new section exporting projects from other studios * new photos * This popular bestseller covers the latest digital techniques for professional and home studios, and location recording * Now features a dedicated website packed with audio clips to enhance the text * Now includes a brand new chapter on computer recording procedures

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Table of contents :
FRONT COVER……Page 1
PRACTICAL RECORDING TECHNIQUES: THE STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH TO PROFESSIONAL AUDIO RECORDING……Page 4
COPYRIGHT PAGE……Page 5
CONTENTS……Page 8
DEDICATION……Page 6
PREFACE……Page 10
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……Page 14
CHAPTER 1 Music: Why You Record……Page 16
DIFFERENT WAYS OF LISTENING……Page 17
WHY RECORD?……Page 18
CHAPTER 2 The Recording Chain……Page 20
TYPES OF RECORDING……Page 21
PROS AND CONS OF EACH METHOD……Page 26
RECORDING THE MIXES……Page 28
SOUND WAVE CREATION……Page 30
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND WAVES……Page 32
BEHAVIOR OF SOUND IN ROOMS……Page 38
HOW TO TAME ECHOES AND REVERB……Page 41
MAKING A QUIETER STUDIO……Page 46
SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AUDIO DEVICES……Page 47
EQUIPMENT……Page 52
SETTING UP YOUR STUDIO……Page 66
HUM PREVENTION……Page 78
REDUCING RADIO FREQUENCY INTERFERENCE (RFI)……Page 81
CHAPTER 5 Monitoring……Page 82
SPEAKER REQUIREMENTS……Page 83
NEARFIELD™ MONITORS……Page 84
THE POWER AMPLIFIER……Page 86
CONTROL-ROOM ACOUSTICS……Page 87
SPEAKER PLACEMENT……Page 88
USING THE MONITORS……Page 89
HEADPHONES……Page 91
THE CUE SYSTEM……Page 92
CONCLUSION……Page 93
TRANSDUCER TYPES……Page 94
POLAR PATTERN……Page 98
FREQUENCY RESPONSE……Page 102
MAXIMUM SPL……Page 104
SELF-NOISE……Page 105
MICROPHONE TYPES……Page 106
MICROPHONE SELECTION……Page 111
MIC ACCESSORIES……Page 112
SUMMARY……Page 115
WHICH MIC SHOULD I USE?……Page 116
HOW MANY MICS?……Page 118
HOW CLOSE SHOULD I PLACE THE MIC?……Page 120
WHERE SHOULD I PLACE THE MIC?……Page 123
ON-SURFACE TECHNIQUES……Page 124
THE 3:1 RULE……Page 125
STEREO MIC TECHNIQUES……Page 127
COINCIDENT PAIR……Page 129
SPACED PAIR……Page 131
NEAR-COINCIDENT PAIR……Page 133
BAFFLED OMNI PAIR……Page 134
HOW TO TEST IMAGING……Page 136
ELECTRIC GUITAR……Page 138
ELECTRIC BASS……Page 142
LESLIE ORGAN SPEAKER……Page 144
DRUM SET……Page 145
PERCUSSION……Page 156
ACOUSTIC GUITAR……Page 157
SINGER/GUITARIST……Page 158
GRAND PIANO……Page 159
UPRIGHT PIANO……Page 162
ACOUSTIC BASS……Page 163
BANJO……Page 164
FIDDLE (VIOLIN)……Page 165
STRING SECTION……Page 167
HORNS……Page 168
SAXOPHONE……Page 169
WOODWINDS……Page 170
HARMONICA, ACCORDION, AND BAGPIPE……Page 171
LEAD VOCAL……Page 172
CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA……Page 177
SUMMARY……Page 178
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANALOG AND DIGITAL……Page 180
DIGITAL RECORDING……Page 181
THE CLOCK……Page 188
DIGITAL AUDIO SIGNAL FORMATS……Page 190
DITHER……Page 191
JITTER……Page 193
DIGITAL TRANSFERS AND COPIES……Page 194
2-TRACK DIGITAL RECORDERS……Page 195
MULTITRACK DIGITAL RECORDERS……Page 203
BACKUP……Page 208
SOFTWARE EFFECTS (PLUG-INS)……Page 210
EQUALIZER……Page 211
COMPRESSOR……Page 221
LIMITER……Page 228
NOISE GATE……Page 229
DELAY: ECHO, DOUBLING, CHORUS, AND FLANGING……Page 230
REVERBERATION……Page 235
PREVERB……Page 238
VOCAL PROCESSOR……Page 239
ROTARY SPEAKER SIMULATOR……Page 240
GUITAR AMPLIFIER MODELER……Page 241
SURROUND SOUND……Page 242
LOOKING BACK……Page 243
SOUND-QUALITY GLOSSARY……Page 244
STAGES OF RECORDING……Page 252
MIXER FUNCTIONS AND FORMATS……Page 253
ANALOG MIXER……Page 254
DIGITAL MIXER……Page 268
SOFTWARE MIXER……Page 270
CONTROL SURFACE……Page 271
SESSION PREPARATION……Page 272
PLAYBACK……Page 276
OVERDUBBING……Page 277
PUNCHING-IN……Page 278
COMPOSITE TRACKS……Page 279
DRUM REPLACEMENT……Page 280
MIXDOWN……Page 281
SUMMARY……Page 292
AUTOMATED MIXING……Page 294
LO-FI RECORDING: HOW TO TRASH YOUR TRACKS……Page 298
CHAPTER 13 Computer Recording……Page 304
BASIC OPERATION……Page 305
THE COMPUTER……Page 308
AUDIO INTERFACE……Page 309
RECORDING SOFTWARE……Page 320
USING A DAW……Page 328
AUDIO FOR VIDEO……Page 343
CLASSICAL VERSUS POPULAR RECORDING……Page 346
GOOD SOUND IN A POP-MUSIC RECORDING……Page 347
GOOD SOUND IN A CLASSICAL-MUSIC RECORDING……Page 354
TRAINING YOUR HEARING……Page 356
TROUBLESHOOTING BAD SOUND……Page 359
PREPRODUCTION……Page 372
SETTING UP THE CONTROL ROOM……Page 378
RECORDING……Page 379
BREAKING DOWN……Page 382
MASTERING……Page 383
TRANSFERRING THE MASTERED PROGRAM TO CD-R……Page 390
MASTER LOG……Page 393
COPYRIGHTS AND ROYALTIES……Page 395
CHAPTER 16 The MIDI Studio: Equipment and Recording Procedures……Page 396
MIDI-STUDIO COMPONENTS……Page 397
RECORDING MUSIC MADE BY SOFT SYNTHS……Page 404
RECORDING A HARDWARE SYNTH……Page 410
“NO SOUND” MIDI TROUBLESHOOTING……Page 412
RECORDING WITH A KEYBOARD WORKSTATION……Page 414
USING EFFECTS……Page 415
LOOP-BASED RECORDING……Page 416
RECORD OFF THE BOARD……Page 422
RECORD WITH MICS AND A PORTABLE DIGITAL RECORDER……Page 423
RECORD WITH A 4-TRACKER……Page 427
CONNECT THE PA-MIXER INSERT SENDS TO A MULTITRACK RECORDER……Page 428
SPLITTING THE MIC SIGNALS……Page 432
PREPARING FOR THE SESSION……Page 435
PREPARING FOR EASIER SETUP……Page 440
AT THE SESSION: SETUP……Page 444
MIC TECHNIQUES……Page 448
TEARDOWN……Page 452
EQUIPMENT……Page 454
SELECTING A VENUE……Page 456
SESSION SETUP……Page 457
MICROPHONE PLACEMENT……Page 461
RECORDING A CONCERT……Page 467
EDITING……Page 468
CHAPTER 19 Surround Sound: Techniques and Media……Page 472
SURROUND SPEAKER ARRANGEMENT……Page 473
SETTING UP A SURROUND MONITORING SYSTEM……Page 475
RECORDING AND MIXING POP MUSIC FOR SURROUND……Page 482
SURROUND-SOUND MIC TECHNIQUES……Page 485
SURROUND MEDIA……Page 498
ENCODING SURROUND FOR RELEASE ON VARIOUS FORMATS……Page 503
DOLBY UNITS FOR DVD MASTERING……Page 507
STREAMING VERSUS DOWNLOADING……Page 508
WEB-RELATED AUDIO FILES……Page 509
WHAT YOU NEED……Page 512
HOW TO UPLOAD COMPRESSED AUDIO FILES……Page 513
PUTTING YOUR MUSIC ON YOUR WEB SITE……Page 516
COLLABORATING BY SHARING FILES……Page 519
FINDING STUDIO MUSICIANS, PRODUCERS, AND ENGINEERS……Page 522
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL……Page 524
SIGNAL LEVEL……Page 525
THE VU METER, ZERO VU, AND PEAK INDICATORS……Page 529
INTERFACING BALANCED AND UNBALANCED EQUIPMENT……Page 531
MICROPHONE SENSITIVITY……Page 533
APPENDIX B: Optimizing Your Computer for Multitrack Recording……Page 536
SPEEDING UP YOUR HARD DRIVE……Page 537
INCREASING PROCESSING SPEED……Page 539
PREVENTING INTERRUPTIONS……Page 541
MINIMIZING LATENCY……Page 543
OTHER TIPS……Page 545
WINDOWS VISTA……Page 546
OPTIMIZING MACINTOSH FOR MULTITRACK RECORDING……Page 547
I’M CONNECTING TWO AUDIO DEVICES. IS IT IMPORTANT TO MATCH THEIR IMPEDANCES? WHAT IF I DON’T?……Page 550
I’M CONNECTING A MIC TO A MIXER. IS IMPEDANCE A CONSIDERATION?……Page 552
CAN I CONNECT ONE SOURCE TO TWO OR MORE LOADS?……Page 553
SUMMARY……Page 554
BOOKS AND VIDEOS……Page 556
PRO AUDIO MAGAZINES……Page 557
GUIDES TO RECORDING SCHOOLS……Page 558
THE INTERNET……Page 559
EXPERIENCE……Page 560
A……Page 562
B……Page 565
C……Page 568
D……Page 572
E……Page 577
F……Page 580
G……Page 582
H……Page 584
I……Page 586
L……Page 587
M……Page 589
N……Page 595
O……Page 596
P……Page 597
R……Page 604
S……Page 608
T……Page 615
U……Page 618
W……Page 619
Z……Page 621
A……Page 622
B……Page 623
C……Page 624
D……Page 626
E……Page 628
F……Page 629
H……Page 630
J……Page 631
L……Page 632
M……Page 633
O……Page 636
P……Page 637
R……Page 639
S……Page 640
U……Page 643
W……Page 644
Z……Page 645
PRACTICAL RECORDING TECHNIQUES DEMO WEB SITE……Page 646