16. “Do I need to soundproof my recording room?”

by admin on January 4, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Posted In: Questions

You may not need to soundproof your room. Usually the carpet, window shades and furniture will stop sound from bouncing around the walls. But if your recording room is too reverberant, then these echos do show up on your recordings.

Soundproofing squares

Reverberation can always be added to a recording, even after the tracks have been recorded. But it’s very hard to totally remove it.

Soundproofing can be applied in some very simple and cost-effective ways. Sound can be absorbed by many different materials. Thick carpet is always a first choice. Hanging heavy drapes on the walls and maybe even attaching some of it to the ceiling and over the windows works very well.

Any soft material that contains air pockets will also make a good sound absorber.

If you really need to stop sound from entering or escaping, you may have to build a double wall which is essentially a room within a room. You must leave a few inches of airspace in between the two walls.

Roll of soundproofing

It is important that the sound from your monitor speakers reach your ears in the most direct and uncolored way possible, otherwise you will not be able to make those perfect mixes. Your ears will not being telling the truth and you will be making the wrong adjustments to the sounds.

Different substances absorb different frequencies. If you use only porous materials, your room will become bass-heavy because the low frequencies will still keep bouncing around. Then you will need to install some “bass-traps” as well.

Our course teaches you exactly how to build your own recording studio – either in your home or in a commercial location. Different styles and approaches for the layout of your studio are examined.

Vocal Booth

Building sound absorption walls, how thick they should be, vocal booths, choosing the right equipment, inter-connection, and legal aspects are all examined. Plus a ton of valuable information that most first-time studio builders overlook when putting together their first room.

“I have built four recording studios in my lifetime. It wasn’t until the 4th. that I finally got it right! – Peter Miller” (There are 45 more pages about this subject in your course).

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17. “What is the difference between a compressor and a limiter?”

by admin on January 4, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Posted In: Questions

A limiter is like a compressor on steroids.

When you compress a sound, the loud parts get quieter and the quiet sections may become louder. This is useful if you want to make your CDs as loud as possible.

Two channel compressor/limiter

If you set the compressor or limiter correctly, the overall volume from beginning to end stays at a high level throughout.

A simple compressor plug-in

The student engineer should not attempt to use a multi-function compressor until he or she has mastered one of the basic models.

The controls usually found on a basic unit are: Input, Output, Attack, Release and Ratio. (25 pages on compressors in the course).

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18. “If you could choose only one compressor or limiter – which would it be?”

by admin on January 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Posted In: Questions

Most engineers choose the Fairchild because of the wonderful sound it gives and also because the Beatles used it at Abbey Road on almost all of their records.

The Fairchild compressor

Your course devotes an entire lesson to compressors. How they work and how to set them correctly. These devices make your recordings sound truly professional if you know how to use them properly. If you don’t, your recordings will suffer badly.

You are able to actually watch the engineer adjust the settings and listen and compare the sounds before and after they have been compressed.

We live in the age of total signal processing. Some other special effects units such as noise gates, expanders, chorusing units, flangers and harmonizers are also fully examined in your course.

This is one exciting stage of the recording process!

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19. “How do I set a compressor?”

by admin on January 4, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

Compressors are very useful work tools but they can also be playful toys that create exciting sounds. They are available as computer plug-ins or external hardware units.

API compressor

There are two main reasons to use compression. One is to keep the volume of any instrument or vocal at a steady level so that it sits nicely with the instrumental backing.

The second reason is if you want to get “that distinctive compressed sound” which most compressors give. Each unit makes its own “sonic footprint” which can be very desirable.

For example, almost all of the Beatles records carry that sonic footprint that was created by using a Fairchild compressor.

Compression can be applied to a single vocal or instrument, or it can be applied to the complete mix of voices and music.

Different musical instruments require slightly different compressor settings in order for them to work best.

Whichever compressor you use, the principles of how to set it correctly are the same. For general use here’s how you set a compressor:

Chandler compressor

Start off by learning on a simple compressor rather than one which has too many controls.

A simple unit should have these five controls: Input. Output. Attack. Release. Ratio. Plus a meter which indicates how much compression is occurring.

It is good to have a starting point:

Set the Ratio control to 4:1
Set the Attack control to a short setting of about one millisecond.
Set the Release control to a medium setting of about 100 milliseconds.

Make sure that the sound you want to compress is being sent into the compressor.

If the Gain Reduction meter isn’t moving, this means that the threshold is set too low. You need to increase the strength of the input signal.

A rack of compressors

Adjust the Input control until a movement of about 5-7 dB is showing on the meter. (The Input control is also known as the Threshold control.)

Finally adjust the Output control so that a satisfactory level is being sent back out of the compressor to the recorder.

You should experiment a little and see how a lower threshold setting gives you more gain reduction and a higher threshold gives you less. You’ll hear how dramatically the sound can change.

Then play around with the other controls so you can get a feel for their functions.

Finally, try sending different musical instruments through the compressor. You’ll soon discover that each one needs different settings to achieve the desired result that you want.

There are no hard-and-fast rules to follow regarding compression so you can set the unit to work as transparently or dramatically as you wish. It’s usually dependent upon your music. Just make sure that you’re not introducing unwanted distortion. (More in the course).

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20. “What is an Equalizer?”

by admin on January 4, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Posted In: Questions

The bass and treble controls on your home stereo are the simplest form of equalizer, but in the studio there are many more variations than this. They are probably the most important tool in the whole studio.

You can alter the sound of each and every instrument by applying some equalization to it. This is how all the instruments are set to meld with one another and create that perfect sounding mix. A painting with many colors, none of which stand out or overshadow any other.

Graphic equalizer

Think of it as a curry which has too much chili pepper. Adding a little yogurt makes it more palatable.

You will get acquainted with the various types of equalizers, learning what each can and cannot do to any particular sound. Your ears will receive a crash-course in critical listening. You will learn exactly which frequencies are important for every type of voice and musical instrument.

Parametric equalizer

Did you know that most people in the world only hear music whereas sound engineers and musicians listen to music. Think about it! (Two complete lessons on equalization inside your course).

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