R is for recording

 

Whether you’re at home or vying for a place in a studio, there is a process to ‘getting it right’ when recording.

Scrabble Word Finder

Scrabble Cheat

Recording ‘correctly’ really depends on what suits your needs. There are a myriad of different ways to record, all of which bring a heap of their own considerations. So, here we will get you familiar with the basics, which you’d have to come to grips with for the more complicated processes anyway.

Where to go, what to do

The first step in creating, or working in, a studio is to familiarise yourself with the equipment. Or if you are building a home setup, then the first step will be to go out to your friendly audio equipment shop, armed with your consumer rights, and look into buying the equipment you need. BBC Online has a great article on buying different equipment. Click here to read more. People rarely pay the recommended retail price for studio equipment; it is a competitive market, so shop around for the best price. Try out products in the shop before you buy too. If you are buying speakers, bring some of your favourite music, or bring your singer if you are buying microphones, and so on.

Remember your rights, i.e. return faulty equipment if need be, and take advantage of offers. For instance, some shops will offer a part-exchange and you could pay a little less if you bring in some old equipment of yours. It all adds up, so use any deals that are offered.

Another money-saving venture is to buy second hand direct from a seller advertising on eBay, Loot or any other classified. With free ad space offered in some classifieds and online, there are plenty to choose from.

Getting down to basics

The main principle in audio recording is the ‘signal chain,’ the devices all linked together so that the sound travels from instrument through to recorder. For example, the bass guitar might be plugged into an amp and then perhaps a DI box before it reaches the mixing desk and then the recording device itself.

Another major principle of recording is getting the ‘levels’ right. Levels are often determined by the volume: too loud and the sound begins to distort; too low, and the instrument will be not only too quiet to hear, but it might just be heard as noise. Audio devices almost always have some sort of display to let you know which way it is going.

The name of the game now is to ‘get a level’. That is, plugging in the signal chain and getting the sound to come out at the desired level without any overriding noise or distortion.

There are two basic levels to get to grips with. The first is ‘line levels’ which are used for any kind of electric instrument from a drum machine to an electric guitar – anything that can be plugged straight into a mixing desk. These are the basic kinds of levels to set up as all their sound can be adjusted usually by the controls already incorporated into the instrument.

The second kind of level will come from a microphone and are generally more difficult to capture. A microphone could be used for the voice and also other instruments that aren’t ‘plugged in,’ like flutes, violins, acoustic guitars, for instance. Each instrument brings their own considerations when getting the levels right too.

To make this process easier, microphones are led through a device called a mic pre-amp, which is designed to control the signal for easier adjustment to the desired level. Pre-amps can be built into a mixer, recorder or computer sound card, which is useful for those just starting out.

If your disco needs you

When recording with sounds coming out as a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) like through a synthesiser, the signal is actually a sound of two halves. One half is the user interface - the actual note or sound you have played by pressing down on the keyboard key, say a B flat. The process is actually the user interface commanding the second half what to output (play). The second half is what is going on inside the box that results in the actual sound, i.e. any effects or information on that B flat, like if it is set to be an organ sound, or when it starts and stops etc.

It is the second half that generates the MIDI information which can be passed on to another digital device, and the next device in a digital signal chain would be a sequencer.  The sequencer will hold onto all the information from the MIDI.

A sequencer doesn’t record the music - like with more conventional methods - but it records and saves the MIDI information and can be played back via a synth module.

From the sequencer the performance can be edited and corrected – a process called quantising - and perhaps given the resulting track its genre-specific sound, like squelchy acid dance music, or even make the recording repeat certain phrases, like the chorus repeated to fade.

What next in the study chain?

There is a wide world of technical principles to consider when recording at home or in a recording studio, and it is possible to learn all the technical consideration each piece of recording equipment brings through specialist magazines, brochures or the internet, for instance.

If a career in recording musical instruments is for you, you can get started by visiting learndirect, the SAE Institute, or perhaps a university offering a course on sound engineering, for advice on studying to become a qualified audio engineer.

You’ve read it. Now review it.

Back to top

Back to top