Drop-in: https://soundcloud.com/lordpaliballa/ringo

Final mix: https://soundcloud.com/lordpaliballa/finalmix

I chose two songs from my own album for this assignment.

The Best is “Losin’” from “Wayward Soul”…

… and the Worst is “Lovely Wife”.

Don’t get me wrong, I love both these songs. But I think the second could have been mixed better. If I can ever find the damn tracks, I’ll fix it.

#AKG414

#U47

Questions for Week 1

1. Talkback is a way to communicate with with the artist in the recording area

2. Slating is when the engineer records their voice onto the track at the beginning of a track to identify the song and the take

3. A mic preamp is what the mic signal goes through so it can be brought up to a level that other equipment can process because mic signal are originally pretty weak

4. Mic level is signal strength -60dB

5. Line level is signal strength +4dB

6. Four sections of mixing counsel

Input- signals going in

Output- signals going out

Monitor- Allows you to listen to signal

Communications- allows talkback to artists

7. Direct sound is sound that has not been reflected

8. Early reflections- The sound that arrives later that the direct sound and has bounced of the recording spaces but only 1 or 2 bounces

9. Echo is a repetition of sound

Reverb is the persistence of sound after the sound is produced

10. mix- change eq/levels

edit- move/record/delete tracks. display audio/waveforms

11. You can use AU tracks to route signals and cannot record on them directly

QUESTIONS From WEEK 2

1. What is sound?

Vibrations that travel through a median whose frequency can be heard by vertebrates

2. What causes sound?

Vibrations that move your eardrum back and forth

3. What is “Phase”?

How far along a waveform is in it”s cycle

5. Why is phase important?

Two signals can cancel each other  if they are each other’s opposite you have to invert the phase of one

6. What is the relationship between the frequency of a sound wave and its wavelength?

The higher the frequency the shorter the wave length

7. What is Frequency?
The rate at which a vibration occurs determines pitch

Low frequency- omnidirectional

High- very directional

8. How high and how low (in Hz) can a person with excellent hearing hear?

20hz- 20khz

9. What is Amplitude?

How much energy is there, how far the pressure swings high and low from cycle to cycle

10. What is Timbre?

The tone quality that a particular sound has, changes waveform

11. What are Harmonics (also called “Partials”)?

Frequencies that are present in any sound that are not the lowest frequency

HOMEWORK FOR WEEK 3

1. What are the two qualities of microphones that divide them into various categories?

Pattern, How they create signal

2. What are Polar Patterns?

The mic’s sensitivity to sound relative to the direction or angle in which the sound arrives

3. What are the three basic categories of polar patterns?

Omni-driectional, bidirectional, unidirectional

4. What is the difference between cardioid, super, hyper, and ultra cardioid patterns?

The more intense the cardioid pattern the more directional the mic becomes, meaning the more favorable the mic becomes of only detecting signal from a specific area and canceling out other sources

5. What is the Theory of Electromagnetic Induction?

The theory states that a conductor placed in a changing magnetic field will cause a production of voltage

6. How do moving coil and ribbon microphones work?

In a moving coil mic the sound waves strike the diaphragm and move it back and forth the diaphragm is mounted on a coil which also moves back and forth

In ribbon mics, a ribbon of conductive metal moves in- between two magnets as the air pressure changes, and a current is produced

7. How does a condenser microphone produce a signal?

Uses voltage from a capacitor

8. What is phantom power and why does it not compromise the audio signal?

Phantom power is what gives power to a condenser mic it is the 48v signal that is sent to the mic and it does not compromise  the audio because the board does not detect it as audio

9. What is the 3:1 rule, and how much “Isolation” does it provide?

-9.2dB If you are using 2 mics place the 2nd one 3 times further away from the source that the first to avoid phase issues

10. Why might a small diaphragm condenser mic sound different from a large diaphragm mic? The diaphragms are different sizes and different frequencies do better with different sizes of diaphragms

11. In Pro Tools, how can you “erase” or “cut” sections of recorded waveforms?

Select what you would like to erase and press delete

MULTITRACK AUDIO PRODUCTION

Questions for Week 4

Due by 4:00 on Tuesday, Week 5

1. What is coincident micing and what is good about it?

This is a type of micing with directional microphones. Where the microphone are stacked right of top of one another. Where the left mic is facing the right of the ensemble and the right mic is facing the right of the ensemble, with about a 90-degree angle in between them. In this micing there is a lack of difference in time arrival and almost no chance of phase issues.

2. What is near-coincident micing and what is good about it?

Near-coincident micing is where two mic are placed right next to each other then spread  with the end of the mics  closer to each other and distance between the front of the cardioid. Gives a wider stereo image and replicates human hearing

3. What is a spaced pair and what is good about using it?

Two cardioid microphones are placed apart from each other. If you’re micing an instrument you can collect sound from two different areas on the instrument one spot might have a richer bass with the other might have a sparkling treble this micing you can get both sounds.

4. What is X-Y micing and what is good about it?

X-Y micing is where the left mic is facing the right of the ensemble and the right mic is facing the left of the ensemble, with about a 90 degree angle between them. The mics are staked on top of one another. This is good for eliminating phase issues.

5. What is ORTF micing and what is good about it?

ORTF micing  is where two mic are placed right next to each other then spread at a 110-degree angle with the end of the mics touching and a 17cm distance between the front of the cardioid mics. Gives a wider stereo image and replicates human hearing,

6. What is the advantage of having a 110-degree angle between cardioid mics when recording to stereo? It gives a wider stereo image than x-y recording and eliminates the center emphasis

7. What is the Blumlein system? Two bidirectional mics staked on top of each other

8. What is proximity effect? Increase in bass frequencies as a directional mic approaches the sound source

9. What is the key command for “Save” in Pro Tools? Command S

10. What are the key commands in Pro Tools for zooming in and out (looking at waveforms)? Command [ and ]

Answers for Week 5 Questions

1. An overdub is a recording done over an already existing recording

2. A “punch in” is an overwrite of a section of a previously recorded track. This used to be extremely difficult in early recordings

3. It’s better to mix at lower volumes because everything sounds better when it’s louder. Full level and low level different systems

4. Reverb content, High frequency roll off and volume all determine the depth in a mix

5. The advantage of monitoring through headphones is that you can mix the recording according to a how a majority of you listeners will be hearing your mix. Clarity. No room acoustics

6. However, the disadvantage when monitoring through headphones is that you can easily damage you ears by listening too loud and you don’t get the effect of listening in a room, panning and depth are very hard to judge as well

7. Resolution. Number of bits of information in each sample, and it directly corresponds to the resolution of each sample

8. A to D is Analog to Digital

9. DAC is digital to analog converter

10. I would use a fathead and a 441 (this is what I did Sunday). I’d line the fathead up  with the bridge about a foot off and then put the 441 about a foot off lined up with the 12^th fret and then I’d pan each mic to different sides of the stereo.

11. I would isolate the guitar amplifier in a separate room and use an Ev308 right up on the amp and slightly to the left as well as a room mic TS2 a few feet away off center