Audio Recording Tutorial #02 - Basic Multi-Track Recording

I just uploaded part two of my Audio Recording tutorial series (and I have some additional study notes further down in this post). This series is more related to home studio work than it is to DJ'ing, although I'm still covering the very basics of audio engineering and production work.

If you're just discovering this series and want to start back at the beginning, visit:  djbolivia.ca/audiorecording


Audio Recording Tutorial #02: Basic Multi-Track Recording

In this video, we start exploring multi-track recording in a single pass.  I talk about external soundcards, which usually connect to your computer via USB or firewire, and which give you better quality of your audio signals flowing in and out of the computer.  I talk about types of audio signals & cords, and the plugs that you'll commonly encounter (ie. XLR, 1/4", RCA/phono).  I discuss basic information about microphones, including dynamic and condenser mikes, which are the most common types.  Working with Abode Audition, I record a simple piano performance using a dynamic and a condenser microphone, and then do some basic editing to make the track sound better.  The song I played was an instrumental cover of "Wasted Time," written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley of the Eagles.





If you want to download the audio files that I was using in this video, to better hear the audio (or experiment with it) in your own home studio setup, here’s a link to a zipped folder containing the relevant files:

www.djbolivia.ca/tutorials/audiorecording02.rar




Audio Recording Tutorial #01: Basic Recording

This was the first video in the series, which you might want to watch before you watch #02. This one deals with very simple audio recording using the microphone on a HD video camera, and using a portable audio recording device.  It talks about some of the basic types of processing that a studio engineer would put on an audio track (particularly on vocals), which includes reverb, delay, chorus, and EQ’ing, although it only goes into any detail on the last of those four topics.  I predominantly use Audacity to illustrate some basic concepts, with just a bit of use of Audition and VLC to help out with some other tasks.  Essentially, I’ve recorded a song (a cover of Pearl Jam's "Elderly Woman" on acoustic guitar and singing) and then extracted the audio from the recording devices, then I did some very simple processing in order to come up with a better quality audio file.






Once you've watched the two videos above, I'd recommend that you spend some time learning a bit more about a few of the things that I covered in this video:

Microphones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/jun95/microphones.html

http://www.dpamicrophones.com/en/Mic-University/Technology-Guide/10-Statements-on-Condenser-Microphones-vs--Dynamic-Microphones.aspx

Phantom Power:

http://www.gollihurmusic.com/faq/28-PHANTOM_POWER_BASICS_MICROPHONES_PREAMPS.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_power

http://www.tangible-technology.com/power/Phantom_Power_connect.html

Signal Cords:

http://www.techno-fandom.org/techu/Sound-101/Sound-101.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XLR_connector

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_connector_(audio)

http://www.ovnilab.com/articles/linelevel.shtml

USB Condenser Microphones:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/149123/microphone.html

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/articles/usbmics.htm

Mono versus Stereo:

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Mono_vs_Stereo

http://www.mcsquared.com/mono-stereo.htm

Background Noise:

http://www.ap.com/solutions/introtoaudiotest/snr

To see the rest of the tutorials in this Audio Recording series, visit:

djbolivia.ca/audiorecording

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Plosives - A Background for Singers & Audio Engineers

Plosives are something that singers and audio engineers need to be concerned with. Well, especially audio engineers, although singers should understand the subject.

Basically, a plosive is like an explosion of air hitting a microphone during a recording process. Sing something like, "I'm on a Boat," with your hand about an inch in front of your mouth. Do you feel a sudden burst of air at some point? Try singing, "I'm on a plane." And then trying singing, "I'm in a car." Obviously, different sounds cause different amounts of that burst of air.

The worst sounds, ie. the ones that create the most significant plosives, are words that start with B's and P's. These are created by the lips. Nearly as bad are K and G sounds created by the body of the tongue. Also problematic are T's and D's, which are created by the tip (blade) of the tongue. And incidentally, some of those letters can be pronounced in different ways. For example, in English, the words "truck" and "the" both start with a T, but the T in "truck" causes more of a problem. I'm not entirely sure what the correct terminology for these different pronunciations is, but I personally call the sounds a "hard T" (in "truck") and a "soft T" (in "the"). I'm pretty sure those aren't the audiologically correct terms, but hopefully most people will understand what I mean.

All of the sounds that I mentioned above are caused by what are called the "stop consonants". That's because in order to make them, the flow of air through the mouth is temporarily stopped completely. In phonetic terms, this is also known as an "oral occlusive," a consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.

Are there other types of consonants besides stop consonants? Of course. "Fricatives" are partial occlusives which impede airflow in the vocal tract, but don't stop it entirely. And "nasals" are when the vocal tract is blocked, but air flows out the nose instead. Examples of nasals would be "m" or "n" sounds. Want to test those? Try placing your finger just under your nose and then say a phrase like "the bird flew over the lake." All of the sounds in that sentence can be produced in the mouth and vocal chords, and you don't need your nose. But if you try saying words like "motorway" or "nunnery" you're likely to feel some air coming out of your nose. It's faint, but it's there. Anyway, fricatives and nasals are not relevant to our intended topic for the day, so let's get back to plosives.

So why are plosives important? Well, as a singer gets closer to a microphone, the burst of air that comes out of the mouth will hit the microphone. Today's microphones are pretty sensitive. That burst of air hitting the microphone sounds different than the sound that should be hitting the microphone, namely the vibrating molecules that make a noise sound like it should. So instead of recording the proper sound, the microphone is partially recording the noise of air hitting the microphone, or essentially, a little wind-storm.

A secondary problem related to plosives is the fact that the closer a singer gets to a microphone, the better their voice sounds, in general. But as the singer gets closer, the plosives become more noticeable. A typical catch-22 situation.


So what is the solution? Well, I recommend that you try using a pop filter. Actually, every audio engineer will recommend that a pop filter the best solution for almost every vocal recording situation. But what is a pop filter? Well, it's a thin fabric similar to pantyhose, stretched over a frame. The pop filter is placed between the singer's mouth and the microphone, and it blocks the bursts of air from hitting the microphone, but the fabric is still thin enough that almost all of the sound of the vocalist come through (and you can boost the recording levels by a tiny amount to compensate, if necessary).

Here's a short thirty-second YouTube video to show you a pop filter:




Here are a couple of graphics that show what kind of difference you might see between a recording of a word without a pop filter (the first graphic), versus one with a pop filter (the bottom graphic). You can probably tell just from the visuals that the initial impact of the sound in the first recording is more harsh:






Now that you understand what plosives are, and how to reduce their impact with the use of a pop filter, it's time for further research. Tom Johnson writes a blog at I'd Rather Be Writing. He's got a post on it about plosives which is excellent because it has some accompanying sound files that help demonstrate what they can sound like. I'd recommend you check out his post, at this link:

Tom's Blog Post about Plosives

If you'd like to see my of my Understanding Sound tutorials, visit:

djbolivia.ca/sound

-----

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Glen Ballard Scholarship at Berklee

I’m currently in the middle of working through two separate Masters’ programs through the Berklee College of Music, one in Music Theory and one in Production. I just found out that I am the recipient of a "celebrity scholarship," thanks to support donated by Glen Ballard.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name Glen Ballard, you should be. He is an R&B, rock, and pop songwriter and record producer who has had a hand in releases by an incredible number of artists. I’m going to list just a few of the artists that he has either performed with or done production work for, and you’ll see what a huge impact he has had on contemporary popular music: Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Wilson Phillips, Paula Abdul, Evelyn King, Van Halen, Aerosmith, Alanis Morissette, No Doubt, Shakira, Dave Matthews Band, Christina Aquilera, the Goo Goo Dolls, Annie Lennox, and dozens of others. Wow.


 

It’s quite an honor to be recognized for this scholarship. Now the only problem is that my cumulative GPA is only 3.82. I’m happy with that, but it could be higher. But now that I’ve finally returned home and to my personal studio today, after four months on the road, I’m excited to really dig into the course work more heavily and see if I can get that GPA closer to 4.0.

Many, many thanks to Glen, both for his support with this scholarship, and also for his diverse contributions to contemporary mainstream music.

I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:

djbolivia.ca/training

If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:

djbolivia.ca/tracks

Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:

    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia

    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia

    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com

    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca