Recording Handbook - Hol.gr

. Guitars, Basses and Things With Strings
String instruments can be recorded acoustically with microphones or directly if they have pickups. There
is a different sound to each and in different situations, one may be more appropriate than the other. Often,
both are recorded simultaneously and blended together in the mix. Electric guitars and basses are recorded
through microphones on the amplifiers and direct to be blended or used seperately later in the mix. All the
just mentioned signal processing definitely applies here, too.
The Rockman headphone guitar amp, invented by Tom Scholz in the mid 1980's, started the revolution in
small, electronic amp simulators. Rackmount guitar pre-amps have gotten very sophisticated in the last
few years, offering tube pre-amp stages, multi-effects, MIDI and memory capabilities. There's still nothing
quite like a Gibson Les Paul into a 100 watt Marshall stack, but that can get dificult for the neighbors!
c. Samplers, Synthesizers and Drum Machines
All of these devices have direct outputs and can be connected straight to your mixer. A lot of them also
include built-in effects and it's up to you whether you want to print them "wet" or "dry". It will probably
depend on how many tracks you've got to play with, but you can print sounds and their effects seperately.
This way if you change your mind about that "big reverb", you're not locked in.
Playing one sound at a time to tape has never been a problem but these days, there's a lot of sequencing
going on and most of these boxes only have 2 or 4 outputs. In 4 or 8-track recording, this is an asset and
you just have to mix the sounds from inside the box. In a professional 24 or 48-track situation, you'll want
individual sounds on individual tracks. Two ways to do this are mute the sequencer tracks and record each
sound in successive passes or turn down the internal volumes of all the sounds and turn one on at a time as
you make passes.
Drum machines are a powerful tool and have become a mainstay of modern music making. They all have
unique sounds and many have become associated with specific types of music i.e. the Roland 808 and
EMu SP-12 with rap and the Roland 909 with dance. Some also have sampling capabilities and built-in
audio triggering for replacing sounds off tape. Earlier models were designed with pads for programming,
and some people still prefer that. Now most are available as sound modules like any other synth and the
programming is simply done from the keyboard and sequencer.
Samplers are basically digital recorders. The earliest models could only record and playback one sound at
a time. In the early 80's, many a snare was replaced by hand with a steady index finger and the AMS
sampler. Two of the earliest MIDI samplers were the Akai S-612 and Ensoniq Mirage. They were 8-bit,
which refers to their sampling resolution. Technically, the higher the resolution, the more accurate the
sample. Again, specs are one thing and sound is another. These boxes all sound different and they do what
they do, differently. If you like the sound of your old 12-bit box, then go for it.
Polyphonic samplers began to appear in the mid 80's, among them the Casio FZ-1 and Akai S-900.
Resolution evolved to 12-bit and then 16-bit and MIDI made these boxes even more powerful. In the
studio, samplers are great for quick repairs, flying vocals around or moving tracks. A sequencer and a
sampler locked to tape in the mix can be real handy for those last minute repairs and arrangement changes.
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