Recording Handbook - Hol.gr
Recording Handbook - Hol.gr
Recording Handbook - Hol.gr
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levels of your boxes and how you interconnect them. When it's not right, it often hums or sounds a little<br />
screwed up. It still might work, but it will give you much less than optimum performance.<br />
To be sure that the sound at the source gets "through the gear and back to your ear", you need to check the<br />
"gain stages" in the "signal path". Distortion can crop up in several places. Step one is your ear! Make sure<br />
the sound at the source is what you want.<br />
Step two is the microphone or direct output of the guitar, synth or whatever. In the case of a microphone,<br />
the levels must be set carefully to ensure faithful reproduction of the input. Some mikes have a "pad"<br />
switch on them as do most mixers, to prevent overloading the input level.<br />
Step three is the input channel to the board. The level here must be set so that the signal doesn't overdrive<br />
the channel electronics. Once that is right, the signal can be sent to tape through the "bussing" matrix (or<br />
"<strong>gr</strong>oup outs" as they are sometimes called) or the direct out on the channel. Obviously with multiple<br />
signals to one track, they must go through the <strong>gr</strong>oup outs and the level to tape is controlled by the <strong>gr</strong>oup<br />
output level.<br />
Generally, in the analog world, very bright sounds get printed a little lower, to help prevent crosstalk bleed<br />
to adjacent tracks. Sharp transient sounds and low frequency stuff like bass can be printed hot to take<br />
advantage of tape compression. Slamming the tape isn't against the law, but make sure that's the sound<br />
you want. This is only an analog phenomenon, overdriving digital recorders results in highly unusable<br />
audio!<br />
Tape return levels are optimized for direct connection to the machine so if this has been done correctly,<br />
there is only one place left for distortion to be created... your monitor system. As long as you are aware of<br />
how your speakers and listening enviornment are affecting the sound and you listen within the volume<br />
limits of your amp and speakers, you should have a baseline for clean signal reproduction. Now, you can<br />
introduce distorton at any of these points in the chain to any effect you prefer.<br />
b. Equalization<br />
"Equalization" is the term used to describe the process of changing the balance between high and low<br />
frequencies. Equalizers allow us to selectively boost and/or cut specific frequencies or bands of<br />
frequencies. "Q" refers to the width or range around the centered frequency that we are EQing, that is also<br />
affected when we boost or cut. A narrow "Q" would be .2 of an octave, a wide "Q" would be 3 octaves.<br />
There are many types of equalizers and they get used in many different ways by different people. In<br />
general, "Parametric Equalizers" allow for very specific effect with adjustable Q and frequency control for<br />
each frequency band. "Graphic Equalizers" feature as many as 31 individual sliders centered on fixed<br />
frequencies. Tube equalizers utilize vacuum tubes in their circuits as oppossed to transistors ("solid state")<br />
and are often preferred for their warm sound.<br />
All mixers provide some kind of EQ, switchable on or off, in the signal path. These days semi-pro<br />
consoles usually feature a couple of overlapping bands of semi-parametric EQ on the low-mids(200-2K)<br />
and hi-mids(1.5K-7K), and one EQ each for the low(100 hz) and high(10K) bands with shelving switches<br />
and low-frequency roll-off. Professional consoles offer fully- parametric designs and more overall<br />
flexibility, as you might expect.<br />
Since we can't all afford Neve VR consoles at home, another option for small studios is outboard<br />
equalizers. Get a couple of good ones and insert them into the signal path and print through them to tape.<br />
This will definitely take your sounds up a notch without totally blowing your college fund.<br />
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