Practical Recording Techniques

Fifth Edition

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Practical Recording Techniques

The Step-by-Step Approach to Professional Audio Recording

Fifth Edition

Bruce Bartlett Jenny Bartlett

AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD

PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO

Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier

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Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK

Copyright © 2009, by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bartlett, Bruce. Practical recording techniques / Bruce Bartlett, Jenny Bartlett. — 5th ed. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-240-81144-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Magnetic recorders and recording—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Sound—Recording and reproducing—Digital techniques—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Sound—Recording and reproducing—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Bartlett, Jenny. II. Title. TK7881.6.B367 2008 621.389’3–dc22

2008030765

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-0-240-81144-4

For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.books.elsevier.com

08 09 10 11 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

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To family, friends, and music.

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DEDICATION ........................................................................................................................................v

PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................. ix

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................................................................xiii

CHAPTER 1 Music: Why You Record .................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 2 The Recording Chain .........................................................................................5

CHAPTER 3 Sound, Signals, and Studio Acoustics .........................................................15

CHAPTER 4 Equipping Your Studio ................................................................................... 37

CHAPTER 5 Monitoring .........................................................................................................67

CHAPTER 6 Microphones .....................................................................................................79

CHAPTER 7 Microphone Technique Basics ................................................................... 101

CHAPTER 8 Microphone Techniques............................................................................... 123

CHAPTER 9 Digital Recording ...........................................................................................165

CHAPTER 10 Effects and Signal Processors ...................................................................195

CHAPTER 11 Mixers and Mixing Consoles ...................................................................... 237

CHAPTER 12 Mixer Operation ............................................................................................ 257

CHAPTER 13 Computer Recording....................................................................................289

CHAPTER 14 Judging Sound Quality ................................................................................. 331

CHAPTER 15 Session Procedures, Mastering, and CD Burning .................................357

CHAPTER 16 The MIDI Studio: Equipment and Recording Procedures ...................381

CHAPTER 17 On-Location Recording of Popular Music ..............................................407

CHAPTER 18 On-Location Recording of Classical Music ............................................439

CHAPTER 19 Surround Sound: Techniques and Media ................................................ 457

CHAPTER 20 Web Audio and Online Collaboration.......................................................493

APPENDIX A dB or Not dB ..................................................................................................509

APPENDIX B Optimizing Your Computer for Multitrack Recording ...........................521

APPENDIX C Impedance ...................................................................................................... 535

APPENDIX D Where to Learn More ...................................................................................541

GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................................... 547

INDEX ...............................................................................................................................................607

Practical Recording Techniques Demo Web Site ...................................................................631

ONLINE at www.elsevierdirect.com/companions/9780240811444See the Practical Recording Techniques Demo Web Site section for the

passcode to access this site.

Contents

vii

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ix

Recording is a highly skilled craft combining art and science. It requires technical knowledge as well as musical understanding and critical listening ability. By learning these skills, you can capture a musical performance and reproduce it with quality sound for the enjoyment and inspiration of others.

Your recordings will become carefully tailored creations of which you can be proud. They will be a legacy that can bring pleasure to many people for years to come.

This book is intended as a hands-on, practical guide for beginning recording engineers, producers, musicians—anyone who wants to make better music recordings by understanding recording equipment and techniques. I hope to prepare the reader for work in a home stu-dio, a small professional studio, or an on-location recording session.

Practical Recording Techniques offers up-to-date information on the latest music recording technology, such as hard-disk and Flash mem-ory recorders, computer recording, loop-based recording, keyboard and digital workstations, MIDI, surround sound, Web audio, and online collaboration. But it also guides the beginner through the basics, showing how to make quality recordings with the new breed of inexpensive home-studio equipment.

The fi rst chapter answers the question, “ Why do we record? ” Next, the book overviews the recording chain to instill a system concept. The basics of sound, signals and studio acoustics are explained so that you’ll know what you’re controlling when you adjust the controls on a piece of recording equipment or build a studio. Then advice is given on equipping a home studio for any style of recording, with examples of equipment manufacturers.

Studio setup is covered next, including cables and connections, choosing monitor speakers, and preventing hum.

Preface

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PREFACEx

Each piece of recording equipment is explained in detail, as well as the control-room techniques you’ll use during actual sessions. Two chapters are devoted to the technology of digital recording, audio for video and MIDI sequencing. A major chapter on computer recording covers the latest ways of creating and recording music. Two sections on remote recording cover techniques for both popular and classical music.

A special chapter explains how to judge recordings and improve them. The engineer must know not only how to use the equipment, but also how to tell good sound from bad.

The latest developments in recording are surround sound, Web audio, and online collaboration. All these topics are covered in detail in their own chapters.

Finally, four appendices explain the decibel, suggest how to optimize your computer for multitrack recording, explain impedance, and sug-gest further education.

On the book’s Web site at www.elsevierdirect.com/companions/9780240811444 are audio samples that demonstrate various topics explained in the book. Throughout the text, references to specifi c Web site tracks guide the reader to relevant audio demonstrations.

Based on my work as a professional recording engineer, this book is full of tips and shortcuts for making great-sounding recordings, whether in a professional studio, project studio, on-location, or at home. You’ll fi nd many topics not covered in similar texts:

Loop-based recording Hum prevention tips The latest monitoring methods Examples of mic models by type Microphone selection guide Tonal effects of microphone placement Glossary of sound-quality descriptions The latest types of digital recorders Up-to-date coverage of computer recording Optimizing your computer for multitrack recording Documenting the recording session Audio-for-video techniques On-location recording

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PREFACE xi

Troubleshooting bad sound; guidelines for good sound Audio on the Web Selling your music online File sharing for online collaboration Surround sound, DVD, and Blu-ray

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xiii

Thank you to Nick Batzdorf of Recording magazine for giving me per-mission to draw from my “ Take One ” series. For my education, thank you to the College of Wooster, Crown International, Shure Brothers Inc., Astatic Corporation, and all the studios I’ve worked for.

Thank you to Catharine Steers, Beth Howard, Emma Baxter, Becky Golden-Harrow, Dawnmarie Simpson, and Joanne Tracy at Focal Press/Elsevier for their fi ne work and support.

My deepest thanks to Jenny Bartlett for her many helpful suggestions as a layperson consultant and editor. She made sure the book could be understood by beginners.

A note of appreciation goes to Sting, Uncle Earl, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, the Pat Metheny Group, and Samuel Barber ( “ Adagio for Strings ” ), among many others, whose music inspired the chapter “ Music: Why You Record. ”

We appreciate the following manufacturers who provided photos of their products: Edirol, Boss, Korg, Alesis, Mackie, Frontier Design, Crown International, Audio-Technica, M-Audio, TASCAM, Zoom, Eventide, Rane, Lexicon, CamelAudio, Izotope, Line 6, RML Labs, E-MU, PreSonus, Digidesign, Cakewalk, Propellerhead Software, CD Baby, TuneCore, and imeem (Snocap, Inc.).

Finally, to the musicians I’ve recorded and played with, a special thanks for teaching me indirectly about recording.

Acknowledgments

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