studio a' manual
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Studio A ManualBy Callum Trotter
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Index:
Building diagram Health and safety Control room A diagram Control room equipment list and functions Different types of connections used:
Balanced cables Unbalanced cables Computer connectors Bantam cables (Patch leads)
Explanation of the terms: Audio Interface Signal Levels Direct Injection Patch Bay VU Meter Noise Gate Parametric EQ Shelf EQ Outboard Compressor
Diagram/explanation of a channel strip Microphones available How to route signals from the live room to the desk then to the computer
via an external compressor?
Different drum microphone set ups
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Diagram of building
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Health and safety
No food or drink in control rooms and live rooms/studios.
Be careful of wires running around the control room and live rooms.
No running.
All the equipment should be tested before use. To make sure it is
safe to use.
No smoking.
No blocking fire exists with items or people. There are 3 fire exist.Nowhere the exists are.
No we're the fire extinguishers are; there is one in the meeting
room.
Red emergency lights on the ceiling flash to show that there is a
fire in control room and live rooms.
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Control room A diagram
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Control room equipment list and functions
Soundesk:Soundcraft Sapphyre
Soundcards:2x Motu 240mk3
Motu 1224
Motu Mixer 7s3x Proteus/1 Emu Systems
Motu Midi Time Piece 2
Outboard equipment (racks):TL Audio IVORY-SERIES EQ-5013 (valve equaliser)
TL Audio INDIGO-SERIESJoemeek Photo Optical Stereo Compressor SC2.2
Frocusrite Platinum TwinTrak ProMasa Preamp Rectifier
Samson Powerstrip PS11Yamaha SPX90
Roland DEP-5
Sony Delay Unit DPS-D7
MIDI keyboard:Evolution MK-3612
Mac Pro:Logic Pro
Logic Pro XMelodyne
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Different types of connections used
Balanced cablesBalanced cables consist of three conductors. One is the positive, one for thenegative and one for the ground. Three conductors ensure maximum protectionagainst hum and interference. Balanced cables work by combining two signalsthat are out of phase from each other. When two identical signals of identical
volume are combined and one is 180 degrees out of phase from the other oneyou have complete cancellation of that audio. However if one of those signals isa different volume, you dont get complete cancellation. This is the principle
that makes a balanced audio path work. You can get both balanced XLR and jack
cables. Balanced jack cables will have two black rings around the end of theconnector. We mainly use balanced cables in the studio as they reduce
interference.
Unbalanced cablesUnbalanced cables consist of two conductors. One is audio signal and the otherone is the ground. The only problem with unbalanced cables is that they can pickup interference from radio frequencies or electromagnetic fields causing noise
and buzzing. Unbalanced jack cables have only one black ring around the end ofthe connector.
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Computer connectorsUSB cables are used for connecting the MIDI keyboard to the Mac. The
interface is USB 2.0. The USB cable interface is from male pin to a female pin
for the MIDI keyboard. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus. The maincomputer connectors we use are FireWire 400. The reason why FireWire 400
has a much faster data transfer than USB 2.0. When transferring big audio
files between the Mac and soundcards this is needed.
Bantam cables (Patch leads)Bantam cables or patch leads are used for the patch bay only and they are muchshorter than most cables used in the studio. The patch bay is connected to the
mixing desk and then to the outboard racks and soundcards. The mixing consolehas its own patch bay for inputting and outputting signals. For the racks andsoundcards to receive these signals there is an outside patch bay for inputs and
outputs. The bantam cables and patch bay is the interface that allows you tosend signals around the studio equipment. The cable is like a jack lead in shapebut much thinner.
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Explanation of the terms
Audio InterfaceAn audio interface is a piece of hardware that allows you to record and playbackaudio from a computer. As computers became more used outside of the officeenvironment in the early 90s, the hardware inside the machines had to beupgraded for the task that needed more power. Audio interfaces or soundcards
had to evolve from basic circuit boards that could only handle a beep to multi-channel recording and playback. Internal soundcards only featured an output forspeakers/ headphones and an input for microphones. Most soundcards featured
a main problem known as latency. Latency is whereby if you are recording
something, there is a noticeable delay between the actual sound and its playbackthrough your speakers or headphones. This couldnt be used for recording in a
more professional way. The architecture of the soundcards became morepowerful, more inputs and outputs where added and a more powerful power
supply was needed. This wasnt going to fit into a computer so external
soundcards were introduced. The latency problem was quickly addressed for theprofessional environment. Most soundcards are connected to a computer/Mac
via a FireWire or a USB cable.
Signal LevelsSignal levels or Line levels is the strength of an audio signal used to transmit
analogue and digital sound between audio hardware and software. The hardwareconsists of speakers, games consoles, radios, CD players, DVD players, TVs,
computers, Macs, soundcards, audio amplifiers, professional outboard equipment
and mixing consoles. The software consists of DAWs (Digital AudioWorkstation) software such as Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, FruityLoops
Studio, Reason, Cubase and Audacity. All this software can record, edit and
playback digital audio.
Direct InjectionA Direct Injection or more commonly used phrase DI, is a device that is used in
live and recording environments to connect line level (Jack cable) and XLR
cables. DI boxes are usually used to connect various instruments andmicrophones from electric guitars, basses, keyboards, condenser and dynamic
microphones to a mixing console through one main cable. These are used for longdistances from the instruments and microphones to the mixing console.
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Patch BayA patch bay or patch panel is a device that allows you to connect differenttypes of devices together like microphones, electric guitars, keyboards and
outboard equipment such as EQ, compression and reverb racks. Patch bays are
widely used in recording and live sound. In a recording studio there is manyoutboard equipment. Patch bays make it easy to connect different devices in
different orders for different projects. All of the changes can be made at the
patch bay.
VU MeterA VU (Volume Unit) Meter is a device that displays a representation of a signal
level in audio equipment. You will find VU Meters on most audio equipment
ranging from mixing consoles, amps and outboard racks. This gives a clearindication of how strong the signal is. Some outboard compression racks have
VU Meters to show how the compression is effecting the audio.
Noise GateA noise gate is a piece of hardware or software that is used to control the
volume of an audio signal. You set the threshold of when you want the gate to
open at. If you have a snare drum reaching volume of -6 dB but can also hear
other sounds at lower volume like the overheads then putting the threshold at -6 dB will only allow that volume of sound to come through the noise gate. Putting
it down to -10 dB threshold the overheads can still be heard. Increasing it up to-4 dB the snare sound wont be heard at all. The signal is not strong enough to
pass through the noise gate. Noise gates are very important in the studio and inlive sound as this can single out audio signals to be heard more clearly.
Parametric EQ
A Parametric EQ is a more complex type of equalizer that allows you to controlmore parameters of the sound than other equalizers. It allows you to control
the level (boost or cut), the frequency and the bandwidth. The level of each
frequency band can be controlled, the centre frequency can be shifted and the
bandwidth can be widened and narrowed. Parametric equalizers are capable ofmaking much more precise alterations to sound than other equalizers.
Parametric equalizers are used mainly in studio recording and live sound.
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Shelf EQ
Shelf EQs are equalizers designed for low and high frequencies to be enhancedby boost or reducing volume levels of those frequencies. Using Shelf EQs forenhancing high frequencies like cymbals, adding a few dBs at 10 KHz. You can
edit the level, frequency and bandwidth.
Outboard CompressorAn Outboard compressor is a compressor that is hardware form rather than
software based. Outboard compressors are used a lot in studio recording andlive sound, but mainly for studio recording. Outboard compressor do exactly the
same thing as a software compressor, so reducing the higher frequencies and
increasing the lower frequencies but with a much warmer, richer sound. What
people dont realise is that sound carries a lot a data and even in todays worldof computers being very powerful software compressors are designed to cut
down the audio data by a certain percentage to simply reduce the processingpower for the computers processers. This means that you are not getting all the
audio data that has been compressed. Outboard/rack compressors dont do this
as they only have one process to contend with. Outboard compressors are
connected to the sound cards and computer though patch leads to patch bay.
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Gain control:
This the main gain control formicrophone and line input.The top Knob is the gain
control for microphones andthe bottom knob is thecontrol for line inputs.
Line input:
This is the button you click ifyou are using a line input.
hantom power:Click this button to
ctivate power supply to
ondenser microphones.
Phase reverse:
This button reverses thephase of the selected input
to compensate for conflicting
microphone positioning.
100Hz fixed frequency:
This button is a fixed frequency
at 100Hz for the input.
SUB:
The sub button allows the
utput from one of eightmix busses to be switched
nto the channel path,llowing subgrouping.
Diagram/explanation of a channel stripChannel Path
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oise gate:he (GATE)Inbutton
ctivates the noise gate in
he signal path and this is
ormally placed in theonitor path. Pressing CH
waps the gate to the
hannel path.
ip:he Flip button clickedwitch swaps the source
or the sidechain to thether signal path. The
dechain is normally fed
rom the source feedinghe ate.
NGE:
his button increases the
ttenuation range of theate from 15 dB to 60 dB.
THR:
This button is the
THReshold control thatallows the opening of the
gate to be varied from -40
dB to +10 dB.
IN(FIL):This button switchesplaces a wide bandpass
filter in the sidechain.
Having a centre frequencyvariable from 70Hz to
4kHz by the FILknob.
REL:
The RELease knob control
varies the recovery timeafter gating from 0.1 to 4
seconds. If HOLDispressed the release time isfixed at 0.1 seconds and
RELthe HOLDtime for 2
seconds.
HUT:
he SHUT LEDuminates to show when
he gate is shut and not in
se.
Noise Gate
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There are six Auxiliary
Sends. They are arranged in
two sections. Aux 1 and 2 are
intended primarily for fold
back and are normally pre-
fade and in the monitor path.
Pressing CH sources them
from the channel and POST
makes the post-fade. Aux 1
is a stereo send and follows
the channel or monitor
panpot when on pre-fade.
Aux 3-6 are intended mainlyfor effects sends. They are
permanently in the monitor
path and in post fade.
Control knobs:
These determine how much you
want to send to the Auxiliary.
Auxiliary Sends
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HANNEL FADER:
his sets the level sent to the
ape send, sub group busses orix. The fader has 10 dB of gain
t the top and can be cut
together by the CUTbutton.
Recording Fader
REV(FDR):
This button switches the top
fader with the bottom fadergiving you more control over the
gain.
CH PAN:
This is patented active channelpan that determines the control
of the audio signal within the
stereo (L-R) mix and routes thesignal to any of the eight group
outputs via ROUTING
SWITCHES. Panning left feeds
the signal to odd numberedbusses and panning right to
even busses. The MIXbutton
routes the channel signal to thestereo mix bus so you can use
the channel path another input.
This fader is manly used forrecording.
XFX:
The XFXbutton moves the
source point for the channel
fader to post the monitor faderso that you can use the tape send
as additional sends when mixing.
BNCE:
The BNCEbutton when pressed
sends every channel that is in thebounce to two output channels
ready to bounce.
FL(AFL):
he PFL(AFL) button allows
irect monitoring of the audiognal at either the input of the
hannel fader (PFL) or the output
f the channel CUT switch (AFL).
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Monitor Fader The channel fader output normallyfeeds the Tape Send socket and
signal level, this is selectable to +4
dBu or to -10 dBV by pressing the -10button on the rear panel. Although
the Tape Send can be sourced from
the group outputs corresponding to
the module position by pressing the
BUS-n button.
he monitor path is normally fed
rom the Tape Return input, to makese of the automatic input switching
n the tape machine. A trim control
ith a range of +/-10 dB is provided
n the lower section of the input
ain control and this is determined
t the nominal centre 0 dB point.Send(TAPE MON):
This button switches the feeds fromthe monitor path of that modules
Tape Send, enabling you to hear the
signal being sent to the tape. The
PANcontrol positions the signal
across the stereo bus at a level
determined by the long-throwmonitor FADER. This fader has +10
dB gain at the top of its travel and is
cut by the adjacent illuminated CUTbutton.
OLO:he monitor SOLO system is
ormally Solo-in-Place (SIP).ressing the solo button mutes all
he other monitor paths. Pressing
he SOLO button on a BNCEdhannel gives AFL/PFL instead,
epending on the PFL/AFL status on
he master module.
PEAKLED:
This is a multi-point peak detector
that illuminates when less than 6 dBof headroom remains at three critical
places in the signal chain.
CH ACTIVELED:
This monitors the output of the inputpre-amp and illuminates if the level
exceeds -20 dBu.
These are four mute buttons that
allow the monitor path to be
controlled by the master mute busses
from the master module.
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Microphones available
Shure SM57
Shure SM 58
2x Audix F10
Audix F15
3x Neuman KM 184
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How to route signals from the live room to the
desk then to the computer via an external
compressor?
First you need to record you need to record your audio. Once this is
done we are going to create a new channel in Logic and click the R to
record enable it. Your recorded audio is on channel 1 in the stereo
mix on the Monitor faders (bottom faders). We are going to send
this signal to a group output. Group output 2. We click group output
1-2 and then pan it to the right side. After this we click bounce.
Now when bounce is enabled to audio is being sent to the group
output, so dont panic that there is no audio coming out. We now
heard over to the patch bay and find group output 2 and insert the
patch lead into the Joe Meek compressor in left in. We then grab
another patch lead and insert it in Joe Meek compressor left
output and then in to the top patch bay on the racks any free input.So input 10.
On logic the new channel you created needs to have input 10 and
output whatever channel is free on the sound desk, so channel 4.
Loop your audio, out the volume fader up for channel 4 and make
sure the compressor is on and you will hear your audio going through
the compressor.
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Different drum microphone set ups
This is the startand way in setting up microphones to record a drum kit. As you
can see in the photo the overheads are placed either side of the drum kit. They
both face the snare and have to be the same length away from the snare
otherwise you can phase. You measure this just using a cable. This gives a more
wider steroe recording.
This positioning is called
the X & Y. In the photo
you can see that the
microphones are
positioned in the middle
of the drum kit. One
microphone is faced to
one side and the other
microphone to the other
side. This is a very good
way in capturing a
stereo image of the kit
with no phasing
problems.
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