my studio manual

8/13/2019 My Studio Manual

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To daMy Studio ManualFire Exit

Fire Extinguisher

Control Room A

Control Room B

Live RoomB

Live RoomA

ire Exit

Health and Safety (Boring)In the music studios we have many different ways to prevent fires and reduce the amounts of accidents.We have various rules in place to ensure that the workspace is a safe place. Some of the rules we have inthe studios are very basic, for example. You are not allowed to eat or drink inside the studios for veryobvious reasons. We dont want water to get into the equipment because it will be ruined and it could bevery dangerous. Another unspoken rule is that we dont leave cables tangled on the floor. This is mainlybecause it could cause trip hazards and it could be dangerous.

As for fire regulations we have an assembly point on the cricket field nearby where Rich or Andy willcheck that there isnt anyone left inside using the register. We also have two fire exits in the studio areawhich are marked on the diagram above where you will also find the fire extinguisher. As for inside thestudios we have visual fire alarms because if youre listening to music in the studio which is soundproof(Apparently) you wont be able to hear the fire alarm which could be dangerous so we have flashing lightsto let us know.

We also have our electrical equipment pat tested once a year to make sure that they are workingproperly and arent faulty because in the worst case scenario that could cause an electrical fire.

As for first aid we have a first aid kit in Richs office.


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Channel Strip

+48

Sub

Line

Tape ReturnInput Gain

Phantom PowerMic/Line

PhaseSub

Low Cut In FIL

Frequency

Threshold

Release

Hold

Flip

Range

Channel

In Gate

HF

LF

Mon

Gain

HMF

LMF

Mon

In


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Aux 1

Aux 2

Aux 3

Aux 5

Aux 4

Aux 6

CH

Post

Pan

1-2

3-4

5-6

7-8

Mix

Bnce

XFX

REV

Fader

Pan

Fader

M1

M2

M3 M4

Cut

PFL

Solo

Cut


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Channel Strip

Top section:

Tape Return: Additional control when playing it back

Gain: Controls the amount of audio signal that goes into the desk. This is quite useful whenyour audio is clipping or if its quiet for some reason.

Phantom power: This gives additional power to condenser microphones. This is a commonthing people forget about and its quite frustrating changing leads and mics because youthink they dont work when youve just forgotten to turn on phantom power.

Sub: The sub button allows the output from one of the eight mix buttons to be switchedinto the channel path allowing for full subgrouping.

Low Cut: The low cut is used for taking away the low end that isnt being used. Somecommon examples of this being used would be on mic overheads and on female vocals.

Line: Selects mic or line for different inputs, switches between XLR and Jack cables.

Phase: This reverses the phase for the selected input to compensate for conflictingmicrophone position for example if youre using two mics to mic up both skins on the snaredrum.

Noise Gate:

FIL:This places a wide band pass filter in the side chain.

Frequency: This selects the frequency that the gate will affect.

Threshold: This determines the volume below which the signal will be attenuated.

Release: This determines how long the gate will take before it returns to its normal state

when the signal passes the threshold. Hold: This is the amount of time the gate is left open after the signal has gone past thethreshold.

Flip: This flips the behaviour of the gate so the signal will only pass when they are below thethreshold

Range: This determines the difference in level between the gate on and gate off. If therange is set to max no signal goes through the gate when it closes.

Channel: Pressing this swaps the gate to the channel path.


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In: This turns this section of the desk on.

Shelving EQ:

Mon: This applies it to the monitors.

HF: This affects the Signal above 12k

LF: This affects the Signal below 80 Hz

In: This quite simply turns on the shelving EQ. Without this pressed on the signal will bypassit.

Semi Parametric EQ:

IN: Again this just turns on the EQ section. If you fail to do this the signal will bypass it.

Gain: there are two gain switches on the eq and you have to select the frequency you wantto effect using the HMF and LMF dials. With that you use the gain to boost or cut thatcertain frequency.

Mon: This applies the effect to the monitors.

Aux:

Ch: This sources them from the channel.

Post: This sets the aux to post fade.

Aux 1, Aux 2, Aux 3, Aux 4, Aux 5 and Aux 6: Aux 1 and 2 are used for headphones andmonitors. Aux 3-6 are mainly used for effects sends, these are always in the monitors.


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Top Fader:

Pan: This pan is different than the one mentioned below. This pan is used for selectingwhich group output you want. For example if you select group output 1-2 you would panhard right to select 2 and you would pan hard left to select 1.

1-2: This sends the signal to group output 1 or 2 depending on the pan.




Bnce: Pressing this button unhooks the monitor path from the mix bus. This is useful fordoing live recording because it allows easy bouncing of tracks and sub-grouping.

XFX:This moves the source point for the channel fader to post the monitor fader so thatyou can use the tape send as an additional send when mixing.

Rev: This switches the function for the channel fader and the monitor fader and is only usedin certain circumstances.

Cut: The fader has a +10db gain at the top of it and is cut by the cut switch.

PFL:This allows direct monitoring of the signal at the input of the channel fader or the

output of the channel CUT Switch.

Bottom Fader:

Pan: Pan is useful if you want the overhead mics from the drums to sound like the yrecoming from different directions. Rather than having all the drums coming through bothheadphones you could pan the overheads so one is going to the left and one is going to theright.

Solo : as you may expect this button solos this channel so it is the only channel playing. Thisis quite useful if youre not sure what is going through this channel. You can just solo it andwhatever is playing is coming through that channel.

Cut: The fader has a +10db gain at the top of it and is cut by the cut switch.

M1, M2, M3, and M4: these are the group mute channels. When you press one down itmeans that channel has become part of a group mute. So when you press the master M1 forexample at the end of the desk all channels that has M1 selected will become muted. This is

very useful for if you want to mute all vocals for a moment or all of the drums etc.


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The Live Room

The live room is located opposite the main studio with windows facing each other so youcan see people in live room and vice versa. This room is mainly used for recording live drumsso it has a full drum kit set up in there. It also has many mic stands and many leads whichare used for when you set up mics for recording the drums (will get to that later). Lastly thelive room has the stage box setup inside which is connected to the mixing desk via themulticore. The stage box is made up of 16 XLR inputs for the microphones.

To record a microphone from the live room you firstly need to connect one XLR to input 1for example. On the mixing desk you would have to select your channel of choice and selectcroup output 1-2 and hard pan it to the left to select input 1 and like magic you will getsignal from the microphone.

Simple Recording

To undertake a basic recording you dont really need to do much. When we recorded anelectric guitar from the live room we connected the guitar through the DI box and then intothe stage box. We put it into input 1 on the stage box and this sent it to group output 1-2 onthe desk. Then all we had to do was select a channel and hard pan it to the left to selectinput 1 and we had signal!

Di recording

When we recorded a guitar for one of the songs we decided to use DI recording (DirectInjection) and in this case we plugged the guitar through the preamp on the outboardequipment which acts as an amplifier. This is connected to the computer through the patchbay. Once we plugged the guitar into the preamp we routed it to channel 25 on the patchbay which was group output 1 on the mixer. At this point we selected group output 1-2 andhard panned it to the left.


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TL Audio c 2021 valve compressor indigo series

What is this?

The TL Audio c 2021 valve compressor indigo series is a valve compressor used for linelevel instruments.

Specs:

Frequency response 10Hz to 40KHz, +0, -1dB. Threshold -20dBu to +20dBu, Attack 0.5msec or 20msec, Release 40msec or 2 seconds, Ratio 1:1.5 to 1:30, Gain Make-Up 0 to +20dB.


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Joemeek Photo Optical Stereo Compressor Sc2.2

What is this?

The Joemeek Photo Optical Stereo Compressor Sc2.2 is a stereo compressor used forbussing channels.

Specs

Analogue display of compression Attack/Release Input Gain Output Gain Slope Compression Overload margin - 30dB on Mic and Line inputs in normal operation Ratio minimum approx. 1.5 to 1 Ratio maximum approx. 8 to 1


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Joemeek Meequalizer

What is this?

The Joemeek Meequalizer is a double semi parametric EQ that can be used for two channelsat once.

Specs:

Semi parametric EQ Gain Bass Frequency Mid

Treble In/out


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Mesa engineering preamp rectifier recorder

What is this?

The Mesa engineering preamp rectifier recorder is a dual channel preamp used for line levelinstruments.

Specs:

2x Jack inputs

Gain Treble Mid Bass Presence Master Clean/Grit Flip switch Raw/Modern Flip switch Output

Output Live Solo


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Focusrite Platinum twin track pro

What is this?

The Focusrite Platinum twin track pro is a dual channel mic preamp with a build incompressor.

Specs:

2x XLR input 48v Phantom Power on both channels 2x Jack input Dual Optical Compressors Level controls Impedance controls

Input Gain Line/mic High Gain


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The Patch Bay

Above is one strip of the patch bay! (Exciting)

Routing to the Compressor whilst recording:

To send the signal from a channel strip whilst recording we have to use the patch bay. Wehave to find the patch strip for our channel and we have to use a bantam lead to send oursignal through INS SND into the Left side of the compressors input. (The input is stereohowever we are running it mono so we only put the bantam lead in the left side) Then wehave to return the signal through the compressors output so we put it through the left sideof the output and send it to INS RET back on the channels patch strip.

Routing to the outboard equipment after recording:

To route the signal after recording its almost the same as doing it whilst recording . To do itafter recording you need to select the rev button on the channel strip. Once you have donethis you need to route it through the patch bay like I talked about just before and after thatis done you just have to re-record it on logic once you have the desired sound.

Spreading your recording across the desk:

Once you have done all your recording you have the option to spread your mix across thedesk. If you want to do this you have to switch to the bottom set of faders which are usedfor mixing. Firstly we need to change the output of every channel on logic. We have toassign every channel to a different output for this to work. At the moment they are all set tostereo and this is the first two channels on the mixer and they are the left and righ t. So letssay we have eight tracks on logic, we need to assign them all to a group output so the firsttwo are set to group output 1-2. Once we have done this we need to hard pan them onlogic. So the first channel will be group output 1-2 and panned hard left to select output 1.Once you have done this for all the channels you will be able to mix them on the desk.

LINE IN INS SND INS RET CH OUT TP SND TP RET MON IN


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Mix down/bouncing of the desk:

Bouncing your mix of the desk is quite similar to recording through the desk. Firstly you have

to press the bounce button on all the channels you wish to bounce and that will send themto the top set of faders. Then you have to send all the channels to the same group outputand have that output on a channel on logic and then you have to re-record your mix on logicand you will have your bounce with all your levels from the desk!


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Drum Recording

Selecting Mics:

Kick: Audix F15 (Dynamic) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Top Snare: Shure SM57 (Dynamic) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Bottom Snare: Sennheiser E 845(Dynamic) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Rack Tom: Audix F10 (Dynamic) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Floor Tom: Audix F10 (Dynamic) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Hi Hat: Audix F15 (Condenser) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Left Overhead: Neumann (Condenser) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Right Overhead: Neumann (Condenser) (Cardioid Polar Pattern)

Mic Placement:

Rather than describe the microphone placement to you I will show you pictures of the

microphones.

Kick:

As you can see we have placed themicrophone just outside the skin of thekick drum. I preferred the way the kicksounded like this. Other ways you can set

this up would to put the mic all the wayinside the drum or to place it further awayto get more sound of the room with it.


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Top Snare:

In this photo you can see the SM57 isplaced as close as we can have it without itgetting in the way of the drummer. Wehave the microphone aimed at the centreof the snare skin.

Bottom Snare:

For the bottom snare we had themicrophone placed underneath the snareand away from the hi hat pedal. Themicrophone is near the centre of the skinand is trying to pick up more the sound of

the snares on the bottom.

Rack Tom:

The Rack tom is held on with a clip thatattaches to the metal bar that holds the skindown. We have the cable wrapped neatlyaround the clip as to not touch and cymbalsnear it. The microphone is aimed near thecentre of the skin.


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Floor Tom:

With the floor tom microphone we had to becareful as to where the cable went because itwas inbetween two cymbals. Like the rack tomthis is also held on by a clip and is aimed atthe centre of the skin.

Hi Hat:

As you can see this mic is aimed inbetweenthe dome of the hi hat and the edge. This is totry and get more of the signal of the hi hatopening rather than the top of the hi hat.

Over Heads:

The position over the overheads we used iscalled the X/Y position. This is used to gatherthe sound of the room rather than just thecymbals below.


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Setting Levels:

Before you start recording drums you need to set the levels and make sure youre gettingenough signal through the desk and to check you havent forgotten to turn on the phantompower or something like that. For this we need to drummer to hit each individual drum tocheck were getting a nice amount of signal through the desk and to make sure it isntpeaking. After we have done this we need to get the drummer to play a full beat to makesure that when he plays properly the sound d oesnt peak any of the channels.

Routing Multi Channel Signals:

To route multiple signals from the live room to the mixing desk isnt as complicated as youwould think. Firstly you have to put all of the xlrs in the right order on the stage box. Theorder of the xlrs should go kick, top snare, bottom snare, rack tom, floor tom, hi hat, leftoverhead and the right overhead. Now we have to leave the live room and go look at themixer. Firstly we have to select the correct group outputs. So you select the same output onthe desk as the patch bay, so for example the kick is going through input 1 on the stage boxand we will select group output 1-2 and pan hard left to select output 1. Dont forget to turnon the phantom power for the three condenser mics and we need to reverse the phase onthe bottom snare. Now on logic we need to create 8 channels and select the correct inputwhich matches the outputs on the desk!

Recording Drums:

Now we have all the correct inputs and the channels set up on logic we need to record somelive drums! For this we need to drummer to wear his headphones so we can talk to him andso he can hear the click and himself. For the headphones to work we need to turn on theheadphone unit which is below the outboard equipment. Once we have done to this we cantalk to them through a microphone built into the desk. Next we would have to do a practicetake to make sure that they dont peak any levels and to check that they can hearthemselves and the click. After that youre ready to record some live drums!

Written by Sam Price Haworth

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