1. An explanation of the audio equipment specifications, types of connections, and cabling that can be found in the studio including; balanced and unbalanced connections, digital connectors, computer connectors, patch leads. (Unit 2, GC2, GC4) (done)2. An explanation of the terms audio interface, signal levels, direct injection, patch bay, VU Meter. Noise Gate, Parametric EQ, Shelf EQ. Outboard Compressor.(U2, GC3)3. A guide to the health and safety issues associated with working in the studio. (U31, GC1)4. A diagram/plan of the studio area, and explanation/diagram of a channel strip. (U31, GC1)5. An outline of available microphones and examples of suitable uses for each. (U31, GC1, U2, GC4)6. How to route signal from the live room to the desk then to the computer via an external compressor.(U49, GC1)7. The processes involved in your drum kit recording and mix, and creating your final stereo master.(U2, GC2, 3 & 4. U31 GC1)

Task: 1 Providea written studio manual (including video, photos, and diagrams) ex-plaining how you connect, set up, test and operate studio equipment (Unit 2, Criteria 2,3,4; Unit31, Criteria 1). POST TO PRIVATE WORKSPACE 2 Provide an audio file of your drum recording (Unit 48 GC2 PMD). POST TO COLLABORATIVE GROUP SITE

1). An explanation of the audio equipment specifications, types of connections, and cabling that can be found in the studio including; balanced and unbalanced connections, digital connec-tors, computer connectors, patch leads. (Unit 2, GC2, GC4).

Balanced connections- A balanced connection/connector concists of three conductors within the connector and also three wires within the actual cables itself. It also consists of a a ground wire and also two signals wires. Balanced connectors are long in size and usually range from 50-100 feet long in size meaning that it helps to protect noise a lot more because of the length of balanced cable (http://www.aviom.com/blog/balanced-vs-unbalanced/ Aviom.com 13/03/15 11:30am).

Balanced connection is extremely important in sound recording and also production because it tends to allow for the use of long cables as such which therefore work by reducing susceptibility and external noise also ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_audio wikepedia 13/03/15 11:42am). The three conductor connections which can be XLR or TSR phone connector are usually used within balanced connec-tions.

The XLR connectors will be one of the main balanced connectors which will be used within a studio as this is usual used along with mi-crophones because of their such durable constuction, with also TRS being used within the studio by being used for mixer inputs and out-puts because of their smaller profile (please refer to pitcures below or how a XLR connector works and how a TRS connectors works within a studio setting).

This is an example of an XLR connector being used on a mixing/sound desk.

This is an example of how an XLR connector may also be used within a studio, being used for a headset microphone.

unbalanced connections- On an unbalanced connector the connector will consist of two connectors with two conductors each which are then connected by two wires within the cable which are called a signal wire and a ground wire. within the cable the signal wire is usually in the center of the cable and then with the ground wire surrounding it. The ground wire has different purposes these being, that it carries some of

the audio signal and also serves to shield the main signal wire to some sort of degree to protect it from the outside / from noise such as the vibrations from the transformers and lights which may be used within a studio, and also shielding from the radio frequency that may produce interference which will come from tv and radio transmissions.

All in all unbalanced connections do a really good job of rejecting any noise around within the studio setting but the wire itself can some-times act as an antenna and therefore pick up noises of its own ac-cords. Examples of an unbalanced connector is, a standard tip sleeve guitar cable which may be used within a studio order pending on what the studio is being used for tending to be known as an unbalanced cable.

Also the standard RCA cable which tend to be used for AV compo-nents which therefore may be used within a studio are also known as an unbalanced cable/connector (http://www.aviom.com/blog/balanced-vs-unbalanced/ Aviom.com 13/03/15 12:47pm). (pictures shown below for examples of how the ca-bles for unbalanced connections are used within a studio setting).

This is an example of a tip sleeve guitar lead and it being used for a guitar within a studio set-ting showing that the tip carried sound and that the sleeve of the con-nector shields it from disturbances.

This is showing how a RCA cable which is an unbalanced connectors can be used within a studio in this case being connected to a speaker and the sounds/mixer board. (http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/beginner-tutorial-how-to-connect-your-s2-s4-to-speakers-and-headphones.185491/ na-tive instruments.com 13/3/15 13:07pm. Digital connectors- Digital visual interface is one of the main examples of a digital connector which is used within a music studio. Digital visual interface is known as a video display interface and is developed by the DDWG which is shortened for the digital display working group.

Digital connectors for example these ones in particular are used to help connect a video source for instance connecting a display control-ler to a display device which the display device might be a computer screen which can be found within a music studio when transmitting music and pictures onto a screen to be seen by the person within the studio working on the sound desk. This specific digital connector being the DVI-D which is digital only, interface is desighned to transmit un-compressed digital video as such and can be also configured to sup-port multiple modes/examples such as DVI-A which is analog only and also DVI-I which is both analog and digital. The example of digital connectors which i have used are DVI-Ds which are digital visual in-terfaces. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface 14/3/15 10:30am).

HDMI are also digital connectors and can also be used to perform the same thing as the DVI by tranmitting the images onto a computer screen but performs a better picture onto the screen. (The following images are of Digital Visual Interfaces which are commonly used within a music studio to transmit images onto a computer screen and i will also include pictures of the HDMI lead being used within a studio to and what might be tranmitted onto the screen within a fully equiped music studio).

this is a HDMI cable be-ing used with a sound/music/mixer board to transmit data onto a com-puter screen. Also using a computer system can be tranmitted onto a computer screen within a music studio.

This is a HDMI lead that you may see within the studio being used to transmit things onto a computer screen or different appliances such as an apple mac or ipad.

whilst using a HDMI lead this is a potential image which might be used within a music studio from garage band and logic express pro etc.

This is a digital visual inter-face connector being used within a studio to connect the equptment to the ipad which is featured in this picture to transmit the image or also the music being played on the midi keyboard to transfer on the screen.

This is digital visual interface which is used within studios on a regular basis. (http://www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk/guide/audiovisual-signal-types-and-interconnects 14/3/15 11:02am).

This is a different desighn of the digital visual interfaces which are used within the studio to submit data onto a screen.

Computer connectors- Computer cables/connectors are used to transmit data to and from the computer screen and system itself. For instance there will be different examples of cables and connectors that can be used to transmit stuff onto a computer system itself but then af-ter it has been put onto the computer system it then has to be imple-mented onto the computer screen. Common examples of this is that a usb port on the computer can except dad from either a USB itself or an external source where it is a usb to phone or other appliance ca-bles. Eitherway these cables allow users to save data onto the com-puter system and therefore visually see this data on a computer screen.

If the data cannont be accessed on a usb and has to be transferred straight from the device being used such as a midi keyboard then an-other connector such as a hdmi or DVI cable will be used in this in-stance to transfer data onto the computer screen. Also within a music studio we sometimes have to transfer data from a computer onto dif-ferent devices such as a speakers/studio monitors to transfer music for instance in the case of it being a music studio then a lead called a jack to jck lead or a aux lead. (the following images will explain the connectors that can be used within a studio for a computer by trans-mitting thing on and off and computer from and onto different devices. Their are three main computer connectors these being, Anolog video connectors, Digital display connectors and Ethernet cables, all of these computer connectors play a different roll for instance to input data and output data. Within a studio these computer connectors will be used for different things, for example the Analog video connectors will transmit a video onto the screen which might be used within a mu-sic video with the track running over the top of it, Digital display con-nectors will be used to input the music/backing track onto the com-puter to run over the video/music video in the case of the music stu-dio.

(pictures below are of these three main computer connectors being used within a music studio or studio in general).

These are Ana-log video connectors.

This is a sound board being connected to a computer within a music studio.

This is a Digital display connec-tor being used within a studio setting to connect a computer to a com-puter system.

This is what a digital display looks like and these will be used quite regular within a music studio.

These are called ethernet cables and are also used and recognised within a music studio being used to transmit data from a wireless router which will be used to ac-cess internet for the music studio which might need to be present to look up songs depending on what the studio is being used for.

This is one example of how an Ethernet cable may be used within a music studio to transfer internet onto computers within the studio setting. Patch leads- Patch leads are optical or electronic cables used to con-nect one electronic or also optical devices to another for Signal rout-ing which is also known as a patch in. Devices of different types for in-stance a switch which is connected to a computer, or even a switch connected to a router are all connected with these patch leads. Patch cords are usually come in a lot of different colours so they are easy to distinguish especially within a music studio this will come in handy, and they tend to be quite short in length, normally not being very much bigger than 2 metres which means that they work very well within mu-

sic studios because they dont take up too much room as some stu-dios have limited space. There are different types of patch cords which tend to include the main ones that are used within a music stu-dio these being, microphone cables, headphone extension cables, tiny telephone connector, XLR cable, RCA connectors and also 1/4 TRS connector cables.Patch cords tend to be as short as 3 inches long, to connect stacked components or route signals through something called a patch bay, or they can be also as long as twenty feet or more in length for the snake cables which are also patch leads which can be found within a music studio.Patch cords tend to be made of cables called coaxial cables with the signals being carried through a shielded core of the cable, and the electrical connection that are carried through a wire mesh which is surrounding the core. Each of the ends of these cables tend to be at-tached to a connector of some kind so that the cord can be plugged in. Connector types tend to vary a lot, especially with the adapting wires.Patch cords may be single-conductor wires for instance these can be connectors like, banana connectors as an example, Coaxial cable which for example are BNC connectors and also optical finer cables.

(below are going to be pictures of the three main connectors and patch leads that are used within a music studio or any sort of studio.)

These are general patch leads which have different colours to distinguish which ones are used for what, being very helpful whilst in a music studio as there are many wires being used at one time.

This is an example of how a single-conductor wire patch lead might be used within a music studio.

These are another type of patch lead used within the music studio called Coaxial cables.

These are examples of how a BNC patch lead connector might be used within a music studio.

2) An explanation of the terms audio interface, signal levels, direct injection, patch bay, VU Meter. Noise Gate, Parametric EQ, Shelf EQ. Outboard Compressor.(U2, GC3)

AUDIO INTERFACES- An audio interface is a piece of equipment that improves the sonic capacity of a computer however some audio inter-faces also give you the ability to plug in inputs such as; guitars, micro-

phones and a lot more various instruments. An audio interface also gives you the ability for a variety of outputs as well. In a more basic form audio interfaces are known to take all of the various audio inputs and this device converts all the various different audio inputs into digi-tal audio data. This piece of hardware will be used pretty much used in all studio settings especially a music studio. The hardware in this case will end up being the front end for nearly all of the inputs that will be getting used within a studio. The inputs that will be used on a audio in-terface are, for instance a digital input and an example of a digital in-put would be a distortion peddle which would be used for a guitar to distort the sound of the guitar which would be used for a number of different songs just like some which use this input often within the songs which will therefore be used on a regular basis within a music studio. Audio interfaces also will be used regular within a music studio because it lets you record external sounds such as vocals, and also instruments onto your computer, converting these all from analog to the required digital format. SIGNAL LEVELS- Signal levels are a very important part of the recording/music studio as signal levels determine a lot of sound qual-ity within a studio. The signal level is the amplitude of the desired sig-nal which will be used. Signal is mostly transferred from a wifi connec-tion which is normally used within a music/recording studio. Although most of the audio processing studio happens within the internals of computers that we use or also in a box for instance, as it is explained that it is still necessary to send the analogue signals in and also out of the digital domain, even if it is to simply listen back to the project, be it through headphones or also studio monitors as such. Audio signal levels are not that often quoted as being called voltages but are quoted as decibels. Consumer line level equipment tends to operate at a different signal level and also uses and different decibel scale as such. DIRECT INJECTION- Direct injection is commonly known as direct input. A Direct input is used in studios all around the world as they are used to connect output impedance, source impedance or internal im-pedance, line levels which transmits analogue sound to audio compo-nents like mixing consoles and amplifiers however this is usually all

done via an XLR cable. Direct Injections are usually used to connect instruments like electric guitars and bass guitars into a mixing desks jack input which is usually where you plug your headphones.PATCH BAY- Patch bay is used to connect a DI box to a mixing desk. A patch bay is also known to help change the signal level or signal flow amongst the devices within the studio making it a lot safer be-cause this makes it so that you dont have to crawl around the equip-ment to unplug or replug your wires and cables. In the simplest form patch bays are switchboards which are put in place within a studio used to reroute audio signals. There are also MIDI patch bays for re-routing midi signals also. VU METER- A VU meter is a device that displays the description of signal levels within audio equipment.It has been used by many years by the Acoustical Society of America for things like radio broadcasting stations and for telephone installations, considering a VU metre is a mechanical device it can never reflect the immediate signal peaks of complex audio signals. When being connected to an Impedance the VU meter should present 7500 ohms to the circuit it is in however it is also measured with a sinusoid signal which sets the indicator to 0 DB.NOISE GATE- A noise gate is a electronic piece of software that con-trols the volume of an audio signal such as; vocals. It is normally used to suppress any unwanted noise from a audio file for example; back-ground noise or even crossovers from other signal sources. But this is only done when the signal is at a low level. If you also adjust the re-duction to a higher level it will still play they low level sounds but at a weakened force.PARAMETRIC EQ- Parametric eq is a multi band equaliser which is irregular. It usually controls the three primary parameters: amplitude, centre frequency and bandwidth, The amplitude of each primary pa-rameter can be controlled and the centre frequency can be modified. Parametric equalisers are commonly used in sound recording due to because they are capable of making more precise adjustments to sounds than other equalisers, they are also sold as single outboard gear. Another example of a equaliser is a semi-parametric equaliser, which has also been known as a sweepable filter. It also lets people control the amplitude and frequency but with a preset setting, however

in other cases there are semi-parametric equalisers that also let you set between a wide and narrow preset bandwidth.SHELF EQ- There are two different types of shelf equalisation theres low-shelf and high shelf EQ. The only difference is low-shelf is used for decreasing where as high-shelf is used for increasing however only at certain frequencies will pass through the low-shelf cutoff and the rest will go through the high-shelf cutoff, this is a good way for chang-ing the frequencies within your mix however it is only used within an audio signal.OUTBOARD COMPRESSOR- A outboard compressor is mainly used within recording purpose, it helps you compress instruments like a snare drum to get a better quality sound before you have even started recording. Vocalists also use outboard compressors a lot while sing-ing, they will turn it on at the beginning of each song and it will bring out he loud parts of a song and level it out to a more even threshold where as the quieter sounds remain unaffected. However outboard compressors are not that easy to use, if you use too little or too much it can make a track sound horribly wrong! They can also be used with both live performances and within a recording studio.

3). A guide to the health and safety issues associated with work-ing in the studio. (U31, GC1)There are many health and safety issues which are associated with working within a music studio and many will be health and safety is-sues which will be an everyday issue with most places of work or even in peoples homes as well meaning that they will most [probably be more of an issue within a music studio because of all the equipment and the prices of equipment and also space in which to record in as studio are normally quite small. Below are examples of the different health and safety issues/hazards which can occur within a music stu-dio or a studio of any kind these include, Fire hazards, drinks/food, training, children within the studio, overcrowding the studio, use of drugs and alcohol, poor fire regulations, tripping hazards, electrical hazards, hearing damage, and also not servicing the equipment regu-lary. I will start with fire hazards:

Fire Hazard (wires/electricals): Wires being tangled can cause a fire if lifted tangled and in a mess, also stretching wires too much can cause a fire if the wires within are damaged and exposing the internal electrical wires. Also if the correct size wires are not used this could cause strain on the wires causing them to also expose internal electri-cal wires which can cause a fire and also cause an electric shock which could be life threatening. Drinks/Food- spilling drinks, damaging thousands of pounds worth of equipment, blow up (causing fire, see above), rodents being attracted from food and sticky substances not having the correct training- equipment could be used wrong and cause problems or ruin equipment, if equipment is used in the wrong way it can cause problem (i.e. fire or ruin the recording)

Having Children In The Studio (only under supervision)- If children start touching equipment which will most probably be inappropriate use of the equipment could mess up the current project that is being developed within the studio and also they could end up hurting them-selves and also others by for instance using the wires to hurt them-selves, I.E. chocking themselves. If young they could suck/chew on wires and have an electric shock which could cause devastating con-sequences. If the plug sockets aint covered they may get electric shock by putting their fingers in the holes, running about and knocking over expensive equipment, making too much noise so too loud to re-cord.

Too Many People In The Studio (clostaphobia)- knocking equip-ment over, getting aggravated with each other, too loud to record.

Use Of Drugs/Alcohol When Using Equipment- ruining equipment, inappropriate use of the equipment, judging things wrong, missing your step when walking, injuring yourself.

Poor Fire Regulations (fire exit not being is correct place)- every-thing is electrical so there is a high chance of a fire taking place and if the fire door is no where near the studio or the fire regulations are bad then this could mean they may get trapped within a fire.

Tripping Hazards (wires not tied back correctly)- wires being eve-rywhere and not tied back to ensure no one trips, hurting yourself, ruin equipment, unplugging equipment so it wont work as it should.

Electrical Hazards- dropping liquid and getting an electrical shock, using equipment wrong

Hearing Damage From Too Much Voltage From Amplifiers- having head phone on too loud, having a too much voltage in speakers or amps for the size of the room (watts)

Servicing Equipment Regulary- if something in a studio isnt serv-iced at correct times there might be problems that are unknown be-cause a service hasnt taken place on the correct date (if this is found out by the people investigating a fire for instance they might blame them for not getting it service on the correct date and insurance wouldnt cover it and people might sue you if injured).

4). A diagram/plan of the studio area, and explanation/diagram of a channel strip. (U31, GC1)

1) the top channel strip is to adjust the gain on both recording and recordings, below is the phantom power button which is

marked as 48V but is only used if needed. The line button allows you to choose

either a microphone or another input signal from the patch bay. The phase button causes sound to arrive at different

speeds. Low cut cuts off all frequencies under 100 Hz where as the sub button allows one of the channels from the

mixer to be mixed into one of the 8 buses.2) The second strip down is known as the noise gate. noise gate

is activated within a mix by switching on gate in which allows you to adjust the frequency, threshold release and

hold. These are called the parameters.3) This is a parametric equaliser. It is a 4 way equaliser that is

used to adjust the frequency either higher or lower, By

turning the HF or LF knob . The Lf frequency is 0.15 - 2.4 KHz where as the Hf frequency is 0.6 - 10 KHz.

4) There are 6 auxiliary dials which are used to create effects.5) This is called a control fader it is used to adjust the volume

within the mix. The fader also has a maximum of 10DB gain and a minimum of 0DB. You can also cut the gain by using the

button above.6) This is called the monitor path. It is used to receive audio from

the performer which is sent through an output signal to the person whos recordings headphones.

7) The four buttons at the bottom allows you to mute the channel via the master volume.

5). An outline of available microphones and examples of suitable uses for each.

(U31, GC1, U2, GC4) (https://microphones.audiolinks.com/microphones.shtml AND http://www.desktop-documentaries.com/different-types-of-microphones.html

Categories for microphones are:condenser mics, dynamic mics, and ribbon mics. Shotgun Microphone - a shotgun microphone is a microphone that must be directed at its sound source. This makes it a highly directional microphone, however shotgun microphones are usually used in con-ferences, speeches, meetings and lectures. This is a condenser mi-crophone.

Handheld Microphone - handheld microphones are used all around; television broadcasting, entertainment industry and public speaking so that always all performers, public speakers, interviewers and enter-tainers can amplify there voice while being able to move freely. This is a dynamic microphone.

Lapel Microphone (seminars and business meetings)- Lapel mi-crophone are also known as lavalier microphones and are commonly used and are ideal for television broadcasting, sound reinforcement, and also radio and motion picture appellations. All of these micro-phone within this range are mostly, lightweight, portable and also very descreet.

Directional Microphone (omnidirectional, cardioid and unidirec-tional microphone) (wireless mice optional)- Directional microphones are one of many that are extremely important within the studio and are used very often being one of the most common microphones used. These micro-phones are one of many which have a carded polar pattern, although other pattern may and most of the time will be radically different. When they have different patterns this means that they are mostly much better than other microphones.

Boom Microphone (for broadcasting or film shoots)- The boom microphone is a very well known microphone which is especially used within the tv industryy for instance used quite often to record news. a boom microphone is used alongside a directional microphone in which the directional microphone is mounted onto the are of the boom mi-crophone and is normally positioned just out of the camera frame as such. booms normally have the advantage of freeing up subjects/poeple from haven to use a microphone in their hand.

Studio Microphones (for recording in)- Studio microphones tend to be used world wide within studios for example a music studio. they are simply used mainly to record music within a music studio in this case and come in all different types, makes and sizes to suit the studio. one of the examples of studio microphones which are commonly used within a studio are capacitor microphones for the simple reason that they are much more lightweight so can be easily healed and easily transferred.

PA Microphones (live sound)- at a first glance PA microphones are cordless meaning that they tend to be easy to walk around with mean-ing that they can be transferred within radius of signal and no worrying about wires traling and tripping anyone up. The common use for these microphones are in the name and are mainly used within office set-tings for example PAs might use them often whilst in the office.

Instrument Microphones (which attach directly onto guitars or horns)- Instrument microphones ar commonly used when a musician is performing a song or playing on their instrument to a crown of peo-ple and can also be used within a studio to get a more precise record-ing of every note of the song or music that is played.

Boundary Microphones (conference systems)- a boundary micro-phone is part of the group of confessor microphones which are nor-mally positioned near or even flushed with the boundary which is also called the surface. Uses of these microphone can be for instance on a

piano to record the pianist playing or even on hockey players to record movement between the players.

Headset Microphones- Headset microphones are commonly used in call centres and another example of their uses are within theatre for stage productions to hear the actor on the stage. Headset micro-phones come in all different shapes and forms and can range from a single earpiece nearly invisible or a headphone set with a microphone built in.

6). How to route signal from the live room to the desk then to the computer via an external compressor.(U49, GC1)7.The processes involved in your drum kit recording and mix, and cre-ating your final stereo master. (U2, GC2, 3 & 4. U31GC1)!

At the first instance when recording and mixing with your drum kit you must know in as much detail as you can what and how the mice will be put onto the drum kit to start the recording and mixing process as possible, the following explains each part of the drum kit and how the process of setting up all the mics will be set up to start recording and then i will speak about the process which is involved in creating the final stereo master.

Within a drum kit you should have a:

1). The toms2). The snare 3). The high hat4). The kick drum5) The crash symbols

The tom-tom drum is a cylindrical which has no snares on it. when trying to achieve a good sound when record-ing the tom-tom drums you must always try and make sure wherever possible that the microphone being used for this recording is seem to be pointing in the direct of central to the drum as possible because it is normally placed quite close to the symbols that are normaly used on a drum kit whilst recording and therefore must be kept quite low where it is possible to do so. There are different types of tom-toms that are used for different types of mu-sic recording these can consist of for example, single headed tom-toms, rototoms, or a floor tom tom which is usually the most popular tom tom drum which is used in a normal drum kit often. Below is an example of a tom tom drum.

The snare drum which is also known as the side drum is a well known percussion instrument that is known to be

used for a variety of used in a lot of different music and drum kits world wide.