Understanding Technology - Grant Leslie

Understanding Technology

1) 

Equalising is the process of boosting or cutting particular frequencies to give more or less of the high, mid or low frequency range. You have much control over the sound of a recording when you have access to a EQ unit or EQ software.

EQ can be displayed as a digital plug in or more traditionally a boxed unit as rack mounted piece of hardware. EQ is dealt with in bands. Your standard EQ has 3 bands, high, mid and low. These are the frequency bands that you can boost and cut to change the sound of your recording. Some more higher end EQ units have more bands 4, 5, 6. This is just another section of the frequency band that can be changed. Its usually split into high, high mid, low mid, low for a 4 band EQ.

Here in the logic you have many options when using the channel EQ. You have a straight high and low cut which will hut off all frequencies below or about the level that you set it at. You also get shelf EQ which boost or cut a wide range of frequencies, high or low. The final type in logic allows you too boost or cut very specific frequencies. This is called the Q which then allows you to widen or channel the frequency that you want to boost or cut. The hardware versions of EQ do the same thing although they don't have a display screen to show you what you are boosting you have to use knobs and use your ears to decide what sounds best. They will almost always have a bypass which allows you to compare the sound from what you had before the EQ.

In the early days of big recordings equalising was hard to do and even harder to do well. This is why they would have to rely on picking a good microphone that fits the sound that they wanted as they couldn't rely on tweaking things with EQ during or after. Even these days when you can do so much to the sound of your recording with just plugins its still very important to pick a good microphone from the start as you are aiming to get a recording that is as perfect as it can be and not having to change the sound very much.

When you were mixing in the early days there wasn't as much option to change the sound  great deal. You could of course play through speakers and then record it back in through different microphones but there was not a great deal you could do. 

The Neumann U47 has a well known high mid range which results in clear crisp recordings. This is an expensive microphone but if it gave you the sound you were after then people would have to get the best.

Now that we have EQ units not only in the computer software but also analogue outboard gear as well this has really enabled the mixing and recording process to be transformed. Before you would have to scramble around to find the perfect microphone that suited subject you are recording knowing that you will be stuck with that when its recorded. With the introduction of EQ in 1948 with very basic EQ is was a pain to get hold of and the outcomes where pretty pathetic so a lot of engineers decided not to use it and get a good recording from a good microphone. As the EQ units improved the choice of microphone because ever so slightly less important as engineers could achieve the sound they wanted from a different or cheep microphone. One they had lots of and did need to go around looking for new mic's to try.
Having such easy methods of EQing a recording really changes the way recording can be done and a good recording can be achieved. Many people will argue that you can get a great recording with dirt cheep microphones now. I do believe this but I also feel that its really about the recording and what you are recording. Just because adding lots of plugins and spending hours manipulating the sound on a computer gets you a good sound i think people can forget that its about the recording and using good microphones is really important because you want to achieve the greatest possible sound first and potentially not have to use any EQ or other means of sound manipulation after the recording has taken place.

2)

The Neumann U47 has a cardioid and figure of eight polar pattern. Cardioid is a polar pattern that picks up a small range of sound in front the microphone and a figure of eight is where 2 identical areas are picked up from both sides of the microphone still with a close range. They also have a good side rejection so they will not pick up from the opposing side. This is good for recording 2 singers together from each side of the microphone.

The RCA 44 Ribbon microphone that they previously used had a bi-directional polar pattern. This is the same as figure of eight polar pattern. Ribbon microphones work in a different way to condenser and dynamic microphones. Ribbon microphones use 2 strong magnate placed either side of a conductive material which is very sensitive to low air pressure which is why they are very delicate.
They can be quite pre amp dependant. Although you can buy phantom power reliant ribbon microphones. These microphone have a built in pre amp meaning they can run longer cables and are less dependant on the pre amp on the interface or desk. Old ribbon microphones should never fed phantom power as this can permanently damage them. They also shouldn't be used in high wind scenarios or be blown into as this can stretch the ribbon material and damage the microphone. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-6uFydUH-A

' The moving element of the microphone is a thin corrugated aluminum ribbon suspended between the poles of a strong Alnico magnet. The moving air particles that constitute sound waves vibrate the ribbon in the magnetic field. This motion causes an alternating voltage to be generated in the ribbon, the amplitude of which is proportional to the velocity of the air particles. ' 

- From http://www.coutant.org/rca44bx/


The U47 was great for this as Frank Sinatra was a solo singer usually who would play with a large band. The U47's cardioid polar pattern would allow for the microphones great tone and characteristics without picking up much bleed from the rest of the band. This was because in the early days of recording they would have recorded everything together and they would have not wanted the band to be picked up in Franks microphone.

What was the polar pattern on the other microphone called?

Why did the U47 pattern help in this case?

Cardioid

Figure of Eight

3)

There are many differences between analogue and digital mixers in terms of how they work and what sounds they produce.

Digital

All of digital uses binary coding. This is a very large combination of 1's and 0's that make up different bits of information that tell a computer what to do or show.
The mixer inside a software such as Logic Pro works on this exact basis where you are essentially changing 1's and 0's to find a sound that you like.

When routing through a digital mixer you can have a very large quantity of channels, buses or plug ins happening at the same time and it doesn't cost or cause any more trouble than if you had 1. Most digital softwares allow unlimited numbers of audio and software tracks. On analogue desk this would not be possible with such ease.

With digital mixers you can do so much very quickly and get a very nice sound. With digital because you are using the same built in mixer each time you will almost get the same sound  each time. Analogue allows you to get different results each time because your are running through circuitry that wares down or the valves warm up. There are so many variables in analogue that don't even exist in the digital world.


Analogue

Analogue mixing desks work completely differently to digital desk as in they do not run on any coding as the whole desk involves very complex circuitry they has been engineered extremely well.

There are many good points from having an analogue desk many people have different views between analogue and digital but there are many things to weigh up before picking one. Firstly analogue was the first type of mixer therefore the sounds from analogue desks are the first sounds and people were trying new things out while the desks were still being made. People did not know of any other technology. All of digital mixing is based around an easier way of getting the same results from an analogue mixing desk. As analogue uses circuitry and real components for the electrons to travel round each desk will have its very own custom sound. Digital software will sound exactly the same as the programming is identical. Something I really like about analogue mixing desks is you have to wire them all up yourself. This means you will know 100% how it works with all your microphones and all your gear.

The bad sides to analogues is that it can be extremely expensive to have a full running analogue studio. It can also be very very space invading. A 16/32 channel desk could be around a metre long. You would also have to have an intense amount of cable in the back connecting all of your outboard gear and your interfaces and/or any other gear you might have.

Each type of mixer has it's advantages and disadvantages. It's really a personal preference. Some people are willing to go through the more hassle and space to have an anologue system but some people are happy sticking with the digital world and working with preset sounds because that's what they prefer.

When you are using analogue compared to a digital because an analogue mixing desk if physical you can change more than one thing at a time because you have 10 fingers. You only have one mouse when using digital so you can only change one fader at a time this could limit you when you are try to balance several things together. I also thing when using analogue you have much more of a hands on control over the desk you can be more accurate and personal where as on a logic mixer you are going by logics rules and it only enables you to use whats inside logic where as connecting a piece of hardware equipment to a digital desk in theory if quite simple. Connecting hardware to logic is much more complex although its very easy to add plug ins to logic but these might not be to your liking.

4)

If I were investing in a home studio I would probably invest in a anologue system. I would not neglect digital but for a recording studio I would much prefer to learn and use analogue.

I would choose analogue because I feel that from the anologue equipment that I have used the sound from the circuitry and preamps of a nice desk jut sound so much warmer and brighter than a digital system. I have used digital a lot and it is amazing what you can do for price but I would still choose analogue. 

I would choose this because I love the idea of physical cabling up differnt outboard gear because I think for the sounds and the unknown and variety of sounds you can make for using a real digital desk I think you can produce much more personal and interesting sounds than you can from changing the settings with a mouse.

I also think that learning the physics of how the sound works and the signal of the desk and the recording process can be much more real when using analogue. Personally I would choose analogue for those reasons. I would never exclude digital because there are many times where I record live performances in a venue where using an external mixer to record is too much hassle to record. For this type of situation I would prefer to use digital but I home recording studio would always be anologue dispute the extra cost and space.

The analogue desk I would look into would be the Audient Zen 16 track. I have used this desk to record and I love the sound of the pre amps. This is one of the very few desks I really know how to use properly and its very simple to connect outboard gear to. This desk also has great features for recording.

5)

DI (digital input)

The main job of a DI box is to balance the signal from a line level to a microphone level so that it is the same 

as a microphone that will be correct for the desk to receive.

When using a DI box to record as well as giving the option to record instruments that use a line level signal such as an acoustic guitar or a synth.

A lot of DI boxes have the feature of a link. This means that we can record the same instrument 2 different ways at the same time. For example if you wanted to record an electric guitar you can go from the guitar into the DI box input then use the link output to go into a guitar amp. You can then mic up an amp and record the DI sound of the guitar as the amp sound together which gives you more of a choice of sound when recording.

I have used a DI box when recording acoustic guitar. I have plugged the guitar into the DI box and then used an XLR cable to go from the DI box to the wall box or input to the mixing desk. This means I have taken a line level signal (unbalanced) to a microphone level (balanced) which is recognised clearly by the desk.

6) 

Alesis MultiMix 8 USB 2.0

This band intend on using the 4 channels on the Alesis to record the drums, kick, snare and overheads. This is okay but the Alesis only does stereo out which means that what ever goes into the mixer will come out at a stereo left and right. He said he wanted to take the out put of the mixer that has all the vocals and guitars and bass as a stereo output into channel 5/6 on the alesis. This would work although you would have to set all your levels really well before in the other mixer as you wouldn't get to on the alesis.

I would suggest that this person buys a Focusrite Saffire Pro40. This will allow them to have up to eight pre amps that can be directly fed into the computer via firewire. This will allow them to record all of the instruments at the same time on separate tracks.

I would suggest that they do not record the vocals with the whole band live due to bleed from the guitars and drums etc. The Saffire Pro 40 allows you to set up to 8 custom headphone mixes. This means they could all play live and monitor via headphones if they wanted to.

Another good feature of the Saffire is that is has outputs for all the pre amps so you can record each channel separately rather than just a stereo output of all channels.

If they record all the instruments together first this means they can record the vocals separately and get good takes which will make the whole track sound better.
This also means they can mix and EQ everything after which will sound much better. 

Possible set up on the Saffire Pro 40

1. Kick (Dynamic)
2. Snare (Dynamic)
3. OHL (Condenser)
4. OHR (Condenser)
5. Guitar (Dynamic)
6. Guitar (Dynamic)
7. Bass (Dynamic) or (DI)
8. spare