Intro To The Multi Channel Studio

Session 1: Day 1 In The StudioThe top 3 Health & Safety Hazards are Fire – checking you know where the alarms are, Trip Hazards – making sure all the cables are tucked away safely so nobody is at risk of falling over them & Electrical Safety – making sure that no food or drinks are near any electricals & that every electric item gets PAT tested every year.

Key: = Door

= Fire Alarm = Fire Extinguisher

Live Room

Control Room Fire Exit

Visual Alarm that flashes incase music

is too loud

Studio A

The physical mixing desk came before the digital one. The digital mixing desk has no restrictions & is easier but also quicker to use. To record from the Live Room the routing is from the stage box to the mixing desk & then into the audio interfaces. This patch bay has 35 channels each with 7 outputs. The left side of the patch bay is made of connections to individual channels& the right side is for outboard equipment. Patch leads are either a quarter inch (about 5mm) or different sizes but Bantam leads are most accurate.

Mixing Desk -Soundcraft Sapphyre

Computer

Patchbay

KRK E8 Speaker

KRK E8 Speaker

Fostex

Joemeek

Power Strip PS11

AkaiMOTU 2408

Outboard EquipmentInterfaces

Top Pot controls input gain

Bottom Pot controls tape return

Controls phantom power

Phase

Frequency

Session 2: Channel StripRecording & Mixing is the two uses of a channel strip. The top faders are for recording & the bottom faders are for play back. There are 12 channels on the right side of the desk which record from the stage box. There are also 5 main sections that make up the channel strip. These are;

1.

2.

Low Cut button cuts frequencies below 100

hertz

Threshold & Frequency work together but you have to turn the

gate on.

Threshold

Release

Channel

High Frequency & Low Frequency are a certain

type of EQ. HF=12K , LF=60 Hertz.

3.

4.

5.

LMF is the bottom pot & has its own gain above it. HMF is the top pot & has its own gain below it. It’s only semi parametric because the

third variable (band width) is not there.

Gain

Gain

Headphones

Reverb Unit

Session 4: Mixing Desk Info Insert is another word for plugin When recording from the live room, on the mixing desk

you need to press ½ on each channel then pan left or right If connected to line in, the line button on that certain

channel must be pressed Using send means you must use return otherwise you

could lose the signal without it. You tend to use send and return whilst recording and not mixing

On the mixing desk you only have one reverb. Too many plugin’s could crash the computer. You can also use reverb through auxiliaries

Muting the aux gives a dry sound, do a mix of wet and dry. Always record the reverb and don’t send anything to the reverb if you want it to stay dry. You must record the reverb and the aux. Aux is stereo control

On the 9th channel, go to channel output & stick in the 9th input soundcard

The Yamaha reverb unit to the auxiliary then to the send only gives back to you what you get from the unit

You’re able to send loads of individual channels to one place

You would use aux instead of inserts because it enables you to send a bit of each channel to reverb as there is only one

Session 5: Checking Snare on the Drum Kit from Session 3Send the snare through the compressor to one output using the patch cable then back to the compressor to get a signal come out of the compressor to input 1. Expanding the old & the new snare would be delayed causing latetancy.

Definition of Terms:

Audio Interface – Piece of equipment that provides inputs & outputs to a computer. Allows you to record with different live instrumentsAuxiliary Send – Is an electronic signal routing output used on multi channel sound mixing consoles used in recording & broadcasting settingsDirect Injection – There are many forms of Direct Injections such as a DI Box. Direct injection is a method of connecting instruments to a mixing console. Also this helps limit distortion and noise hindering your recordingsEQ – Equalizers come in two different varieties, high and lowNoise Gate – An electronic device or software that is used to control the volume of an audio signalSemi Parametric – Has one or more features missing. Sometimes used to describe a single band of equalizationShelf EQ – Is locked at 20HZ. It’s different to a parametric EQ

Outboard Compressor – Some outboard compressors could consist of Joemeek & the LA-610. Something similar to what you would find in D.A.WList of Drum Kit Microphones :

Shure SM58 Audix F15 Shure SM57 Audix F14 Audix F12 Audix F10

Some instruments need a stronger microphone to get the most accurate recording like an acoustic guitar needs a condenser microphone as it is more powerful & sensitive meaning that it will pick up a bigger range of frequencies.