Ultimate Guide to Music Recording: Tools, Tricks, and Tips for Recording Any Instrument

499 Pages·2005·4.56 MB·English

by  Shea M.

������������
Want to learn more?
We hope you enjoy this
McGraw-Hill eBook! If
you’d like more information about this book,
its author, or related books and websites,
please click here.
11
CHAPTER
Studio
Basic Concepts
Recording
Procedures
How to Record
Any Instrument
Mike Shea
McGraw-Hill
New York Chicago San Francisco Lisbon
London Madrid Mexico City Milan New Delhi
San Juan Seoul Singapore Sydney Toronto
Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United
States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this
publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any mxieans, or stored in a database or
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

0-07-146957-5

The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this title: 0-07-142272-2.

All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners. Rather than put a trademark symbol after every
occurrence of a trademarked name, we use names in an editorial fashion only, and to the benefit of the
trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. Where such designations appear in
this book, they have been printed with initial caps. McGraw-Hill eBooks are available at special quantity
discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions, or for use in corporate training programs. For more
information, please contact George Hoare, Special Sales, at [email protected] or (212)
904-4069.

TERMS OF USE

This is a copyrighted work and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. (“McGraw-Hill”) and its licensors
reserve all rights in and to the work. Use of this work is subject to these terms. Except as permitted under
the Copyright Act of 1976 and the right to store and retrieve one copy of the work, you may not
decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon,
transmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish or sublicense the work or any part of it without McGraw-
Hill’s prior consent. You may use the work for your own noncommercial and personal use; any other use
of the work is strictly prohibited. Your right to use the work may be terminated if you fail to comply with
these terms.

THE WORK IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” McGRAW-HILL AND ITS LICENSORS MAKE NO
GUARANTEES OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE ACCURACY, ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS
OF OR RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED FROM USING THE WORK, INCLUDING ANY
INFORMATION THAT CAN BE ACCESSED THROUGH THE WORK VIA HYPERLINK OR
OTHERWISE, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. McGraw-Hill and its licensors do not warrant or guarantee
that the functions contained in the work will meet your requirements or that its operation will be
uninterrupted or error free. Neither McGraw-Hill nor its licensors shall be liable to you or anyone else for
any inaccuracy, error or omission, regardless of cause, in the work or for any damages resulting
therefrom. McGraw-Hill has no responsibility for the content of any information accessed through the
work. Under no circumstances shall McGraw-Hill and/or its licensors be liable for any indirect,
incidental, special, punitive, consequential or similar damages that result from the use of or inability to
use the work, even if any of them has been advised of the possibility of such damages. This limitation of
liability shall apply to any claim or cause whatsoever whether such claim or cause arises in contract, tort
or otherwise.

DOI: 10.1036/0071469575
xi
0-07-146957-5
This book is dedicated to my mom, Mrs. Mary
Antionette (Giorgio) Shea, who always told me,
“If you’re going to do something, do it right.”
200593_FM_Shea 3/2/05 3:24 PM Page iv
This page intentionally left blank.
For more information about this title, click here
CONTENTS
Preface xi
Introduction xiii
Chapter 1 The Basics 1
Why the Big Mystery About Decibels? 2
How About Some Answers? 3
Decibels, Dumbbells, and Jezebels 4
Some Historical Background 4
Logarithms 5
You Still Gotta Problem with Decibels? 5
Who Really Cares? 7
Basic Electronics 7
How Simple a Circuit? 8
Prefixes 9
There Ought to Be a Law: Ohm’s Law 9
Watts It All About: Watt’s Law 10
Series and Parallel Interconnections 11
Kirchoff’s Law 13
Parallel Circuits 15
Watt? I Mean What? 17
Series/Parallel Circuits 18
Alternating Current 20
Some Help from Our Graphic Friends 20
Ground 22
Passive Electronic Components 24
Resistors 24
Capacitors 24
Inductors (Coils) 25
Transformers 27
Humbucking Coils 28
Active Electronic Components 32
Diodes 32
So What’s Rectification? 33
Tubes and Transistors 35
vi Contents
dBu vs. dBm 36
The Values 38
The Equations 38
Impedance Explained 49
Facts to Forget 50
Noise 51
Balanced Lines 51
Transformers and Line Noise 52
Back to Balanced Lines 52
Common-Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) 53
Differential Input Stages 53
Audio Recording Meters 56
Reality vs. Theory 59
Electrodynamometer 59
Thermal Meters 59
The VU Meter 60
The Peak Program Meter (PPM) 62
Everything Has Its Limitations 63
Two Meters in One 64
The Bottom Line? 65
Audio Gain Stages and the Weak Link 67
Adjusting Levels Is More Than Positioning Faders 68
The Trade-Off Between Headroom and S/N Ratio 69
The Audio Chain from Hell 75
Standard Unbalanced-to-Balanced Converters
Always Work 78
Why Would Anyone Want to Do This? 79
Why Use Impedance-Matching Interfaces? 80
What Are Distribution Amps Used For? 81
Gain Stage Setup (Level Setting) 82
Mixing-Console Gain Stages 83
Using Audio Equipment Manuals 84
Flow Charts, or Block Diagrams 87
Patch Bay Layout 87
Operation Guide 88
Control and Indicator Layout Diagrams 88
Installation Section 88
Specifications List 88
Schematic Diagrams 89
Contents vii
Examples of the Charting of Gain Stages 89
The Console Bus 89
The Altec 250 T3 Control Console 90
The Tascam M-50 Mixer 93
A Side Trip for More Background 96
Format 96
Split vs. In-Line (I/O) Console Layouts 99
Assign Switches 100
The SSL I/O 101
Back to Examples of the Charting of Gain Stages 101
The MCI 600 Series Console 102
The Manufacturers Specifications for the
MCI Series 600 Console 105
The MCI 600 Gain Stage Chart 116
The Solid-State Logic (SSL) 4000 G Series Console 122
Bridging the Generation Gap 133
Chapter 2 The Tour 135
The Studio Tour 136
The Tour Begins 136
Format 137
Input/Output (I/O) and SPLIT Console Layouts 137
The Mixer 138
Console Specifications 141
Cross Talk or Channel Separation 142
Console Functions and Terms 143
Input Selector Switch 144
Sends 145
The Output Section 147
Auxiliary Returns 148
Phase Reversal Switches 148
Phantom Powering 149
The Producer’s Desk and Side Cars 151
Equalizers 156
Parametric Equalizers 161
Tone Control EQs 162
Shelving EQ or Filter 162
Peak and Dip EQs 162