LOCAL PRESS
MARCH 2011 no: 1 SOUND DESIGN ISSUE Every month our UK and USA editions deliver consistently more pages than any competing title, packed full oďŹ n-depth product tests .
Index : Welcome to SOUNDMATIC the world's premier sound t echnology magazine. Based in Cambridge, England and independently- owned, we've been delivering our quality monthly print magazine since1985. This web site houses our continually - expanding archive of highly informative articles (from January 1994) that chart the impact of technology .
LOOPING
REVIEW API 527
PEOPLE + OPINION 10
Could API’s latest 500 - series module be an essential purchase for Lunchbox users? Automated Processes Inc (API) have a long impressive history , dating back to the introduction of their first mixing console in 1968.
Propellerhead Reason 5 12 The latest version of Reason incorporates new arrangment tools and two powerful new instruments , and even lets you record samples.
MUSIC
Inside The Music
18
You might think that being a TV composer is a life of parties, beautiful women, fame, glory and dongles.
Blue Encore 300
14
Proper Noise
SOUND COURSES 22
Jon Burton: Mixing & Recording The Prodigy Live
Handheld Condenser Microphone Designed as a hand-held live vocal mic, this mic has a cardioid pickup pattern, and seems very robustly engineered.
As the Prodigy’s chief live sound engineer, Jon Burton gets to unleash untold kilowatts of bass power on an unsuspecting world. He has also made multitrack recordings of every show on their
Physics of Sound What is Sound? Properties of a Sound Wave Speed of Sound Diffraction The Doppler Effect Intensity
Recording History Faderfox MIDI Contr.
16
Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: 24
The Faderfox controllers are bijou and boutique, and there’s five of them to choose from. Faderfox look set to make a big impression.
Inside Track | Eminem
VIDEO MEDIA
TECHNIQUE
5 Best Buys
Eminem’s Recovery has been one of the biggest hit albums of the year spawning two number one singles recorded and mixed by Eminem’s long-term engineer, Mike Strange.
20
These packages are built to handle the latest compression formats (codecs), and many have been used to create programming you will have watched on TV or the Internet. Depending on your budget, you may want to invest in a good professional NLE and learn as you go, rather than starting with a simplified version.
The Green Studio
Traditional acoustic materials from mineral and synthetic sources are subject to environmental concerns and possible health issues. Now there are affordable , ‘green’ alternatives , but how suitable are they for the home studio .
28
29
• Technology - Recording machines and their makers • Industry - The business of recorders and records • Culture - The cultural impact of sound recording
Recording Thecniques 30 • Audio recording • Digital recording • Home recording studio • Music recording software
GAME SOUND
26 Fmod
26
The FMOD Ex Programmer's API and Designer are world-leading library and toolkit for the creation and playback of interactive audio. FMOD product are widely used in the games industry and have gained a strong reputation for its ease of use software-mixed architecture and comprehensive cross-platform support.
27
LEADER
28
SOUND COURSES
Editor’s Comment
Physics of Sound The million-dollar question for every ageing rock dinosaur is how to
avoid going the way of the dodo, or, at the very least, Rod Stewart. The question has been answered in various ways, in most cases by pigheadedly refusing to adapt to age and changing times, and simp carrying on as if everything is as it ever was. There is another strateg however, which may be described as growing old gracefully. One of main proponents has been the now 62-year old Robert Plant. While it greatly frustrates Led Zeppelin fans, it has done no harm Plant’s credibility that he’s steadfastly refused multi-million dollar of to tour with his former band. In addition, during his post-Zep solo ca Plant has repeatedly managed to defy expectations and explore diff and unanticipated musical directions. Plant’s upward career path star with an album of bluesy rock covers, Dreamland (2002), followed by mixture of rock and world music, The Mighty Rearranger (2005). Only moderately successful from a commercial point of view, both albums were critically lauded, and each garnered two Grammy Award .
The roof blew off in 2007 with Raising Sand, a duet album with blueg singer Alison Krauss. An exploration of Nashville-influenced America produced by T-Bone Burnett , the album won a five Grammy Awards, including for Album of the Year, went platinum in both the and the UK, and sold three million worldwide. Three years later Plant revived the name of the first band he played in, the Band Of Joy ’60s psychedelic folk outfit that also f eatured Zeppelin drum John Bonham . But rather than a harking back to that long-distant past, Plant’s new album, Band Of Joy, is a continuation of Raising Sand, in that it also explores Americana with Nashville overtones. It again featu a well-known female vocalist, Patty Griffin role Krauss’s on Raising Sand. There’s a change in the production team as well, with Burnett making way for country guitarist sing songwriter and producer Buddy , mixing processes by Mike Poole.
Media House, Trafalgar way, Bar Hill , Cambridge CB 23 , UK T +44 1954 789888 F +44 1954 789899 E sm.SOUNDMATIC.COM W WWW.SOUNDMATIC.COM
Editorial E
smfeSedback.SOUNDMATIC.COM
Editorial Director : Anıl YAYLIM Editor in Chief : Barış SUYABATMAZ Thecnical Editor : Okan YIKMIŞ Feature Editor : Burak BECEREN Reviews Editor : Berkay DAVER Production Editor : Barış ŞEHRİ Colums Editor : Muarrem YILDIRIM News Editor : Atıl YAYLIM
What is Sound?
Diffraction
Vibratory disturbances in a gas, liquid, or solid medium. Simply sound is the vibration of any substance. The substance can be ai r, water , wood , or other material, and fact the only place in which sound cannot travel is a vacuum. When these substances vibrate, or rapidly move back and forth, they all produce sound .
An obstacle is no match for a sound wave; wave simply bends around it. For example, a stereo is playing in room with the door open, sound produced by the stereo will bend around the walls surrounding opening.This bend of a wave is called diffraction. waves exhibit diffraction, not just sound waves. Without diffraction, sound from the stereo could be heard directly in front of the door.
Properties of a Sound Wave
The Doppler Effect
Wavelength and Period: The wavelength is the horizontal distance between any two successive equivalent points on the wave. Amplitude: The amplitude of a sound is represent by the height of the wave.
As an ambulance speeds towards you, sirens blazing , sound you hear is rather high in pitch. This is because sound waves in front of the vehicle are being squashed together by the moving ambulance. This causes more vibrations to reach your ear per second. As you know, vibrations per second results in higher pitched sound. When the ambulance passes you, the sound becomes lower in pitch. Behind the ambulance there are fewer vibrations per second, and a lower sound is heard. This change in pitch is known as the Doppler Effect.
Frequency: Every cycle sound has condensation, a region of increased pressure, one rarefaction, a region where air pressure is less than normal. Pitch: We already know that number of sound waves passing a point per second is frequency.
Speed of Sound:
Intensity
Sound travels at different speeds depending on what it is traveling through. Of the three mediums (gas, liquid, and solid) sound waves travel slowest through gases, faster through liquids, and fastest through solids.Temperature also affects the speed of sound.
A two-dimensional sound wave looks like a series of concentric circles that get bigger as they move further away from their origin. These circles called wavefronts. In real life, sound waves grow in three dimensions. Three-dimensional waves move out all directions away from their origin in wavefronts are concentric spherical.
Recording History
29
30
Recording Thecniques MICROPHONES AND RECORDING
The Sound Recording Technology History Site explores the history and impact of the inventions that changed the way we listen. Click on the links below learn about the economic history of sound recording, the nature of recorded culture, or simply the hardware itself. Recording Enthusiasts in the U.S. have finally found a way to play back pre - Edison recordings made in the 1860s. The story of the sound recording industry is mostly a of musical entertainment on phonograph discs for the whole period from the invention of the phonograph in 1877 to about the 1950s, when new technologies emerged.
Voice recording is about a getting a story, and as well as simply preserving that information, getting the quality recording as possible gives you more options for how you can use the material in the future. recordings make good stories, which can go on to sparkle on your website, enhance CD and DVD shows, and make listening posts come to life. Good recordings give you lots of options, poor recordings take them away. Another reason for getting high quality is to give media organisations what they might the future . Radio uses oral history techniques all the time ; TV documentary makers need today's tomorrow's programmes and they always need the best quality.
There are four main things to bear in mind:
• Microphone type The major players the industry were Victor, Colum and HMV (which originally stood His Master's Voi until the end of World War II, and are still important today. These three companies all got their start in 1890s, when phonograph was still young. Thomas Edison's 1877 invention the phonograph was follo by many imitators, most notably the graphophone which became the basis of the Columbia company. Both inventions used a cylinder record which captu sound in a groove. Just as the graphophone 1887 borrowed many ideas from Edison, too did Edison "improved phonograph" of 1888 borrow back from graphophone.
Soon both machines were for sale or lease to the public. The primary market was intended to be businessman, lawyers, court reporters, and others who currently used stenography to capture important thoughts or comp letters. Although the sound recorder as a business machine has its own history, it is the entertainment uses of sound recording that made the biggest impact. The word "culture" refers not only to high culture, such as art, music, and literature, but also to the practices of daily life. Therefore the history of sound recording culture includes not only the history of recorded music, but also the ways recordings were made, and the ways recordings influenced other aspects of society. In the case of music-especially popular music-the interactions between music-making and r ecording technology are so well-studied that I cover them only briefly on this site. For a deeper and better understanding of the subject, consult the bibliography at the ends of the "Cultural Influence of Recorded Music" and the "Musical Influence of Recording Technology" sections.
• Recording pattern
• Microphone placement
• Recording settings
Microphone types
Placement
There are several different types of microphone The simplest is a dynamic one - it doesn't need any external power, is robust and can give very good results . Dynamic mics may lose some nuances and produce low levels of output. The other main type is the condenser mic, more sensitive and generally giving a more detailed recording. Cond. mics need power to charge the capsule, either from an internal battery or from 'phantom power' from the recorder along the mic lead. In general go for a condenser mic if you can.
The third main question is where to put it. The first option is to put a hand mic on a stand, close to the subject. It's a bit more obtrusive, but will usually get good sound. The second is a small tie-clip or lavalier microphone. The best can be very expensive but we have some which give good reproduction for a reasonable price. These give a more informal feeling to the session , and can be helpful for less confident interviewees. Typically you would have one for the interviewee on one channel , and another for the interviewer on the other channel.
Recording pattern
Recording settings
Microphones have different patterns of picking up sound from the areas around them. Those which pick up sound from every direction are omni-directional, as well as getting the subject voice, they often pick up sound you don't want to record - like fridges, cars, sirens, heating, radios etc, and aren't always ideal for voice recording. Those with a narrower pick-up pattern are called cardioid - they will pick up sound from, say, 45 degrees off the microphone axis , but not from the wider area.
Lastly we come to recording settings. The most important is the level. The best analogy is the strength of a cup of coffee - too little in the mug and it's weak and insipid, too much and you feel you been hit over the head. Setting the level manually should give the best results: analogue recorders with meters adjust the input level on the recorder so that the highest levels just nudge into the red zone.Then you'll have a good strong level, with little or no distortion keeping noise from the tape at a low level.