Tori Ekembe-Smith Unit 24- sound engineering equipment
DAWS
Those who produce music on computers always use DAW (digital audio workstation) as the programs are used to create, record, edit and arrange music. DAWs use sequencers which are hardware devices used to tell other hardware devices such as instruments what to play using a type of performance message called MIDI. Once the sequencer is programmed the MIDI data would be sent to outboard devices, this would then be turned into sound. DAWS effectively cut out awkward practice of needing physical copies or needing physical A/D converter in your studio. They are also less time consuming and easier to use.
MIXING DESK
A mixing board is used in a variety of ways. It’s often used in a recording studios as well as for live sound and concert playbacks. A mixing board is used by connecting the audio equipment to the mixer’s inputs. Then you need to connect the recording or monitoring equipment to the mixer outputs. After this you need to turn on the channel inputs which will be used to make the sound mix. Then turn phantom power for the channel if the item connected to It. Then you need to adjust the volume for each input as required. On a mixing desk there is a thing called a pad this is a button where the microphone signal will be cut by a fixed amount. Another feature of a mixing desk is the pan, short for panomoric potentiometer. This is controlled through you twisting a knob. The job of this is to place the sound in the stereo field from one side to another. You can also change the frequency of the sound from your recording through the use of the equalizer aka the EQ. Whilst creating music many producers would argue that this is the most effective and important feature on a mixing desk.
CUT
The advantages of cutting your audio are being able to delete audio you do not want due to things like background and white noise. The tool is really useful and it’s used frequently whilst editing all types of sounds. If the tool did not exist unwanted sounds would be heard in content which would decrease the quality of the final piece.
JOIN
When you need to merge several sounds into a single composition, the easiest way is to use Online Audio Joiner application. It works in a browser window and you can join MP3 and other format files without installing the software on your computer
CUT AND PASTE
Cut and paste allows you to find a relevant audio on your device and copy it into your own work. This is good as it saves time and is very efficient. When a file is copy-pasted, the entire file is copied to the new location, hence the time taken to do this in generally proportional to size on the file. The bigger the file the more time it takes. When a file is cut and pasted, the file, the file is generally not touched. The folder in which the file originally resides, the entry is removed from its list and added to the list and added to the list in the new folder. Hence irrespective of how big or small the file is, we just have to remove one entry in destination folder.
STEREO FIELD
The job of a stereo field is to be able to mash sound together to make one. When you mix a song, you can set your instruments wherever you want them on stage that’s created by your listeners’ speaker.
MONO
Mono uses one, stereo uses more than one. In monaural sound one single channel is used. It can be reproduced through several speakers, but all speakers are still reproducing the same copy of the signal. In stereophonic sound more channels are used (typically two). 5 advantages of mixing in mono:
1. Better EQ decisions 2. Less ear fatigue 3. More accurate balancing of instruments 4. Easier positioning of instruments 5. Quickly spot phase issues
STEREO
Stereo is sound reproduction which creates multi-directional audible perspective. Most of the time this is created by putting together two or more speakers to create the impression of sound heard from various directions.
SOUNDBITE Soundbite is a short clip of speech or music extracted from a piece of audio, it’s often used to promote or exemplify the full length piece.
FADER In audio engineering, a fade is gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. Many radio shows use faders when they are talking in between music. If you listen to the radio you will almost always hear a gradual transition into or out of a song. It’s also often used in music when an artist has a featuring song with one or more than one person so it doesn’t sound all squished together. It can also be used in film cinematography or theatre lighting in much the same way.
AUTOMATION Automation can be performed in many ways in various industries. For example, in the information technology domain, a software script can test a software product and produce a report. There are also various software tools available in the market which can generate
code for an application. The users only need to configure the tool and define the process. In other industries, automation is greatly improving productivity, saving time and cutting costs.
COLOUR CODING CLIPS This is you use colours to label you work to help you identify Meta data. Colour clips are mostly used whilst labelling camera angles, interview subjects, source footage format, source footage frame size/ rate, version of visual effects shots, graphics etc.
CLIPPING People who do sound editing for media purposes use clipping as a result of capturing sound where intensity in a certain area falls outside the minimum and maximum intensity which can be represented. It’s an instance of signal clipping in the sound. The software logic pro uses a scissor tool for editors to clip sections which they think are better to use that other bits and delete those.
EQ EQ is the levels frequency response of an audio signal, or controls which allow their adjustment. In sound recording and reproduction, equalization is the process commonly used to alter the frequency response of audio using linear filters since equalizers adjust, frequencies they are in other words, frequency-specific volume knobs. Equalizers are used in recording studios, radio studios and production control rooms, and live sound reinforcement and in instrument amplifiers.
WHY SHOULD YOU REVIEW RECORDING MATERAL BEFORE USING IT? When you edit something which uses audio or camera footage it’s really important that you review or edited version before we use it. This is because if you don’t you could release something with many errors. A common thing which is edited out whilst editing audio or videos is white noise. This is when the audio contains lots of frequencies with equal intensities. Another thing often cut out is long silences. Many people who film for podcast take long beaks whilst reading there scrips or doing whatever they’re doing. Meanwhile, whilst they edit the podcast of course they will cut it as including it will put people of from watching it. Over all, reviewing recorded material before using it will make the final product much better.
NAMING TRACKS AND CLIPS It’s very important that you name your tracks and clips on your desktops. This is because if you do not your work can easily be lost in your files on your desktop. Luckily, most software and desktops have auto-name for those who forget to name their files. The benefits of naming your clips your tracks and clips are being able find them quicker and knowing what tracks and clips are which.
DRAGGING CLIPS INTO TIMELINE FOR READINESS. When you edit your projects you need to place your video clips from the media browser to the timeline. We do this because it’s uncomplicated to use as well as being fast. It means that you don’t need to go to your file that you saved the information to you can just drag it from your desktop, this saves lots of time. If you do not drag clips into the timeline of your software you would take u a lot of unnecessary time and effort.
REPOSITINING THE ORDER OF DIFFERENT SEGMENTS OF AUDIO. This is done the audio sound better, clearer and cleaner The creator of the project can understand the layout of the final production It allows the creator to reorder and arrange their audio segments into an order that they know and are familiar with In GarageBand it is helpful as it highlights different parts of the song (intro, verse, bridge and chorus)
GARAGE BAND: FLEX TIME
Flex Time simplifies the process of editing the timing of the notes, beats and other events in the audio regions You can compress and/or expand the time between audio segments without the need for trimming, moving, nudging or crossfading (making one sound heard as another fades away/becomes silent) Logic Pro X: Flex Time Logic Pro also uses Flex Time You add flex markers to a track and it allows you to time stretch (compress or expand) The timings of the audio segments are marked with the proceeding and following flex markers The benefits Rearranging the audio segments would allow the final piece to make sense when heard back It makes the final piece sound better and organized. It makes it easier for the creator to know where different audio sections are going to be played Disadvantages In GarageBand it is a feature that is not prominent when making a track, it is hidden in the track settings (The limitation of this is that not many people will be able to use this feature unless they know about it) Another bad thing about moving and ordering audio segments is that you could accidently delete, duplicate or remove that audio track entirely (The limitation of this is that if this occurs to you as a user you would waste time that you could be putting into the song by trying to get that audio segment back)
THE BENEFITS OF USING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS IN COMPARISON TO MOUSE. Keyboard short cuts are used to expedite common operations by reducing inputs sequences to a few keystrokes, hence the term “shortcuts”. Keyboard shortcuts are used by pressing down on several keys. People who use keyboard shortcuts often use them because it’s faster to use meaning it saves time. It makes your time on your computer more productive.
Many people use keyboard shortcuts as there are many advantages for example, you don’t have to follow a pointer to see what you are doing so you can multitask. You can combine the advantages of using the keyboard with those of using the mouse. There are tasks that are much easier done with the mouse, take the example of browsing the web pages and clicking links but at the same time you can use the keyboard to navigate within the page or between tabs. And the beauty of it is that you can do both at the same time.
Extensive mouse usage is associated with R.S.I. (Repetitive Syndrome Injury) much often than the keyboard usage. By alternating mouse and keyboard usage you can reduce the risks of R.S.I. and reduce the fatigue your wrists and fingers.