Contents        

LIST OF FIGURES

INTRODUCTION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CHAPTER 1 The Recording Engineer

Becoming a Better Recording Engineer

Dealing with Clients

Getting Paid

Keep Up

Getting Work

CHAPTER 2 Sound Characteristics

The Characteristics of Sound

Human Hearing

Levels

Peak versus Volume Unit (VU)

CHAPTER 3 Studio Setup

Room Preparation

Placement

Microphone Stands

Cables

Microphones

Polar Patterns

Microphone Choice

Microphone Placement

Direct Box

Ground

Phase

CHAPTER 4 Drums Setup

Placing the Drums

Changing Drum Heads

Tuning the Drums

Preparation

Miking the Drums

The Click Track

Electronic/Computer Drums

CHAPTER 5 Electric Guitars Setup

Amplifier Placement

Connections In and Out

Loud Amplifiers

Preparation

Miking the Amplifiers

CHAPTER 6 Acoustic Instruments Setup

Acoustic Preparation

Piano

Keyboards

Horns

CHAPTER 7 Vocals Setup

Placing the Microphone

CHAPTER 8 Control Room Setup

Control Room Analysis

Control Room Preparation

Digital Recording

Speakers

Console

Equalizers

Equalizing

Compressors

Additional Processing

Compressing

Noise Gates

CHAPTER 9 Starting Points

Track Layout

Documentation

Drums

Bass Guitar

Electric Guitar

Acoustic Guitar

Vocals

Horns

Piano

Something's Not Right

CHAPTER 10 Signal Routing

Levels To Record

The Monitor Mix

CHAPTER 11 Recording

Tuning

In Record/Red Lights

Punching

Recording Vocals

Pitch

Post Record

Recording Effects

The Part

Bouncing

Doubling

Edits

End of Session

CHAPTER 12 Mixing

Pre Mix

Setting up to Mix

Mixing Basics

Effects

Levels

Print Prep

Printing

After Printing

Mastering

CHAPTER 13 Appendix: Digital

Digital Conversion

Bit Processors

LSB versus MSB

Input Processing

Digital Storage

Digital Multitrack Recording

INDEX