University:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Course:
21M.380 | Music and Technology (Contemporary History and Aesthetics)
Academic year:

2021
Views:

77

Pages:

28
Author:

dacnodauqee

Chapter 7. Meeting 7, Recording: Processing Audio and the Modern Recording Studio 7.1. Announcements • Quiz next Thursday • Numerous listenings assignments for next week 7.2. Processing Audio • Contemporary processors take many physical forms: effects units, stomp-boxes © source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. Photo courtesy of kernelslacker on Flickr. Photo courtesy of michael morel on Flickr. Courtesy of George Massenburg Labs. Used with permission. Original photo courtesy of eyeliam on Flickr; edited by Wikipedia User:Shoulder-synth. • As software, most are implemented as plug-ins © Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. © MOTU, Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. 7.3. Distortion • Pushing a signal beyond its dynamic range squares the waveform • Making round signals more square adds extra harmonics [demo/processorsDistortion.pd] • Examples • Overdrive • Fuzz • Crunch 7.4. Dynamics Processors • Transform the amplitude of a signal in real-time • Amplitudes can be pushed down above or below a threshold to decrease or increase dynamic range • Examples • Compressors and Limiters • Expanders and Gates 7.5. Dynamics Processors: Compression • Reduces a signal’s dynamic range • Makes the quiet sounds louder • Helps a track maintain its position in the mix • Two steps • Reduce dynamic range: turn amplitudes down if a above a specific level (the threshold) • Increase amplitude of entire signal so that new peaks are where the old were To be compressed Sound Energy Uncompressed Peak Threshold Time Compression occurs Sound Energy Previous 0 VU Threshold Time Sound Energy 0 VU Boost overall level Time Figure by MIT OpenCourseWare. • Negative effects: can increase noise, and create dynamic noise floors • Negative effects: can make a musical part dynamic static 7.6. Filters • A filter alters the timbre of a sound • Some frequency components are boosted, others are cut [demo/processorsFilters.pd] • The low pass and high pass filter • Cutoff frequency determines where the filter is active • May have a resonance control at the cutoff frequency • • Can be thought of as smoothing the waveform • An easy filter to implement in analog and digital electronics The parametric filter • Center frequency, bandwidth (Q), and gain • The most precise filter 7.7. The Channel Strip • A channel strip bundles together common musical processors • A mixer (as hardware or software) consists of many parallel channel strips (and flexible ways to combine them) © LOUD Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. • Filters are always included • Dynamic effects may also be found: compressors and gates • Mackie 1604 channel strip © LOUD Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. • Mackie 2480 channel strip © LOUD Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. • SSL 900 channel strip © LOUD Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. 7.8. Delay • Place signal in a buffer, wait, then send out [demo/processorsDelay.pd] • Feedback: scale the amplitude of the delayed signal and then delay it again: creates a series of echos 7.9. Time-Variant Delays • Vary the delay time with a time-varying signal (like a control-rate sine) • Creates change in timbre through phase interference [demo/processorsDelayVariable.pd] • Examples • Chorus • Flanging • Phasing 7.10. Dense Delay Structures • Organized groups of very close spaced delays [demo/processorsDelayDense.pd] • Less than 30 ms separation between echos will produce a continuous sound • Examples • Chambers and Ambiences • Reverb • Plates, springs 7.11. Listening: The Southern Four and Parliament • The Southern Four: “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” 1924, Edison Diamond Disc 7.12. The Mothership Connection • “Starchild, Citizens of the Universe, Recording Angels...,” “Swing down, sweet chariot. Stop, and let me ride” • Afro-Futurism: African American strategies to overcome racial and social classification by means of technology and futuristic mythology • 1956: Sun Ra • 1970s: Parliament and George Clinton • 1982: Afrika Bambaataa • Paul Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid • The Mothership Connection: the chariot of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” transformed into an interplanetary vessel • Parliament: “Mothership Connection (Star Child),” 1976 7.13. Multitrack Recorders and DAWs • Multitrack recording permits recording parts in layers • Permits recording one track while monitoring (playing back) others • Punching-in: permits replacing segments of each track • Overdubs: permit adding additional tracks • Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) are software multitrack recorders that permit greater editing flexibility and integrate audio mixing and processing • Common DAWs: Pro-Tools, Cubase/Nuendo, Logic, Digital Performer, Sonar, Fruty Loops, Live 7.14. Non-Destructive Recording and Non-Linear Editing • Audio data is recorded and stored on hard disk • DAW tracks present a representation of a segment of the audio data (an audio region) • The original audio is never cut or transformed • Multiple regions can be deployed in multiple tracks without copying or duplicating audio data • Offers efficiency, flexibility, and security 7.15. Modern Recording, A Three Step Process • 1. Tracking (recording, overdubs) • 2. Mixing (editing, cutting, processing, producing) • 3. Mastering • Each step may be done at different locations or studios • Each step may be done in analog or digital • CDs used to encode which step was analog or digital with a Society of Professional Audio Recording Studios (SPARS) Code 7.16. Division Between Control Room and Recording Rooms • Recording to tape permitted monitoring what was actually being recorded as it was being recorded • Main rooms and isolation booths: spaces to position and isolate performers • Control room: acoustically treated space for critical monitoring of what the microphones are picking up • Control room monitors are designed to be very accurate speakers • Sony/Tree’s Music Studio, Nashville • Paisley Park’s Studio A Courtesy of Russ Berger Design Group, Inc. Used with permission. • Studio X, Seattle © Soundcraft Studer. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse © Studio X. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse 7.17. Close Microphone Captures and Track Isolation • Goal of isolating each musical part in a separate track • Use of specialized microphones placed very close to performers • May record each instrument in isolated rooms or at different times • May record multiple instruments in the same room, with dividers and microphones placed for greatest isolation 7.18. Problems and Benefits of Track Isolation • Poses challenges to conventional musical communication: musicians need to hear and see each other • Musicians may need to use ear-phones to monitor other musicians, processed sounds, or prerecorded tracks • Permits optimizing sound of each instrument • Permits correcting errors in single parts • Permits non-linear recording and audio production • Permits musical re-arrangement and re-composition 7.19. Mixing and Automation • Mixing can include fading and switching tracks on and off; adjusting levels, effects processing, filtering, and panning • Before multi-track tape recording, mixing was done in real-time, direct to disc • With multi-track tape recording, tracking and mixing became separate steps 7.20. Mixing and Automation: Control Surface • Mixing consoles used to store processing power and provide an interface • Soundcraft MH3 ($16k+) © Soundcraft Studer. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. • Control surfaces provide a dynamic interface to computer-based processing • Digidesign ProTools D Command ($14k+) © Avid Technology Inc. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse. 7.21. Mixing and Automation: Traditional and Contemporary • • Traditional mixing is more like performing • After all tracks were recorded, engineers would create a script of changes to make during playback • Playing back all tracks, the mixing engineer would perform all changes in real time • Would likely do multiple takes of the mixing procedure, possible with multiple people performing the mix Contemporary mixing is more like composing • Track automation permits recording or directly specifying all dynamic changes to channel strip controls and effects • The mixing engineer might perform the mix, and then edit the performance data • The mixing engineer might directly specify (draw) the dynamic changes • Can compose and refine mix automation data 7.22. Tom Dowd: Engineering Innovator • • Video: Tom Dowd: The Language of Music, Chapter 2 (00:02-01:16, 2:42-3:47, 4:10-5:08) Video: Tom Dowd: The Language of Music, Chapter 7 (3:40-7:05) 7.23. Mastering for Distribution and Broadcast • Process two channel mix to optimize audio performance on various mediums • Processing tools may include special filters and compressors • A necessary step to make tracks “gel” together • Increases loudness of mix 7.24. The Loudness War • Compete for attention by making music (or other audio programs) louder than adjacent audio programs • Radio broadcasts: for transmission efficiency and to be louder than competition • TV commercials: to be louder than the program and other commercials • Popular Music: to sound bigger than other recordings • Potential Negative Effects • Can distort musical dynamics and reduce musicality • Can lead to increasingly extreme dynamics • Can train listeners not to hear dynamic range • Can cause ear strain • Makes diverse playlists difficult to listen to. 7.25. Loudness War: Statistics • Nielsen, S. H. and T. Lund. 2003. “Overload in Signal Conversion.” AES 23rd International Conference. • Statistical Evidence: © Audio Engineering Society. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse • James Brown (1986): average at -16 dB, peak at -3.4 dBFS • Back Street Boys (2000): average at -5 dB, peak at 0 dBFS 7.26. Loudness War: Listening • The Roots: Ital (The Univesal Side) (Illadelph Halflife, 1996) • The Roots: Guns are Drawn (The Tipping Point, 2004) 7.27. Reading: Horning • Horning, S. S. 2002. “From Polka to Punk: Growth of an Independent Recording Studio, 19341977.” In Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century. H. Braun, ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. 136-147. • What are some of the large-scale trajectories Horning illustrates over the life of the Cleveland Recording Company? • What tools and approaches were borrowed from German audio engineers? • What sort of technologies did Hamann develop? • Horning describes recording studio innovation as contingent, multi-causal, and decentralized: explain her use of these terms.

Processing Audio and the Modern Recording Studio

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