This is 10 months worth of audio engineering lecture notes, this covers intro the audio technology, properties of sound, acoustics, music business and styles, arranging and production, digital and analogue mixers, along with the corresponding signal flow setups. This collection of notes is perfect ...
Sound Engineering - SE100
Intro to Audio Technology
Studio Layout
The studio consists of two main rooms.
1. Control Room
2. Booth
Control room
- this is the engineers space
- this is also where most of the studio equipment is located
Booth
- this is the artist/musicians space
- each booth will sound different to each other
- having multiple booths allows us to record multiple people/instruments at the same
time
Common pieces of Audio Equipment
Mixers
- There are 2 kinds of mixers, namely studio mixers and live mixers
1. Studio Mixers
- 2 TRS | 1/4 inch jacks + 1 XLR , 1 input per channel
2. Live Mixers
- 1 TRS | 1/4 inch jack + 1 XLR + 2 inputs per channel
- One line of the studio mixer is reserved for recorded audio , the other is for
playback
- This makes studio mixers appropriate for both live sound & studio work
- Live mixers will usually have a graphic EQ
- The 1st set of inputs allows one to connect instruments to a mixer for recording
- The 2nd set of inputs allows one to send the signal to a mixer for mixing down
Differences between Analogue & Digital Mixers
- An analogue mixer needs a physical channel strip for each individual channel. The
result of this is that analogue mixers will generally be bigger than digital mixers
- Both types of mixers perform the same function despite digital mixers having less
physical channel strips
- Analogue mixers have an EQ for each channel while digital mixers have one EQ for
the entire board
- Digital mixers can have more than one strip for more than one channel
- On the digital mixer, one control can be used for multiple channels
, - A digital mixer can convert analogue signals to digital signals, analogue mixers
require an audio interface to perform this function
Ampli ers
- An ampli er controls the level of an electrical signal
- They are used to increase the level of a signal before it gets to a speaker
- Speakers with a built in ampli er are referred to as active speakers while speakers
without one are referred to as passive speakers
NOTE: processing units change an audio signal, FX units add to a signal
Dynamic processors
There are 4 main types of dynamic processors:
1. Compressors
2. Limiters
3. Gates
4. Expanders
1. Compressors
- This makes the soft points of a signal louder and the louder parts of a signal softer
- The compressor uses a threshold
- Whatever goes above the signal will be brought down and made quieter
- A compressor affects the dynamic range of a signal
- Dynamic range refers to the distance between the loudest part of a signal and the
quietest part of a signal
2. Limiters
- A limiter is similar to a compressor
- Limiters also utilize a threshold
- A limiter will completely cut off a signal if it above the threshold
3 + 4. Gates & Expanders
- The gate focuses on what goes below the threshold
- When a signal goes below the threshold the gate will not let the signal through to
the speakers
- This is useful for removing unwanted noise
- An expander works as a reverse compressor. It takes what goes below a threshold
and makes it louder
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, FX Units
Reverberation Units
- Reverberation refers to the re ections in a room
- These re ections are heard while a signal is still being generated
- This is referred to as natural reverberation
- Before reverb units we had reverberation chambers
- Now reverb units create arti cial re ections
- reverb units are used to emulate the sound of any kind of room/space
Delay Units
- Delay units simulate natural echoes
- This unit takes a signal, repeats it and makes it softer. Then takes the repeated
signal and repeats it until the signal is too soft to be heard
Guitar FX Units
- this device simulates guitar effects
- The producer will use this when they don’t like the sound/tone of an instrument or
sound
Racks
- Racks are where we keep the hardware devices in the studio
- This includes compressors, limiters, gates, etc.
- The 2 types of racks are device racks and power racks
- If power racks are too close to audio devices they will create a buzzing sound in the
audio device
- A rack is 19 inches wide (48.26cm)
- The height of a rack device is 1U / 2U (roughly 34mm)
Patchbays
- The patchbay provides us with 1 central location for all the inputs & outputs in the
studio
- Patchbays also make maintenance in the studio easy
- These are the main reasons to have a patchbay in your studio
- They have 48 sockets total on both the front & back
- Patchbays are mounted in the rack
Junction boxes & Snakes
- On the junction box you will nd XLR sockets as microphone inputs
- You will also nd TRS sockets as outputs on this device
- The XLR sockets are hardwired to speci c mixer channels
- The TRS sockets are hardwired to the patchbay
- Snakes are the live sound version of junction boxes
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, Audio Interfaces
- An audio interface is a more professional and higher quality version of a sound card
- This means high quality audio conversion
- The audio interface converts analogue signals to digital signals
- Entry level audio interfaces have a sample rate of 48kHz
- Professional level audio interfaces can go up to 192kHz
- Professional level audio interfaces will usually have 8+ inputs
NOTE: interfaces use 1 of 3 types of cables. Namely, USB, thunderbolt or rewire
Microphones
- Microphones are transducers
- This means they convert acoustic signals into electrical signals
- There are 3 main types of microphones. Namely condenser, dynamic and ribbon
microphones
Headphones
- Headphones are speakers for your ears
- Headphones are also transducers
- Headphones are used for recording and referencing your mixes
- There are 2 types of headphones:
1. Open Back (open cans)
> don’t block out noise/keep sound in
2. Closed back (closed cans)
> good at blocking out noise and keeping sound out
Monitors
- In the audio industry we refer to listening as monitoring
- Loudspeakers are transducers
- Studio monitors are loudspeakers that are designed to give an accurate
representation of a digital signal
- This means they give us a “true” sound
- Near eld monitors are usually placed around 2m from your ears
- Far eld monitors are usually only found in bigger studios, this are also referred to
as main monitors
- Far eld monitors work in such a way that they allow sound to develop throughout
the studio and require time to do so
- These are also usually more than 2m away
Digital to Audio Converters (DAC/s)
- This device connects to your audio interface
- It does not connect directly to your computer
- The DAC converts the digital sockets on an audio interface into analogue sockets
- They are mainly used as extra inputs for an audio interface
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