Recording Write Up

Yamah
a HS5

Yamah
a HS5

ADAM
a77x

ADAM
a77x
SPL
talkbac
k
Monitor

Focusrit
e ISA
PreAmp

Apollo soundcards
Focusrite soundcard
Headphone amp s-

Studio 1 Set up
Yamaha HS5 speakers – The Yamaha
speakers are 2-way bi-amp Powered Studio
monitor. They’re dimensions are 170mm (width), 285mm
(height), 222mm (Depth). The Frequency range 54 Hz – 30 KHz.
These speakers, on average, go for around £127.00
ADAM a77x – They are a 2 1\2way
system, they have 2 7” woofers, they
both work together at 38Hz and at
400Hz, after a while one woofer will
begin to fade out while the other woofer
continues till to play until 3KHz. The
a77x are wide stereo speakers what are
used highly in stereo imaging.

Focusrite ISA Preamp – The Focusrite ISA Preamp allows you to record
guitars and any other electrical instrument, the ISA Series is a
Transformer-based Preamplifier. It has flexible Independent DI
Channels, the ISA one has a headphone output and volume control as
well. The ISA one has an optional Stereo of 192KHz A-D Converter.
These can cost around £380

SPL stereo monitor & Talkback
Controller – The MTC (Monitor &
Talkback Controller) combines
the volume control, source
switching and loudspeaker
management for stereo
monitoring with comfortable
talkback and cue mixing
functions. A fully analog design
dispenses with VCAs, DACs, etc.,
providing loss-free signal
processing. The I/O section includes
six rear-panel stereo inputs (four
balanced, two unbalanced sources),
balanced XLR outputs for three
loudspeaker pairs and a slave
output. This can cost around £590
Universal Audio Apollo FireWire Sound card – The Apollo Sound Card
comes with a multichannel mixer that you can get on screen, this mixer
connects with your current
software.
Audio Interface on this Sound
Card has 18 x 24 simultaneous
input/output Channels, it has 14
channel of digital-to-analog
conversion by a eight mono line
output, stereo monitor output,
two stereo headphone output.
The Microphone Pre amp has
four high-resolution, digitally-controlled analog mic Preamps. There’s
also a Unison technology for deep integration with UAD preamp and
pedal plug-ins.
The System
there are
- 4 microphone inputs
- 2 High-impedance inputs
- 8 Analog Line Inputs
- 8 Analog Line Outputs
- 2 analog Monitor outputs
- Headphone Outputs 2 stereo
- FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) Dual ports
- Supported Sample Rates (kHz) 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 19

Focusrite Octopre MKII Mic Pre Amp Audio Interface - With eight
channels of Focusrite pre-amplification and a built-in 24-bit / 96 kHz
ADAT output, OctoPre MkII is Focusrite’s powerful input upgrade for
your Pro Tools system, or
any digital audio
workstation. The Mic
response on this sound
card is between 20Hz –
20KHz, the Mic gain is +10dB to +55dB. The Mic input uses phantom
power and the maximum input level is +8dBu. The Line input’s
frequency response is 20Hz – 20KHz.

Samson S-phone Headphone mixer/amp – This is a headphone
amplifier and mixer, each of S-phone's four channels includes three
Headphone Outputs with an overall Volume control and individual Level
meters, for greater sonic control, S-phone also features a 2-band
equalizer on each of the
four channels. A master
Stereo Aux input on the
front panel is also
supplied for inserting a
second signal to all
headphones. The Samson Headphone mixer has a 4-channel
headphone mixer, two Master Stereo inputs and a stereo link output.
There are 3 headphone outputs per channel (One on the front panel,
there are 2 on the back panel), each channel can have its maximum
output level.

Microphones
There are a lot of different Microphones that can be used for recording,
each one of the microphones do different things and are used for
different types of recordings.

Shure SM58

This is a dynamic Microphone. This is used mainly for vocals, the
frequency range was between 50Hz – 15kHz, it is a very Sturdy Mic
that can be used to record Drums.
This is one of the best microphones for a professional vocalist for live
stage performing. It is tuned to work well well with the lead vocalist
and the Backing vocals. No matter how much this microphone goes
through, it is still designed to collect the best sound from the vocals
minimizing the background noise, this is highly popular for DJ’s and
presenter in clubs and in small/Large Live venues.
Shure SM57
This is another dynamic microphone. This is used to record live
instruments. Frequency Ranges between 40Hz – 15kHz, it has a
contoured frequency response for clean instrumental sounds. This can
pick up higher frequencies than the Shure SM58.
It’s the most popular for a professional musician who wants to mic up
their amplified or acoustic instrument such as a Guitar amp, bass amp,
saxophone, trumpet or drums. It is used on stage and in studios.
Shure SM7B Studio Microphone
The Shure SM7B is a dynamic Microphone, it is used for Vocals mainly.
The frequency range is 50Hz – 20kHz.
The SM7B is a smooth sounding microphone that is ideal for close-talk
applications such as radio presenting and voiceovers for TV. This
microphone has also been used for vocals on a lot of music albums.
Neumann TLM102
It is a Condenser Microphone. This is used for Drums, wind instruments,
amps and Vocals, the Frequency range is 20Hz – 20kHz. This is able to
pick up High Frequencies.
Audix f2
This is a Dynamic Instrument Microphone. This is used for live stages,
studio, Guitars and brass instruments. The frequency range is 52Hz –
15kHz, this mic is good for Live Stage, studio, rack toms, floor toms,
congas, djembe, guitars and bas cabs and brass instruments
Audix f6

This is a Dynamic Instrument Microphone, this is used for live stage,
Recordings, and a Kick drum and the Frequency range is 40Hz – 16kHz,
The Audix f6 is a wide diaphragm microphone. This microphone is used
a lot for Live Stage, recording, Kick Drum, Kettle drum, floor tom, Bass
Cabinets and Leslie bottom
Audix f9
This is a condenser Pencil Microphone, this is used for recording
Symbols and the other high frequency instruments. It has a frequency
range of about 40Hz – 20kHz. This is a very specific Microphone and it
can only pick up the sound from what its facing. This mic is really good
for recording Cymbals, Overheads, Hi-Hat, Goodie Table and Audience
mic.
Dynamic / Condenser Microphones.
The difference between Dynamic and Condenser Microphone is that a
Condenser microphones require phantom Power. This means that a
condenser microphone need 48 volts to work. Dynamic microphones
not not need any main power for the mic to work, however, this means
that the Dynamic Microphones Sound quality isn’t as good as a
condenser microphone. Dynamic microphones are better to use as they
are more robust, more portable, and do not need phantom power to
work.
When setting up Microphones, you need to take some things into
account, for example, Sound, pressure and level (or SPL) are the three
things that can mostly likely damage microphones, you need to make
sure all of these things are at a good level and are not too strong or
high because they can damage the microphones really easy. Peaking
sound is when the output level is too much, turning down the Gain on
the microphone means that the Microphone cannot pick up so much of
the sound.
If using a condenser microphone, you need to understand that they
need power to work, if there is no power going through the Condenser
Microphone then they won’t work. To get the best sound for a recorded
drum track, the overhead Microphones (Two Audix f9’s) need to be
panned, one left and one right so there’s a complete room sound.
There are three rooms for this recording studio, there is the control
room, the Vocal booth, and the Live room. The control room is where all
of the recording, sound editing and mixing happens, the vocal booth is
where you record any vocals, and the Live room is where you want to
record any live instrument such as drums, guitars etc…
The control room is everything I’ve already described, it is used to

record instruments and/or vocals, then whatever has been recorded,
the sound cards then turn the sound waves into digital messages to the
current software what makes the song easier to edit. If you want to
record an electric guitar into the software directly, that is what the
Focusrite Preamp is used for, you can use a Jack lead and plug the
guitar straight into the computer. This isn’t the only way to record a
guitar, you can also mic up an amp and play the instrument through an
amplifier and then put a Microphone in front of the Amp. If you are
planning on using an Acoustic Guitar, you will use the Live room.
The Vocal Booth is used to record vocals, this room is a sound proof
room, this is good for the singers because they cannot hear the sound
outside of the booth, this is also good because the room is very sound
efficient, this is because the room is made out of specific materials so
that the surroundings capture all the sound, this lets the microphone
pick up the vocals easier. In this room there is a Stage Box, the stage
box lets you plug in XLR cabel so that the vocals can be inserted into
the computer, the Stage box also comes with a headphone port, this
The Live room is where you record live
instruments, such as Amped guitars,
drums and any other acoustic/live sound
instruments.
I used the Live room for recording a
Drum kit and recording an acoustic
guitar, the Live room is a big room so
that the sound for a drum kit carries
around the room, this is good because If
you are recording the overall sound in
the room, it gives he recording more of
a live sound instead of a studio recorded
sound on the instruments.
www.Miskintheatre.c
o.uk

Recording
If you are planning on recording a drum kit you need to have specific
Microphones on specific Drums. For example, each mic has different
Snare Drum Top & Bottom – you will need to use the Shure SM57/58 for
both top and bottom of the snare drum. The shure microphones are
very robust and are used for live stage productions, this means they
can handle a lot so you can keep drumming and not damage the
microphpones.

Kick Drum – To record the Kick drum, you want to use the Audix f6, this
is because the f6 is a wide diaphragm, this means that the Microphone
can pick up low frequencies from instruments. If you want a sharp, bass
sound on the kick drum then you would put the Audix f6 further into
the Kick Drum.
Rack Tom & Floor Tom – For these two drums you would want to use the
Audix f2’s because this microphone can pick up low and high
frequencies, this is a good mic because the Rack tom is more the mid
range frequency on the drums and the floor is more a low range
frequency.

Overhead Left & Right – These two parts of the drum kits are the
microphones that pick up the whole kit, the Audix f9’s are the best
mics because they can pick up high frequencies, this is good for the
symbols, the overheads capture all the sound on the Drum kit, you
should place the overheads the same distance from the middle of the
snare to the mic on both overheads, the mics on the overheads should
also be facing the middle of the snare drum.
Each microphone on the drum kit had to be set to send to a specific
input, for example
Input 2 – Kick Drum
Input 3 – Snare (Top)
Input 4 – Snare (Bottom)
Input 9 – Rack Tom
Input 10 – Floor Tom
Input 11 – Overhead (Right)
Input 12 – Overhead (Left)
Each one of these inputs need to be put into Logic, the first thing I
done is inserted 7 Audio Tracks into Logic. Then I clicked on one of the
tracks and open up the Inspector on the side by clicking the inspector
button, this will then open up the inspector on the side of the screen
The Inspector is a mixer for the selected track, it shows you the effects
on the track, the EQ, the pan and the level of the track, below the EQ
box, it says ‘Input 1’, this is what input you are going to be recording

on, click on this button and it brought up all the other Inputs, so I
selected the correct input for the microphone, the inputs are connected
to the Stage box what were in the Live room, the Stage box connects
the microphones in the live room to the Sound Cards in the Control
room. You have to do this for all of the 7 tracks.
Before recording, you need to make sure all of the gains are okay and
not too high, this is because if the gain on the mics are too high, it can
damage the microphones, it as also because you do not want the
sound to be clipping. By turning down the gain, you are controlling how
much of the sound the microphones picks up, you can change the Gain
by using the Apollo soundcard and the the focusrite octopre. The Apollo
is linked to input 2, 3 and 4, and the Focusrite Octopre is connected to
Input 9, 10, 11 and 12.
I was then ready to start recording, I made all 7 of the tracks ‘record
enabled’, this is so when I press record, the microphones actually send
the sound to the control room.
I also recorded a Bass guitar to my track, I recorded my bass through
the Focusrite PreAmp. To record a guitar, it is very similar to recording a
drum kit, I done the same steps on how to set it up on Logic, however,
instead of putting the input on 2-4/9-12, I put the track on input 5,
input 5 was the input for the Focusrite preamp. There was a two ways I
wanted to record my Bass Guitar, could’ve either plugged the Guitar
straight into the Focusrite preamp, or I could’ve plugged the Bass into
an amp and then record the Amplifiers sound. If I wanted to record
through the Amp, I would have to use the Shure SM58, this microphone
is good for recording live instruments, Playing a guitar through an amp
and recording the amp gives you more of a live sound to the guitar,
some people prefer the sound of they’re instruments sound more live,
however I wanted to play my Bass guitar through the preamp because
it gave me a clear sound, this was good for me because it was easier to
mix as it was easier to see the frequency analysis of the Instrument.