Recording Studio: The Definition and Foundation

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording.

Sound recording and reproduction is the electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, usually used for the voice or for music.
The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.

Audio engineering is a part of audio science dealing with the recording and reproduction of sound through mechanical and electronic means. The field of audio engineering draws on many disciplines, including electrical engineering, acoustics, psychoacoustics, and music. Unlike acoustical engineering, audio engineering generally does not deal with noise control or acoustical design. However, an audio engineer is often more affiliated with the creative aspects of audio rather than formal engineering, as most professional audio engineers lack a formal and accredited Engineering degree. Audio engineering is different from acoustical engineering, which heavily relies on the underlying physics and mathematics of sound waves and their propagation.

An audio engineer is someone with experience and training in the production and manipulation of sound through mechanical (analog) or digital means. As a professional title, this person is sometimes designated as a sound engineer or recording engineer instead. A person with one of these titles is commonly listed in the credits of many commercial music recordings (also in other productions that include sound, such as movies).

Audio engineers are generally familiar with the design, installation, and/or operation of sound recording, sound reinforcement, or sound broadcasting equipment. In the recording studio environment, the audio engineer is a person recording, editing, manipulating, mixing and/or mastering sound by technical means in order to realize an artist's or record producer's creative vision. While usually being associated with music production, an audio engineer may be involved in dealing with sound for a wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film, live sound reinforcement, advertising, multimedia, broadcasting.

Audio engineers operate mixing consoles, microphones, signal processors, tape machines, digital audio workstations, sequencing software and speaker systems. Commonly an audio engineer is responsible for the technical aspects of a sound recording or other audio production and works together with a record producer or director, although the engineer's role may also be integrated with that of the producer.

In typical sound reinforcement applications, audio engineers often assume the role of producer, making artistic decisions along with technical ones.

Record producer

In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. This has been a major function of producers since the inception of sound recording, but in the later half of the 20th century producers also took on a wider entrepreneurial role. These activities comprise record production.

The music producer could be compared to the film director in that the producer's job is to create, shape and mould a piece of music in accordance with his vision.

Mastering is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio to a medium that will be used in the production of copies. The specific medium varies, depending on the intended release format of the final product. For digital audio releases, there is more than one possible master medium, chosen based on replication factory requirements and/or record label security concerns. The chosen medium is then used as the source from which all copies will be made (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication).

History/Overview

In the earliest days of the recording industry, all phases of the recording and mastering process were entirely achieved by mechanical processes. Performers sang and/or played into a large acoustic horn and the master recording was created by the direct transfer of acoustic energy from the diaphragm of the recording horn to the mastering lathe, which was typically located in an adjoining room. The cutting head, driven by the energy transferred from the horn, inscribed a modulated groove into the surface of a rotating cylinder or disc. These masters were usually made from either a soft metal alloy or from wax; this gave rise to the colloquial term "waxing", referring to the cutting of a record.

After the introduction of the microphone and electronic amplification in the late 1920s the mastering process became electro-mechanical, and electrically driven mastering lathes came into use for cutting master discs (the cylinder format by then having been superseded).

However, until the introduction of tape recording, master recordings were almost always cut direct-to-disc. Artists performed live in a specially-designed studio and as the performance was underway, the signal was routed from the microphones via a mixing desk in the studio control room to the mastering lathe, where the disc was cut as the performance took place. Only a small minority of recordings were mastered using previously recorded material sourced from other discs.

The recording industry was revolutionized by the introduction of magnetic tape in the late 1940s, which enabled master discs to be cut separately in time and space from the actual recording process. Although tape and other technical advances dramatically improved audio quality of commercial recordings in the post-war years, the basic constraints of the electro-mechanical mastering process remained, and the inherent physical limitations of the main commercial recording media -- the 78rpm disc and the later 7" single and LP record -- meant that the audio quality, dynamic range and running time of master discs was still relatively limited compared to later media such as the compact disc.

Running times were constrained by the diameter of the disc and the density with which grooves could be inscribed on the surface without cutting into each other. Dynamic range was also limited by the fact that, if the signal level coming from the master tape was too high, the highly sensitive cutting head might jump off the surface of the disc during the cutting process.

From the 1950s until the advent of digital recording in the late 1980s, the mastering process typically went through several stages. Once the studio recording on multitrack tape was complete, a final mix was prepared and dubbed down to the master tape -- usually either a single-track monophonic or two-track stereo tape.
Prior to the cutting of the master disc, the master tape was often subjected to further electronic treatment by a specialist mastering engineer. After the advent of tape it was found that, especially for pop recordings, master recordings could be 'optimized' by making fine adjustments to the balance and equalisation prior to the cutting of the master disc.

Mastering became a highly skilled craft and it was widely recognized that good mastering could make or break a commercial pop recording. As a result, during the peak years of the pop music boom from the 1950s to the 1980s, the best mastering engineers were in high demand. In the 1970s and beyond, one of the most sought-after mastering engineers in the world was Bob Ludwig. The New York based engineer began his audio career at A&R Studios in New York as assistant to producer Phil Ramone after which he spent many years based Sterling Sound, and then Masterdisk, mastering recordings in all genres by artists from all over the world.

Many artists found that their recordings were significantly degraded by sub-standard mastering, so some of the more technically adept pop musicians -- notably Frank Zappa and Todd Rundgren -- learned this process and became highly skilled mastering engineers in their own right in addition to their musical accomplishments.

In large recording companies such as EMI, the mastering process was usually controlled by specialist staff technicians who were conservative in their work practices. These big companies were often reluctant to make changes to their recording and production processes -- for example, EMI was very slow in taking up innovations in multitrack recording and they did not install 8-track recorders in their Abbey Road Studios until the late 1960s, more than a decade after the first commercial 8-track recorders were installed by American independent studios. As a result, by the time The Beatles were making their ground-breaking recordings in the mid-Sixties, they often found themselves at odds with EMI's mastering engineers, who were unwilling to meet the group's demands to 'push' the mastering process, because it was feared that if levels were set too high it would cause the needle to jump out of the groove when the record was played by consumers.

In the 1990s, the old electro-mechanical processes were largely superseded by digital technology, with digital recordings transferred to digital masters by an optical etching process that employs laser technology. The digital audio workstation (DAW) became common in many mastering facilities, allowing the off-line manipulation of recorded audio via a graphical user interface (GUI).

Process

The process of Audio Mastering varies depending on the specific needs of the audio to be processed. Steps of the process typically include:

1. Load the recorded audio tracks into the DAW.

2. Correct any problems with the audio, such as volume level, tonal balance, or undesirable artifacts.

3. Sequence the separate songs or tracks as it will appear on the final product (for example, a CD).

4. Transfer the audio to the final master format (i.e., Redbook, CD-R, etc.).

Examples of possible actions taken during mastering:

1. Apply noise reduction to eliminate hum and hiss.

2. Limit the tracks to set the highest peaks in audio volume to a preset level; the overall audio should never exceed 0 dBFS.

3. Equalize audio between tracks to ensure there are no jumps in bass,
treble,midrange, volume or pan.

4. Apply a compressor (for example, 1.5:1 starting at -10 dB) to compress the peaks making the softer parts sound relatively louder.

5. In the case of mastering for broadcast, the bandwidth of the signal has to be reduced. For example, for TV broadcast: apply a high-pass filter at 80 Hz with -18 dB/octave to filter out low frequencies and apply a low-pass filter at 12 kHz with -9 dB/octave to filter out high frequencies.

6. In the case of CD or Vinyl or similar media, arrange the tracks in the desired order and make sure the pauses or crossfades between tracks are as they should be.
The guidelines above are not specific instructions but processes that may or may not be applied in a given situation. Mastering needs to examine the types of input media, the expectations of the source producer or recipient, the limitations of the end medium and process the subject accordingly. General rules of thumb can rarely be applied.

RMS in music, average loudness

The Root Mean Square (RMS) in audio production terminology is a measure of average level and is found widely in software tools. In practice, a larger RMS number means higher average level; i.e. -9 dBFSD RMS is 2 dB louder than -11 dBFSD RMS. The maximum value for the RMS number is therefore zero. The loudest records of modern music are -7 to -9 dBFSD RMS, the softest -12 to -16 dBFSD RMS. The RMS level is no absolute guarantee of loudness, however; perceived loudness of signals of similar RMS level can vary widely since perception of loudness is dependent on several factors, including the spectrum of the sound (see Fletcher-Munson) and the density of the music (e.g., slow ballad versus fast rock).

Compressed higher RMS vs clipped higher RMS, density

Some experienced listeners feel that around -12 dBFSD RMS in general or during loud parts and -14 to -16 dBFSD RMS during soft parts is a "sweet spot" for optimal punch and loudness, neither too loud nor too soft. This perception is still valid considering that the extra loudness (usually 1-3 dB) has often been achieved by simply clipping the smoothly curved tops of the waveforms resulting in flat topped square waves, which may or may not result in a subjective improvement of the sound. Prior to clipping, usually the last procedure in audio production, the "natural" RMS of many songs is in fact just around -12 dBFSD RMS. Thus, in many cases where the final RMS is -8 to -11 dBFSD, the RMS has not really been increased over the -12 dBFSD RMS "sweet spot"; only the tops of the waveforms have been clipped by 1-3 dB. The music is not any thicker or denser, merely played louder with less punch and more distortion.

In contrast, a "true" higher RMS is achieved by increasing the density (usually by compression) of the sounds contributing most to the average level (i.e., everything but the drums), so that their volume as a group can be lower in relation to (usually drum) peaks. This retains the same RMS and perceived average loudness as the clipped mix, often with a stronger sense of density and pressure. However, in practice, this too would probably be subjected to some clipping, resulting in even higher loudness and pressure than one that was merely clipped.
In summary, what is important is not how loud the song is made but how the song is made loud.

Bit rate, Sample rate, and Dithering

Since the onset of digital recording, another job of the mastering engineer is to make higher resolution recordings into CD quality. For example, professional digital audio is almost always recorded at 24 bits, whereas a CD quality is 16 bits. Similarly, some projects may be recorded at a higher sample rate, such as 96kHz, whereas CD quality is 44.1kHz. While downsampling the audio is a relatively simple task, bit reduction has more blatant consequences. While reducing the bit depth from 24 bits to 16 bits, if one simply truncates the lower 8 bits it will lead to distortion and other subjectively ugly artifacts, called quantization error. The solution, or perhaps compromise, is to dither the signal. This process will add lower level white noise instead of the distortion - a subjectively more pleasing sound. Some even believe proper dithering can make 16 bit audio sound as though it actually has the dynamic range of 19 or 20 bit audio. Dithering noise can also be shaped in a way that makes it less audible by placing most of the noise in a higher frequency range, by principle of the Fletcher-Munson curve. The sound is not dissimilar to audio tape noise. Different dithering processes have different sounds, and thus the mastering engineer will choose the dither that he believes to be most appropriate for the type of music.

Software tools for mastering

Digital Audio Workstations

• Adobe Audition
• Apple WaveBurner
• Ardour
• Audio Cube
• Cakewalk Sonar
• Digital Performer
• iZotope
• JAMin
• Nuendo
• Pro Tools
• Pyramix
• SaDiE
• Seqouia
• Sonic Solutions
• Sonic Studio
• Sony CD Architect
• Sony Sonoma
• Sound Forge
• WaveLab
• XO Wave

ASCAP Member

Our New Sony DRE-S777 PAC - One of the Nicest Reverbs Available

Thought we could enhance the analog side with a "Hot-Rodded" Soundcraft Console - Very Nice!

Series 1624

Launched in late 1979, the 1624 was conceived as ‘A 16/24 track recording console for the 1980’s’. The console continued the philosophy of the ‘Split Format’, which allowed engineer and producer to work side-by-side at the console, the producer safely experimenting with the monitor mix on the right hand side of the console, whilst the engineer concentrated on what was going to tape from the inputs on the left.

The console was built in a new modern frame, and used flat ribbon cables for the first time as bussing, rather than hard motherboards, and new types of pots and switches which were more precise in operation. New control knobs were also used, and for the first time were custom-made for Soundcraft, rather than the off-the-shelf knobs of earlier consoles.

Features were similar to the 3B, but more integrated into the main modules, so that manufacturing was easier. There was a meterbridge that appeared to ‘float’ above the console, and this only contained meters, rather than the routing switches of the 3 and 3B. The routing on the 1624 was integrated into the input modules. The output section had the most comprehensive monitor section yet, with a three band EQ with sweep mid, and a unique arrangement of floating Pan and Aux sends, which could be assigned to either the group, for subgrouping, or the monitor section, for recording.

Although the console only had 16 groups, 24-track recording was possible via automatic patchbay normalling, and an optional 24-track monitor module was available which contained 8 sweet monitor returns.

This is a custom Console made with 28 input channels instead of 24. The Producer side has the optional 24-track monitor module installed. This gives us 52 Pristine and Marvelous Analog channels.

We bought another Souncraft 2400 Series Console in Los Angeles. We took the very best from both Consoles and now we have a super 2400/1624 Console. We were very fortunate to find these. It is just a wonderful thing.

We are now finished with the up-Grade to this marvelous Console.

We Completely torn down and rebuilt and enhanced this Mixer. Every Nut, Bolt, Wire, POT, and Fader.

We had the top of the line BURR BROWN Op-Amps installed. New School and Old School together at last!

We did our homework to optimize every detail of this console. I am so very happy with this project.

This Console was used in the making of YES's "Big Generator" album. Analog magic for sure!

- We are so glad we found this and in Pristine condition also -

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Now in the line up for guitar synths:

This is so Cool. We are using this for totally new sounds and recording possibilities...

VG-99: V-Guitar System

A Milestone in Guitar Modeling and Performance Technology

In the history of guitar modeling, no manufacturer has devoted more time, resources and passion into this market segment than Roland — from the world’s first guitar modeling processor, the legendary VG-8, to its popular V-Guitar predecessors. Today, Roland proudly announces another milestone in guitar modeling and performance technology: the VG-99. With three powerful new processors at its core, plus expressive performance controls such as Ribbon Controller and D BEAM, this remarkable instrument raises the bar in guitar modeling and performance technology.

Dual modeling engines allow guitar and amp models to be dynamically switched, layered and combined

New COSM® electric, acoustic and even bass guitar models, and new synth waves such as the famous GR-300

Guitar to MIDI converter for direct connection to keyboards, sound modules, soft synths, computers, and other MIDI-compatible devices
Supports USB audio and MIDI for easy digital recording and sequencing

Dual GT-Pro-class effects processor enables unequalled flexible tone creation

Advanced performance controls, including D BEAM, V-LINK and Ribbon Controller take guitar performance to a whole new level

Simple and intuitive knob-based interface and new design support live performance

Graphical Editor software included to support sophisticated sound making

Versatile I/O, including USB, S/PDIF and XLR provide pro connections for virtually every type of music production and performance on stage to professional studio recording

Cheers from www.sonsetbeach.com