Welcome to Introduction to Music1

8/12/2019 Welcome to Introduction to Music1

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1. Welcome to Introduction to Music

Production.

I'm Loudon Stearns, and we'll be working

together for the next six weeks, as we

look at the essential components and the

most important tools in the music

production process.

Now, learning how to produce music is a

huge task, and really it's a lifelong

process.

So in this six weeks, my goal is for you

to understand the most important tools.

The first step is learning the tools of

the trade and then you can, then continue

on, and learn how to use them best.

So each of the six weeks, we'll be

examining a certain set of tools that's

part of music production.

And how it fits into the larger music

production process.

This week, we're going to look at the

fundamentals of sound.

And the signal flow that sound takes

through a typical studio.

So, sound to microphone, to

audio-interface, to computer, and then


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back out to your speakers.

In the coming weeks, we'll then look at

each one of the components of that signal

flow in more detail.

And then, next week we'll look at the DAW

and the editing process.

After that the mixing board and the

mixing process.

Then well look at digital signal

processing; the various ways that the

sound can be manipulated.

And then f inally, well end with the

discussion of synthesis and kind of gain

a good language for what sound really is.

So I'm really looking forward to the six

weeks.

I think it's going to be a lot of fun,

and we're going to cover a lot of

material.

I'd like you to treat this class as a

guided exploration.

Take every topic that we start in the

class, and use it as a way to start a

discussion with the hundreds of people

that are taking this class with you.

We have a wonderful set of forms that can


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be used to go in-depth into each one of

these topics.

And I hope that you start bringing in all

of the other resources that are

available.

And sharing it with your classmates.

And learning from each other's

experiences.

I'm really looking forward to this six

weeks.

Let's get into the basics of sound.

2. PROPAGACION

As you start producing music, it's

essential to know some of the basic

properties of sound, so much of what we

do really is manipulating these kind of

general principles or basic properties of

sound.

What we're going to look at today is

going to be propagation, amplitude,

frequency, and timbre.

And we're going to start with

propagation.

And that's the sounds moving through a


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medium.

Now, sound can exist in a variety of

mediums.

It can go through air.

It can go through metal.

It can go through water.

And in each one of those mediums, it

actually goes at a different rate (indices).

Or a different speed.

And it does take time for sound to get

from one place to another.

And our brain is amazingly capable at

determining those fine differences in in

arrival time.

In fact, if you have something, co, if

you have sound coming from the right hand

side, hits your right ear before the

left, we can actually detect that.

And that's one of the main ways that we

actually determine if something is coming

from the right instead (en lugar) of the left.

So manipulation of, of a slight (Poco) delay Is

really a manipulation of our sense (sentido) of

propagation, or sounds moving through the

air.

Now, there are many properties of air


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that can change the rate of sound.

the temperature and humidity.

Your elevation, whether (si) you're at sea

level or up a couple miles like in

Denver.

So if I'm going to be particular about

saying, the speed of sound, I have to say

the speed of sound at sea-level, at the

specific temperature.

But really it only changes the speed of

sound a very slight amount (cantidad).

So we can say, sound generally travels at

340 meters per second.

That also works out to be around one foot

for millisecond.

One kilometer in three seconds or one

mile in five seconds.

Again, these are not precise, and they

rely on (depende de) a variety of factors, but it is

useful to know, because a lot of what we

do with sound effects, like delay,

reverb, phasers and flangers, they're

actually all related to this idea of

propagation.

If I'm trying to give the sense of a

space that's all based on manipulating


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this idea of propagation.

Because as I talk in a room, the sound of

my voice bounces off (se refleja) all the surfaces.

It takes (lleva) time for this sound to get from

my mouth, to the surface, and then back

or to someone else.

And then all the different surfaces are

reflecting differently.

So our idea and our, our sense of space

is actually based on this idea of

propagation and reflection.

The sound reflecting off objects and

taking the time to get there in a

different amount (Cantidad)of time from all those

different surfaces.

So, so much of what we do in a mix is

based on creating a sense of space and a

depth and a real location.

And all of those parameters are based on

this idea of propagation.

3. AMPLITUD

The next property of sound we're going to

look at is Amplitude, which is the, kind

of, extent of the wave.

How wide it's moving, or actually, how


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much the air compresses and rarefies as

that wave form moves or propagates

through the air.

Now, there are many types of waves.

And one of the tough (DURO) things is that we

Tend (tendemos) to think of a wave like a wave on a

Pond (estanque) which is this flat surface with

vibrations on top of it.

And the truth is, wave in the air moves a

little bit of a different way.

air on a pond, the, direction of the

vibration is perpendicular.

Or kind of at a right angle to the

direction of propagation.

But waves but sound and air, the

direction of the vibration is parallel.

The same direction as the direction of

propagation.

I'm going to use this spring (resorte) to kind of

demonstrate, what I mean by that.

So if we look at a wave on a pond, or

sound on a guitar string, we'll see a

wave kind of like this.

[SOUND].

Where its propagating this way, but we

see the wave is moving that way.


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in rare faction of the air.

Compression is the amount of the, amount

of the air is, is getting more dense as

the way it moves by.

And rarefaction is the way that the

actually air is getting less than as the

way it moves by the extent of that is our

amplitude.

Now, perceptually, we hear that as being

louder or quieter.

The higher the amplitude, the louder it

is.

Now, when we look at diagrams of wave

forms though, we never see, I mean how

would you diagram, the longitudinal wave,

it's very difficult.

So we diagram it as it it's transverse.

We need to know when we're thinking about

air that it is this longitudinal

compression and rarefaction it's moving

in the same direction as the propagation.

Amplitude is measured in decibels.

And there are numerous places in our

signal flow where we do measure

amplitude.

we measure it out in the air.


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And in that instance, we use Decibels of

Sound Pressure (presion) Level, or dBSPL.

Now, the thing you have to know about

decibels is it's a relative measure.

There's no definite set point where zero

is, and it gets used differently in a

variety of contexts.

So, in the air we use dBSPL, and the SPL

portion of it is actually setting where

zero is.

And dBSPL is related to the threshold (entrada) of

hearing, or the quietest thing we can

possibly hear in the air.

Once we get into the digital domain, into

the computer, we measure amplitude with

DBFS or full scale.

And that then is related to the loudest

thing that could be represented in

numbers within the computer.

And we find a kind of variation in the

way the numbers work.

If we're thinking about the real world,

out here we measure DBSPL.

It's going to be from zero being the

quietest thing and just gets louder and

louder and louder.


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Until it gets to the kind of threshold (entrada),

the pain or the the loudest thing we can

perceive with, you know, comfortably.

when we're in the computer, we measure

dBFS.

And in that case, we have zero as the

loudest possible thing that can be

represented in the computer, and it goes

negative from there.

So you're much more likely to see

negative DB in the computer, but positive

DB, when you're talking about sound in

the air.

Now this is important, just because a lot

of times you leave off the extension.

Everyone just says dB but you need to

recognize every time you hear someone

talking about amplitude and talking about

decibels, you need to know the context.

You need to realize are they talking

about dBSPL in the air, or are they

talking about dBFS full scale inside the

computer.

People will tend to use the terms

amplitude and loudness interchangeably.

And we're going to find that as we go


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through these six weeks, that we're

going to get finer(mas finas) and finer definitions

for some common words.

And in fact, amplitude and loudness are

different things.

Amplitude is something measurable by a

computer, and loudness is our perception

of that.

And actually, our perception of amplitude

is a very complex (complicada) thing.

It includes many other factors, like

Mostly (mayormente) duration.

How long has this thing been loud for?

And also, frequency, we hear amplitudes

different in the lows and the highs.

So, it's important in our own

conversation, in our forums, and in our

discussions with each other.

That we start being really particular

about are we talking about amplitude,

which is a measurable thing in the real

world and in the computer.

Or are we talking about loudness, which

is the human perception of amplitude

which is related to things like duration

and frequency.


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When producing music, amplitude becomes a

primary concern (preocupacion).

our, our functions of mixing is largely

based on controlling the amplitude of our

many tracks and making them relative to

each other in a pleasing (agradable) way.

The idea of panning is controlling the

level between the two speakers.

And we have a number of plugins that are

dynamic plugins which are going to be

controlling the amplitude of our signal

over time.

the dynamic plugins are going to be your

expanders, gates, compressors, and

limitors.

Now, amplitude also comes into a great

extent when looking at gear (engranaje).

So if you're buying a microphone, you'll

see something called the dynamic range of

the microphone.

And the dynamic range of a microphone is

the decibels in which it will reproduce

the sound properly.

And when you talk about dynamic range,

and this another one of those words

that's going to be used different ways in


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different contexts.

But when you're talking about dynamic

range in a piece of gear, its the range

levels between the noise floor or the,

the, the quietest that is just going to

be the hiss(silvar) that the device is putting

out.

And the distortion when you get so loud

that it just can't reproduce it.

And it gives you an ugly crackling ( Chispeante) or

upper harmonics, are added to the signal.

So your dynamic range distance from the

quietest things that can be reduced

clearly above the noise.

So your noise floor, to your distortion,

is going to be your dynamic range.

Every piece of gear has a specific

dynamic range, our own ears have a

dynamic range.

And we also use the term dynamic range

when talking about a piece of music.

You can say the dynamic range of a piece

of music is the range from its quietest

section to its loudest.

So we see that this idea of amplitude is

going to be of primary concern (preocupacion) throughout (durante)


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the music production process.

And it's something to take very great

care with when you're setting levels for

a microphone, when you're mixing, when

you're setting your output levels.

Something to always be aware (conciente de ) of, and this

is again a big topic.

The idea of decibels, there's so much

more to think about there.

So this is something I would really love

you to take to the forums.

And, even look for outside resources

about this stuff. (cosas)

Things to look up would be logarithms,

dynamic range, decibels, equal loudness

contours (contornois), the Fletcher Munson curves, and

dynamic range.

4 Frecuencia

The next property of sound we like to

look at, is frequency.

And this ends up being our sense of high

Pitch (tono) and low pitch (tono), and actually the

idea of pitch and frequency, that's

another one of those ideas that we tend

to use interchangeably, but frequency is

something like amplitude, that a computer


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can measure.

And pitch is something that we perceive,

just like.

Loudness was.

So we should start using those words

carefully.

But, either (cualquier) way, what's it's really

related to is how fast the sound is

vibrating.

And if we use our spring(resorte) as an example

again, [SOUND] if I have a low frequency

thing, it would be a pulse, another

pulse, another pulse, does not go very

fast.

A high frequency wave would have lots of

these.

[SOUND] Moving very quickly or if we were

to look at a transverse wave we'd have a

low frequency or a high frequency.

[NOISE] Now one thing to be conscious (concientes) of,

that might not be clear in this

demonstration, is that all of the

principles of sounds are actually

completely independent.

I can have a high frequency, low

amplitude thing, I can have a low


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frequency high amplitude sound, and the

frequency and amplitude are in no way

correlated to the propagation rate (indice).

So they're all completely independent.

And it would be kind of awkward (torpe) if they

weren't, if you think about it.

Right?

If, the propagation was related to

frequency, then, things that were high

pitched would travel faster.

If you played a chord, you'd get one note

at a time getting to you.

It just wouldn't make sense.

But, it's just important to remember that

they're totally independent of each

other, which ends up being utilized in a

wide variety of ways, in that we can have

audio effects that really impact only

certain parts of sound.

In that we talked about, we have our

delay effects, our effects related to

propagation, which was our delays, and

our reverbs.

We have our effects related to amplitude,

which is our compressors, expanders,

gates, limiters, and we also effects


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related to frequency.

But, they don't really relate directly to

frequency very much.

What they're more related to is timbre.

And timbre is the collection of sound in

multiple frequencies.

We find that only the very simplest of

sounds has energy at a sin (seno), at a single

frequency and that's actually a sine (sino)

wave.

[SOUND] So when you hear the term sine

wave you're talking about energy at a

single frequency.

But that rarely happens.

Every instrument has energy [SOUND] at

multiple frequencies.

We call it harmonics.

[SOUND] You might have heard the term

overtones or partials (parciales).

[SOUND] And that's describing the timbre,

or kind of, we might also term the

spectrum, which is how the sound actually

is energy at multiple frequencies.

And we have a set of audio effects that

controls that.

And you've heard EQ, right?


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An equalizer.

I might say, boost Aumentar) the bottom end.

Well in that instance I have a a, an

amplitude.

That I'm saying, I'm saying boost, that's

raise the amplitude, and I'm also giving

a frequency, the bottom end, right?

I'm saying increase the low frequencies,

and that really is any queue (fila) would do

that.

Or we can actually fine tune that term

and call it a filter.

An equalizer is a collection of filters.

So, anytime you're going to give an

amplitude at a specific frequency.

That's going to be a filter.

And it's manipulating the timbre.

So.

What is the range of human hearing?

If we think of, of human hearing.

Has kind of limits.

The lowest frequency we can hear.

We say is 20 hertz.

And the highest frequency is around

20,000 hertz.

Otherwise known as 20 kilohertz.


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Now 1 Hertz is once per second.

So a 1 Hertz sound would vibrate once

every second.

That's actually below what we can hear

and we hear things that vibrate 20 Hertz

a second is a very, very low pulse and

really it's almost heard as a rhythm in a

way.

Now, no one can really hear 20,000 hertz,

or very rarely can we hear 20,000 hertz.

young children can often but as you grow

older your high end, kind of dissapates

naturally.

And so we find that really the upper end

of hearing ends up being around 18,000

hertz or 18 kilohertz.

We find that females tend to hear higher

frequencies than males in general, so

it's a little bit variable, but it's nice

to have that just nice round number of

the human hearing range being from 20

hertz to 20 kilohertz.

And also we don't hear equally across

that entire (enteros)range.

As we start getting to the higher end,

it's not like we just stop hearing sound.


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It kind of gradually diminishes.

And as we go to the low frequencies, the

same thing kind of happens.

And in the middle, there are some

variations in actually how we we hear at

different frequencies.

It's as if our ears were a kind of EQ

themselves.

And in fact, every piece of gear you get

is going to have this kind of Frequency

response curve.

So that's an important characteristic of,

of your microphones you're going to

choose.

In that they will impose (imponer) some kind of

Shape (forma) across the frequency response.

It's as if they act like an EQ.

And you're going to find that across any

PC gear you get.

Actually does have that kind of, effect.

And our own ears also have that effect.

Effect.

So, we can see that this idea of

frequency and timbre is going to be an

important one across everything we do,

with music production.


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So, again, like amplitude and

propagation, I'd like you to bring this

into the forums.

And some discussions that you might want

to start would be about the Fletcher

Munson curves.

Would be about the human hearing range.

Consider looking into psycho acoustics,

which is the way in which we perceive

sound, look up the term masking, phantom

fundamental, frequency response and

timbre in general.

It's a great set of things to discuss,

and I hope we can have those discussions

in the forums here.

5. Visualizing Sound

When working with the DAW and with sound

in general, it's useful to have kind of a

visual representation of sound.

And because sound is a longitudinal wave,

it becomes very hard to visualize it or

display it in that format.

So we tend to use three different

displays to give us a good visual of

sound.


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And I really believe that having a good

visual representation can really help you

hear and understand what you're hearing.

It also (tambien) is almost (casi) necessary if you

want to start relating these numbers

we've been talking about to the sounds.

And by the numbers I'm talking about all

these frequencies.

Frequencies.

You know, people talk about 5K, or 2K,and

1K.

And, if you've never seen the numbers,

it's very hard to relate it to what

you're hearing.

So, I really believe that have a good set

of visual eyes and understanding what

you're seeing can really help you hear,

and will make you a better music

producer.

So in this segment we're going to look at

three different ways to visualize sound

and why are they useful.

The first is an Oscilloscope display, and

this really is like the waveform display

on, in your DAW.

If you zoom way in.


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And you see the wave form.

You recognize that up and down is

amplitude and horizontally is time.

And really we're representing the

compression rarefaction of sound.

And that wave form is actually the exact

Path (trayectoria) that the speaker's going to make

when sound is eventually made in the air

by the speaker.

So, the oscilloscope display is really

important, and the first one we look at.

After that we look at the Spectrum

analyzer.

The problem with the oscilloscope display

is its had to tell what the frequency of

the sounds are.

because you would have to see how many

times it changed per second to figure out

what the frequency is.

So while (mientras) it's good its giving us an

Accurate (precisa) representation of what the

speakers movement's going to be.

It doesn't give us a good idea of the

frequency or timbre of the, of that

moment and that's where the spectrum

analyzer comes in.


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In a spectrum analyzer, on the horizontal

we're going to see frequency and

vertically we see amplitude.

And so that way we can see that this

sound has a lot of energy at 2K or 1K or

500 Hz.

So its going to be really useful in

associating the, those numbers to what

we're actually hearing.

Problem with the spectrum analyzer, it

doesn't give us a sense of where things

change over time.

It's kind of a momentary picture of the

sound of the frequency and the amplitude.

So when we want to get the full picture

of sound, we move to a Spectrogram

analysis.

Which is like the spectrum analyzer, but

repeated over time.

So we can get a sense of how the timbre,

the frequency, the amplitude, all change

over time.

And I think this one most represents the

way we really hear.

and it's a great view and we're going to

explore all three of those right now.


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>> Here, we have the three main sound

visualizers that you'll find when working

in a DAW.

The first one on top is our Oscilloscope

display and this shows us, kind of, a

microscopic view of what's going on with

sound.

It's like a very, very zoomed in, real

time display of what you see in an audio

track.

We'll see that one the time scale, which

is the horizontal access here, in this

display we have roughly 50 milliseconds.

We can see that 48 milliseconds is listed

right here.

So this is a very, very fine snapshot of

time.

And it's showing us exactly how the

pressure is varying in the air or the

voltage is varying in a wire(cable) after it's

been converted in a microphone.

We'll see that if I play a tone, and I'll

play the C below middle C, [SOUND].

I'm playing a sine wave, which we

consider to be the simplest of wave forms

because it's energy at a single


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frequency.

And in this display, if I hold a single

note, we're going to see that there are

seven repetitions of this waveform in the

display.

I can change the amplitude of the signal.

And we see that the height of that

waveform is changing.

Representing less pressure variations in

the air, or less voltage variation in a

cable or wire of some sort and I can

bring that up.

Now it's important to note, as I change

amplitude, it does not have any effect on

the frequency.

If I were to play a higher note [SOUND],

we're going to see that, now I went an

octave up.

And we're going to see that there's twice

as many repetitions here.

So if you go up an octave, that's going

from the C below middle C up to C again.

You'll see that you're going to have

twice as many repetitions in the same

amount (cantidad) of time.

So, an octave, in notes, so going from C


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and up an octave to another C is the same

as doubling frequency.

Notice, as I change frequency, it does

not have an impact on the overall

amplitude.

The final thing we can see with this, is

going to be a change in timbre.

So, I will now morph (transformer) this waveform from

being a sine wave to being a sawtooth

waveform, and we can see how that changes

in the ocilloscope display.

[NOISE] So, we have the same exact pitch.

I'ts still C, I still perceive it and I

still recognize it as the same exact

note.

But the sound is dramatically different.

And that change in sound, is what we call

a timbre change.

Right, that's one aspect of timbre is how

much brightness is added to the sound.

but you'll notice that changing the

timbre did not effect the amplitude and

it did not effect on the frequency.

The next visualizer we will look at is

the Spectrum Analyzer.

We have in the bottom left hand corner


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here.

Again, the Spectrum Analyzer is showing

us frequency horizontally and amplitude

vertically.

Let's try some of those same exact

experiments.

I'll start with a sine wave [INAUDIBLE]

the C below middle C.

[SOUND] Now, here, instead of seeing the

actual motion of.

Of the sound or the actual pressure of

the air.

We're seeing the exact frequency that,

that's at.

So we see a peak right at 130 hertz.

We also see amplitude on the vertical

scale.

If I was to change the amplitude of the

sine wave, we'll see that bump (protuberancia) will raise (levantara)

and lower.

Now one aspect of spectrum analysis is

that even if you have energy at a single

frequency it shows up as kind of a wide

bump in the analysis.

Now that's just a limitation of spectrum

analysis in general.


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So don't worry about it, it's still

energy at a single frequency.

If I was to increase the frequency of the

sine wave.

So like before, I'll raise it by an

octave.

[SOUND] We're seeing that, that bump

moved up double the frequency.

So now its at 261 hertz, and frequency is

shown again on the horizontal plane.

Now the last thing we'd like to try with

this is to change timbre and see how that

is reflected in a spectrum analysis.

So I'll morph this into a sawtooth

waveform [NOISE] .

And we see that timbre is shown as a

series of peaks (picos) in the spectrum analysis.

Now this is a very important concept in

sound.

In that any periodic waveform, like a

sawtooth waveform is going to have peaks

at a number of frequencies.

And each of these frequencies is an

Integer (entero) multiple of that fundamental.

So this is at 261 and then we're having

two times that frequency, three times


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that, four, five, six, seven, eight, etc.

This is called the harmonic series and

it's a major function in timbre.

In that the difference in sound between a

sine wave and a sawtooth waveform.

Or even between a piano and an oboe

playing the same not, is going to be the

relative levels of the partials.

That's not the only thing that describes

timbre, but it's a very important thing.

And it's much easier to see here in the

spectrum analyzer than it is to see in

the oscilloscope display.

You will very often see spectrum

analyzers in EQ's because the role of an

EQ is to manipulate the timbre.

Manipulate the spectrum and there is a

direct correlation between what you do in

the EQ and how the sound changes within

this display.

The final view we're going to have in our

analysis, is going to be a sonogram

display.

And hopefully as you've been watching

this, you've kind of seen how this is

functioning.


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In that we can see all these different

parameters at the same time.

The sonogram analysis is really like a

spectrum analyzer flipped on it's side (lado).

In that, instead of having frequency left

to right, frequency is up and down.

Then we have time going by slowly

horizontally.

This is like a zoomed out wave form

display.

Kind of, in that we see instead of having

the 48 milliseconds we had in the

oscilloscope display, we have showing 6

seconds here.

Let's try similar experiments and use the

sonogram display.

I'll play a sine wave.

[SOUND] We're going to see one horizontal

bar.

And if I change the amplitude, we're

going to see the color of that bar

change.

It's going to fade out and be a little

more blue.

And if I increase the amplitude, it turns

green.


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And we also see over time how that

amplitude changed.

And that's the beauty of the sonogram

display.

Is it gives us a history of how the

timbre and how the spectrum changed.

If I play up an octave like before, we're

going to see a rising line, right.

So we see frequency as vertically, and we

see the same exact thing going up an

octave double the frequency.

If I change the timbre by bringing in the

upper harmonics by converting this into a

sawtooth wave form.

We're going to see those additional

harmonics up here as additional lines in

the sonogram analysis.

And I can bring those in and I can remove

them and see that upper end and how that

changes.

And I can see how it changes over time.

So we see how all this functions with a

simple sine wave and sawtooth waveform.

What if we use more complex sounds?

How can these function for us?

Well, this next example, I'll use simple


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vowel sounds and show how they actually

change in the sonogram analysis.

So I'll just sing.

A E I O U on that same exact note and

we'll see what changes with those

different vowel sounds.

Here we go A, E, I, O, U.

So, we see in the sonogram analysis, we

can really see that, when I sing on a

single pitch, I'm in I'm singing in that

kind of C, below middle C.

We're seeing a single, what we call

fundamental frequency, which is the note

that we perceive as the note, and we see

all the harmonics.

Now, one of the great things is Every

little variation in that fundamental

frequency is also seen in the upper

harmonics.

And that's variations in pitch because

we're seeing it change on the vertical

scale.

Now, it's very obvious what is changing

between our vowel sounds.

This is A, and we see that the letter A

or the vowel A has a kind of a void.


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We're missing the frequencies around one

kilohertz.

E has an even wider void(nulo, invalid) around 1K.

I has a lot of energy around 1K, in fact

there's a very distinct, powerful

harmonic around 1K.

And we see changes in a variety of ways.

And U is a complex vowel sound, in that

it changes sound over the course of the

note.

And we see that changing kind of filter

Shaped (Formado) with that, that emphasis change

over the course of the vowel.

So we see in this, that we have a single

device our vocal folds (pliegues), that's actually

creating the pitch.

And the mouth's creating kind of this

complex filtering.

It's removing and emphasizing certain

portions of the frequency range.

And we can think of the mouth as kind of

an EQ, a complex filter and the vocal

folds (pliegues) as being kind of an oscillator or a

sound creator.

So I hope this demonstration has helped

to show how these three parameters of


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sound, amplitude, frequency and timbre

interact and are displayed on these three

different displays.

Let's review.

If I play a note at a single frequency,

which is a sine wave [SOUND] and I change

its amplitude, we see it as a vertical

change on the oscilloscope.

We see it as a vertical change on the

spectrum analyzer.

And we see it as a color change in the

sonogram display.

[SOUND] If I change frequency, we see it

as changing the number of repetitions

within the oscilloscope.

We see it as a horizontal motion in the

Spectrum Analyzer.

And we see it as a vertical motion within

the sonogram display.

If I change timbre, we see it as a change

in wave shape on the oscilloscope.

We see additional energy and additional

frequencies shown in the spectrum

analyzer.

And we see additional lines show in the

sonogram display.


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Remember those additional energies are

called harmonics and they're integer

multiples of the fundamental frequency.

I hope this helps to kind of solidify in

your head how these parameters work with

each other and how the displays work.

And hopefully the next time you see

these, they'll make much more sense.

Again, I think it's important to start

getting a correlation between what you

hear and some absolute numbers.

And these displays will make that much,

much easier.

& Resumen conexiones

In this section, we're going to look at

the signal flow of a typical kind of,

home studio set up.

And particularly we're looking at

connecting a microphone and recording it

in your computer.

And the signal flow works like this.

We're going to have sound, which we've

already talked about, kind of, in the

air.

Which is pressure variations.


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That sound gets to the microphone.

Which is a input transducer, and that's

going to convert the sound pressure

vibrations into voltage variations or

what we'd call an audio signal that goes

along a wire, and microphones generally

connect with an xlr cable which we'll

look at in detail in in our future

lesson.

That cable is going to be connected to

your audio interface.

Now an audio interface actually, is a

collection of many different components.

And the first one the microphone is

going to come to, is the microphone

preamp, which will amplify the signal up

to the standard operating level.

Once you've configured that, then it

enters the analog to digital converter.

Another essential part of the interface,

that digital signal, which is the stream (transmission)

of ones and zeros at this point,

continues on to your computer and into

your DAW or Digital Audio Workstation.

Once in the DAW, it can be the sound is

manipulated in variety of ways and it's


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mixed with all the other tracks.

To end the signal flow, the sound is sent

from the DAW back to the interface.

Converted it from digital to analog, and

then goes to your output transducer,

which would be your speaker.

9. el microfono como un traductor

A microphone is a transducer.

A transducer in general converts from one

energy type to another and tries to do

that without changing the signal at all.

And a microphone is converting between

sound pressure variations in the air,

into voltage variations in a wire, which

we would call an audio signal.

Now though we try to make this change as

kind of transparent as possible.

To have as little variation from the

sound pressure variations to the voltage

variations.

There is always some change that happens.

the microphone itself is going to color

that signal in some way.

So, not all microphones are the same.

There's many variations and

specifications and that really reflecting


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how that signal was changed in that, in

that transduction.

Now, we're going to be comparing these

two microphones, I have an AKG 414, which

is a condenser microphone, and a 758

which is a dynamic microphone.

And we'll be comparing their

specifications in their microphone type.

In their polar pattern (patron) and in their

frequency response.

And we'll also examine how we might

want to place these things when we're

recording common signals.

10. TIPOS DE MICROFONO

The first choice you're going to have to

make when purchasing (COMPRAR) or chosing a

microphone is going to be the microphone

type.

And though (AUNQUE) there are many types of

microphones, the main two we end up using

are going to be condenser microphones and

dynamic microphones.

And they function in a very different way

and they have kind of different needs so


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I'd like to talk about what, when you

would choose a condenser and when you

would choose a dynamic microphone.

Typically on stage we find a dynamic

microphone, and this is a Shure SM58.

Which is a standard kind of hand held

stage microphone.

And it's very good for onstage because it

doesn't pick up outside of its small area

very well.

It's designed to be onstage in a loud (RUIDOSO)

Environment (AMBIENTE) where there are monitors, you

know a lot of volume from the microphone

itself.

There's other instruments onstage it

doesn't want to pick up.

So, it's excellent for that situation.

It's also very rugged (RESISTENTE), if it gets dropped (CAERSE)

or swung (Moverse) around the engineer doesn't have

to worry that we're going to break the

microphone.

A condenser microphone, on the other

hand, it tends to be used in the studio.

Because condenser mics are so sensitive,

we have to be careful using them on-stage

in a live situation.


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If you think about a singer onstage, he's

singing into his microphone and he needs

to hear himself.

So there are the monitor speakers right

in front of him, and he's hearing the

signal from that microphone.

If that microphone is very sensitive,

it'll pickup the actual sound from the

monitor and cause feedback as that sound

goes through the microphone, through the

PA, back out of the monitor and back into

the microphone.

So, in a live stage situation, we tend to

use a dynamic microphone which won't pick

up from that area, or is much less

sensitive and won't get that chance of

feedback.

Now, there are certain sta-, situations

on-stage where we do want to use a

condenser microphone, maybe above (Sobre) the

drums.

And we're just careful not to route (encamino) that

signal back to the monitors.

Another thing to consider between a

dynamic microphone and a condenser

microphone is how it's powered.


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A dynamic microphone does not require any

external power.

But a condenser microphone requires

phantom power.

Of you might see it written as plus 48,

or 48 volts.

If you're looking to purchase (Comprar) a single

microphone for your home studio, I would

suggest a large diaphragm condenser

microphone.

It's going to be just useful in the, the

widest range of situations.

It's going to pick up things very

Accurately (exactamente).

And I think, as you're just starting, you

want to find something that represents

what's in sound, it represents that

accurately as a, as a signal or as an

audio signal.

So a large diaphragm condenser mic will

be a great starting point for you and

kind of the one mic you need to begin

with.

It's easy to get lost in the specifics

when purchasing a microphone, or when

choosing a microphone.


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But I'd like you just to dive (sumergirrse) in.

Buy something, and start using it.

You'll actually find, though there are

differences between microphones.

Things like the acoustics of the room,

and the mic placement have a much bigger

impact.

And no matter (material) what mic you use, you can

learn a lot just by diving in and using

it.

So, don't worry so much about the

specifics even though we're going to

cover them all in the next couple of

videos.

And just dive in and use it, and if

you're going to get one, a medium to

large diaphragm condenser mic is a great

choice to start with.

There are a number of other types of

microphones out there, besides dynamic

and condenser.

They have ribbon microphones, PZM

microphones, lavalier microphones.

I don't have time to cover them all.

But the forums are great.

Go to the forums, and start talking about


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different microphones, types, and your

experiences.

You can all learn from each other.

And that's the real benefit of having a

great large class like this.

11. RESPUESTA DE LOS MUSCRODFONOS A LAS FRECUENCIAS

Microphones are designed to work in a

wide variety of situations and for wide

variety of applications.

Some are designed like this SN-58, to

work primarily for a vocal.

And they'll be designed to produce vocal

frequencies well, and to reject (RECLAZAR) the

frequencies that are not usually part of

the vocal range.

A microphone like this AKG condenser mic

is designed to pick up (RECOGER)everything as

transparently or accurately (CON EXACTITUD) as possible.

So it's going to pick up everything.

And this, kind of, EQ that the mic

Imposes (OBLIGA) is designed to make it work

within a specific situation.

And it's something we have to be very


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careful with when choosing a mic for a

specific application.

If we look at the frequency response

charts of a microphone which is one of

the standard charts that come with any

mic.

We can see that the frequencies that it's

designed to pick up well, and the

frequencies it's designed to reject.

It'll amplify certain frequencies and it

will reject others.

We can see with the SM58, if we look at

the frequency response curve, has a peak (CIMA)

at around 5000 Hz, which helps the voice

come through well.

And the bottom end kind of rolls off.

Kind of the areas that would be below

voice in a typical situation.

AKG 414 which is designed to pick up

everything as accurately (EXACTO)as possible is

going to have what we would consider a

flat (PLANA) frequency response.

We might consider it to be a more

transparent mic in that it picked up

equally (IGUALMENTE)

And the sound in the outside world is


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going to be represented accurately (EXACTAMENTE)within

your DAW.

This is more of a what you hear is what

you get type of microphone.

And this is going to be more designed

specifically for a vocal.

And you might find a microphone design

for specific instruments.

Like one that goes on a saxophone, or one

that goes on an acoustic guitar.

And the main thing is that you choose a

microphone that's designed specifically

for your application.

And choosing the one with the right

frequency response is an important aspect

of that.

12 PATRONES POLARES DE LOS MICROFONOS.

Another major consideration when choosing

a microphone is the microphone's polar

pattern.

And the polar pattern is describing what

area it picks up well, and what area

around the microphone it projects from.

And let's look at the Shure SM58 here


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first.

Now, this is designed to be used on stage

for a vocalist.

And we talked about earlier, the idea of

having the monitor right in front of you.

It's very loud.

And pred, and sending out the signal that

this microphone is capturing.

So, this microphone is designed to be

held on, in the hand.

To pick up well from this side of the

microphone and reject sound from the

other side.

Now, so, the polar pattern is describing

the area around the microphone that it's

picking up well.

And this microphone has what we call a

cartiod or directional polar pattern.

And a cartiod, if you look at the polar

pattern kind of diagram of it, it looks

kind of heart shaped (con forma de ), in that you see it

doesn't pick up well here and it picks up

well kind of all around it.

And that's designed specifically because

it doesn't want to pick up the monitors

and what's behind it.


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A directional microphone like this will

give you a more focused sound, and will

kind of isolate (aislar) a sound within the mix,

because it's pointed right at it.

Now, dynamic microph, microphones and

condenser microphones, they can both be

directional and they can both have a

variety of different polar patterns.

So, Shure SM58, standard kind of stage

microphone, directional cardioid pattern,

and directional microphones are really,

really very useful.

But we do have a wide variety of other

polar patterns.

Another very common one is

omnidirectional.

Meaning that it picks up from all angles

equally well.

there's other polar patterns called

figure eight, which picks up from the

front and the back of the microphone.

And there are also flavors (sabor) of kind of the

directional mic.

so, a cardioid microphone also has

supercardioid and hypercardiod, and there

just kind of flavors of directional, and


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maybe bring in a little bit outside of

that directional space.

Which just helps give you a bit more of

the sound of the room.

Now, when choosing a polar pattern, you

always want to remember that every time

you record something, your recording val

element within that space.

And the choice of a polar pattern is

rally going to be a major, have a major

impact on how much of the space or the

room that your actually, actually

capturing.

A cardioid directional microphone is

going to have a focus sound in a focused

recording that doesn't include much of

the room.

But something that's omnidirectional can

include a large, a much more of the space

that you're in.

So, you have to consider, do I want to

capture the sound of the space, or am I

trying to capture the sound of that

instrument specifically.

Now, this AKG microphone, which is kind

of nice has the option to select


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different polar patterns.

and we can choose between omnidirectional

and cardiod, and figure eight with the

switch that's right in front of it.

Which is really nice to let you kind of

have that option.

And more expensive condenser mics will

have that option.

You do want to notice also, that as you

change the polar pattern in a microphone

like this, the frequency response also

changes.

They're kind of interrelated in a way.

So, you might even change the, the polar

pattern to change the kind of frequency

reponse.

Or the EQ that that microphone is

imposing (impresionante)on the signal.

13. Colocacion del microfono

We've talked a lot about different

specifications of microphones.

But really, the most important thing when

recording is where you place the

microphone.


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How you move it around the source that

you're trying to capture.

and it, that's an entire course in

itself.

I mean, it's, it's, it's a huge(enorme) topic.

So I'm going to leave you with a kind of

general guideline.

And it's going to sound simple but

really, it's the most important thing.

Remember that your microphones are your

ears in the studio.

So place them where the sound sounds the

best.

And I know that seems, it's, it's funny

but, really.

the best way to place a microphone is to

walk around and listen.

Get your ears close and see where that

thing really sounds the best.

And so, if you have someone playing

guitar.

Move around them, get close, put your ear

up to the guitar and really start

noticing how as you move around the sound

of instrument changes.

If you get your ear close to the sound


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Hole (agujero), it's going to sound different than

if your ear is next to the frets (trastes).

And just understanding how the sound

changes is going to really tell you where

you should place the microphone.

Now, when placing a mic, there are some

things about the mic that you do want to

know.

First off, some mics are front-addressed (Dirigidos),

and some are side-addressed.

It's pretty easy to know with this 58

here, this Suresi 58.

It's easy to know, that you're going to

point the big, round end at what you're

trying to capture.

But a microphone like this, that's

side-addressed, and we would call this

front-addressed, and this side-addressed.

A microphone that's side-addressed, it

could be confusing as to which way you

turn it.

And the general rule of thumb (pulgar), always

point the logo right at the, the thing

you want to record.

If you're ever singing into the

microphone, that manufacturer wants you


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to see their logo the whole time.

And having the mic face the wrong way, as

we saw at the polar patterns, can

dramatically reduce the quality of the

recording.

So, always make sure you do have it

pointed in the correct direction.

There are many resources out there that

will show you where to place a microphone

in a variety of different situations.

If you're recording guitar or an

amplifier or a voice.

And you want to use your ears as a guide,

but also please use those resources.

And this is a great chance to use the

forums in this class, to discuss these

things with your classmates.

with all the people in the class.

I'm sure there's a huge amount of

experience here that we can, that we can

use and learn from each other.

So start posting in the forums.

Talk about how you might place a

microphone in your situation.

How you might use your microphone and

what microphones you might choose for a


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particular application you're interested

in.

13 NIVEL DE LAS LINEAS Y GANANCIA EN ESCENA

In a studio, there's many devices that

need to communicate with each other.

And we're sending these audio signals all

over.

From the microphone into our interface,

to possibly to mixing boards, to external

effects.

For this to work well, we have to

establish a specific level that all the

devices will work at and communicate at.

And that level is called line level.

And one of the major roles of a, of an

interface and a mic preamp or an

amplifier, is going to be to raise (SUBIR) or

lower whatever signal comes to it to that

line level, so, it can be used throughout

the studio.

We see on, on this mixing board that

there are two standard line levels,

there's plus 4 and minus 10.

And plus 4 is the studio standard line

level and minus 10 is the consumer level.

And you might find these kind of buttons


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on some of your devices.

I see it here at the input of channel 9

and 10.

I can push it in to get the negative 10

level, or I can leave it out to be the

positive 4 studio level.

That is a gain stage.

And a gain stage is a place in your

signal flow that either (CUALQUIER) amplifies, which

is raising up, or it tenuates, which is

lowering, the level of your signal.

And it's actually quite a dramatic gain

stage.

And we have to be careful with gain

stages throughout our studio, because

every time you amplify or attenuate, you

are introducing some kind of noise and

possibility of distortion.

Ideally, you want to bring your sound up

once to the line level, and then leave it

there throughout the signal flow.

And we see that many of these knobs (PERILLA), like

this trim knob, is also a gain stage.

And this is the input trim knob for this

channel.

The idea with this is to bring a


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microphone input, I would plug a

microphone in here, and the idea is to

bring that level up to line level.

Well, there is a U on this, and that U

stands for unity.

And that's the point at which this gain

stage is doing nothing.

And ideally, we want to have as many gain

stages at unity as possible.

Because that means it's not amplifying or

attenuating.

Now, we turn this to bring the level up

to standard line level.

And then I can use it throughout (DURANTE) the rest

of the mixing board and through my other

pieces of equipment.

This first gain stage here where you plug

the microphone in, is called the

microphone preamp.

And it's designed to bring the level up

to that line level.

The output from the microphone is very

low.

But because we saw that there are many

different types of microphones an many

different applicaitons for them, each


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microphone actually outputs at a slightly

different level.

So, it requires kind of a continuous knob

like this to bring that level up to the

standard line level.

If I did plug a line level signal into

this, and say I had a synthesizer and I

take that quarter inch (PULGADA) output of that and

plugged in to the line in, I would try to

leave that knob at unity and most likely

that would be the correct location.

If I had a very loud signal that I was

plugging in to this, I might have to

bring trim knob below unity.

And if I'm plugging a microphone in, I

would have to bring it up above unity to

get it up to that line level.

Whenever you're adjusting gain like that,

again, you want to be careful do as few

of those stages as possible.

The worst thing you can do in your signal

flow is amplify it one point and then

attenuate it another and amplify again.

Ideally you want to raise the signal up

once, right at that first stage.

Get it to line level and keep it there


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throughout the entire signal flow.

14 CABLES

When working in the studio you're

going to find that there's a huge (ENORME) number

of cables and connectors that you're

going to need and have to be fluent (FLUIDEZ) with.

And before I start going through the

individual cables and what they're used

for, I'd like to just stress (ENFATIZAR) that this is

not a place to skimp (ESCATIMAR).

You really do want to get high quality

cables and connectors.

Whenever there's a problem in this

studio, the first thing you'll look for

is a broken cable or a noisy cable.

That's what breaks.

These cables and connectors get a lot of

wear.

They're being plugged in and pull out

regularly and they really are what break.

So get good quality connectors and good

quality cables and they'll last you a

long time.

So in this video we're going to look at,

kind of, the really important cables and


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connectors you'll have to use, in the in

the standard studio.

And the first one and probably most

important cable you're going to be using

is a quarter-inch cable otherwise known

as an instrument cable or a TS cable.

So, it has a quarter inch jack.

And you're going to find that it has two,

segments to it.

It has a tip (PUNTA)

and a sleeve.

And we call this a single conductor

cable.

the signal is sent along, the, the, the

single conductor.

And the outer sleeve is there to kind of

prevent noise from getting into the

cable.

There's kind of a braided (Trenza) shield (protectora) along

the entire cable.

Now, a single conductor cable like the TS

or cable here, this we call it instrument

cable, really is susceptible to noise.

And we want to use as short a cable as

possible when using this type.

This is the type of connector that goes


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from a guitar into your microphone

preempt, and you often connect many

pieces of gear in your studio with a

cable like this.

The next cable we might find in the

studio is kind of a variation on that.

And it looks very similar, it's still a

quarter inch connector, and we call this

a TRS cable, in that its a two conductor

cable with a shield.

So we have the tip, the ring, and the

sleeve.

Now, this can be used in actually two

different ways in the studio.

The first way, which I think you probably

see and you're used to is using it to

connect headphones.

And, so you'll see a cable like this

connected at the end of your, end of your

headphones.

And in that case, it's functioning as if

it was two of these cables kind of

combined in a single package, in that

it's two single-conductor cables with a

shield around it.

So, in that instance, we might call it a


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stereo cable and then it's just

transmitting two separate signals, it

still is susceptible to picking up noise.

The other way a cable like this can be

used is in a balanced configuration in

which you really are sending a single

signal across it but it's being done in a

way that can actually cancel noise that

gets into the cable.

And an XLR cable, which is a standard mic

cable, like this one, is similar and if

we look at the end of an XLR cable We see

that it does have three connectors, like

the TRS cable did.

but these are designed for microphones,

and that they have a nice locking

feature.

So when they connect to the microphone

they stay stable there, which you don't

have with the TRS cable, and these are

not really ever used for stereo signals.

They're really only used in this sort of

balanced configuration.

So in general in the studio if you're

going to have long cable runs, or on

stage too, if you're going to have long


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cable runs, you'd rather (preferir) use an XLR or

balanced type of cable because it will

reject noise that comes into the cable.

Along the length (longitude) of the cable.

Now, very often, you'll have to convert

between the unbalanced or TS cable into a

balanced or XLR or TRS cable.

And a direct box is the device that

allows us to go from a quarter inch or TS

cable.

And then output and XLR or bounds (atado) cable.

Now a direct box is a really useful

device.

And something you're going to want to

have.

And probably have a few (algunas)of in your

studio.

they're hugely (extremadamente) important on stage.

We'll talk about using them to connect

guitars and basses.

In to your, in to your DAW.

they're just a necessary component.

And it's one of those things where

they're not very expensive, but they have

a big payoff (Vale la pena).

And that you can use a short run of a


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quarter-inch cable, and you plug in to

the input side.

And then you can have a long run of an

XLR cable that would be on the output

side on the other end.

Another feature that a direct box has is

a parallel output so I can plug a quarter

inch cable in here.

I can have a secondary output for that,

so I can go maybe to my amplifier in a

quarter inch run.

And then I also have the output as an XLR

on the other side.

So yes, a very important device, and

something you're going to want to have.

maybe even a couple of in your home

studio.

Now you will find a variety of other

cables in your studio.

one that I'm sure your familiar with is

the eighth inch stereo cable used

primarily for headphones.

so it's the same thing as the TRS cable

used in a kind of a stereo configuration.

But it has a smaller form factor.

Right, and there are simple connectors


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that can go between the quarter inch

stereo connector and the eighth inch

stereo connector.

Another common connector you'll find is

an RCA cable.

Now which is like this.

And this is, this is actually three of

them combined designed for video.

But you'll find that they function just

like a quarter inch cable or a TS cable.

They do have a single conductor and a

shield around them.

The one thing to watch out, when using

RCA cables is very often they used to

connect kind of home consumer grade

appliances or or devices.

And if you're going to connect one of

those devices like your home CD player to

your Pro Gear, you're going to have to be

concerned with that plus four minus ten

difference, because very often the things

that connect with RCA alright, are

assuming a minus ten line level.

But your pro gear will have that plus

four.

So you have to be careful about that


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switch.

There are simple interconnections or

simple adapters to go from RCA to quarter

inch.

Which are also quite useful in something

you probably won't have access to in

your, in your studio setup.

Now, there are a variety of other cables

you're going to find in the home studio.

Things like MIDI cables, and Toslink

cables, SPDIF cables.

This is another instance where you can go

to the forums, and talk about those.

really though, the ones we've covered

here are going to be the most useful, and

will be used in the widest range of

applications in a home studio.

Pregunta 33: QU TIPOS DE CABLES Y CONECTORESHAY?

Opinar (35) ImprimirCables. Conectores XLR, Plug y RCA. Conexiones balanceadas.

A lo largo y ancho de este manual, nos hemos referido al sonido como un empedernido viajero. Y parasu propsito puede usar cualquier medio. El sonido viaja montado en ondas electromagnticas,tambin lo hace usando la red de Internet, la fibra ptica Estos son viajes de larga distancia, peropoco hemos hablado de los trayectos cortos. Son los que realiza entre equipo y equipo como, porejemplo, entre el micrfono o la computadora y la consola, entre el radioenlace y el transmisor.

Para estos viajes, el sonido no necesita de vehculos sofisticados. En la mayora de casos, con un cabley dos conectores ser suficiente. Estos accesorios son menospreciados en algunas radios dondeinvierten casi mil dlares en un excelente micrfono, pero lo conectan con cualquier cable o conector y,por supuesto, no obtienen los resultados esperados. Los cables y conectores son de vital importanciapara la buena calidad de una grabacin o transmisin.
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CABLES

Tambin se les llama conductores , porque estn hechos con materiales metlicos que permiten el pasode la corriente a travs de ellos.

Recordemos que los sonidos, al entrar a un equipo, dejan de ser vibraciones sonoras y se convierten entensiones elctricas analgicas o digitales. Por lo tanto, por los cables no van sonidos, sino audio , esdecir, sonidos transformados en electricidad.

1. Cable simple

Para que fluya electricidad tiene que haber una diferencia de cargas entredos puntos. Es por este motivo que un cable para audio se compone siemprede dos conductores. Uno de ellos se conoce como vivo y el otrocomo masa o tierra . El vivo es el que lleva la seal, podra decirse que es elpositivo. Y la masa sirve como punto cero o negativo. La tierra tiene, adems,otra funcin que es servir de apantallamiento para los ruidos, no permitiendoque lleguen al vivo. Este sera un cable simple de audio que nos sirve para

llevar una seal mono .

Cable simple utilizado para algunas conexiones de micrfonos

Tambin usamos este cable simple para la conexin de altavoces en equiposde sonido, aunque son ms gruesos para impedir prdidas de seal. Suelen iridentificados con diferentes colores, negro y rojo, generalmente.

Cable para altavoces

2. Cable doble de audioEs la unin de dos cables simples pero, en realidad, tendremos 4 conductores,ya que cada cable simple tiene su vivo y su masa. Sirve paraconexiones estreo . Usamos un cable para la seal del canal derecho (rojo) y elotro para el izquierdo (blanco).

Cable doble usado para conectar equipos estreo como lectoras de Compact Disc

Hay cables que vienen en la misma funda y traen dos vivos quecomparten una sola masa o tierra. Es el que te venden cuando pidesun cable para micrfono . Se podra usar tambin para un cableestreo, dividiendo la masa para ambas seales, pero su principal usoser para conexiones balanceadas , de las que hablaremos msadelante.

Cable de micrfono balanceado


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3. Cable coaxial

No se usa para audio de baja frecuencia, es decir,para conectar equipos como el CD, la computadoraSu misin es llevar las seales de alta frecuenciadesde el transmisor a la antena. Los hay de varios

tamaos y grosores dependiendo de la potencia quemanejemos. Los coaxiales son muy usados paraconectar antenas de TV y servicios de televisin porcable. Pero recuerda que el coaxial de video tiene unaimpedancia de 75 , mientras que e l de audio es de50 .(1)

Conector coaxial bsico

CABLES MONO O ESTREO? No hay cables mono ni cables estreo. Lo que hay son conexiones de ambos tipos. Y para cada tipo deconexin usamos cables diferentes.

CABLES GRUESOS O DELGADOS? LARGOS O CORTOS? Dicen que la virtud est en el medio. Con los cables sucede lo mismo. Ni muy largos, ni muy cortos.Cuanto ms largos, mayor prdida de seal. Y si son demasiado cortos, al intentar mover un equipo, yano alcanza. El grosor tambin hay que cuidarlo. Los cables para potencias altas necesitan cables msgruesos.

CABLES DE QU MATERIAL? Cuanto mayor sea el nivel de conductividad del conductor, mejor transmitir el audio. La mayora decables son de cobre, pero cuanto ms pura sea la aleacin de este material, mayor conductividad yprecio tendr. En algunos lugares usan el llamado cable oxigenado que, realmente, es un cable librede oxgeno entre el conductor y la funda plstica, lo que evita la oxidacin del cobre. Dura ms y laseal circula en mejores condiciones.

MARCAS? Canare http://www.canare.com y Belden http://www.belden.com son dos fabricantes reconocidas decables. De Belden puedes consultar aqu el catlogo de productos.

CONECTORES (2)

Al igual que las especies animales, los conectorestambin estn divididos por sexo. Los hay machos yhembras. Y es muy fcil distinguirlos. Los que veas quetienen un pin o punta

saliente son machos.Los

conectores hembra tienen un hueco donde insertar los machos.

Adems de por su sexo, podemos clasificar a los conectores como:

Areos : Son la mayora. No estn fijos en ningn equipo, sino que vuelan junto al cable.
http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn1http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn1http://www.canare.com/http://www.canare.com/http://www.canare.com/http://www.belden.com/http://www.belden.com/http://www.belden.com/http://www.analfatecnicos.net/archivos/33.CablesBeldenCatalogo.pdfhttp://www.analfatecnicos.net/archivos/33.CablesBeldenCatalogo.pdfhttp://www.analfatecnicos.net/archivos/33.CablesBeldenCatalogo.pdfhttp://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn2http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn2http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn2http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn2http://www.analfatecnicos.net/archivos/33.CablesBeldenCatalogo.pdfhttp://www.belden.com/http://www.canare.com/http://www.analfatecnicos.net/pregunta.php?id=33#_ftn1


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15 Interface

One of the most important pieces of

equipment you're going to need in your

home studio is your audio interface.

And it's the way you're going to get all

the audio in and out of your computer,

and it actual function in a couple other

ways as well.

As you research an audio interface, it's

a goo (porqueria), actually a really good moment.

Because it makes you think about, what

are the things you're actually going to

be doing in your home studio?

And you're going to find there's a wide

range of capabilities with one of these

devices.

So, I'm going to look at this [UNKNOWN]

interface, and we're going to see what

capabilities it has and talk a little bit

about what you might need in your, in

your home studio.

We'll start with the back of the device,

and we can see this one gives us a wide


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range of different inputs and outputs.

And just like we saw before, the inputs

and outputs are largely a quarter inch

cables, and these are all TRS.

so, that's one thing to look at when

you're looking for your audio interface

to make sure the inputs and outputs are

TRS, which also allow you to use balance

cables, and kind of reduce the noise in

your studio.

This interface does provide two XLR

inputs.

We have one on the back, and one in the

front here.

And we see a couple other things it has

as well.

We have MIDI input and output.

so, that's one thing to ask yourself, do

you have any old synthesizers that you

need to connect to you inter, into your

computer.

In which case you might want to look for

an interface that does have a MIDI

capability.

It has a digital signal in and output

called SPDIF/g, which might be useful if


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you have some digital reverb units or

something.

This connects to my computer via

firewire, and we also find many

interfaces that connect via USB, that's a

choice you want to make.

firewire connections tend to work with a

larger number of audio streams going at

once, but USB is fine if you're recording

only a couple things at once

simultaneously.

Now, this is quite a full-featured

device.

Now, we have many, many inputs and

outputs, and for many situations, you

probably won't need that many ins, and

outs.

Like are audio recording a complete drum

kit with ten microphones.

Well, something like this might be quite

useful.

But if you're only going to be recording

a vocalist and a guitar player at once, a

smaller interface is fine.

I would suggest actually getting a

smaller interface if you're only going to


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be recording a couple things at a time,

and getting a high quality one as opposed

to getting one that has many, many ins

and outs.

Particularly, if you don't even have that

many microphones or synthesizers, the

additional ins and outs aren't going to

help you at all.

Now, in addition to having inputs and

outputs, the interface actually provides

a number of functions.

So, it does provide the ins and outs, we

see that it has XLR inputs.

So, we'll provide our microphone preamp

capabilities here.

And that it will have the functionality

to bring the microphone level up to that

standard line level.

And when doing that, there will always be

a knob (perilla) on the outside called trim or

gain, just for that purpose.

We also see that this interface has a

series of switches.

Now, one of them is the 48 which is

phantom power.

Which is going to be used to power


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condenser microphones, which you saw was

necessary.

And another switch we see here is a pad.

And a pad is an attenuation.

which means it's lowering the value of,

of the signal.

It's actually making it quieter.

And that can be necessary when you're

using a really, really high quality

microphone with a powerful output.

Or when you're recording something that's

very loud, it might be necessary to bring

that pad in to reduce the level of the

signal.

It's also one of those things where you

might have the pad on by accident.

I actually don't find myself using the

pad much.

I find it more, I'll be like curious, why

am I not getting enough signal?

Oh, that, that switch is enabled.

There are some devices where it's

actually a knob that gets pulled out that

engages the pad, and it's even harder to

see that it's there.

So, do investigate with your interface if


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there is that functionality.

because it can be an important one, it

can cause issues, and it can also be

something you do want to engage if you're

if you're using very loud signals.

they'll also be your headphone output

will be here.

So, in addition to inputs, you do want to

make sure the output you're using is of a

high quality.

definitely, it's much better to use an

interface audio than rely on (depender de)the audio

output from your computer.

It will sound better, and you'll probably

get a hotter signal, and the headphone

out will sound better as well.

So, that is something to, to, to, to

watch for.

Now, even inside this box, there are a

couple things going on.

We have the mic pre, which we mentioned

already, but it also functions as your

analog to digital converter.

So, this is providing that translation

from a continuously variable signal into

a digital signal, which we will talk


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about in depth later in the course.

and on the other side of the output side

of things, it is also providing the

digital to analog conversion.

So, we see that the interface provides

many, many functio, many, many things in

our, in our signal flow.

So, we want to be careful and choose one

that meets our needs and is very high

quality.

Now, there are so many possible options

for this.

I think it's a great option, a great

opportunity, to go to the forums and

start discussing about interfaces, your

experiences with them, how they're being

used, and kind of what you need.

Something to watch out for when

purchasing an interface are going to be

does it work with your computer?

So, make sure that all the drivers are

there and it'll function with your

computer.

And make sure it has all the

functionality you do need, and not too

much extra stuff.


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I actually find that kind of one with

less knobs and less ins and outs but of a

higher quality will serve you much, much

better in the long run.

16. Conexion del microfono y ganacia

In this video, we're going to look at

connecting a microphone to your audio

interface and setting the levels

appropriately.

And, while it seems like a simple thing,

there are some standard procedures that

you should follow every time you're

connecting a microphone.

You want to be careful when connecting a

microphone, because these are those

points were you really could possibly

damage your equipment.

but more likely, you could just cause

horrible feedback, and you really want to

watch out every time you connect things.

You want to avoid the sound of actually

making the connection from going through

your equipment.

If I have the speakers on and the levels

set before connecting up my microphone,


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there's a very good chance, I'll get a

loud pop or click that runs through my

computer, through my speakers.

Again, possibly damage the speakers, and

just possibly hurting your own ears.

Also, if your microphone's on and your

speakers are on, you could get very loud,

kind of ear shattering feedback, which we

also want to avoid (evitar).

So, we're going to talk about just the

procedure for connecting a microphone.

And the first thing you want to do, you

know, after you get your interface

working with your computer is going to

re, to reduce the input gain all the way

down.

Now, the input gain is going to be the

most important knob you're going to

adjust while recording.

Because this is going to set the level

that gets to the A to D converter, the

analog-digital converter.

And it will almost always be a knob on

the outside of the device that you have

to manually control.

And we're going to set that all the way


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to zero.

So, I'm turning that input gain all the

way down.

And that way, as I connect things, I know

that signal's not going to go through my

entire system.

One thing to aware /dares cuenta) of though, even if you

turn your input gain all the way down,

signal can still be going through your

system.

It's not a mute.

Sometimes some interfaces will have a

mute button, and use it if you can.

But having the input gain all the way

down does not guarantee that no signal

will go through your system.

The next thing I'll do is turn phantom

power off.

Because this is a condenser microphone,

if phantom power is off, the signal will

do anything.

The microphone cannot work.

It functions almost like an on off switch

for the microphone.

Another really nice thing about condenser

microphones in the studio.


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So, by turning the phantom power off, I

can make sure that as I connect this,

there will be no loud pops.

It's best to have phantom power off

before you connect the microphone.

Now, I want to connect my mic up to my

interface.

we'll be using an XLR cable for that, and

one thing to be aware (conciente) of is that the XLR

cable does have a male and a female end.

The mic itself is male, so, I just like

to think mic is male.

So, the microphone is male, I'll also

take the female end and connect it up to

my microphone first.

Then I'll take the male end and connect

it to my interface.

And I know, since the input gain is all

the way down and the phantom power is

off, that I'm not sending that clicking

sound through all of my system.

The next thing I want to do is turn on

phantom power, which really is like

turning on the microphone.

And right away, I'm actually seeing level

running through my system.


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Our next procedure is to set the level

where we want it to be in our final

recording.

And this is going to be the most

important step of your kind of recording,

of your kind of prerecording process.

You have to get this step perfectly, and

it's going to be a knob on the outside of

your device to set it.

Now, the goal here is to get a nice solid

le

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