Home Rec par fe Ben MilsteadHome Recording Power Copyright ©2001 Muska & Lipman Publishing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without written permission from the publisher, except for brief passages for review purposes. Address all permission requests to the publisher. All copyrights and trademarks used as examples or references in this book are retained by their individual owners. Credits: Cover and interior design, Stephanie Japs, Michelle Frey, Cathie Tibbetts, and John Windhorst, DOV Graphics; technical editors, Denis LaBrecque, Duane Ford, and Pat Pickslay: index, Kevin Broccoli, Broccoli Information Management. Technology and the Internet are constantly changing, and by necessity of the lapse of time between the writing and distribution of this book, some aspects might be out of date. Accordingly, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for actions taken by readers based upon the contents of this book. Library of Congress Catalog Number 00-106698 ISBN 1-929685-08-4 54321 Educational facilities, companies, and organizations interested in multiple copies or licensing of this book should contact the publisher for quantity discount information. Training manuals, CD-ROMs, and portions of this book are also available individually or can be tailored for specific needs. MUSKAC;LIPMAN Muska & Lipman Publishing 2645 Erie Avenue, Suite 41 Cincinnati, Ohio 45208 www.muskalipman.com publisher@muskalipman.com This book is composed in Melior, Columbia, Helvetica, and Courier typefaces using QuarkXpress 4.0.4, Adobe PhotoShop 5.0.2, and Adobe Illustrator 8.0. Created in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the United States of AmericaAbout the Author Ben Milstead infinite@regress.com Ben Milstead has been tooling with home recording, rock music, and computers for almost two decades. He has been identified as an “auditory person” in relationships, is orthogonal but not dangerous, and is fed up with all the books on the market by professional engineers pertaining to “home recording.” He has been developing, writing, editing, and publishing technical and computer books, articles, and Web sites for almost ten years and currently manages Web services for the SoundMAX division of Analog Devices, Inc.—in addition to prototyping audio software applications for the PC and audio tools for gaming. He has founded and played in several rock bands, produced two full-length CDs, composed game music, and scored music for video and the Web. He is currently on a crusade to legitimize Gibson and Moog as deities by the human race. Dedication To Diane for putting up with all the long nights and latte trips, the workaholism, and the Valley. And to Alex and Summer for giving me the mindfulness to ever want to teach anybody anything. Acknowledgments You've read this before, but it’s really true: A book like this could never make it to print without the hard work and talents of a whole slew of people. Thanks to Hope Stephan, Allen Wyatt, and Andy Shafran at Muska &Lipman—they’re a first-rate team of professionals who are publishing with passion. In addition, some of the details in this book were researched or verified with the help of a number of excellent resources online, including Harmony Central, ProRec.com, MP3.com, and the countless personal home pages and newsgroups created and maintained by home recording artists and musicians. My hat is off to all of you trying to make and keep your experiences and ideas accessible to Internet users and the music community at large. A special thanks goes to Denis LaBrecque and Duane Ford for nailing every technical detail to the wall and for stepping up at the last minute to provide additional notes and tips for readers. Thanks also to Laddie Ervin and Nick Pryor for giving me real-world feedback and keeping me mindful of the spirit of home recording (a subject we all hold near and dear), and for being such good friends. Thanks to Pat Pickslay for providing early additional source material to use. While their assistance was invaluable, any errors remain mine. Finally, a heartfelt thanks to you for reading this book, and for wanting to do your art, spread your jam, and bring your music to the rest of us.iv Contents Introduction . . 1-So You Wanna Be a Star? Giving the Audience What You Have ... Who Is Your Audience? ........ What's the Point? . Got Milk? Go Professional! . Analog va, Digital Audio sersscrecesecsserserssssscrsssecsasesssrssessssass Why is Digital So Hot? . Yeah, But “Analog Is Cool. : More Power Means More Responsibility : Getting Ready for Your Home Studio 2-Choosing Your Space Choosing Your Space Gommon-Sense Gonsiderations ..... 2... .0.0cscccecesesssesesereveeersneses The Complexities of Room Acoustics oo... 6... -17 -17 .19 Absorption and Diffusion On the Surface . eee ee Speaker Placement ............055 Size Matters Soundproofing Cabling Basics In the Garage: A Dream Setup In the Garage: A Practical Example oo... 000660 e cc cece eter teen een nee 3-Assembling Your Digital Studio Computing Audio .. Real-World Costs ... : The Software, Uh, Really Works. Now! . Go Direct With DirectX .... But Shouldn't I Be Using a Mac?” Windows and the Wide World of Computer Geekdom ........0c..0ec0cneseueeees bette eee eee - 32 -33 . 34 -35 - 35 - 38 Briefly, The Computer .. The Sound Card : If the Computer’s the Heart, the Mixer’ 's ‘the Brain. : You've Got to Have Connections . Cables . Electric Studioland . 4-Listen to You Your Voice . Posture Breathing SUPPOE see ee cere eee eeee se teetet treet ttn nettrnnntrrnnetin Registers . http:/www.muskalipman.com - 15 16 16 - 23 24 ..25 .. 27 - 28 -29 .31 32 41 -41 - 42 ~42 - 42Resonance . -42 Expressing Yourself. 242 Selecting a Microphone - 43 Microphone Types . -44 Response Patterns, AKA “Pickup Patterns’ - 48 Vocal Microphone Placement ............. -51 Singing Style -52 - Getting the Right Kind ‘of Feedback A Multiple Vocal Primer sees Stacking Vocals . sane eee Toward a More Perfect Harmony a Vocal Mixing Troubleshooting Vocal Mixes The Problem Could Be Noise The Problem Could Be Space agqgqaqaaqanaa CnnnuHgaga The Problem Could Be the Level . -61 The Problem Could Be the Frequency : -61 The Zen of Microphones: Guidelines for Vocal Satori : - 63 5-Keyboards & Synths Key Choices..... eee reteset ee etree eee OF The Technology of Synthesizers a Filters . sees Envelopes Digital Synthesis Making a Sound Decision ..... bet eens sete eeeae Get What You Need—Not What You Want cece eee ee TB Chasing Down the Right Synth we eee TF 6-Getting the Guitar Sound First Things First: Do You Like Your Guitar? ... .. 81 Evaluating Quality: Basic Tips bees ..81 How Does It Feel? . cece e eee see eee : seeeeee ee 82 Recording Guitars ©... 6... ee eee ee BB The Basics 2.0... eee eee BB Stereo Separation ....... sees seen bene eeee sete BS The Acoustic Guitar Sound | we ee eee eee BA The Electric Guitar Sound ......... we eee ee BS 7-No More Drummer Jokes, Please! Drums for Non-Drummers (Or, “Dig Those MIDI Drums!”) .......................89 MIDI (Musical Instrument Drumming Interface) ......... cece eee ee 90 Drum Loops & Samples .... 2... 6... ee eee ee OF Recording Acoustic Drums .. 0.22... 2022 OF Glose Miking 2.2... 06.2066 eee OS Triangular Miking .. 0.22.6 ee ee 6 Phase Cancellation ....... wees Seen seen een OF All Skins Are Not Created Equal wn eee eee OF Drums and EQ ....... cee eee eee ee OB Reverb and Compression. Are Your Friends | wee eee OO http://www.muskalipman.comvi 8-All Kinds of Other Instruments Live Recording or Recording Live? ...... 0.2... 00.6000 e eee eee eee 100 Acoustic Piano Techniques .... 22.0... e eee eee eee 102 Woodwinds .... 103 Strings ...... seven eee : ... 103 BrasS 6. ee eee eee 104 GigaStudio ... we eee eee eee 104 Getting Started with GigaStudio . SN 105 Hard Drive 106 Sound Cards .. fee eee beeen eee eee eee 107 Use It or Lose Tt 2... ce eee eee 107 9-Wading in MIDI What Is MIDI? .. 2.0.2.2 ee eee 109 How MIDI Works ... 0... 66 eee eee eee ee 110 MIDI Channels 0.0... cece cece eee een etre tenet teeter 111 The MIDI Interface 112 Hooking It All Up seen fee eee eee A12 Masters and Slaves ..... . wee ee eee eee eee 113 Hooking Up 1,000 MIDI Devices 114 MIDI Is Not Audio, Really . ..115 FM Synthesis . -115 Wavetable Synthesis . . wena Sn BO) Sequencing ... ee cee eee 116 The General MIDI Standard ee ne ene een e tee t eee t eet e ene 117 The Cost of Doing General MIDI -119 The Cost of Doing GM Percussion ....... 0.2.00 000 e eee cee eee 124 MIDI Gomputing ...... PP Connecting Your Computer 127 The MIDI File Format seen we eee eee eee 130 Using MIDI Software .... wee eee eee eee 131 10-Diving Deeper into MIDI Messages, Messages, and More Messages ......- 2... eee ee eee eee ee 187 Bytes in the Message .... 0.2.6.1. eee ee 138 Types of MIDI Messages .... 2.0.2. eee 138 Voice Messages 138 Note On - 139 Note Off fee ee we eee ee 139 Affertouch 2.0.6. cee eee ee eee cee tenes 140 Pitch Bend vo... cece cece eee eee teeter een ene 141 Bank Select and Program Change .141 Controller Messages cece ceee .141 Modulation fee ee fee eee 142 VOM ccc ect c cece eee eee eee teeta eee 148 PAM cece cece teeter treet t ete teeta 142 Sustain Pedal . . 143 Other Controllers 2.0.2... 6 ee cee ee 143 http:/www.muskalipman.com