Modern Recording Techniques, 8th Edition

Modern Recording Techniques, 8th Edition

by David Miles Huber, Robert E. Runstein
Released August 2013
Publisher(s): Focal Press
ISBN: 9781136117817

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Book description

As the most popular and authoritative guide to recording Modern Recording Techniques provides everything you need to master the tools and day to day practice of music recording and production. From room acoustics and running a session to mic placement and designing a studio Modern Recording Techniques will give you a really good grounding in the theory and industry practice. Expanded to include the latest digital audio technology the 7th edition now includes sections on podcasting, new surround sound formats and HD and audio.
If you are just starting out or looking for a step up in industry, Modern Recording Techniques provides an in depth excellent read- the must have book

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half Title
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. Bound to Create
  6. Table of Contents
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Chapter 1 Introduction
    1. The recording studio
    2. The control room
    3. The changing faces of the music studio business
    4. The project studio
    5. The portable studio
    6. The iRevolution
      1. Studio in the palm of your hand
    7. Knowledge is power!
    8. Whatever works for you
    9. Making the project studio pay for itself
    10. Live/on-location recording: a different animal
    11. Audio for video and film
    12. Audio for games
    13. The times, they've already changed: multimedia and the web
    14. The people who make it all happen
      1. The artist
      2. Studio musicians and arrangers
      3. The producer
      4. The engineer
      5. Assistant engineer
      6. Maintenance engineer
      7. Mastering engineer
      8. The DJ
      9. The VJ
    15. Studio management
    16. Music law
    17. Women and minorities in the industry
    18. Behind the scenes
    19. Career development
      1. Self-motivation
      2. Networking: "showing up is huge"
    20. The recording process
      1. Preparation
      2. Recording
      3. Overdubbing
      4. Mixdown
      5. Mastering
      6. Product manufacturing
      7. Marketing and sales
    21. The transducer
  9. Chapter 2 Sound and hearing
    1. The basics of sound
    2. Waveform characteristics
      1. Amplitude
      2. Frequency
      3. Velocity
      4. Wavelength
      5. Phase
      6. Phase shift
      7. Harmonic content
      8. Envelope
    3. Loudness levels: the decibel
      1. Logarithmic basics
      2. The simple heart of the matter
    4. The ear
      1. Threshold of hearing
      2. Threshold of feeling
      3. Threshold of pain
      4. Taking care of your hearing
    5. Psychoacoustics
    6. Auditory perception
      1. Beats
      2. Combination tones
      3. Masking
    7. Perception of direction
    8. Perception of space
      1. Direct sound
      2. Early reflections
      3. Reverberation
  10. Chapter 3 Studio acoustics and design
    1. Studio types
      1. The professional recording studio
      2. The audio-for-visual production environment
      3. The project studio
    2. Primary factors governing studio and control room acoustics
      1. Acoustic isolation
      2. Symmetry in control room design
      3. Frequency balance
    3. Room reflections and acoustic reverberation
      1. Acoustic echo chambers
  11. Chapter 4 Microphones: design and application
    1. The microphone: an introduction
    2. Microphone design
      1. The dynamic microphone
      2. The ribbon microphone
      3. The condenser microphone
    3. Microphone characteristics
      1. Directional response
      2. Frequency response
      3. Transient response
      4. Output characteristics
    4. Microphone preamps
    5. Microphone techniques
      1. Pickup characteristics as a function of working distance
      2. Stereo miking techniques
      3. Surround miking techniques
    6. Microphone placement techniques
      1. Brass instruments
      2. Guitar
      3. Keyboard instruments
      4. Percussion
      5. Stringed instruments
      6. Voice
      7. Woodwind instruments
    7. Microphone selection
      1. Shure SM57
      2. AKG D112
      3. Beyerdynamic M160
      4. AEA A440
      5. Royer labs R-121
      6. Neumann KM 180 Series
      7. AKG C 214
      8. Neumann TLM 102
      9. Telefunken U47, C12, and ELA M251E
      10. Sontronics Apollo stereo ribbon microphone
  12. Chapter 5 The analog tape recorder
    1. To 2-inch or not to 2-inch?
    2. Magnetic recording and its media
    3. The professional analog ATR
    4. The tape transport
    5. The magnetic tape head
    6. Equalization
    7. Bias current
    8. Monitoring modes
    9. To punch or not to punch
    10. Tape, tape speed and head configurations
    11. Print-through
    12. Analog tape noise
    13. Cleanliness
    14. Degaussing
    15. Backup and archive strategies
      1. Backing up your project
      2. Archive strategies
    16. C.L.A.S.P
    17. Tape emulation plug-ins
  13. Chapter 6 Digital audio technology
    1. The language of digital
    2. Digital basics
      1. Sampling
      2. Quantization
      3. The devil's in the details
      4. Fixed- vs floating-point processing
    3. The digital recording/reproduction process
      1. The recording process
      2. The playback process
      3. Sound file sample rates
      4. Sound file bit rates
      5. Regarding digital audio levels
      6. Digital audio transmission
      7. Signal distribution
      8. What is jitter?
      9. Wordclock
    4. Digital audio recording systems
      1. Samplers
      2. Hard-disk recording
      3. Hard-disk multitrack recorders
      4. Portable studios
      5. Flash memory handhelds
      6. Older technologies
  14. Chapter 7 The digital audio workstation
    1. Integration now ... integration forever!
    2. DAW Hardware
      1. The desktop computer
      2. The laptop computer
      3. The iOS and pad generation
      4. Accessories and accessorize
    3. System interconnectivity
      1. USB
      2. FireWire
      3. Thunderbolt
      4. Networking
    4. The audio interface
      1. Audio driver protocols
      2. Latency
    5. DAW controllers
    6. Sound file formats
      1. Format interchange and compatibility
      2. Sound file sample and bit rates
    7. DAW software
      1. Sound file recording, editing, region definition and placement
      2. MIDI sequencing and scoring
      3. Real-time, on-screen mixing
      4. Mixdown and effects automation
    8. Power to the processor ... uhhh, people!
      1. Get a computer that's powerful enough
      2. Make sure you have enough memory
      3. Keep your production media separate
      4. Update your drivers!
      5. Going at least dual monitor
      6. Keeping your computer quiet
      7. Backup and archive strategies
      8. Session documentation
    9. In closing
  15. Chapter 8 Groove tools and techniques
    1. The Basics
      1. Warping
      2. Beat slicing
    2. Looping your DAW
    3. Groove and loop systems
      1. Loop-based audio software
      2. ReWire
      3. Groove and loop-based plug-ins
      4. Groove and loop dedicated hardware controllers
      5. Drum and drum loop plug-ins
      6. Pulling loops into a DAW session
    4. DJ Software
    5. Obtaining loop files from the great digital wellspring
  16. Chapter 9 MIDI and electronic music technology
    1. MIDI production environments
    2. What is MIDI?
      1. What MIDI isn't
    3. System interconnections
      1. The MIDI cable
    4. MIDI phantom power
    5. Wireless MIDI
    6. MIDI Jacks
    7. MIDI Echo
    8. Typical configurations
      1. The daisy chain
      2. The multiport network
      3. iConnections
    9. Exploring the spec
      1. The MIDI message
      2. MIDI channels
      3. MIDI modes
      4. Channel voice messages
      5. Explanation of controller ID parameters
      6. System messages
      7. System-exclusive messages
    10. MIDI and the computer
      1. Connecting to the peripheral world
      2. The MIDI interface
    11. Electronic instruments
      1. Inside the toys
      2. Instrument plug-ins
      3. Keyboards
      4. Sample DVDs and the web
      5. The MIDI keyboard controller
      6. Percussion
    12. Sequencing
      1. Integrated workstation sequencers
      2. Software sequencers
      3. Basic introduction to sequencing
    13. Recording
      1. Setting the session tempo
      2. Changing tempo
      3. Click track
      4. Multiple track recording
      5. Punching in and out
      6. Step time entry
    14. Saving your MIDI files
    15. Editing
      1. Practical editing techniques
      2. Editing controller values
    16. Playback
    17. Mixing a sequence
    18. Transferring MIDI to audio tracks
    19. Music printing programs
  17. Chapter 10 Multimedia and the Web
    1. The multimedia environment
      1. The cell phone, handy or whatever you want to call it
      2. The computer
      3. Television and the home theater
    2. Delivery media
      1. Neworking
      2. The Web
      3. The Cloud
      4. Physical media
      5. The flash memory card
      6. The CD
      7. The DVD
      8. Blu-ray
    3. Delivery formats
      1. Digital audio
      2. Uncompressed soundfile formats
    4. Compressed codec soundfile formats
      1. Perceptual coding
      2. MP3
      3. MP4
      4. WMA
      5. AAC
      6. FLAC
      7. Tagged metadata
    5. MIDI
      1. Standard MIDI files
      2. General MIDI
    6. Graphics
    7. Desktop video
    8. Multimedia and the web in the "need for speed" era
      1. Thoughts on being (and getting heard) in cyberspace
      2. Uploading to stardom!
      3. Selling your wares
      4. Internet radio
    9. On a final note
  18. Chapter 11 Synchronization
    1. Timecode
      1. Timecode word
      2. Sync information data
      3. Timecode frame standards
    2. Timecode within digital media production
      1. Broadcast wave file format
    3. MIDI timecode
      1. MIDI timecode messages
      2. SMPTE/MTC conversion
      3. Timecode production in the analog audio and video worlds
      4. Timecode refresh and jam sync
      5. Synchronization using SMPTE timecode
    4. Real-world sync applications for using timecode and MIDI timecode
      1. Master/slave relationship
      2. Video's need for a stable timing reference
      3. Digital audio's need for a stable timing reference
      4. Video workstation or recorder
      5. Digital audio workstations
      6. Routing timecode to and from your computer
      7. Analog audio recorders
      8. A simple caveat
    5. Keeping out of trouble
  19. Chapter 12 Amplifiers
    1. Amplification
    2. The operational amplifier
      1. Preamplifiers
      2. Equalizers
    3. Summing amplifiers
    4. Distribution amplifiers
    5. Power amplifiers
    6. Voltage- and digitally controlled amplifiers
  20. Chapter 13 Power- and ground-related issues
    1. Grounding considerations
    2. Power conditioning
      1. Multiple-phase power
      2. Balanced power
  21. Chapter 14 The art and technology of mixing
    1. The recording process
      1. Recording
      2. Overdubbing
      3. Mixdown
    2. Understanding the underlying concept of "the mixing surface"
      1. Channel input
      2. Auxiliary send section
      3. Equalization
      4. Dynamics section
      5. Monitor section
      6. Channel fader
      7. Output section
      8. Channel assignment
      9. Grouping
      10. Monitor level section
      11. Patch bay
      12. Metering
    3. Digital console and DAW mixer/controller technology
      1. The virtual input strip
      2. The DAW software mixer surface
      3. Mixdown level and effects automation
      4. Write mode
      5. Read mode
      6. Drawn (rubberband) automation
    4. Mixing and balancing basics
      1. Need more inputs?
    5. A final footnote on the art of mixing
  22. Chapter 15 Signal processing
    1. The wonderful world of analog, digital or whatever
    2. Plug-ins
      1. Plug-in control and automation
    3. Signal paths in effects processing
      1. Insert routing
      2. Send routing
      3. Viva la difference
    4. Effect processing
      1. Hardware and virtual effects in action
      2. Peaking filters
      3. Shelving filters
      4. High-pass and low-pass filters
      5. Equalizer types
      6. Applying equalization
      7. EQ in action!
    5. Sound-shaping effects plug-ins
    6. Dynamic range
      1. Dynamic range processors
      2. Compression
      3. Multiband compression
      4. Limiting
      5. Expansion
      6. The noise gate
    7. Time-based effects
      1. Delay
      2. Reverb
      3. Psychoacoustic enhancement
      4. Pitch shifting
      5. Time and pitch changes
      6. Automatic pitch correction
    8. Multiple-effects devices
    9. Dynamic effects automation and editing
  23. Chapter 16 Noise reduction
    1. Digital noise reduction
      1. Fast Fourier transform
    2. Restoration
    3. Single-ended noise-reduction process
      1. The noise gate
  24. Chapter 17 Monitoring
    1. Speaker and room considerations
    2. Monitor speaker types
      1. Far-field monitoring
      2. Near-field monitoring
      3. Small speakers
      4. Headphones
      5. Your car
    3. Speaker design
      1. Crossover networks
      2. Actively powered vs. passive speaker design
    4. Speaker polarity
    5. Balancing speaker levels
    6. Monitoring
      1. Monitor volume
      2. The big bad bottom end
      3. Monitoring configurations
      4. Mono
      5. Stereo
      6. Stereo + sub
      7. Quad
      8. Surround minus an LFE
      9. Surround with an LFE
      10. Theater plus an LFE
      11. Height channels
      12. Monitor level control
      13. Spectral reference
    7. Monitoring in the studio
      1. Headphones in the studio
      2. Playback speakers in the studio
  25. Chapter 18 Surround sound
    1. Surround sound: past to the present
      1. Stereo comes to television
      2. Theaters hit home
    2. Surround in the not-too-distant future
    3. Monitoring in 5.1 surround
      1. Speaker placement and setup
      2. Practical placement
    4. Active/passive monitors in surround
    5. Surround interfacing
    6. Surround final mastering and delivery formats
      1. Dolby digital (AC3)
      2. FLAC
      3. MP4
      4. WMA
      5. Up-mix to 5.1
    7. Mixing in surround
      1. Surround mixers
    8. Reissuing back catalog material
  26. Chapter 19 Mastering
    1. The mastering process
      1. To master or not to master-was that the question?
      2. To master or not to master the project yourself-that's the next question!
      3. "Pre"paration
      4. Mastering the details of a project
      5. Sequencing: the natural order of things
      6. Digital sequence editing
      7. Analog sequence editing
      8. Relative volumes
      9. EQ and mastering control
      10. Dynamics
      11. Multiband dynamic processing
      12. Soundfile volume
      13. Soundfile resolution
      14. Dither
    2. The digital audio editor in the mastering process
    3. On a final note
  27. Chapter 20 Product manufacture
    1. Downloadable media
      1. Hi-res downloads
      2. Music streaming
    2. Physical media
      1. The CD
      2. The process
      3. CD burning
      4. Rolling your own
      5. DVD and Blu-ray burning
    3. Disc handling and care
      1. Disc labeling
    4. Vinyl disc manufacture
      1. Disc cutting
      2. Recording discs
      3. The mastering process
      4. Vinyl disc plating and pressing
  28. Chapter 21 Studio tips and tricks
    1. Preparation and the details
      1. What's a producer and when do you need one?
      2. Do you need a music lawyer?
    2. Long before going into the studio
    3. Before going into the studio
    4. Setting up
    5. Session documentation
    6. Recording
    7. Mixdown
    8. Backup and archive strategies
    9. Household tips
    10. Musicians' tools
    11. Record your own concerts and practices
    12. Protect your investment
    13. Protect your hardware
    14. Update your software
    15. Read your manuals
    16. A word on professionalism
    17. In conclusion
  29. Chapter 22 Yesterday, today and tomorrow
    1. Yesterday
    2. Today
      1. 1's and 0's
      2. The web
    3. Tomorrow
    4. Happy trails
  30. Appendix A Continued education
  31. Appendix B Tax tips for musicians
  32. Index

Product information

  • Title: Modern Recording Techniques, 8th Edition
  • Author(s): David Miles Huber, Robert E. Runstein
  • Release date: August 2013
  • Publisher(s): Focal Press
  • ISBN: 9781136117817