Tag Archive for: studio tutorial

Guide: which DAW has the best sound?

None.

All audio programs have the same sound quality

Audio software, given that it simply processes sound in a digital way, doesn’t have any physical limit that hardware may face. Like, for example, the usage of worn out or low quality components.

Digital sound processing is nothing but a huge series of fine mathematical calculations. And computers never miscalculate.

The fact that a sound is digitally processed doesn’t ruin its beauty

For each second of a recorded sound, at least 44100 calculations are made.

Which means that a digitally processed sound gets analyzed 44100 times per second.

With the accuracy of a mathematical calculation.

In other words: perfect accuracy.

The only difference in quality will be determined by which audio card we’re going to use

DAWs let us hear the results of their sound elaborations through the audio card.

We’ve created a guide to help you choose the right one: 14 rules to follow when buying an audio card.

If you want to know the reason behind the realization of these tutorials, you’ll find it here:

Our first post.

Also, on our website you’ll be able to listen to the products of our expertise.

Let us hear from y!

If you have found this post to be useful, share with us your experiences on our socials!
Maybe you could also add a link of what you’ve created, and by using the hashtag #lmkmprod we’ll be able to find all of you.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Guide: the best outboard gear for audio recording.

There’s none.

During an audio recording, sound must not be altered in any kind of way

If you alter the sound while recording, you won’t be able to revert that change.

If, on the other hand, the recording has no alterations, you’ll be able to easily modify it in post production and, for example, delete an edit you didn’t like. Or make it better.

Eventually, you’ll also be able to take on that recording months later and find it completely unaltered, ready to receive new edits thanks to your improved skills.

The only acceptable outboard is a limiter, which is useful in borderline situations to avoid damaging the recorder

The limiter can be set up in such a way that the input audio signal doesn’t exceed the clipping threshold of the recorder.

It is useful in the event that you’re working with inexperienced technicians or in remarkably unstable situations, where you may lose control of the input signal volume.

If you want to know the reason behind the realization of these tutorials, you’ll find it here:

Our first post.

Also, on our website you’ll be able to listen to the products of our expertise.

Let us hear from you!

If you have found this post to be useful, share with us your experiences on our socials!
Maybe you could also add a link of what you’ve created, and by using the hashtag #lmkmprod we’ll be able to find all of you.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Guide: how to recognise the quality of an audio recording

To recognise the real quality of an audio recording we need to make sure to be in a proper listening situation.

Technically speaking: provide ourselves with a reference listening system.

 

A reference listening system is a professional audio system, able to predict if an audio recording is going to sound good when being played by the majority of other audio systems.

A reference listening system will provide us with a quality playback.

Neutral, without any alteration.

(We’ve written a guide in which we explain what these alterations are: What is frequency response?)

Therefore, if somebody else is going to listen to our audio recording in a non-reference listening system, which will alter the recording sound quality, there’s going to be only one sound alteration: the one coming from their own system.

Hence, the name “reference listening system”: because it’s going to guide us during the creation and recognition of market ready audio materials.

(Also, if all of our listeners were inside a recording studio, they’d clearly hear any possible flaw in our audio recording)

To evaluate audio recordings from a non-reference listening systems means that we won’t be sure if it will sound good when played by all the other systems.

If we optimized the audio recording using a non-reference listening system, our following listeners will hear something that’s been fine-tuned in an altered system.

Something that already has an inner flaw.

Which is going to add to the alteration given by their non-reference listening systems.

Our upcoming listeners will hear a recording that’s been altered twice.

In other words: a garbage recording.

If you don’t have a reference listening system, you have nothing else to do but trust somebody who owns one.

Music production and recording studios invest time and money in the optimization of their listening systems to provide a crucial quality check service for audio recordings.

We’ve created tutorials on how to create reference listening systems.

In these guides we’ll explain how build a reference listening system, that will allow you to recognise and even create quality audio material.

If you want to know the reason behind the realization of these tutorials, you’ll find it here:

Our first post.

Also, on our website you’ll be able to listen to the products of our expertise.

Let us hear from you!

If you have found this post to be useful, share with us your experiences on our socials!
Maybe you could also add a link of what you’ve created, and by using the hashtag #lmkmprod we’ll be able to find all of you.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Tutorial: how to create a good reverb

First of all, to create a good reverb, we need to understand what it is composed of:

  • Phase 1: early reflections
  • Phase 2: late reflections

Early reflections are the most complex part of a reverb: they provide us specific information about room size and sound position

Unfortunately, they’re also the hardest thing to set up about a reverb.

As the name suggests, they’re the early reflections caused by reverberation. They’re extremely swift: usually, they happen within 100 milliseconds after the sound is generated.

Due to their swiftness, they’re going to be perceived as part of the sound itself.

Late reflections result from the gradual energy loss of sound waves, reflection after reflection

This part is due to reverberation weakening. They’re called “late reflections” because, unlike early ones, they’re perceived as disconnected from the initial sound.

Depending on the material of the location in which the reverberation occurs, late reflections are going to comprise different frequencies.

Location size influences late reflections duration: the greater its size, the longer the duration will be.

Usually, modern devices are able to create quite realistic late reflections.

Let’s now see how to properly set up a reverberation unit.

For convenience, we’re going to refer to the reverberation space as “room”: reverberation units use the same terminology.

Mind that reverb is one of the most complex features of a sound: make sure that you have a great listening system before starting to edit one.

How to properly set up early reflections

First of all, lower to zero the volume of late reflections.
(Warning: the cheapest reverberation devices don’t allow for this. In such a case, you’ll have to find a work around).

Changing the size of the room: the more you increase early reflections delay (in milliseconds), the bigger the room will seem. Increase or lower the delay until it feels just right.

Changing the sound position: in the most sophisticated reverbs, you’ll be able to set up different millisecond values per channel. The more you lower the delay of a channel with respect to another, the more the sound will seem to come from that direction.

Protip: many reverberation devices tend to create early reflections with a very low volume. Do keep this in mind, in the event that you aren’t able to properly hear them.

Make sure that your reverb is creating realistic early reflections: unfortunately, many reverberation devices aren’t able to do that.
If you feel like, despite carefully choosing the milliseconds of delay, your reverb doesn’t sound realistic, there’s nothing else to do but change your device.
(Or keep a mediocre one).

How to properly set up late reflections

Leaving early reflections at their normal volume, you have two features you can act upon:
Changing the consistency of room walls: the thicker the wall material, the more they will be able to reflect frequencies.
This feature is usually managed by a low-pass filter (LPF) and a high-pass filter (HPF).
The more you rise the LPF cutoff frequency, the more you will feel like being in a room with metallic walls.
The more you rise the HPF cutoff frequency, the more you will feel like being in a room that absorbs low frequencies (this case is quite peculiar. E.g., a room that’s undergone acoustic treatments).

Changing the size of the room: the longer the late reflection duration, the bigger the room will seem. Increase or lower the duration (in seconds) until it feels just right.

If you want to know the reason behind the realization of these tutorials, you’ll find it here:

Our first post.

Also, on our website you’ll be able to listen to the products of our expertise.

Let us hear from y!

If you have found this post to be useful, share with us your experiences on our socials!
Maybe you could also add a link of what you’ve created, and by using the hashtag #lmkmprod we’ll be able to find all of you.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!