Recording 101: So you wanna rock?
Before we get into any recording theory, or practice, I thought that it would be best to familiarize y'all with some terminology. Additionally, I wanted to touch on the basics of signal-flow and what the minimum required hardware/software are:
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer that converts sound in air into an electrical signal.
A preamplifier (preamp) is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing.
Audio interfaces have audio connectors that are electrical connectors that carry audio signals to your medium by either analog or digital format.
A digital audio workstation (DAW)is an electronic tool or application used for recording, editing and producing audio files.
In essence, the energy created from your voice or an instrument propagates (moves through) the air as waves of pressure. The microphone detects, reads and converts this pressure into an electrical output signal.
The electrical signal produced is sometimes low and needs amplification, or with large diaphragm condenser microphones, active electronic circuits must be powered. To correct this, a preamplifier is used to amplify, or “boost”, a signal’s level.
Next, the electrical signal must pass through an audio interface of some kind in order to reach your digital medium. Working like a mixing board to a tape machine, the audio interface allows the engineer to balance the level(s) before being recorded to the medium. Most audio interfaces that work with digital mediums connect via thunderbolt, firewire and USB.
Finally, the data is saved in your DAW. Apple’s Garageband is an example of a common DAW.
4 easy steps:
1) sound goes into the microphone and produces an electric signal.
2) The signal is run into a preamp that boosts the signal to an appropriate, or readable level.
3) Next, the signal(s) are run through an audio interface that
4) Allows the data to be recorded into the DAW application running on your computer.
To make things even easier, a lot of producers of audio interfaces incorporate preamps into their devices, combining steps 2 and 3!