In the simplest of setups, there is only one monitor mix and it is sent to one or more stage monitor speakers. The house sound engineer can control this mix and it remains independent of the “front of house,” or audience’s mix. Vocals and soft instruments like acoustic guitars can be particularly featured in the monitor mix in the amounts desired by the musicians. This separate mix is accomplished by connecting a powered monitor system to one of the mixing console’s “pre-fader auxiliary sends.” These pre-fader auxiliary sends are not affected by the main mix faders and therefore allow the sound engineer to control the stage monitor system independently.

In larger concert situations, there may be several monitor mixes, perhaps a mix for each performer on stage. All of these mixes remain independent of each other as well as independent of the mix heard by the audience. Sometimes supplemental monitoring systems, such as “side fill monitors” are added in order to provide additional sound clarity and coverage on stage. A Side fill monitor configuration involves placing speaker cabinets on each side of the stage facing in toward the center.

Usually, larger events use two sound engineer mixing stations. There is a “house” engineer with a mixing console located in the audience seating area and another engineer with a monitor mixing console sitting just off stage. This setup allows the house engineer to concentrate on providing a good sound to the audience without worrying about the stage monitors. It also allows the monitor engineer to make sure that each performer is hearing exactly what he or she needs to hear on stage.

The engineer can also maintain good communication with the performers. This “on-stage monitor mix” configuration requires each microphone and instrument’s signal to be routed through a splitting device that sends these individual signals to both the house mixing console and the monitor mixing console. The adjustments made at the main mixing console have no effect on the monitor mixing console and vice versa. This is a far superior configuration for all engineers and performers.

A popular substitute for stage monitor speakers is the “in-ear monitor” system (IEM) , usually a wireless device. It consists of high-quality earpieces connected to a body-worn receiver that gets its signal from a wireless transmitter. The wireless transmitter is connected to a monitor mix output and it is controlled by the sound engineer much like any other monitor mix.

Most IEM’s have limiters that keep the decibel level safe in the earpieces in order to avoid hearing damage for the user. Many large concert bands either have all musicians wearing individually-mixed in-ear monitors or a combination of stage monitor speakers and IEM systems. Usually this IEM versus stage monitor speaker decision is determined by the performer’s preference. However, sometimes IEM’s are preferred due to the unwanted affect of stage monitors creating extra sound on stage.

Working with professional contractors to install the various components for a recording studio is a good option, especially if they are backed by the experience and knowledge needed to complete the project. Having a studio designed and placed by experts, no doubt, sounds good. However, this can be a costly project.

DIYers can find almost everything they need to improve the acoustics of the room sound such as acoustics panels and bass traps, the high quality foam and fabric that can be used to create custom panels,. In fact, some online stores can offer customers expert advice for the construction or modification of an acoustic room.

Complete packages are available including the components needed for specific applications such as home theaters, studio control rooms, and other items can simplify and reduce costs the creation of an improved acoustic space.

There are many applications of an acoustically treated space, depending if the purpose of recording, mixing or simply listening to the sound.

The importance of acoustic treatment

When a room is acoustically treated, it means that the surfaces of the room have somehow been modified to optimize their response to different frequencies in the spectrum. Treatment is usually administered to absorb or reduce certain frequencies, or turn to reflect and improve others.

There are two rooms to be treated acoustically in a recording studio, one of which is central to the engineer in the control room, where the mixing is done and the other refers to “live” room – the actual recording space, where musicians play.

The acoustic treatment of the ControlRoom

When it comes to dealing with the control room, many engineers choose the “LEDE” concept. This approach, which means “end of start line,” includes treatment of one side of the room where the console is with very absorbent materials that are soft and porous, such as foam, fabric or absorber systems specially designed for wall tiles, etc. end of the play is considered a “dead end” where the sounds should be absorbed rather than reflected back to the engineer behind the console.

Treatment of acoustic “live” room

With the acoustic treatment of the “live” room, methods and materials to a large extent depends on the implementation of the music. Some programs need space for an open sound, spacious with a “live” feel that gives a reflection of the environment, while others require a tight sound that is absorbed by the material.

If the room has to meet a number of purposes, the best approach is to ensure that acoustic treatment is a little flexible with respect to the installation.

More options

Although there are a plethora of options available to treat the acoustic space for any type of application, as well as hundreds of companies that specialize in the manufacture and installation of various forms of treatment, a number of these effects can be obtained with a DIY approach using widely available materials. Regardless of the approach to the sound room,acoustics is a crucial factor to keep in mind when the sound recording.

The Akai Pro LPK25 is an 3.8 x 13.4 x 1.1 inch, rectangular shaped keyboard. This is approximately the same length as a standard laptop. Since most keyboard MIDI controllers are the length of a full size piano, the Akai Pro LPK25 is referred to as a mini-controller. This mini-controller is one pound in weight and easy to transport.

The keys of this keyboard are made to replicate the sensation of playing a piano. They are the exact same shape as piano keys and are weighted to imitate the feeling of pressing down on a piano key. There are 25 keys which cover two octaves of a piano. Also, in order to help the musician correctly record the sound that is wanted, each key is velocity sensitive. This means that the volume of a recorded note depends on how hard the key is pushed on the keyboard.

The MIDI port on the keyboard has a dual functionality. It connects the keyboard to the computer’s USB drive, but it also powers the keyboard itself. It is discretely positioned on the left side of the keyboard.

The octave up and down controls are used to control which two octaves are being recorded into the computer. The left button will drop the keyboard into lower octaves which will produce a deeper and heavier pitch. The right button will move the keyboard into higher octaves which will create a higher and more distinct pitch. These controls are located on the top, left side of the keyboard.

The tap tempo controls are used to control the timing of effects that are produced by various different keys. An effect is anything that distorts the original sound of the keyboard. A good example of this would be an echo, which is referred to as a delay in the music world. The musician can control the timing of each echo by simply tapping the controls to the timing of the song. They are located on the top, left side of the keyboard, below the octave up and down controls.

The sustain is used to hold out notes and bleed them together. When a musician plays the piano they use the bottom, right foot pedal as a sustain. Rather than being a foot pedal, the Akai Pro LPK 25 uses a button located on the top, left side, above the octave up and down controls. Without this function, songs sound choppy because the notes being played don’t blend together and harmonize.

The arpeggiator is a simple way to create arpeggios, which is a chord in which each note is played in sequence rather than at the same time. The arpeggiator is the button located at the top, left side of the keyboard. It is above the octave up and down controls and to the right of the sustain.

The Akai Pro LPK 25 Laptop Performance Keyboard is Available at : American Music Supply, Abe’s Of Maine, Musicians Friend, Music123, Zzounds, and other online stores for about $69.

Overall, the Akai Pro LK25 has the full functionality of a standard MIDI controller. Any musician can master its features and effectively produce music on their home computer.

Perhaps nothing affects a system’s design as much as the choice of speakers. This is because the speaker design will often determine the other components needed in the system. Audio equipment manufacturers have two primary speaker enclosure types: “Active” or “Powered” and “Passive” or “Unpowered.” Active speakers contain one or more power amplifiers and only require a mixer or other audio preamp to be connected to them in order to operate. No external power amplifiers are needed to drive these enclosures’ speaker components. Some active speakers also include an input for the direct connection of a microphone.

Passive speakers do not contain amplifiers and require one or more external power amplifiers in order to operate. Both active and passive speakers are offered in a number of designs, including full-range main speakers, sub-woofers and stage monitors. At first glance, many consumers immediately assume that active speakers are always better for portable sound systems and passive speakers are always preferred for installed sound systems. However, upon close investigation, the choice is not so clear.

The main pros of using powered speakers for portable sound systems are as follows: No external power amplifiers are required thus eliminating the need to transport these often very heavy components. Because these self-powered speakers only require line level inputs from a mixer or preamp, the cables needed to connect them are much smaller, lighter and less bulky that the speaker cable needed for passive speakers.

Active speakers are usually designed with well-matched amplifier and frequency-dividing components as well as often overdrive protection systems. The main cons of using active speakers in a portable sound system are: The speaker cabinet itself is much heavier due to the internal power amplifier(s) and other components. One must run electrical power to each speaker cabinet in order to operate the internal components. This requires long electrical extension cables that are heavy and bulky. AC power extension cables therefore become a necessity for sound system operation in most venues. Powered speakers cost more per unit, often even more than a power amplifier/passive speaker combination in some cases. For example, one could possibly purchase four passive speaker enclosures and one dual-channel power amplifier for less than the price of four comparable active speakers.

The same pros and cons also apply to permanently-installed speaker systems but there are a few other points to consider as well: Because one is not transporting the installed speaker system, the weight is somewhat less of a concern. However, passive speakers are lighter and may fit the building’s structural and safety needs better when mounted to a wall or “flown” below the ceiling.

Passive speakers will not require electrical power sources to be installed close to them. The electrician’s bill could get pretty large if conduit systems and power cable has to be installed near every speaker. On the other hand, installed passive speakers requiring long cable runs must be connected to their amplifiers using 12-gauge or heavier cables, depending on the distance and speaker impedance. If the cable is too small, the system will not operate properly. These long, heavy speaker cable runs are somewhat hard to install as well as quite expensive. One potential problem is with the proper on and off switching of the overall sound system.

Many active speakers contain electronic devices that automatically turn on and off the internal power amplifiers and other components depending on the presence of an audio signal. Usually, these speaker systems switch to standby mode if an audio signal is not present for a period of time. For installed systems without some other way of on/off switching, this is a necessary feature. Otherwise, the active speakers will stay on. When the system’s mixing board or other components are switched on and off, the speaker components could suffer damaging thumps, pops and other signal surges. Also, active speakers without the automatic on/off feature will sit there using power all of the time.

If a bad malfunction occurs while no one is around, a faulty electronic component could even become a fire hazard. A final consideration for installed speaker systems is maintenance. In most cases, a well-designed sound system will result in very few component failures. However, if one desires to adjust or replace amplifier components, it is much easier to perform these maintenance chores with the power amplifiers on the backstage floor and not flown twenty feet above the stage.

Venues and sound system applications vary greatly. All of these concerns should be addressed when choosing speaker components for a sound reinforcement system.

Home studio owners often start with the “m-Box” system. It includes both the basic hardware and some pretty advanced software for getting microphone, instrument, and line-level signals recorded into a computer. The m-Box mini is Digidesign’s cheapest interface box for use with Pro Tools LE and it goes up from there. The DIGI 003 is a very popular and quite powerful interface for home studios looking to record a small band at one time while the m-Box series is wonderful for the studio owner who only needs to record one or two musicians simultaneously. The Pro Tools LE software allows up to 48 tracks of recorded audio.

With all of these Pro Tools LE-based units, much of the studio’s capabilities depends on the host computer. Macs have always been popular and the Intel-based Macs now run these programs much better than their ancestors. Many Windows-based machines also handle Pro Tools extremely well. However, one should check the Digidesign support website in order to make sure that their Windows machine is compatible with Pro Tools.

Another very important factor is the RAM in the studio computer. Even for mild Pro Tools use such as recording only a few tracks, a gig of RAM is necessary. Windows XP users and some Mac users can squeak by with this but for later operating systems, more RAM is required, usually 4 gigs or so to do a decent job with Pro Tools LE. One reason is that Pro Tools LE is dependent on the computer and not the audio hardware to process many of its functions, including the operation of effects plug-ins like reverb and compression.

While the beginning studio owner could record a few audio tracks onto the computer’s one system hard drive, this is not advisable. Digidesign heavily recommends against this and so do other audio recording hardware and software manufacturers. One reason is that the system drive needs to be busy running the program and not have the extra chore of simultaneously processing digital audio files. This can cause excessive heat and/or wear on the system drive. Another problem is that audio files are huge and will rapidly fill up the hard drive. Therefore when building a home studio, a second drive for audio files should absolutely be in one’s plans.

Most studio owners choose an external Firewire-interfaced hard drive as their designated audio drive. This is because Pro Tools does not write audio files to a USB drive. When choosing a Firewire drive, it is a good idea to check Digidesign’s support site for their list of compatible hard drives. Otherwise, the Firewire drive may not operate reliably with this program. An option for home studio owners with a desktop is a second IDE or SATA-connected internal drive as well. Any drive chosen for audio file use should be fairly large in size and must operate at a speed of 7,200 RPM’s or higher.

Once the second drive is connected, the software is installed, and the computer is ready to go, it is a great idea to turn off any processes or programs running on the computer that you absolutely do not need. This includes screen savers and constant scanning programs running in the background.
With a low-powered processor such as a Celeron, a lower-end AMD model, or an old Macintosh processor, you may be able to record and mix (using very few plug-ins) around eight to twelve tracks of audio. However, one should go with at least a Core 2 Duo or equivalent processor when choosing a studio computer. Otherwise the computer will likely be unable to adequately run Pro Tools.

It is often humorous to hear the Mac versus PC zealots argue their points. The truth is, newer Macs are more universally compatible with Pro Tools because there are not various models made by different manufacturers. However, the proper Digidesign-approved PC with a fast processor and plenty of RAM will do the job just as well, especially when running Windows XP.

Essential Training For Pro Tools Audio

ProTools LE: Essential Training: Ten hours of instructor led training to guide you through every aspect of ProTools LE. An added feature is a section where you can see musicians creating tracks using ProTools LE. Watching and emulating will help you to understand how the professionals use and configure ProTools LE. Get up and running almost instantly with the quick start, or investigate the comprehensive chapter tutorials for step-by-step instructions on achieving professional results.

Pro Tools Bundle contains ProTools LE: Essential Training ProTools LE provides everything you need to create music inexpensively with professional results. ProTools is an industry standard and widely used by professionals in music production and post-production, and TV and film scoring.
What’s New In ProTools 7.4: This upgrade to ProTools 7.4 offers some cool improvements but at the top is the amazing featuring of time-manipulation called Elastic Time or Elastic Audio as it is sometimes referred to.

Of course, the first thing one should do is decide how many microphones, instruments, and playback devices (CD/DVD players, laptops, etc.) will be connected to the mixer. This will determine the amount of channels needed. The existence of other sound equipment that you have available can be another deciding factor. If you have either an existing powered speaker system or passive speakers with a power amplifier, you may just need an unpowered mixer. “Unpowered” means that the mixer does not contain a power amplifier. If you do not already have power amplifiers or powered speakers, you may be able to save money by choosing a powered mixer.

Powered mixers come in handy for many small to medium-sized applications. They consist of a mixer and one or more power amplifiers enclosed in one box. The advantages of a powered mixer is primarily the compact design and the cost. Because you can often purchase a decent powered mixer for about the same price as you can get a power amplifier (with which you would still need an external mixer), it may make sense just to buy the one unit.

The single-component powered mixer is also very portable and requires less time and knowledge to connect than a system that consists of an unpowered mixer plus one or more power amplifiers. In addition, powered mixers sometimes include graphic equalizers, extra power amplifiers, and built-in effects processors such as reverb units. These features eliminate the need for even more external components and cables.

The downside to powered mixers is that, for larger systems, these mixers do not contain enough channels and versatility to do the job. Also, speaker cables must be connected directly to these units and very long speaker cables can be expensive, bulky, and a detriment to audio quality. When the mixer must be operated a far distance from the stage, an unpowered mixer is usually connected through an extension snake to the power amplifiers, which are located near the speakers.

Whether you go with a powered or unpowered mixer, there are some important things to consider. The most basic mixers have a few channels with volume and possibly equalization controls, allowing a few microphones or instruments to be blended. These are fine for very limited needs, such as allowing a couple of paging microphones to be connected to a sound system’s amplifier. However, any sound reinforcement application even slightly demanding requires a step up from the most basic units. When choosing a mixer for a church, concert hall, band, or school sound system, one should look for the following much-needed features:

Phantom power: This is a power supply designed to operate condenser microphones and other active devices. Often it provides 48 volts or so to components like condenser drum overhead microphones, choir microphones, and podium microphones. A number of other devices may require phantom power so it is a must for any good mixer.

Gain, trim, or sensitivity controls on at least some of the channels: These controls are for matching the level of each microphone, instrument, or other device to the mixer’s electronics as these signals first enter the mixer. The proper adjustment of each channel’s gain control can help avoid two major problems: One is overload of mixer’s circuitry from strong signals and the other is the amplification of unwanted operating noise when an input signal is weak. In the case of powered mixers, many manufacturers do not provide a fully-adjustable gain control but do at least include a fixed pad (attenuation) button that reduces the incoming signal by ten or more decibels. The buttons are usually labeled -10dB, -25dB, etc. These attenuation circuits are not ideal but they work fairly well for basic control of very strong incoming signals.

Auxiliary (Aux) outputs (or aux sends): These are outputs on the each channel of the mixer that allow a signal to be adjusted to an alternate mix, such as used in a stage monitor system. Smaller mixers (both powered and unpowered) should have at least one aux send, possibly labeled “monitor,” so that you can connect and control the stage monitors independently from the main mix. This is a must for the performers on stage. Otherwise, they are stuck with listening to the main mix and this can cause quite a bit of trouble; musicians may not hear what they need to hear on stage. In addition, sending the main mix to the stage monitors can cause feedback problems (roaring, howling, and squealing sounds). Monitor outputs are usually configured as “pre-fader” aux sends, indicating that the mixer’s main volume controls do not affect the settings adjusted by the monitor controls. This is great because the performers on stage have their own mix. In contrast, “post-fader” aux sends are commonly used for effects mixes and their signals follow the main volume controls for each channel.

Volumes have been written about the enormous amount of options available for audio mixers. However, for those wishing to fill their basic sound reinforcement needs, a good mixer with these key features should do the job well.

Then there are times when you can’t make much noise. Maybe you’re sharing a motel room with the rest of the band, and they’re trying to sleep. If you live with your family, or if you have a baby who needs to nap, you can’t practice on your real drum kit whenever you want. Neighbors, especially those in apartment complexes and other close-quarter setups, don’t appreciate your drums as much as you do, either, in some cases.

When you just can’t squeeze in some practice with your regular kit, DW’s Smart Practice is the ideal setup. This affordable, easy-to-assemble set is portable, durable, and easy to use, giving you everything that you need to stay in fine drumming shape no matter where you happen to be.

The Smart Practice setup consists of four practice pads – two are eight inches, and the other two are ten inches – which screw onto metal arms. You can use a standard drum key to tighten or loosen the arms, which are adjustable. You can move them closer or farther apart and adjust the pads’ angles for ideal setup.

Another great feature is the practice pad for your bass pedal. This way, you can practice your footwork with minimal effort – or noise, for that matter. All of the pads produce a minimal amount of noise, so your family, friends, or neighbors would have to be very, very close to your practice setup to have any complaints about the noise level.

DW’s practice pads are also very responsive. Wooden sticks bounce nicely, giving you a fairly-realistic practice session. The thick, rubberized material is durable, too, holding up to hundreds of hours’ worth of practice.

DW Practice Pads are available at InstrumentPro.com

When you want to take this product on the road, you can bring in the practice-pad arms and collapse the stand. The Smart Practice will easily slide under most beds at this point, or store in the average vehicle’s trunk. You can also stand the kit up in a corner to get it out of the way if you need the floor space for other purposes. DW sells a carrying bag, too, to make travel easier. Also: if you want to add extra accessories, DW sells them. You can, for example, add a practice pedal so that you can rehearse or warm up with both of your feet.

One disadvantage is the fact that the pads, as well as the arms, loosen over time. You’ll need to keep a drum key around to tighten things up periodically. However, this isn’t an inherent flaw or defect: “regular” kits need tightening as well, so drummers should not be surprised to find themselves making these small adjustments on DW’s set.

For the price, and for what DW anticipates you doing with this product, the Smart Practice is an excellent investment. New and advanced drummers alike will get plenty of use from this gear, making it a great buy for most people.

By Sarah Borroum

DW Practice Pad