Category 
Studio & Home Studio
A place where acoustics are carefully studied and controlled, the studio, like its little brother, the Home Studio, brings together all the necessary equipment at the different stages of music production: mics & preamps for recording sound; converters and recorders or computers for recording; console, sound treatment and effects processors for mixing, and of course a monitoring system to hear if everything’s as it should be.
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List of articles
Studio & Home Studio
 Everyone |  Beginner |  Intermediate |  Expert |
These articles have two main objectives: to provide a practical how-to guide, as well as to serve as a general reference on specific topics (MIDI, audio synthesis...).
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EQ and Compression Techniques for Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
By Cliff Goldmacher on Jun 14, 2009 at 9:50:00 PM
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As an engineer/producer, one of my biggest early challenges was getting my mixes to sound as polished and balanced as the mixes of songs on my favorite albums. Living in Nashville, I knew the problem wasn’t the players (some of whom had even played on those same favorite albums). I also knew that I was happy enough with the sounds I was recording because when I’d solo a particular track, I liked what I heard. The problem, in a nutshell, was getting all the parts of my mix to fit nicely together. What I’ve learned over time and will describe below are a few simple compression and EQ techniques for vocals and the acoustic guitar in your mixes. These techniques, when used properly, will go a long way towards allowing the vocals and acoustic guitars in your mixes to effectively share the sonic space.
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Making a Studio Pt.3
By John D. Thomas on May 20, 2009 at 12:00:00 AM
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Sound is a wave, much like the ripples on a still body of water when a rock is dropped into it. The larger the wave, the lower the tone. Lower tones, known as bass frequencies, travel in wide long waves while higher tones known as treble frequencies travel in a tighter, shorter wave. Frequencies heard by the human ear range from 20Hz to 20K. Just as an indication, a piano's range, probably the widest range of any instrument, is from 39Hz on the low note and 3Khz on the high note.
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Making a Studio Pt.2
By John D. Thomas on May 7, 2009 at 12:00:00 AM
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Nothing will work without electricity unless you're jamming at the local drum circles down on the beach. Electrical installation studio power is often overlooked. Studios will setup a “clean feed” that is a separate breaker from the rest of the general power that is being used for air conditioning, lighting and the basic necessities of the rest of the building. Have you ever plugged something in and heard that horrific buzzing sound coming from the speakers or guitar amp? This is usually due to bad electrical wiring, which causes ground noise. This is the first thing to listen for when going in to a studio session. A simple solution to the problem would be to use a simple ground lifter on the gear or lift the ground from a direct box which can also solve the problems. We will go into details later.
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Making a Studio Pt.1
By John D. Thomas on Apr 24, 2009 at 12:00:00 AM
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The magic of the recording studio has often mystified even the most seasoned professionals. With all the knobs, switches and buttons on various gear and large format consoles, no wonder confusion sets in to most non-techies. Many people, especially artists, composers, producers, and engineers, will end up putting together their own studio for writing and preproduction, with some eventually deciding to take the plunge and create a full-fledged recording complex that is capable of recording major albums. This series of articles will try to shed some light on the considerations to take into account when making a studio, be it a small home studio or a professional recording studio.
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Using a Mixer: Rehearsals
By Los Teignos on Feb 7, 2009 at 11:00:00 PM
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Before you’re ready for arenas and stadiums, where you’d no doubt call on the services of an experienced sound technician, you need to rehearse. And as long as you’re rehearsing you might as well do it in the right conditions: where everybody can hear themselves and in turn be heard. This means adequately controlling sound levels and using your sound system correctly. And most of the times this means: understanding and using a mixer...
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Microphones: How to choose
By kon-tiki on Jun 28, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM
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Long the role of the professional sound engineer, choosing the appropriate microphone has now become, with the proliferation of the home studio, the task of the amateur and even the beginner. This choice should depend upon what you’re going to be using the mic for, but also on personal preferences. In this article we’ll be dealing with the two main categories of microphones: dynamic microphones and condenser microphones.
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