Music production techniques

What is an audio interface?

An audio interface is another name for a sound card. When recording music in a studio of any kind whether it be at home or professional recording studio, you will need a sound card/audio interface in order to perfect a really nice recorded track. They also consist of many channels so you can connect any instrument up to it in a studio and mics (with xlr cables) so you can change digital information as binary code (10001110011011011) into sound in the speakers of the computer monitors. This is very important in professional studio recording.

Why is an audio interface needed in a studio?

To record in a studio you will need a dedicated audio interface as it will be better quality that those that may be built-in to the computers. This is also needed because as I listed above they consist of different channels and you can record any instrument professionally.

To conclude this question you will need audio interface to turn the sound into digital frequency so that the computer can recognize it. This is also known as the binary code (as mentioned above)-100001110000100…- and then changing it to playback sound that we can hear from the monitors (speakers). Also the good thing about the audio interface is that it is connected to the computer with a fire-wire cable. This is good because now-a-days at the moment it is said to be fastest information transformation cable, this will also help when recording.

What is the difference between digital and analogue signal?

Digital and analogue signals both work in the same ways. They both send the information into electrical signals, however yes they do it in different ways. An analogue transfer’s information into electrical pulses of varying amplitudes, whereas digital signal is a translation of information is in binary format. Each bit is representative of 2 distinct amplitudes. [1] I read that the waves are different in both analogue and digital .Digital has square waves and analogue has sine waves. Also analogue records waveform as they are whereas digital samples analogue wave form into a limited set of numbers and records them.

What is a preamp?

[2] A preamp is a shortened word for a preamplifier. A preamplifier is electronic. This prepares a small electronic signal for further amplification. This is genuinely placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. This is very important when recording a song/track in a studio as you really don’t want to have to minimalize the background noise. It helps to minimise the amount of work you do when editing, but it also gives a better chance of a more professional and cleaner track. The background is also to do with signal-to-noise. [3]Signal to noise is usually used in science ect but in music this helps with the level of background noise. It is mainly known as signal power to noise power. Basically transferring signal sent from recording equipment or anything else into noise that we are able to hear. This is often expressed as dicibles.

Inputs and outputs commonly found on audio interfaces?

The inputs on an audio interface will determine the number and types of signals which can be recorded into the computer at the same time. An audio interface, also known as soundcard can send and receive analogue or digital audio signals. You can connect a mic for vocals for example in out of the inputs to the studio mixer/dj into the soundcard to change the signal so the computer can read it. However you can also put an output from the dj/mixer from a mic into the output of the headphones that the performer will be able to hear. This way the performer and the studio mixer can communicate while recording a track and doing different level adjustments to make things sound good. If you don’t level, there may be more editing for you to do later on after you have finished recording.

Sample rate? Bit deapth?

There are many common things that is important when recording in a studio. One of these things is samplke rate and bit deapth.

Sample rate- number of samples/ frequencies carried per second

Bit depth- number of bits in each sample.

You could also compare a bit depth to the quality of an image. The higher the bit the clearer and higher quality the image will be. This is the same for sounds and sample rates.

Sample rate is usually set at 44.1khz and the bit depth is usually set at 24bit. This will make for a better performance. You want to be concerned with the bit and sample rate because if the bitt and sample rate are higher, this could make the file increase in size as well as if the sampling frequency is too low then this would result in a distortion. When recording you do not want your end result to be distorted and not sounding right at all. When you come to put it onto a disk and play it back it will not sound good at all. For example if you are working with pro tools, when starting it up you will usually have a box that you set the bit depth and sample rate to. This will help with the level of quality the sound will be when you record and edit a track.

What is latency?

Latency is where something would lag or be late. For example, if you have ever watched a movie and the lips don’t go with the words this is called latency, things arn’t in sync they are LATE. This can be caused by many many things. One example could be overutilization of a link. Overutilization of a link is When the amount of traffic passing over an IP link increases to to a high percentage of the total bandwidth of that link, the latency across that link begins to increase.

Bibliography

[1] http://www.diffen.com/difference/Analog_vs_Digital

[2]https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=UsgtVOSoMteAbOqagMAN&gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+a+preamp

[3] https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=E8ktVKa_Mc2DbJG-gMAL&gws_rd=ssl#q=meaning+of+signal+to+noise&spell=1

https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=rA4zVLbcBoaA0AX0x4HoCg&gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+sample+rate

https://www.google.co.uk/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=rw4zVOmuPOWA0AW9u4CABg&gws_rd=ssl#q=what+is+bit+depth&spell=1

http://www.presonus.com/community/Learn/sample-rate-and-bit-depth

https://www.sprint.net/index.php?p=faq_latency