TheAudioMasterclassMusicProductionandSoundEngineeringCourse

MODULE02PRACTICALASSIGNMENTNOTES:Microphones

RefertotheAssignmentNotesAudiofolder

Thisisasimpleassignmentbut,asalways,requiresgreatattentiontodetailfrombeginningtoend.
Thereareanumberofcommonproblemsthatyoushouldplantoavoid,rightfromthestart...

Lowlevel.
Notclean,clearandcrisp.
Audiodoesntstartimmediately.
Fadeatendisntneat.
Thereisexcessivebackgroundnoiseand/orambiance.

Itmayseemalittlenegativetomentionthepotentialproblemsfirst,butthesearerealandcommon
problems,andmustbeavoided.

Yourfinishedworkthelevelmustatsomepointreachatleast2dBFS.Inotherwords,it
mustcomewithintwodecibelsoffullscale.
Theremustbenoelectricalnoise,clicks,humorinterference.
Theremustbenoclipping.
Editingandfadingmustbepreciseandneat.
Youmusttakeeverystepyoucantoreducebackgroundnoiseandexcessiveambience.

Movingontototheassignmentitself,theAssignmentNotesAudiofoldercontainsaudioexamplesof
workdoneforthisproject.Therecordingsareofacymbal,snaredrum,tomandkickdrumandare
madewiththeAKGC451smalldiaphragmcapacitormicrophoneandtheAKGD112dynamic.

Intheory,thesemicrophonesshouldbesodifferentthattheyarelikechalkandcheese.Butin
practicesometimesthedifferencesareblindinglyobvious;sometimestheyaretiny.

Astheassignmentbriefsuggests,themicrophoneswereplacedascloseaspossibletoeachother,
withoutactuallytouching...

Module02AssignmentNotes
Aselectionofdrumhitswasrecordedandthebesteditedtogetherinsequence.

Cymbal
AKGC451:drumsc451cymbal.wav
AKGD112:drumsd112cymbal.wav

Snare:
AKGC451:drumsc451snare.wav
AKGD112:drumsd112snare.wav

Tomclose:
AKGC451:drumsc451tomclose.wav
AKGD112:drumsd112tomclose.wav

Tomdistant:
AKGC451:drumsc451tomdistant.wav
AKGD112:drumsd112tomdistant.wav

Kick:
AKGC451:drumsc451kick.wav
AKGD112:drumsd112kick.wav

Youshouldlistencarefullytotheseexamplesandcompareandcontrastthem.Whereyoucanthear
muchofadifference,gotoanexamplewherethedifferenceisobviousandaskyourselfexactly
whatareyouhearing.Thengobacktotheexamplewherethedifferenceisnotsoobviousyou
shouldbeabletohearitnow,evenifitisverysubtle.

Youwillnoticeinthecymbalexamplesthatthetailsofthehitshavebeenfaded.Thishasbeendone
forthesakeofbrevity.

Ifyouonlyhaveonemicrophoneandyouhavetocarryoutthealternativeproject,thenyoushould
stilllistencarefullytotheseexamples.Listeningverycloselytoasmallnumberofexampleswill
allowyoutofocusverycloselyonthesometimeslarge,sometimessmall,butalwayssignificant
differencesbetweenmicrophones.

Endofassignmentnotes

Module02AssignmentNotes