Professional Documents
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A Z
of digital music making
to
The first half of our essential home studio
reference guide take us all the way to ‘M’…
Part 1
O
ne of the most difficult things the definitive ‘Encyclopaedia
about making music with Computermusica’. Originally conceived
computers is keeping track of as a single article, we realised that
all the terms and techniques involved. we’d need considerably more space
The pace of change is so fast that to than that, so we’ve divided the
keep up with all the developments you alphabet in half, with A to M here and
can find yourself spending more time N to Z next month.
surfing the net and reading magazines Here it is, then – Part 1 of our
than you do actually making music! complete A-Z guide to all things music
So, to combat this we’ve compiled production-related… cm
The A-Z of digital music making
ADSR
AAC Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release. The most
common form of modulation envelope.
Advanced Audio Coding. A compressed music file format similar
in concept to MP3, AAC is the audio format Apple users are
encouraged (by Apple!) to use. ■ ATTACK ■ DECAY
The speed at which the The speed at which the
parameter (volume, parameter drops to the
Acoustics filter cutoff, etc) being sustain level. With a
modulated reaches piano, after the initial
The sonic properties of an environment. A square room with maximum value after strike there’s a loud
brick walls, high ceilings, wood floors and no furniture is the the envelope is burst of sound, after
triggered. In volume which the level drops
worst acoustic setup. Near-field monitoring compensates
terms, a piano or other quickly to a much
somewhat, but it’s well worth applying some acoustic treatment struck instrument has lower volume
to such a space. Asymmetrical shapes are best, as they prevent an attack of almost
bass from building up too much. Covered walls and full rooms zero, while a violin has
also ease reflections. If you want accurate bass monitoring, avoid a slow attack
placing your speakers halfway between major surfaces (floor,
ceiling and walls) and keep them out of corners.
Active monitors
Monitor speakers
with built-in
amplifiers. The
advantages of this
include lower signal
degradation when
using long amp-to-
speaker cabling, and
reliable frequency response. It’s also
harder to blow speakers with amps in
them. Active speakers are more
expensive than passive speakers.
A/D converter
Analogue-to-Digital The circuitry used
Analogue-to-Digital.
to convert soundwaves into a series of
■ SUSTAIN ■ RELEASE
digital snapshots that can be recorded by a computer. The level at which the The time taken for the
modulated parameter parameter to drop to
ADAT (volume in our piano zero after the key is
example) settles at for released. String
as long as the key is instruments take longer
Alesis Digital Audio Tape. A very popular multitrack digital held down to stop reverberating
recording format in the 90s. The tape has gone, but the eight- than wind instruments
channel optical audio interface remains and is a standard port and thus have a longer
for multi-channel digital audio. release time
Additive synthesis Two other parameters sometimes found on envelopes are Delay (the time
taken for the envelope to enter the attack stage after it’s triggered) and Hold
A synthesis technique (found between Sustain and Release, defining the time between when the
whereby a sine wave is envelope stops Sustaining and starts Releasing after the key is released).
generated at a root
frequency and then
‘partials’ (additional sine
waves) are stacked on
top of it at harmonically
related intervals. MODERN ADDITIVE SYNTHS CAN
Modern additive synths
can stack hundreds of
partials for incredibly
STACK HUNDREDS OF PARTIALS FOR
rich textures. If you’ve
heard a Hammond INCREDIBLY RICH TEXTURES
organ, you'll know
how great stacked
sine waves sound…
The A-Z of digital music making
2
together, you can combine Ratio creates a punchy effect, allowing a
the output of all eight Controls the amount of signal small section of the signal through
channels into one bus, reduction applied, presented as a before the compression kicks in
ratio. For example, a ratio of 5:1
which you can then insert
whatever effects you like
into. Busses can also be
means that for every 5dB the signal
exceeds the threshold, it’s
attenuated so that it only actually
4 Release
Sets the speed with which the
compression is released after the
used for handling effects increases by 1dB signal drops back below the threshold
returns (see Auxiliary bus).
The A-Z of digital music making
loudest recordable signal. Anything more than this and you'll end
up with clipping.
Controllers
There’s nothing wrong with a mouse,
CC (Continuous Controller)
but for sheer sex appeal, you can’t
beat a big knob. Hardware The MIDI forerunner to today’s sequencer automation systems.
controllers aren’t just about looking On hardware synths, samplers and effects, most parameters will
cool, though, they’re practical too. be assigned a MIDI CC number. By sending data on the
For example, if your track sounds
matching CC number ‘channel’ from a sequencer or keyboard,
great, but the bass and drums aren’t
quite right, it’s better to alter them that parameter can be automated. Despite today’s much more
both simultaneously, which a mouse powerful automation setups, many plug-ins can still also be
doesn’t allow. Here are a few of the configured to respond to specific CC numbers, for the sake of
1 Two sounds are better than one: bulk up your different controller types…
compatibility with older systems.
sound with a good Chorus plug-in
6 Make-up gain
Because by its very nature
compression lowers the volume of a
Probably the most famous
sequencer of all, Cubase is
manufactured by German
signal, gain must be applied at the
end of the processing to raise the company Steinberg (now owned
overall level back to that of the by Yamaha). The evolution of an
original peaks early MIDI-only sequencing
Knobs – Nothing package, Cubase was the
7 Peak/RMS (Not shown)
The human ear does not perceive
short sounds as being as loud as
encourages hands-on
programming like a rack full of
software that introduced the
milestone VST standard, and it
rotaries. The best example of late
equivalent-level long sounds. comes from Behringer: their could well be argued that
Therefore, the RMS (Root Mean BCR2000 offers a unit full of the Cubase VST (released in the second half of the 90s)
Square) setting is used to calculate things for a little over a ton.
something closer to the average
heralded the birth of the 100% virtual studio as we know it today.
signal level over a short period of Nice one, Steinberg!
Pads – Sometimes
time, rather than responding solely to tickling the ivories just
actual peaks. The resulting sound is a can’t cut it when laying Cutoff
lot more natural. However, RMS is not down beats. Find new
quite as punchy as peak operation inspiration by bashing
(which is more suited to punchy The frequency at which a filter stops
assignable drum pads,
sounds) and can allow some short such as those on the M- affecting an audio signal. For example, a
transients through. This can potentially Audio Trigger Finger. low-pass filter plug-in with the cutoff set to
overload digital systems 1kHz will filter out all of the sound going
through it above 1kHz.
The A-Z of digital music making
Delay
Also known as echo, delay is one of the most useful effects
around. It can often fill out a track more than an additional
musical element, and can be switched on and off for choruses
and verses. The basic controls on a delay unit are delay time
(measured in milliseconds or note lengths), feedback (controls the
number of repeats) and wet/dry mix. In addition, because in
nature each echo loses some of its top-end, many delays feature
a high-cut filter. Finally, so as not to overpower a mix, some also 1 TC Electronic’s PowerCore has dedicated DSP chips for powering plug-ins without taxing your CPU
The A-Z of digital music making
High-pass – The
(www.izotope.com), for example.
OF DSP-HUNGRY EFFECTS opposite of low-pass, a
high-pass filter is both
a creative effect and a
you can still alter the volume and tool for taming unruly
Equaliser (EQ) panning while frozen. bass frequencies in a
mix. Good mixes
A type of filter that either boosts or attenuates specific frequencies, be they generally allow each
bass, treble or midrange. Cutting sounds around the one you want to bring
Frequency sound or group of
sounds space to
out works better than boosting the sound you’re trying to highlight – eg, cut breathe, and good bass
Sound is simply the name given to
guitars to bring out vocals. If something’s not clear in the mix, it’s because certainly requires this.
vibrations in air that are detectable
there’s too much going on, which boosting will often only exacerbate.
to our ears. These vibrations travel Band-pass – Band-
in waves, which vary in length. In pass filters only allow a
■ FREQUENCY
The point around which all the action takes place. Whether you’re cutting or audio terms, frequency is the specific and definable
boosting, the easiest way to find your target frequency is to apply significant number of times these waves selection of frequencies
boost and a reasonably low Q setting, and sweep the frequency until you hit (a band) to pass
occur per second. It’s measured in though. The controls on
the spot. You can then set the correct cut or boost, and tweak the Q setting Hz (Hertz) and kHz (Kilohertz). Bass offer are the central
sounds have long wavelengths (and frequency and width
can shake solid objects), while (the amount either side
of the central frequency
treble sounds have short
allowed to pass), along
wavelengths (and can shatter with resonance. For a
glass). For example, a bass lush filtering effect that
soundwave at 20Hz will complete combines the best of
the high- and low-pass
its wave cycle 20 times per
filter sweep sound,
second, while a treble sound at sweep the central
20kHz will complete it a whopping frequency up and down
20,000 times per second. while experimenting
with the bandwidth.
Front Side Bus (FSB) Notch – The opposite
of the band-pass, a
AKA System Bus. The connection notch (or band-reject)
between a computer’s processor, filter removes specific
frequencies in a
■Q ■ BOOST/CUT RAM and other motherboard prescribed range. With
The Q setting determines Boosting bass and treble components. Its speed is measured a variable wet/dry
how wide a frequency band frequencies can be effective, but
in MHz or GHz and it’s critical to control, this works just
either side of the central mid-range boost tends to alter like a conventional EQ
frequency is affected by the the tonal quality of a sound the overall speed of a computer.
cut and can be used as
EQ. Small ranges are very (often for the worse). Mid-range The thing to measure is the ratio
a creative effect or as a
unnatural sounding but not cutting of competing elements is between the processor and FSB tool for removing any
without their uses usually a better idea speed. The smaller the better, or it unruly frequencies.
can become a bottleneck…
The A-Z of digital music making
Granular synthesis
Similar in essence to digital sampling, granular synthesis
employs tiny ‘grains’ of sound (typically 1-50ms in length). These
can then be re-ordered, layered and modulated to produce truly
unique sonic soundscapes. 1 A good controller keyboard is a studio essential
The A-Z of digital music making
Multisamples
With so many sample libraries, ROMplers and free samples on
the net, the art of home multisampling is in danger of being lost
forever, but essentially it means recording instruments at a variety
of pitches, lengths, styles and velocities. Once recorded, these
samples are then spread across the sampler’s note range (C3 on
C3, D3 on D3 and so on). Multiple samples can also be layered
onto one key, so that if you strike a key softly, the sample of that
note being played softly is played back.
Omni-directional Figure-eight
These mics pick up sound from all These pick up sound equally from
around, and so are great ambience in front and behind. There are Multitimbral
mics but not well-suited to any other various applications for this
type of work in untreated acoustic (multiple backing singers sharing a Refers to a synth or sampler’s ability to reproduce more than
spaces (ie, most of our studios!). mic, using a pair to stereo mic a
piano, etc), but for most purposes
one different type of sound at once. It's not really an issue these
cardioid is a better choice. days, as with multiple instances of each plug-in in our arsenal,
we usually only need each of them to reproduce one sound.
Most soft samplers are also multitimbral, though, which is
particularly handy for playing back multiple drum parts.