One of the biggest problems with audio quality, especially in home studios, is noise. Cheap microphones are notorious for creating lots of hiss along with the thing you ACTUALLY wanted to record. If you use a computer for recording, you get a big slice of computer fan and drive noise along with your serving of hiss. So what can you do about it?

The best way to avoid noise problems is to prevent as much of it getting into your recording as possible. But for this article, we’re talking about audio that ALREADY has noise in it. So let’s use an example that is very common…a recording of a human voice, likely for a podcast or to narrate a video. The same concepts hold true for any audio though.

Let’s say you recorded your voice on your computer for a podcast you’re producing. Play the audio and watch/listen (you can do both nowadays thanks to software editors!) for the areas where you are NOT talking. You should here some of that hiss and other junk we mentioned above. If you don’t, try listening in headphones. Whoa! There it is. Wow, huh? There are two ways to deal with this. Or you could use them in combination. Read the rest of this entry »

Audio Amplifier is counted as the most essential component of audio recording equipment. The audio amplifier is basically designed to be used for reproducing audio frequencies. An amplifier collects all the energy, which requires to be transported for creating suitable sound output. It generally includes circuits, which carry raw energy via its wires, amass it together with the intention that final sound output is released automatically from the speakers.

Amplifier can be further subdivided into various categories, including signal amplification and power amps that are optimized to drive speakers. Many a time multiple amplifiers are grouped together in form of bridgeable or separate channels for accommodating various audio reproduction needs.

The level of amplifiers is calculated in sound watts. Amplifiers are made in certain shapes and numerous sizes. These might come as a part of the system or even as an additional accessory. Apart from the sound amplifiers, there are power amplifiers as well.

There are different kinds of audio amplifiers accessible, which are robust yet compact amplifiers created for studio and even select live applications. The amplifiers offer clean, excellent and powerful sound with ultra low distortion of noise. Many of the amplifiers are ideal for project, professional, or home studios. While few of the amplifier models will assist in reproducing your mixes by close pinpoint accuracy within a solo rack space. Read the rest of this entry »

“How hot should my levels be when I’m recording or mixing?” is a question that is asked quite frequently on all sorts of internet forums and in general conversations with aspiring recording engineers and those new to mixing.

Gain staging refers to one’s signal path, going from the source through the microphone pre amps, converters and finally to your DAW. This is a very critical moment for your signal; the goal is to have the cleanest signal possible. (also refers to S/N ratio on your mixing console). How you calibrate your converters will play a heavy role in this equation. Generally, you hear “record as hot as possible without clipping” this is true to a point, what I mean is, yes you want to record as hot as possible, but that does not necessarily mean being in red/orange!

In the digital realm, one is able to record at 24-bit which offers an astounding amount of headroom (144dB dynamic range to be exact); as such you do not have to push the signal as hot as you normally might with an analog console and tape machine. 0dBu is equivalent to -18dBFS digital, so that is something one should keep in mind when calibrating their converters for recording. A good recommendation would be to have your signal peaking around -6 to -5 MAX. no more than that or you risk creating square waveforms which is a big no-no in digital audio! Read the rest of this entry »