Building a Recording Studio

Studio Considerations

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 pre-production, with some eventually deciding to take the plunge and create a full-fledged recording complex that is capable of recording major albums. This article 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.

Is size important? Some may say it is so but this is not always the case. The dimensions of the studio are very important. A room too large may become over-reverberant or full of unwanted echoes. A room too small may sound tight and unnatural. It is important that the room size and room sound is relevant to the type of music you are recording. You don't want to go into a very small tight room to record BIG rock drums. Although, big room sounds can be achieved by adding external reverb effects to simulate rooms at a later time when necessary.

It is best to find the room that suits the sound you are trying to achieve from the beginning of the recording process. The smaller the room, the smaller and tighter the sound will be; this is not necessarily a bad thing. Small tight rooms can be good for vocals, guitars and percussion if you are going for a tight clean sound. Larger rooms have more air for the sound to travel in, so it will be in fact a bigger more open sound. The sound has a longer travel time for the sound wave to move, therefore the reflection from the walls will take longer to bounce back creating a bigger more spacious sound. The decision of size and sound has to be made early on before the recording starts. One advantage that a larger room will have is the ability to be scaled down by closing up the room using modular baffles or gobos (go betweens). Gobos are structures that are partitions, that help to block sound by placing them in between the musicians, instruments, and microphones. Placing the gobos around the microphone at a close distance will help a large room with too much ambiance sound smaller. This will eliminate the reflections coming off of the walls that are further away.

Small rooms can produce big heavy tight sounds with the absence of the decay from the reverb that is caused from big rooms. Sometimes a large room can sound like it's washed out, or far away. With a good engineer any room can sound amazing with a little adjusting. A poor sounding room can be manipulated to sound good, although it requires much more work and time. Deciding on the proper room size for your needs is critical to the sounds that get re-produced. This will highly dictate the type of sound the microphones will pick up.

Clapping your hands in a room can give a good representation of what a room will sound like. The reflection coming off the walls will be picked up by a simple hand clap. The true test is to try out some instruments or vocals and position them in various sections of the room until reaching the optimum sound quality. If one side of the room sounds bad try a different spot or move around into a corner until the sound is improved.

Experimenting with different sections of the room also keeps the sound fresh when recording many instruments. If the acoustic guitars are recorded in the center of the room, when the time comes to record the electric guitars you may try recording them in a corner of the room for a different room sound. This gives clarity on the final mix creating separation and providing more distinction on various sounds.

If you are starting your own studio, remember that the bigger the studio the higher amount the bills will be. The benefit is that larger studios can charge more for their studio rates.

Getting the Necessities

If you happen to reach that elite 2% and become that million dollar, hit selling, famous producer or artist (or if you just win the lotto), then you might eventually think about buying serious studio gear and setting up your own producer paradise.

Acquiring the proper equipment and labor is key to a great studio and successful recordings. Studio gear is expensive and the knowledge of those who use the gear does not come cheap. Hiring the right people can save money and time in the long run. Studio designers also are specialty breeds that can make or break your studio. Your buddy Joe the carpenter may be able to help build it for less, yet if the studio is not properly isolated for sound it is a great waste of time, energy and finances.

The studio engineer is also the focal point of the sound that is created. Having an experienced engineer involved in the process will make your sound have a character of its own. He is the extra set of ears that gives another dimension to your productions. He is also a critical consulting partner when building or choosing to rent a studio. Let the experts help you with advice, it will create less of a headache in the long run. The experienced engineer can fill you in on all the equipment needed for recording the music that is relevant to your world. He can also give some guidelines on how the studio should be setup before having to consult a designer. There is no room for guessing or assumption on these issues.

Check List: Part 1

When purchasing studio gear it is wise to research only what is absolutely essential for your style of music. If you're not recording live drums in your studio, there is no need to buy a plethora of microphones for them. By being patient and shopping around for the best prices, a mass amount of money can be saved in the end. When you save to 0 bucks on each piece of gear it really adds up in the end, and there is a ton of gear needed to put a proper studio together.

Below is a basic studio checklist that will be discussed in further detail in later articles. These are the essentials of modern day recordings and the tools that are most commonly used in the best studios around the world.

The Studio Gear Checklist:

Recording / Mixing Console

The engineer or producer operates the console that controls all of the levels for recording, playback and mixing.

This is the big board that has all the buttons, switches, knobs, faders which control the levels and signal routing for each instrument. This could be referred to as a board, console or mixer. The most common consoles in major studios are SSL (Solid State Logic) or Neve. The console is the most important piece of gear in the studio. It controls the overall operations of signal flow and sound manipulation. The console allows for each instrument to be on its own channel on the board. Each channel may then have effects inserted into its signal path to enhance the sound. A signal may also be routed to external gear for further manipulation. Anything that can be imagined, can be done. There are no rules for experimenting with sound. A signal can be sent to reverbs, delays, compressors, guitar amps, speakers in hallways for re-recording

Each channel strip on a decent console will contain: Faders, Preamps, Panning, Equalization, Filters, a Routing Matrix, AUX Sends and Returns, Dynamics, Muting, & Solo.

Other Features Of The Console: Inserts, Outputs, Monitoring, Automation, Fader Grouping, Bussing, Splitting...

Patchbay

Allows the studio to combine interconnectivity with all the equipment by using patch cables. The patchbay can be configured for each studio's specific equipment requirements. All of the outboard gear, console and recording devices inputs and outputs are hard wired to the patchbay. The Patchbays can be be analog or digital. The most common is the bantam TT cable configurations.

Check List Part 2:

Microphones Microphones pickup the initial sound source. The mic is the first source in the recording process receiving and converting the sound wave into electrical energy to be amplified, transmitted and recorded.

Preamps Amplifies the original signal coming from the mic or instrument. Gives initial control of the recording levels. Preamps are located on the console or as external outboard gear.

DI Boxes The Direct box is used mainly for instruments such as keys and bass to be compatible with mic inputs. The DI box transforms line levels of instruments to mic level for console and preamp inputs.

Compressors Helps to further control levels and dynamics coming from the preamp or console. Usually comes in rack mounted outboard gear or software plugins for DAWs. Compressors keep levels from peaking into distortion levels and help to bring lower levels louder.

FX Processors For special effects like adding space, dimension, pitch and time delays on signals and recorded tracks. Usually comes in rack mounted outboard gear or software plugins for DAWs. Multi-FX processors may have reverb, delay, flangers, EQ, compression and more all in one unit.

FX Pedals Small floor foot pedals originally designed for guitar FX processing. These pedals are created for distortion and special effects, which add space, dimension, pitch and time on guitars mainly, but are an inexpensive alternative used as outboard gear for other instruments.

DAW The Digital Audio Workstation is like an entire studio inside of a computer. Protools, Logic and Nuendo are just a few DAWs that provide a digital multi-track recorder, a virtual console, a wide variety of effects, editing, and sequencing(musical programming) possibilities. The DAW uses software, hardware and computers in combination to operate.

Check List: Part 3

Control Surface The control surface acts as a console that controls a DAW or external machine. The control surface usually has faders, knobs and buttons that are controlled by the computer connected to a DAW. This makes operating the DAW similar to analog operations by being able to put your hands on faders instead of clicking a mouse. Some control surfaces have all the same features as a console. The most common control surfaces are made by Digidesign.

Clocking Digital recorders use different clocking formats to operate properly. Digital units sample the sound to be replicated. Clocking refers to the amount of time in between samples taken for reproduction. If the digital clocking is off it will sound jittery or add noise to the sound in the analog to digital conversion. A quality clock will improve the sound. Some common digital clock sources can be found in products made by Prism, Rosendahl, DCS, and Aardsync to name a few. Some clocks have sync generators built in to lock up with other machines.

Sync Generator Generates tones to allow communication between machines so that several recording devices can be synchronized together and operate at the same speed. Clocking works with synchronization (sync) when analog and digital equipment is combined. Sync uses SMPTE, MTC (midi time code), Midi Clock, MMC (midi machine control) to allow recording on several DAWs and tape machines to be linked up together.

CD Recorder Records and plays back compact discs. Gives the ability to record stereo mixes and playback these mixes on other CD players. CD standard for consumer playback is a sample rate of 16 bit and a sampling rate of 44.1kHz. Sony, Tascam, Alesis, and Yamaha all make good studio CD recorders.

Tape Machines Recording machines that use analog or digital tape for recording and playback of music. Some purists in sound recording prefer the sound of analog tape. There are many digital tape machines used for recording both music and video.

Cabling Literally miles of various cabling could be needed for a single studio. Common cables in sound reproduction are XLR balanced mic cables and Unbalanced 1/4 inch instrument cables.

Monitors / Amps Speakers in the studio are referred to as Monitors. Powerful clean amps are needed to run monitors. Many monitors are self powered, which means that they have built in amplifiers. Monitors usually consist of high frequency tweeters, low frequency woofers and cabinets that contain the speakers and components.

Headphones / Distribution By using a set of earphones this allows communication between the control room and the studio, also allows pre-recorded tracks to be heard during the overdubbing process. Headphones are also referred to as cans.

Instruments / Keyboards / Drums / Guitars These are more of the tools of the craft. You may have all the best studio gear in the world, but if the instruments sound bad you are starting in the wrong place. Anything could be considered an instrument if it makes noise that could possibly be recorded on a record.

Amplifiers This is often referred to as an amp. Amps increase the amplitude or volume of electrical signals from sound waves. These are used in powering speakers. Guitar and Bass amps can be used for many other applications such as running a vocal or snare drum through them.

Microphone Stands A wide variety of sizes and styles are needed for a proper studio. The mic stand helps to get the microphone placed properly for the best sound quality possible.

Studio Furniture There are many types of racks and furniture designed to hold consoles and outboard gear. The interior decoration of the studio completely sets the vibe of the working environment.

Electricity

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.

Isolated electrical circuits for each individual room are a must in a recording studio. The proper amount of amperage is also a must. Not enough amperage will surely cause your breakers to blow. Consult with an Electrician who is familiar with studio setups to insure that wiring and voltage is regulated and conforming with local codes.

Unregulated Power Supplies (UPS) should also be in place just in case there is a power failure. This will insure that valuable equipment will not blow up or cause a fire. If there is a case of a power outage the UPS will provide enough time to backup important computer files and safely turn off your equipment. Some studios will have complete generator systems in place to keep the studio running for the remainder of the session.

Improper lighting can also cause buzzing ground issues, especially fluorescent bulbs. Avoid using these in any studio. Dimmers can also cause many problems. The average household dimmers will surely put a damper into a clean sound. Make sure that professional grade dimmers are installed to avoid ground noise. Always listen carefully to signals being recorded before committing to a final take. There are a countless number of accounts that the engineer discovers electrical noise on takes during the mix process.

If you are serious about your studio, may I suggest balance power or a separated panel with neutral power conditioning. The evil problems of ground issues are a direct reflection of sources returning or looking for a different ground. Voltage potential between neutral and ground will certainly change your way of looking at things... for example, .5 volts between neutral and ground is the maximum allowance by UL code that electronics will operate optimally without potential induction issues. I would suggest having a meter installed to rate this. Logging this information and having a good rapport with the local electric company would not hurt at all.

Air Conditioning/HVAC

This is another very important area that is often not considered. Studio gear gets very hot. The lack of adequate cooling could result in equipment failure or damage. Blowing up equipment is no fun and it gets very expensive. Some recording studios have a separate Machine Room for computers, tape machines and power amps that is highly air-conditioned to keep everything cool. This also cuts down on the noise from the fans on such units, which can distract concentration from listening in detail in the control room. Having too much air conditioning could also result in moisture or condensation build-up that may also damage the gear. Water in general is bad for electronic gear.

The return air system is used to pull heat out of needed areas and also provides an air intake for the AC units. These are placed in key areas where there is a build-up of heat from the gear, for example near the console or in the machine room.

Separate Rooms: Control Room

Most studios have several isolated areas for recording, mixing, and production. Soundproofing is the main agenda when creating multiple rooms in a studio. To achieve this, the main objective is to make the rooms airtight. If air cannot leak in or out of a room, there will be less chance of sound leaking in or out as well.

Most pro studios have double doors that create a sound lock to help prevent noise leakage. They also have very thick double walls with interior air gaps to also help trap unwanted sound. The floors in the studio should also be floated which means they are lifted from the ground to help further prevent extra vibrations and leakage.

The first focus would be the Control Room where the mixing console and outboard gear are contained. This is where all of the recording and mixing is controlled, hence control room. The acoustics in this room should be designed for hearing the exact sound that is being recorded or mixed. The sound of the room should be as natural as possible for accurate representation of the original sound translated to the speakers in the room.

The first rule for an appropriate acoustically treated room is that there should be no parallel walls .If you were to clap your hands in a room with hard parallel walls you would here the sound bouncing back and forth, this is known as a flutter echo. This is neither good for recording or mixing. The trapping of unwanted bass is important for a room to sound great as well. Twenty five percent of the room should be assigned for bass traps for an adequate mixing room.

Separate Rooms: Live Rooms

The next focus of equal importance would be the Live Room where the music is recorded. This is where the musicians and vocalists perform on the microphones. Live rooms should have more versatility to be able to adapt to different recording situations. Wood floors for example are great for reflection of sound, which creates a brighter tone. If a warmer tone is wanted, one could simply place a rug on the floor. Many live rooms also have a great deal of glass to see between rooms for communication. This is also very reflective. Many studios use curtains to control the amount of reflections coming off glass or hard walls. Non-parallel walls are again needed to eliminate any flutter echoes.

Some studios also contain a vocal booth within the live room. This would be a smaller room designed for vocals. They may also be used for guitar amps and other instruments. There are no rules for what this can be used for; its main purpose is for additional isolation during the recording process. Glass doors or windows are used for visibility of the artists and those working in the control room.

Many elaborate studios may have multiple control rooms and production suites. Lounges and proper bathroom facilities are important in keeping the creativity flowing. A dining area and kitchen are also a consideration if budgets permit. Many hours are spent in the studio when working on projects. It is important to have all the comforts of home to keep everyone happy.

A few proper offices are necessary for the client to be able to have private internet access and to handle business without any distractions. All studios are designed differently. Whatever can be imagined can be created. There are no rules, only guidelines.

Acoustics

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.

Sound is measured in decibels also represented as dB. An average concert is about 95-100 dB while a heavy rock concert or hip hop concert could reach levels of 130dB. This is above the threshold of pain; so don't forget to wear your earplugs which are designed to protect your hearing when in extreme sound levels. Interestingly enough, whales can actually produce levels of up to 180dB. It should be remembered that taking care of your ears is the most important thing you can do to prevent damage and have a sustained career. So don't hang out with any whales and put some protection in your ears when exposed to loud volumes.

Absorption is the act of a sound wave being soaked up by a particular material. This is measured by co-efficient ratings. The higher the sound absorption co-efficient rating, the more sound that is being eliminated from troubled spots in your room. Different section of the room may require different co-efficient ratings. Remember that studios start off as an empty shell. Hard surfaces and walls need treatment to provide for a great sounding room. For example, 20 gauge theater curtains are commonly used in studios. They consist of a thick velvet material, which is excellent for absorbing high-end frequencies. The thinner materials soak up higher frequencies.

The thicker materials soak up lower frequencies. This is why thick bass traps are very large and contain ports or holes to trap low-end frequencies. The larger the port, the lower the frequency absorption.

There are endless amounts of products and designs that are used in the industry. Wall panels are also commonly used to absorb sound. These are made from a fiberglass product wrapped in a cloth material. Various sizes and thickness are used for problem frequencies. Again the thin materials eliminate high end and thicker materials absorb low end.

Reflection is the opposite of absorption. Think of the sound as a wave hitting a mirror and bouncing back. This can be used as an advantage for a brighter tone. If a room has too much absorption causing the room to sound too dead, hard surfaces such as wood panels can be placed in strategic locations to add a more live sound to the room.

Some studios have reversible hanging panels that can be flipped between reflective and absorptive to change the room sound at will. For vocals the room may need a more dead sounding absorptive room. Drums may require a more live sounding room. John Bonham, from Led Zeppelin had an amazingly huge live reflective drum sound. This became the goal for the big Rock drum sound.

Prince is underestimated as a drummer. He has a great tight drum sound on his first record where he played all of the instruments as well as the drums. The drums have just the opposite effect using absorption in a small tight room creating a very in your face heavy Pop drum sound.

These are not rules, only guidelines. Using your ears is always the key to getting the best sound.

Designing a studio is quite an undertaking to do professionally. Each room is completely separated and isolated from one another. The most common method is to actually build a room inside of a room. The inner walls do not touch the outer walls, which creates an air gap that traps sound. Each wall can be many feet thick and multiple layers of thick glass and doors divide the rooms.

The floors in each room are floated from the ground with spacers that also create an air space to lower vibrations and help to trap unwanted sound leakage. All floors have different characteristics in the way sound waves bounce off from their surfaces. While wood floors have a warm tone, concrete and tile have a brighter tone. This also holds true for walls.

A solid plan is needed to run cabling between rooms so that each room can be interconnected with each other for microphone signal lines and headphone communication systems. Custom made cable troughs or PVC tubing is used to send groups of microphone cables from a panel to the control room. From the control room the Headphone lines would be run through the walls for communication between all of the rooms.

Materials and Tools

Drywall is needed for walls. The more layers of drywall added will increase the thickness of the studio walls. By using varying thicknesses of drywall stacked and shifted, alternating at the seams will help minimize sound transmission between rooms. Many drywall screws and a good electric drill will definitely come in handy if you are building a studio.

Fabric is used for making wall panels and ceiling clouds that control the absorption in the studio. There are specific fabrics that are designed for different frequency absorption. Each thickness and texture has varying co-efficient ratings at multiple frequency bands.

AC Duct Board and other fiberglass products are wrapped in fabric with spray glue to create absorbing panels called Wall Boxes and Bass Traps. Thermal Fiber or Fiberglass Insulation is inserted in between two sets of walls and ceiling to create an additional thickness providing an alternate texture, containing fiberglass, which is superb for capturing sound.

Sand is also an excellent alternative choice for filling walls to prevent sound wave transmission. Wood provides the skeleton for frames that hold the panels and boxes. Larger Bass Traps with large ports could be made from wood or fiberglass. RPG panels are a series of wooden slats mathematically designed to absorb and refract, or soak up and scatter sound inside a room. Wood can also be used to create custom racks to hold the outboard gear, console and patchbay. Custom studios can be designed for any situation and style.

Doors, Walls and Windows

Doors and walls are the single most important item where recording studio sound bleed is concerned. A small 1/4inch air gap at the bottom threshold of a door will release 30% of the sound. Creating airtight rooms are the first step in sealing all the gaps for optimum sound proofing. The transitions between where the rooms are connected have more possibilities for sound leakage. All corners, gaps and frames for door and window cutaways must be sealed with a silicon or caulking material. Keep in mind that if air can escape through any passage then sound will surely go through as well.

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Help Make Your Own Beats - Software Packages and Tools

Like a beat maker you will find other tools you should think about to consider you into that next stage once you have selected your sequencer (or Digital Audio Workstation). First, before I recieve any more, I must help remind you that you will always hear others declare that a particular tool is preferable to another. Like I pointed out earlier, it's type of such as the Mac versus. PC discussion: it's rarely ending! Exactly the same is true for beats, be it MPC versus. MV3000, Reason versus. FL Studio, or Cubase versus. Logic. There's no better only good for you. Do not get swept up into all that, because ultimately everything comes lower for your ability being an artist to apply your creativeness to produce something, while effectively using the tools you've available. A great producer should have the ability to be a master of his very own tools.

A great way see whether you will need to expand your production toolbox is as simple as searching at what you have and design for music you want on creating then determining what's restricting you. This is actually the easiest way of gauging whether you should purchase new gear because hardware and software isn't cheap and trading either in or these two things often means around 200 or 1000 of dollars spent. This free guide is all about making beats on the tight-pocketed budget, so I'll detail things i did and strictly outline some costs incurred consequently. After I did this evaluation myself in early stages, I recognized the most restricting factor was the range of sounds I'd which clued me into things i needed at that time, that was more sounds to utilize.

Sounds:

Additionally to that contains almost all the various tools you will need to start making beats, FL Studio also includes some stock sounds to obtain your production game began. Bundled up with FL Studio is a few drum kits, bass tones, and many other sounds for example strings, synths, percussion, etc. While these sounds might help enable you to get began, sooner you will find that they get used and re-used fast and you will need to load on some more recent sounds to remain creative.

Tried Sounds:

Acquiring more recent sounds could be completed in a number of ways. A typical strategy is by sampling old records and it has been made popular by producers for example Kanye, Pete Rock, and also the RZA. You will find several techniques used when sampling music. While many people loop grooves and breaks, others decide to segment or "chop" aspects of the initial loop to produce something different compared to original. An expert of the strategy is DJ Premier. By staring at the seem of DJ Premier you'll notice that he barely just loops his samples and rather chops them up to the stage in which the original is barely identifiable. Answer to sampling is getting a great ear for which to sample. For this reason record hunting or "crate digging" is really a complex art by itself. Record enthusiasts also called crate diggers are continually looking for records for any seem or a mix of unique sounds to produce their beats. It could be a horn stab, an ethnic instrument's seem, or perhaps a drum break, like a stylish hop producer, you need to create a keen feeling of collecting, using, and changing sounds. FL Studio has various tools to complete exactly this. You are able to record sounds into FL Studio with either your personal seem editor, or while using mixer in FL Studio. If you're a producer who intentions of doing lots of sampling, you might want to consider buying a turntable and mixer. You should also avoid wasting cash for that records you will be sampling from!

Seem Modules:

Seem modules are electronic instruments which contain a bank of sounds that depend with an exterior interface (like a keyboard controller or perhaps a sequencer) to trigger its internal sounds. Usually this is achieved through MIDI, a protocol typically utilized in electronic music. An entire book could be discussed MIDI, onpar gps, and advantages consider this informative guide should really enable you to get began instead of confuse you already, I'll ensure that it stays brief. The bottom line is, MIDI means Guitar Digital Interface and it is a business standard communication protocol in electronic music. It's employed for communication between interconnected electronic music products through MIDI messages (no audio is moved), sent in the delivering device towards the receiver. So with regards to seem modules, MIDI messages are sent from either the sequencer or perhaps a keyboard controller to trigger the sounds around the module. Essentially, these MIDI messages could be sent by means of musical notes, and frequently dictate how they'll be performed through the seem module. A good example of the qualities MIDI messages can send are such things as velocity, volume, timings, etc. Seem modules, in rack form, make the perfect option since they're usually less expensive than purchasing the laptop keyboard version which basically consists of exactly the same sounds for example drum kits, bass, along with other instruments.

For instance, The Yamaha Motif ES seem module is several 100s of dollars less expensive than it's keyboard counterpart, but lacks some features the laptop keyboard version offer, particularly the secrets, slider mobile phones and knobs, and more compact display. While seem modules ranges from the couple of $ 100 to many 1000, there's another solution for all of us attempting to stay with a good budget, and that is where the field of VSTs prove useful. If you are thinking, "Damn, another term I have reached remember" but you will be glad to understand that one. VST means Virtual Studio Technology and it is essentially software substitutes legitimate hardware instruments. Many instrument companies who've typically made hardware instruments are actually putting them in software form as VST plug-inches. These VST plug-inches may then be loaded like a funnel into FL Studio and performed as though it were a hardware device connected via MIDI cable. E-MU, who initially arrived on the scene using the Proteus 2000 hardware seem module, no more produce it and also have now come forth with the Proteus X which costs about 0. The Proteus X features exactly the same Composer seem bank because the original Proteus 2000 produced in 1999. Additional seem banks could be bought through E-MU's website like the Mo'Phatt and The World for just that have been both popular hardware seem modules.

Seem Libraries and Sample Compact disks:

Last, and surely most famously, another potential source for brand new sounds come from Seem Library Compact disks. Seem Libraries are generally a couple of tried sounds, for example drum kits, bass tones, percussion, stabs, or seem effects collected and put together through the vendor, usually in .wav or .aif format. These vary broadly in prices and could be between to hundreds of dollars, based on the standard and just how extensive the seem library is. As I haven't bought any seem libraries on Compact disc before, I've heard individuals who depend a good deal in it and also have without doubt they prove useful. A really intriguing sample Compact disc is a known as "All of the Breaks" which consists of 300 drum breaks all-in-one Compact disc for the sampling or cutting up pleasure. Using the insightful each one of these news sounds available you might find you'll need a more effective method of who audition them and playing them. This is when getting a MIDI controller may prove useful.

Pay attention to Audiobooks Online - History Repeats Itself

I've attempted to convince many buddies to hear audiobooks online. This really is no different to reading through a normal book, with the exception that another person's voice will the reading through for you personally. Apparently the change from the 'traditional book' to some compact disk or mp3 has led to a sizable number of skeptical individuals who doubt that you'll be able to truly appreciate a singular by listening, instead of physically reading through. Funnily, it's really the more youthful people who are not as easy to convince to give it a try.

Because my grandmother had developed hearing tales told around the radio she was willing to hear audiobooks online - actually, she thought it was an enjoyment as she could sit quite easily, do her mix stitch or perhaps perform the gardening while she learns the tracks. Audiobooks have been in existence for any very very long time, actually, a number of our grandma and grandpa was raised hearing the British Broadcasting Company using its serialized classics. History implies that as soon as 1933 an anthropologist J.P. Harrington investigated and recorded the dental histories from the Native American tribes.

The American Congress saw a necessity to supply extra assets for those who have sight impairment, and consequently the "Books for that Adult Blind Project" was started. This project was the walking stone for audiobooks or 'talking books' and before lengthy the mass reproduction of these started. Later in life the nation's Library Service provided a significantly needed public-service for blind people across America by recording countless books within an audio format.

Audiobooks and Popular Culture

Massive advancement in technologies have driven the audiobook online format in to the achieve of customers who accepted the expansion with enthusiasm. It had been in early 1960's when the development of the portable cassette player recorder permitted simplicity of use. This coincided using the ever growing recognition from the pursuit for self-improvement. This kind of tracks, with focus on training or educational subjects, grew to become extremely popular. Self-help audio-books were well and truly in style and also the initiative was broadened to incorporate audiobooks on a multitude of general subjects like the humanities.

Audiobook tracks grew to become a great deal larger and rapidly an industry was produced that focused for individuals attempting to rent popular game titles. Hearing audiobook online grew to become a multi-big industry and producers assisted the grow by presenting high-quality tracks completed with large casts of voices.

Today, the audiobook concept has accepted innovative technology that has made the merchandise a lot more available to everyone than in the past. The huge variety of product available is now able to easily downloaded on the internet and it is formats integrated into any digital listening device for example mobile phones, Audio players and apple ipods. Cellular this contemporary and leading edge tools, it's highly likely the youthful people nowadays could even gain an affection for any classical author for example Jane Austen or William Shakespeare.

It's ironic the creation of the audiobook online hasn't fully changed printed books version but rather only has outlined the fun of books generally.

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The Blending Desk P-Mystified: Using It

You're either looking at a mixer or thinking of buying one but either way you need to know exactly what it's for and how to use it. Few bits of band kit carry more mystique than the mixing desk - it comes with its own language and resembles the flight deck of a large airliner. Don't be put off by the jargon and the complexity, its really quite a simple beast once you've played around with it a little - and trial and error is the way that most of us come to terms with our mixers. Trial and error though can lead to costly errors and waste valuable time. I recently tried to record my band live but couldn't be both playing and on the desk, and only discovered afterwards that the engineer hadn't sent the signal to the DAW... All the complicated setting-up and checking was right but two and a half hours of live gig weren't captured at all because a simple matter of pressing one tiny button was overlooked - but... there you go, it's that easy to go wrong.

If you already have one, read this article with it in front of you. If you have yet to take the plunge, look up the one that interests you and check the specification, keep this handy while you read.

What is a Mixer?

A mixer, mixing console, mixing board or desk is a device that allows you to balance, position, effect and equalize various different audio channels into one sonic image - a mix. You can add FX to selected channels, position instruments to a location in the stereo field (pan), route channels to external FX units and shape the sound of each channel with a dedicated equalizer allowing you to adjust the bass, treble and mid range.

The first piece of 'band' kit we bought, as opposed to individual pieces of kit, was a Behringer mixer. Lots of venues have their own, as an integral part of the PA system, but many don't, or - if they do, they often turn out to be less than perfect - with channels that don't work, sticky faders, dodgy connections. The first gig we played, we found on setting up that the house mixer didn't work at all ie - no PA. We simply plugged in our trusty beast and left it to our own sound engineer to sort out. At other gigs it's proven a better desk than the resident one or it's mixed our stage sound for us. Inexpensive digital mixers, like ours, include microphone pre-amps, phantom power and the ability to record from the desk. It can be used to get tracks onto a home pc for DIY recording projects and a wide variety of loops, samples and FX that can be triggered live. Get one. Now. What follows will make a whole lot of sense if you are looking at a mixer - and hopefully much more sense than the manual does.

Why do we need a mixer?

Acoustic sounds - voices or musical instruments - are often collected through transducers - microphones and pick-ups. These produce weak electrical signals which must be amplified to line level. Amplification is performed by a pre-amplifier ("preamp"). At line level, signals can be more easily manipulated by devices such as mixing consoles and tape recorders. Manipulation at line level is what the mixer desk is for - it takes a number of signals (vocals, guitars, bass, drums etc) and allows you to balance and blend them into an audio mix, an output signal blended from all those inputs. Output signals are then sent to a power amplifier, where they are amplified to levels that can drive loudspeakers, which then convert the signals back into sounds that can be heard through the air. When you consider the variety of different sounds (vocal, percussive, electronic etc) and volume levels that a band produces, the need for a mixing desk to put it all together as a cohesive, balanced sound is easy to see.

Mixer Terminology

So, you're looking at the desk, a bewildering array of knobs and sliders with strange, alien names. Sound engineers excel at creating new names for otherwise familiar things and concepts - our sound engineer once stared blankly and uncomprehendingly at a question I raised about 'output leads' and after several minutes of this said cuttingly - "You mean 'feeds'. You should have said so". There were other words, mostly shortish ones denoting body parts and sundry related activities. Such are sound engineers. So, you're looking at the desk and you ask...

... What is a Channel?

A channel is an audio input that goes to a fader. A typical mixer channel will have an input selectorfor choosing mic (microphone) or line signals (such as a guitar output), a trim knobfor adjusting the input level (volume), and dedicated EQ(equalization) controls to alter the bass, midrange and treble bands of the signal (see above). A channel usually has sends which send part of the signal to an FX (effects) unit (or other destination). Finally a channel may have a bus selector switch which switches the channel output to a bus.

... What is a Fader?

A fader is a sliding level control that can be used to vary the loudness of any mixer channel. The name comes from "fading in" and "fading out" tracks. Look at your mixer - Is there a little "infinity"symbol at the bottom? Infinity means "zero" in mixer-speak. I did warn you about Sound Engineers' terminology... See the heavy line nextto the solobutton? That is the marker for 0dBvu, sometimes called the "nominal" or normal level. It signifies that at that point the signal that exitsthe fader is the sameas the signal that enteredthe fader. If you lowerthe fader from that point you attenuate(ie reduce) the signal. If you raisethe fader from that point you add gainto (or boost) the signal.

... And What's a Bus?

A bus is a faderwith its own dedicated output. You could also say that a bus is a major pathway from all channelsto a single faderconnected to an output. You can send everything going to that faderout of the mixer to another piece of gear - You can also bring the signal back in to the mixer on spare channels. Why would you want to do this? External FX processing for example - sending the signal for effects to be applied by an external unit then returning the processed signal so it can be sent on to a pa or other destination. On mixers with buses, there are routing buttonson each channel that lets you route the whole signal to one of the buses. The main busis often called the 'L/R bus'. Other buses are often grouped in pairs, like the 1-2 bus and 3-4 bus. There may also be another switch that lets you route these bus fadersto the 'master fader'. Typical uses of buses are to send a track (or groups of tracks) to a digital multi-track, or to a sound card or audio interface. Yet you can also be very creative with them, sending them to samplers, groove-boxes with analog inputs, surround encoders, separate compressors etc. Some buses may have channel inserts.

... Channel Inserts?

An insert is a pathway out and then back again into a single fader, letting you return the external signal to the mixer without using more channels. Use an insert to patch in an external piece of gear that only affects that one channel. Typical uses of inserts are patching compressors, outboard EQs, exciters, pedals, multi-track recorder input/outputs, and FX boxes. Lots of people route channel inserts to a patch-bay where they can plug in various devices conveniently. A well-featured mixer will have inserts on individual channels, busesand the master fader.

What is a Pan Pot?

Easy! A pan pot, is a little knob marked 'pan'... OK, you'll want to know what it is for - it is a panoramic potentiometer and it allows you to place the signal it applies to (see 'channel') anywhere in the stereo field, from extreme left to extreme right, and all stops in between. It helps you separate the sounds in the mix - very handy when you find yourself with flute, sax and harmonica playing guests.

What are the Mute/Solo buttons for?

The mute button silencesthe audio on a channel (so you can hear other stuff in the mix, from other channels). A solo button silences everything exceptthe signal on a channel so you can hear that channel in isolation. Our (un)sound engineer has been known to mute a channel not currently being used (lest someone inadvertently wreck his mix by coughing on a live mic or smacking a guitar into a mic stand. It's reasonable, but not when he goes off in search of more beer and the next song up requires that channel... be warned.

What are Routing Buttons?

Routing Buttons switch the audio signal down the pathway to the buses. Think of them as an output selector. If you press the '3-4' routing buttonand pan it (rotate it) all the way to the left / counter clockwise, the signal goes out by bus out 3. If you press the '1-2' routing button and pan it all the way right / clockwise, the signal only goes out bus 2. If you press 1-2, 3-4, and L-R and pan to the center point, the signal goes out through all 6 outputs. I recommend you try all these options just to know what the results are - we had our desk for 6 months before we realised how useful this could be.

What's a Send - and a Return?

A send is a major audio path that goes out of the mixer. There is, usually, a knob on each channel for each send so you can direct variable amounts of that channel to the pathway. These knobs send a variable amount, a little or a lot of each channel to a single mono output. A send can function as a separate monitor mix and is used forstage monitors. In a recording situation, the send typically goes to an FX unit. The signal is brought back to the mixerby the returns, and can be added to the main signal. A send is effectively a sub-mix. You don't have to bring back the sends to their returns. You can bring them back to an empty channel and continue to process with EQ, or on to a bus fader. You can use the returns like any other line input, patching in synths, other mixers, computer sound-cards, a CD player, decks and anything else you can think of.

Can you use a live console/mixer for recording to your DAW(digital audio workstation)?

Yes! Use the buses (now you know what they are) to get an isolated signal to your DAW, sound card, or audio interface. They all work the same way. Or use the inserts to connect to the DAW with unbalanced cables (see below and also your mixer manual will explain these). Shut off the global EQ. Things to look for - does the mixer have all the ins and outs you need? Does it have enough buses? Do you need direct outs? How many sends and returns, pre-amps, do you need? How is phantom power implemented? Are all the connections balanced (see below)? Which are not? This is a recording issue and beyond the scope of this article but any good home recording guide will give you the information you need. 90% of the digital mixers now available will do the job well - the size of the mixer, in terms of the number of inputs, is likely to be the variable factor but then - how many channels will you need to record at once?

How Big a Desk Do We Need for our Live Work?

The number of inputs is the key issue but note that 24 channels may only give you 12 analogue inputs and those are the ones you need for your mic's and any Dis (direct inputs). Bear in mind that if you are mic'ing drums that could involve 3 to 5 mic inputs or more. Behringer typically indicate the specification of the mixer in the model name - for example the Xenyx 2222 has a USB interface (that's the Xenyx bit), 22 channels, 2 buses and 2 master outs. The 2442 has 24 channels, 4 buses and 2 master outs. The former gives you 10 analogue inputs, the latter 12. Not all manufacturers use such descriptive model names however so be sure to read the specification data first.

Balanced and Unbalanced Cables

The XLR (mic') lead is balanced, similarly speaker leaders, and the guitar/instrument lead is unbalanced. Three wire system, balanced, and two wire system, unbalanced. In the balanced lead the positive and the negative don't contact the earth whereas in the unbalanced lead the negative and the earth are one and the same thing. The earth - (ground) is exactly that. The green earth wire goes to a copper stake in the ground so that any short circuit between the positive and earth will send the current to ground, but because the positive and the negative don't contact the earth it is said to be floating 'above ground'. The shield acts as a protection from interference by sending any extraneous electrical interference like hum, to ground. Unfortunately in the unbalanced circuit negative is ground! This makes your choice of stage box (multi-core cable) important as good ones feature a built-in 'ground-lift' that cancels that irritating hum which can drive sound engineers to distraction - and beers.

Unbalanced

The two signals of an unbalanced connection are referred to as "signal" and "ground". The ground is the zero reference while the signal has a voltage level that is above or below zero. This voltage level determines whether the signal is a 1 or a 0 (VGA, Audio & Video are Analog signals, the analog signal can have a voltage level anywhere between the high and low voltage levels). Coax cabling reduces exposure to cross-talk.

Balanced

Balanced signals are often called "current loop" signals and travel on "twisted pairs" (UTP for Unshielded

Twisted Pair or STP for Shielded Twisted Pair). The two signals in a balanced pair are like opposite charges of each other. What that means is if one wire has 12 volts, the other wire will have -12 volts. As the signal travels the pair, one wire radiates a magnetic field but as its partner wire generates an opposite field, the two fields cancel out. This cancelling is how balanced signals eliminate 'cross-talk'. Since Twisted pair wire is usually cheaper then Coax wire, balanced signals are more popular. Make sure that you have the appropriate cables and always have back-up. As with so many things in your live set-up, the cheap buy often turns out to be the most expensive over a period of time but a misplaced boot can swiftly kill the best shielded cable.

Your mixer can make a huge difference to your band's on-stage sound and getting to grips with it will teach you a lot about sound engineering and how to get the best out of your kit. It can also lead you into the fascinating world of recording - and be a huge help in writing and developing your own songs. Along the way you can discover the fun to be had with samples and other ways to enhance your live sound. Good luck!

Woodwick Candle lights Burn Using the Wonderful Seem of the Crackling Fire

Woodwick candle lights are wonderfully perfumed candle lights that seem as being a crackling fire because they burn, and provide a wonderful aroma. Even better, the typical Woodwick candle can last three occasions as lengthy like a regular candle! These kinds of candle lights are located most frequently in country configurations and country houses, and therefore are most generally present in "countryish" fragrances including sandalwood, pine, applewood and rim.

Woodwick candle lights are extremely appealing due to their own fragrances, how lengthy they last, the truth that they produce sounds much like what crackling fire inside a fire place, and since their own decor enables these to merge superbly with any styled room. A Woodwick candle is most frequently present in a rustic home, but could certainly hold its very own within an office or modern styled house.

So what can a Woodwick candle provide you with? Advantages of possessing Woodwick candle lights include:

Getting a candle that's made from organic wood and utilizes a natural, lead-free wick Receiving treatment towards the comforting seem of the crackling fire Possessing a candle that can last for a really very long time Doing all of your part for that atmosphere by getting a kind of candle that burns cleaner Top quality elements imply that your Woodwick candle lights treat you to definitely the very best fragrances

Woodwick candle lights come in several fragrances. For that holidays, stock on Pure Vanilla, Almond Orange, Evergreen and Gingerbread. Christmas particularly means burning the gorgeous Noel candle, which emits a spicy scent that's a enjoyable combination of brighten, spiced berries and spicy cinnamon. For crisp fall nights, cuddle track of a blanket and become lulled by Woodwick candle fragrances including Pumpkin Butter, Spiced Plum, Fireside, Cinnamon Chai, Applewood and Caramel. Spring and summer time seasons could be accompanied with fragrances for example Cucumber, Cotton Flowers, Lemon Sage and Honeysuckle.

The good thing about a candle is it works perfectly in almost any room of the home. A candle burning in the kitchen area will help mask strong smells and also to soften up otherwise harsh surroundings. Enjoy your dinner over perfumed candlelight, with the addition of 2 or 3 Woodwick candle lights for your table. Woodwick candle lights are at home on family room a coffee table and finish tables -- just add music, romance or perhaps a family activity. Within the bathroom, a Woodwick candle perfumed in Linen, Lavender or Cotton Flowers can assist you to relax and unwind within the shower or bath. Candle lights are extremely in your own home wherever you place them.

Making Use Of Your Computer to transform Your Valuable LP and Tape Music Collection To Compact disc Media

Transforming your old LP and Tape library collection to Compact disc format

It's quiet simple to use your pc to record individuals old tapes and vinyl LP's inside your collection to some better Compact disc format. Furthermore you are able to record direct in the radio. This informative guide will highlight how to make it happen.

Record of what you ought to have:

Computer Seem-card having a line-in socket (blue colour): 99% of computer systems curently have a this requirement. Otherwise can buy a internal seem-card for around .00 A cassette player or record turntable. As lengthy as there is a line-out socket or perhaps a earphone jack, that's fine A stereo system connector cable for connecting in the line-in (computer seem card) towards the cassette player or turntable output. For many decks, this can typically be 2 x RCA stereo system to two.5mm lead Software to record the audio towards the hard disk. I recommend Audacity (see below), it's free and works best for both Pc and a mac Computer systems (Home windows 98 to Home windows Vista).

Notes: Some older stand-alone decks may create a lower level output signal that could require you set a little turntable pre-amplifier.

Where you can purchase a new turntable (Australia):

During the time of writing (2008), new turntable models can be found from Deals Direct - Australia. They have a Lenoxx Turntable (33, 45, and 78) with Built-In Amplifier and AM/Radio for just .00 (corporation GST Aus).

Get recording with Audacity

After you have setup and connected your equipment, you are able to install the disposable Audacity software program (see the foot of this short article for any connect to this free software application). You will find version for Apple computers, in addition to Linux / Unix. Following the download, install Audacity by running the installer program. This can install Audacity with all of that's essential for this informative guide.

The Audacity program enables you to definitely either 1) record live audio via a microphone or mixer, or 2) digitize tracks from cassettes, vinyl records, or small-dvds. You should use Audacity to record through the computer systems seem card microphone input or line input.

Testing Audacity is prepared having a simple seem test

Now ready the turntable or stereo system to create some audio seem, and you ought to hear seem being released from the computer loudspeakers. If you're able to, then you're all set to go to another step!

NOTES: For those who have no seem within the computer loudspeakers, then mention the Home windows volume control (Start > Programs > Add-ons > Entertainment > Volume Control) and make certain the line-in charge isn't set to 'mute'. When the 'line-in' control doesn't display on the amount Control, visit Options > Qualities, and appearance that 'line-in' is chosen among the products.

Setting the Audio record level (input level meter)

You have to set the seem level properly to avoid audio clipping (too noisy) . To regulate the input level, connect your seem source for your seem-card and run the Audacity seem editor program. Set the input selector around the Audacity plugin to 'line in', and also the volume about mid-point.

With audio from the your seem or music source, click on the Audacity 'record' button around the plugin. You need to now hear seem originating from your pc loudspeakers and today the Audacity input level meter at the very top right can have activity using the seem level.

Make sure that the seem level is signing up both in the right and left inputs (if you are recording in stereo system). Observe that you may want to alter the Audacity configurations to stereo system if you are recording from the stereo system source. While using Microphone socket of the computer seem card can lead to a mono recording, so while using seem card 'line-in' is more suitable.

Problem = No Seem? Make sure that the Audacity input selector is on 'line in' which the Home windows volume levels and choose control are correct for that 'line-in'.

Adjust the amount levels so that the loudest areas of the background music (or seem) make the input level to stay just beneath (left) from the mark. Adjust the amount to become about -2 to -5 around the meter (slightly below full = ).

Click on the 'stop' button around the Audacity plugin and shut the exam audio track using the Audacity menu File > Close option.

Creating your Audacity Audio Recording

Start your selected audio source playing (LP, Radio or Tape), and click on the red-colored 'record' button around the Audacity plugin. You will notice the Audio Track display moving forward time line display because the seem is recorded.

You may either record the whole side of tape or LP record like a single file, or record individual tracks separate files. It's frequently simpler to record the whole side, fix it up using further Audacity options, after which save the person tracks. You can observe in which the sound files start and finish through the visual proof of silence involving the recorded sound files.

Once the recording is finished (or in which you wish it to finish), click on the 'stop' button around the Audacity plugin. You can now save your valuable audio recording project by selecting the Audacity menu option File > Save Project As and provide your audio project personal files title.

Cleanup your recorded Sound files

Now you must the chance to wash your recorded audio project - should you want. For LP records (or noisy tapes) which have aged, this really is useful, because it will enhance the resulting seem quality. Following this event you will subsequently be prepared to burn the end result to some Compact disc disk:

Choose the whole file (Audacity menu option Edit > Choose > All) after which pick the Audacity menu option Effect > Normalize.

Making use of your mouse, drag to choose, with a tiny bit of 'silence', right from the start or finish from the recording within the audio parts you need to keep, and select the Audacity menu option Effect > Noise Removal. Then click on the 'Get Noise Profile' button.

Are now using the Audacity file menu Edit > Choose > All, then pick the menu option Effect > Noise Removal again. Click on the 'Remove Noise' button. This method will remove any tape hiss or LP noise which was recorded using the audio track. This noise removal process may take several minutes, so have patience.

The very best setting for that 'remove noise settings' ('Less' and 'More') is generally the default middle position. For individuals really 'noisy' audio sources, you might try moving this slide bar to around 3/4 right = 'More'.

Pick the Audacity menu option File > Save in order to save your clean recording.

Saving your own personal tracks as WAV files

You now separate the tracks into individual files. This isn't very difficult to complete.

Open it you have just made (it might be open) and employ the Audacity View > Focus and examine > Zoom Out menu choices to see 2 or 3 from the recorded tracks at any given time. Drag your mouse over any audio track to choose it, and select the Audacity menu option Edit > Copy.

Now pick the Audacity menu option File > A new comer to open a brand new Audacity window, and select recption menus option Edit > Paste. This produces a brand new audio track using the audio selection you simply replicated.

If you discover you've got a small overlap of some other track (or an excessive amount of silence) at the start or finish from the track you replicated, you are able to drag a button within the part you would like removed after which press the Remove answer to remove exactly that part.

Whenever your audio track is prepared, pick the Audacity menu option File > Export As WAV in order to save this track like a WAV file. This WAV format is generally employed for creating a sound Compact disc.

You might now close the brand new Audacity window (the only track we simply saved), and continue doing this process for just about any other tracks you recorded within the project.

Would you like to save your valuable recording being an MP3 as opposed to a standard WAV?

To complete create MP3 tracks, Audacity requires an additional LAME MP3 encoder - this enables Audacity to export MP3 files (see resource listing at the end want to know , for any connect to this free encoder). Once you have downloaded the MP3 Encoder, adopt these measures:

If you have finished installing the ZIP folder, unzip it and save the file lame_enc.dll it consists of to anywhere on your pc If you use Audacity the very first time using the 'Export as MP3' command, Audacity will request you where lame_enc.dll is saved. Indicate the place that saved the lame_enc.dll file

Write one last Audio Project to some Compact disc disk

Now you could make your brand-new audio Compact disc. Making use of your favourite Compact disc-burning computer software (Nero, Roxio, iTunes etc) to choose individuals previous individual tracks you recorded with Audacity and record the tracks to some Compact disc.

Once you play your audio Compact disc disk, you may decide to experiment to alter the equalization for any better seem. Audacity provides a an equalizer (menu option Effect > Equalization), don't spend over our limits time with this particular because the default recording you've made ought to be a noticable difference within the original anyway. Audacity will even permit you to alter the final speed or pitch of the project. In Audacity make use of the menu Effects 'Change Speed', 'Change Pitch', and 'Change Tempo'.

How you can DJ - Be a high Demo Compact disc and Promote Yourself With Energy!

A demo Compact disc using the right music is a valuable part of the DJ promotion. Without them, you will be lucky to obtain anywhere.

Obviously, now many DJs just stream their mixes from the web making them readily available for download free. You ought to be carrying this out too, but getting a demo Compact disc or a number of different promotions are crucial.

Why? Lots of people can participate in it within their vehicle, or use it easily in your own home whether they have an extra minute. They might not can lookup your mix on the web and anyway, the seem quality will improve in your demo Compact disc than streamed online.

What should i display?

Exactly what a good club/bar owner, or promoter will search for will basically become your capability to fill their venue and people happy, so that they return the next time. The punters need to have a great time. The background music is a valuable part of the club's status with no club owner really wants to compromise that, unless of course they're unaware and you won't want to work with unaware people.

You will need to adapt your demo CD's music to the kind of place you need to play at. However, this can come later. To begin with, the very best kind of promo Compact disc is a which shows your excellent selection of tune, what you can do to follow along with tunes track of the correct one, the best way to build to some climax, the way you mix and blend your tunes perfectly well, and just how professional you're.

1. The best choice of tracks

Presuming you have been involving as being a DJ a great deal, you'll know of the items tracks opt for what. Program your tracks carefully and don't forget to begin your Compact disc strongly to appeal to the listener fast.
Apply certain brand new tunes that you simply feel have potential but they are up to now performed by couple of people. Stay away from tunes which are performed just by any dj and also have been out for six several weeks. Stop by the odd remix of the older tune that matches, or perhaps a classic floorfiller from the while back. This showcases your understanding and depth of taste.

Begin with a appealing tune, build up throughout the next tracks to peak about 70% through, when your listener has opened up out. Then take it lower in tempo closer to the finish, having a couple of preference tracks which are less energetic but have depth of feeling, therefore the listener is psychologically marked through the experience.

Your mix should last a minimum of 50 minutes lengthy, but ideally no more than one hour.

2. Mix rid of it

Practice mixing your Compact disc and record yourself several occasions to ascertain if you mix well. You will find that your mix has a tendency to improve every time you record and hearing it can help.
You may want to relaxation your ears until the following day before listening. I've found I am unable to stand hearing my mix right later on, it simply does not seem best to me, and so i wait each day.

The Beats per minute beatmatching, EQ mixing and harmonic mixing need to be just right for the promo Compact disc. Any mistakes and you will have to get it done all again.

See our website for many tips about how to mix better.

3. Produce it perfectly

This means you will need to record at optimal levels, make certain the volume levels are consistent through the mix, check there's no distortion and burn the Compact disc at optimal level.
Lots of people record with The new sony Soundforge which is ideal for just about any audio recording. Its number of characteristics mean you are able to optimise what you've recorded effortlessly and apply effects where necessary throughout editing.

For instance, you might decide your seem needs maintenance up and also the volume needs growing: all of this plus much more can be done using Soundforge.

4. Setup your recording correctly

This part is simple obviously, however, many people still it described for them. Connect your decks for your mixer, and also the primary creation of your mixer to both your computer as well as your amplifier. Your mixer must have a primary output along with a recording output. You will need some RCA cables to use them your amplifier as well as your PC. Probably, your soundcard 'in'.

Which means you can hear your mix with the amplifier to combine correctly and record yourself with the PC concurrently.

5. Create a great cover your DJ promo

The Compact disc cover is essential not just for that picture of your Compact disc but in addition for your image like a dj. Remember, you your demo could finish up at the disposal of someone fairly influential.
When comparing a bare promo Compact disc with no cover or with the awesome, classy Compact disc inside a situation together with your logo design title onto it, I haven't got to let you know which helps make the best impression.

Make use of a Compact disc printer to personalize your Compact disks and send these to you. You'll cough up a couple of $£EUR and can be worthwhile.

You will have to design the coverage yourself, or obtain a friend who's skilled in graphics that will help you.

DJ'ing on the Laptop - Equipment and Essentials

DJ'ing is becoming extremely popular within the last couple of years especially since technologies have permitted a non-technical person to become Professional DJ inside a couple of days when outfitted using the right Digital Itching Tools on laptops. This information will train someone to DJ and just what equipment they'll need after purchasing a laptop to begin mixing beats just like a professional.

Buy a laptop. Search for a great brand Laptop you know won't crash throughout a gig. If you're searching for your personal computer, I would suggest carefully searching at testimonials, speak with electronic store sales agents, as well as request your buddies what laptops they might recommend. The truly amazing factor in regards to a PC is the fact that someone could possibly get an extraordinary computer with the features for any very economical cost. The issues PC's face are infections that infiltrate that os's and crash the hard disk drives erasure program, music, and important data.

Think about a Mac laptop. They're absolutely more income and do not offer all of the features the brand new PC's are being released with, however they provide stability, consistency, optimal performance, and aren't as prone to the infections your personal computer could possibly get.

Demo (trial) DJ Software before you purchase it. You can aquire a couple of free DJ programs to begin with However these programs don't offer exactly what the compensated programs do. You will find a lot of free programs that they're unnameable at this time but those that you need to consider are Virtual DJ, Traktor, etc. They are programs that must definitely be bought but offer such things as, playlist controls, beat mixing features, sync mixing features, skins that appear to be like real mixers, etc. The disposable programs won't do what you will need to do like a laptop DJ.

You are able to stop here if you want to practice prior to getting in to the equipment you will need to start DJ'ing gigs. You may also DJ more compact partied with higher laptop loudspeakers when you want. Being funding DJ with higher seem equipment, move onto the following section.

You've your laptop and DJ Software, now you'll need a mixer. You need to plug your laptop right into a mixer of some kind. You'll output the loudspeakers out of your mixer. Mixers are fairly affordable and could be purchased at the local music store. A 4 funnel mixer could be fine. Some DJ Software Packages present an USB exterior seem card. These seem boxes permit separation from the Right and left Channels. Should you choose buy a USB exterior seem box you'd operate a 1/4" cable out of the LEFT funnel to funnel 1 around the mixer. You'd operate a 1/4" cable out of the RIGHT funnel around the box to Funnel 2 around the mixer.

If you don't come with an USB exterior seem card, you will then be while using "OUT" or "Earphone" jack and run an 1/8" from the computer to at least oneOr4" into Funnel 1 around the mixer.

You've your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, you now need loudspeakers.To help keep you place-up simple but nonetheless effective, purchase POWERED (Active) loudspeakers. (Speaker you need to connect to get at work). When you get passive (non-powered loudspeakers) you'll need separate amps linked to you mixer. Powered loudspeakers tend to be more costly and can punch/kick your music better as well as your DJ set-up is going to be much easier.

You've your laptop, DJ program, Mixer, you now need loudspeakers. To help keep you place-up simple but nonetheless effective, purchase POWERED (Active) loudspeakers. (Speaker you need to connect to get at work). When you get passive (non-powered loudspeakers) you'll need separate amps linked to you mixer. Powered loudspeakers tend to be more costly and can punch/kick your music better as well as your DJ set-up is going to be much easier. You'll need 2 XLR cables. The feminine finish can get blocked out of the mixer and in to the loudspeakers (Left/Right results). Buy 2 Speaker stands if at all possible.

You've your laptop, DJ software, mixer (optional USB exterior seem card box), 1 1/'4 - 1/8" cable, powered loudspeakers, 2 XLR cables, and speaker stands. You simply need songs and MIXES and you're simply prepared to start practicing to become professional DJ on the laptop.

What's the Distinction Between the KitchenAid Stand Mixers? The Top Five Variations

The KitchenAid warrants coming back into it again and again, especially if you're a first class prepare or else you want the very best for the family.

The KitchenAid stand mixers handle everything. Whether it's massaging dough for bread, snacks or pizza to whipping up butter, whip cream, mashed taters or cakes, the KitchenAid stand mixers prosper in creating what's expected from it.

1.The Artisan 5-quart stand mixer appears like a milkshake machine. The mixer mind dangles within the mixing bowl, that is locked safely in position. Three mixing accessories include the kodak playtouch camcorder in addition to a flowing shield.

2.The Classic 4.5 quart stand mixer enables you to definitely lift the bowl up and lower rather than the mind lifting up and lower.

3.The KSM150,in several colors,is the greatest selling 5-quart stand mixer. It's big enough to organize dough for 4 ½ bakery, 9 dozen snacks or 7 pounds of mashed taters.

4.The KitchenAid 5-Quart Professional 5-Plus 5-Quart uses 450-watt energy to combine large batches of batter and dough. The stainless bowl comes with an ergonomic handle and also the hub cover is hinged to ensure that additional accessories may be used.

5.The KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-quart stand mixer includes a 575-watt motor, and a stainless-steel look. It is about 0 a lot more than another KitchenAid stand mixers.

The KitchenAid mixers include a set beater, a wire whip along with a dough hook. The bigger quart bowls also include a flowing shield which enables you to definitely pour your mixture right into a pan with no mixture dripping lower the outdoors from the bowl.

The primary distinction between the KitchenAid stand mixers will be based largely on what you would like and just how much you will have to ready your elements. These mixers come in the U . s . States and can last a long time.

Hooking up Musical Equipment within the Recording Studio

Establishing equipment inside a recording studio frequently involves large amounts of wires and connections between different items. Various sorts of cables may be used to connect musical equipment. Some can be used as a variety of reasons, and may therefore be considered a more cost-effective choice. Other kinds of cable are just appropriate for the specialized function, however they might be the only real type able to carrying out that function. If you're assembling a brand new recording studio, then you need to consider how you will have to connect your equipment before beginning to purchase anything. This should help you to choose items that may be easily linked to one another, and also to plan the very best layout for the studio.

Microphone cables in professional recording galleries are usually XLR cables. They are also called canon cables. Microphone or XLR cables may also be combined with other kinds of equipment. XLR cables are balanced and also have three cores and three hooks. They might be either mono or stereo system, plus they may also be either analogue or digital.

Digital XLR cables may be used to connect two digital products together, for instance an electronic microphone along with a digital microphone pre-amplifier. Low amplitude analogue mono XLR cables might be accustomed to connect an analogue microphone having a microphone pre-amplifier or perhaps a mixer. They may also be used for connecting an instrument DI box to some mixer. High amplitude analogue mono XLR cables may be used to connect mixing desks with professional tape recorders, effects models or dynamic processors.

Jack plug cables will also be utilized in recording galleries. They're usually 1/4 inch jacks. These cables might be either mono or stereo system. Some are balanced, but other medication is unbalanced. Each one is analogue. An unbalanced mono jack plug cable may be used to connect drum machines, keyboards, samplers, seem modules along with other items to some mixing desk or audio interface. They could also be used for connecting an instrument having a DI box or amplifier. Consumer grade tape recorders or consumer 2 tracks may also be linked to recording studio equipment using this kind of cable. Unbalanced stereo system jack plug cables are utilized to connect earphones. Balanced mono stereo system jack cables may be used to connect some semi-professional tape recorders, 2 tracks and effects models to recording studio equipment for example mixing desks.

Phono plug cables may be used to connect consumer grade equipment with equipment within the recording studio.

MIDI cables with Firewire or USB fittings may be used to connect items for example keyboards, mixers and microphones having a computer.

Infected Mushroom Interview Discloses Production Tips and Methods

Innovators, geek tricksters, obsessive-perfectionists, un-serious, electronic-rock geniuses? Time will tell, yet The Legend of the Black Shawarma, Infected Mushroom's 7th album release will certainly grab the chair from underneath you and leave you thinking- I'm not sure what was this meticulous musical chaos, but I can't stop moving even after the track has finished.

Hailing from sunny shores of Israel, now based in another sunny city, Los Angeles, the sun always seems to shine in Infected land, the core of which is Erez Eisen and Amit Duvedevani. But seriously, between the hard-earned success, the mess, the nuclear shows, the private jokes you will find two very do-it-yourself kind of musician scientists who write, produce, mix, master, tweak and fix almost every detail of their music.

Part 1: "It's always changing, you know"

AF: Can you quickly present the band? Who's doing what?

Eisen: We started- my partner Amit Duvedevani, known as Duvdev, and I, Erez Eisen, in 1996 doing some horrible music. Now today we are like a big band you know, not so big, but we have a drummer named Rogerio Jardim he's a great drummer from Brazil, he lives in America now. We have an Israeli guitar player Erez Netz, which is considered one of the best electronic guitar players, the best in Israel. We love him. And also Thomas Cunningham, a young kick ass guitar player from America who performs with us. This is Infected Mushroom.

AF: What do you consider to be your influences? You're using some 'metal' gigs and some 'jazzy organs' on the same tracks, some hip-hop influences, some Spanish music influences...

Eisen: It's always changing, you know. It started with electronic like Psytrance bands, which is Simon Posford, known as Shpongle as well, also Hallucinogen. At the time we liked X-Dream, Etnica, many other bands from this genre. These are the main ones. And slowly through the years we became open to everything. We are listening to radio and MTV, not as it is today, horrible, but how it used to be with more heavy metal stuff. Even if it is hip-hop sometimes, a few Jay Zee tracks, it can be nice. Maybe we don't like the whole concept but we like some ideas. We try to just have fun in the studio basically and to be as creative as we can.

AF: Your style has changed a lot in the past few years. When you go back to your old tracks and you listen to them, what are your thoughts?

Eisen: The Gathering, which is the first album as Infected, I tend to think that is has a few decent tracks for me. I think Tommy the Bat is one of them, and a few others, but the production is horrible. I'm not so proud of it, let's say. But, you know, I was 16 I think when we did it. So it's OK.

AF: Do you begin making a song in your studio or sometimes you need to go to someplace else to get inspired?

Eisen: No, it's always in the studio. We tried doing tracks on the road, but we never did one. Sometimes we come with just no ideas into the studio and we just decide on a BPM, usually it's just 145, and we just start kick, bass line, and somehow looking for sounds and stuff. Sometimes we are lucky, everything goes smoothly and we have a track going on very fast, and sometimes we get stuck like a week on a track.

AF: I know what you mean. I have been stuck for 10 years now.

Eisen: When we are stuck, I wanted to kick myself sometimes, I wanted to say "that's it, I cannot do anymore music, I have no more ideas", but then Duvdev said "let's see it as a fight in the studio", like a video game- there is a level that is really hard to pass, and you keep trying until you move to the next level. So this is how we see it these days and it really helps. For us, when we have these horrible days we just give it a fight. Sometimes it's the lyrics. Duvdev comes in with lyrics, and from there we get something- which is much easier. Every time it's something different.

AF: What would you consider to be your biggest challenge as a band?

Eisen: We always have challenges. I guess the first big challenge was to make the band happen, to find the guitar player, to find the drummer, to write the parts for them, because the tracks are already kind of busy for us, and we didn't want to make it noisy for the live show. It's kind of hard, in the beginning, to think about what the guitar player would play that will not sound too busy, and how to add a drummer that will not create too much of a mess.

AF: In the studio you can create and produce music under ideal conditions. It then becomes a challenge to re-create that sound on stage. How do you approach that?

Eisen: Yeah, for stage we try to have a little bit more bass, this feeling that you have a big speaker and you want to feel the bass, not just hear it. This is very important. And for the rest of the frequencies we try to make it as good as we can compared to what we had in mind in the studio- which never happens, by the way. With our luck, we go to horrible sound systems most of the time. It's always a challenge to do a proper sound check.

Part 2: "I hate compression": Gear and Sound Design Technique

AF: I see that you have a Blue Microphone, how did you choose this one?

Eisen: We have two Blue mics and a Blue Bottle. When we were in Israel, we had a lot of luck finding a guy that had all these old school mics, including the high end Neumann and special Telefunken. Very good mics. The way I learned that I have to do tests is, I call it the blind test. You record WAV files and then you just choose whichever sounds best. No matter what it is, you have to go with it. So we tested let's say 5 mics, and the Blue sounded the best for us - in everything.

AF: Seems to be a good way to choose.

Eisen: This is always what we do. Sadly, we sometimes find out that we spend money on, for example, expensive compressors, and at the end we find that a plug-in sounded better. Which is annoying, but if it sounds better, it sounds better.

AF: I see that you have an Avalon pre-amp. How do you usually use it on individual instruments, like on guitars, synths?

Eisen: The Avalon pre-amp we use for synths, so we plug some synths to the Avalon - it just sounds so much better than connecting it directly, of course with unbalanced cables. We use it also for guitar recordings. It's the same as the synths basically, I am just connecting the output to the Zoom effects processor for guitars.

AF: The G7?

Eisen: In the studio we use the G9 actually. It's the same, almost the same. We connect it directly to that and it sounds great. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it gets distorted pretty fast. Unlike the Neve 1073. But it still sounds good. If it's not distorted, it sounds really really good.

AF: I've seen pictures of your home studio 6 or 7 years ago and now you have bigger one in L.A., but you still use the Dynaudio BM6A. I have the same pair for 7 years as well. They are good but kind of aggressive in the high pitched sounds. You never wanted to upgrade to another kind of speaker?

Eisen: The thing is we had lots of monitors in the past, and again, we also had the Dynaudio BM15 and also the... I don't remember the model, it has two woofers and one tweeter, it's really expensive like 00. We said let's try, and it didn't sound as good. The mix didn't come out as good as we had on the BM6A. So we said fuck it, it sounds good enough. Maybe we are going to change in the future, I know there are a few monitors which are supposed to sound much better for mixing, like the Adam I heard good stuff about.

AF: And you are used to these ones, so your ears know perfectly how they work...

Eisen: We've used them for so many years. I can throw these speakers into almost any room and get a decent mix.

AF: Do you have a second pair for mixing?

Eisen: No. I hate this system. We used to try that as well, it just confuses me. I cannot mix like that.

AF: What compressor or limiter do you use on the final mixes? Because your tracks don't sound so compressed compared to other electronic music songs.

Eisen: We don't use compression at all in the final mix.

AF: Ok. Interesting.

Eisen: I mean, this is our- let's say- our secret. Big secret. We do the mastering ourselves as well. We basically learned that if we push the gain really high and get everything distorted in a way that you don't hear distortion, you just see the red really really - say 6db+ you don't hear distortion yet and we record that analog to another convertor then we get much better sound. We tried even the Waves Ultramaximizer- I don't find them sounding better than what we do. I find the Waves, for example, taking away the highs a little bit. And not only Waves, a lot of other companies that do the same things. The highs always go away, and something in the details goes away. This way, we record it analog, in our case we record it to the Prism Sound, and we get the Prism Sound distorted ['visually'. So the inputs are distorted and the meter shows that it cliping but my ears don't hear distortion]. We get really high gain and with a sound that doesn't sound compressed.

AF: Yeah definitely, if you have more dynamics that's better.

Eisen: I hate compression. If I can avoid it, I prefer to avoid the compression. Especially side chain compression.

AF: It's good to hear that because you know more and more people just compress and over-compress...

Eisen: I don't understand why. They forget about the music. Where is the music? But then again, it's a matter of taste. Everybody does what feels better to them.

AF: So do you mix everything in Cubase?

Eisen: Yes, we do, we mix everything in Cubase. We are actually spreading the channels on the RME AES32 mixer, so we do the sounding over there in a way. I think it sounds better, and then we record the two outputs to two inputs of another soundcard, the Prism Sound.

AF: What are your preferred virtual synths?

Eisen: I used to say lots of stuff but I think these days I think only Omnisphere. It's absolutely amazing and we also have Trilian, which is really really good. We bought the whole Native Instruments pack for example, and I want to say Massive - it is an amazing synth, but it doesn't work on Cubase properly.

AF: You mean it crashes?

Eisen: Always crashes. Massive, sometimes when we really want to have a different sound, we use Massive on another computers stand alone, sadly. I think these are the best VSTs. I don't think there is anything else that can compare to the Spectrasonics stuff, in terms of everything. And we also have for strings the Vienna Symphonic Library, the plug-in VSL.

AF: In one of your songs there is a violin, playing really like a violin, is that what you use?

Eisen: Yes. This is what we use.

AF: I thought it was a real one.

Eisen: It's expensive shit, the Vienna, really expensive, but nothing compares to it. It sounds so realistic. And if you write it in the right way, it's unbelievable. The Vienna is amazing. Even the built in Cubase 5 plug-ins are sounding really good. The synths themselves, the sound quality is good.

AF: Now what about the hardware gear you use mostly when you play live?

Eisen: Well it's very simple. As a synth, I use only the Motif XS6. Controlling it with the Edirol PCR-800. It's pretty good. I control the cutoff with the Boss Volume pedal. For a mixer we use the Yamaha 01V96 version 2. Which is great, in the live show we just push the button and 99% of the soundcheck is done. The only thing I have left to do is just final EQ for the system, and that's it.

AF: Very practical.

Eisen: I am also controlling the mixer from my midi controller from the Edirol keyboard. So if I need more guitars I don't need to approach the mixer, I just push more guitars...I have everything controlled from the keyboard. Everything is really quick in the live show, because I am doing the mixing for the live.

AF: And on the computer part you never had any crashes while playing live?

Eisen: We did a long time ago because of our mistakes. We had the stupidity having by mistake an anti-virus open and it decided to look for an update or something. Today we have a backup for everything almost. But we don't have crashes for many years now luckily.

AF: A few minutes ago we were talking about your mixes. They are always very 'precise', with no redundancies on the spectrum, even when you have big synths playing. For example, I read in your forum that you said "the hard work is to mix things right and remove unwanted frequencies". Would you reduce the spectrum of most of your instruments when mixing to reach this goal?

Eisen: I high-filter everything except the bass and the kick drum. Actually I made a plug-in in Reaktor that solved the issue of kick and bass. I basically made the side chain EQ in a way. Every time there is a kick, there is a high-pass filter on the bass line for example. Every time the kick plays, the bass line has a high-pass. I used to do it manually. Then I said, you know what, let's do it in Reaktor, it's pretty easy.

AF: It's really working well. The bass and drums are really always very precise.

Eisen: You just clean the mix. Whenever the kick doesn't play, it still sounds fat. Especially if you always want to have bass playing on the kick at the same time. That's the biggest problem - you just find yourself doing a bass line that you don't really want. Bassline without the ones on the kick. For me at least, we solved this issue for Infected. Except that, I low cut everything that doesn't need bass, unless it's a break, and in the break you can bring back all the bass. But when the kick comes, I think most of the mix sounds cleaner when you cut at least 100-120 Hz. Much clearer.

There are so many techniques that I use - stereo synth, so that the synth will sound more stereo. I am doing a technique of double tracking like on guitar. Basically let's say I have a simple bass line. So I play a little bit with the cutoff, I play a little bit with the attack, with the decay, a little bit with the release of the sound. I am doing a long session that I am playing with it. Like let's say, 8 bars, ok. And then from these 8 bars I export the 8 bars to an audio file, and then I split the 8 bars to 4 and 4. The first 4 I put on the left channel, and second 4 I put on the right channel. And then I have this small movement in the bass line, and I recorded the movement manually so it's not so precise. The left channel is not exactly as the right channel and then it sounds more stereo without any effect.

AF: Like a chorus.

Eisen: Yeah like a chorus. But if you wanted to sound more like a chorus you play also with the tune, the off-tune.

AF: This sounds like you really have two players at the same time.

Eisen: Yeah. It sounds like two players at the same time. You don't really know what is going on, but it sounds more stereo and more fat in a way. So I am doing it almost for everything, to be honest. Almost any end that we do - we just record a longer version, then we cut it in the middle. The first part we put left, the second part right, and that's it.

AF: Very interesting for our readers, these kinds of tricks.

Eisen: I have so many, I don't know where to start, I don't want to bore you to death.

AF: I won't be bored even if we talk all day.;-)

Part 3: The Legend of the Black Shawarma
AF: I am going to play the intro from Poquito Mas. The first 10 seconds you have an acoustic guitar which kind of drops and gets pitch shifted as if you were about to scratch on it. I am interested to know how you make that sound -it gets pitch shifted but not exactly like a pitch shift.

Eisen: Basically what I do in many things is, I take, let's say, one note from the guitar part and I just apply an effect on it. This pitch shift if I am not wrong is Soundforge because I hate the pitch shift on Cubase. So I take it to Soundforge just to pitch shift and I paint how low I want the pitch shift to go. It's really easy on Soundforge to do that. And then I take this part of the wave and bring it back in time, and just put it in this second. If I want a trigger, I just mark a small part, I loop the small trigger, it can be a few samples even. I try to avoid clicks when I'm doing it, looking for zero crossing. Then I just do the trigger and put it in the right time.

AF: What delay do you use? It sounds like a delay with a filter on it, it's a plug-in?

Eisen: Actually it's a delay that I made.

AF: I have the Lexicon MPX-1 and it reminds me of one of the effects on it. It's really nice. To mix a filter on the delay.

Eisen: It's an 8 tap delay on it, and on each tap there you can add any effect that you want.

AF: On the guitar, just after the intro, you have an amp effect. You said you are not using guitar amps.

Eisen: No. Not at all.

AF: So the effects that you are using...

Eisen: On this specific guitar, it's basically going to the Avalon clean and from the Avalon it actually goes to an LA2A, a real one, a little bit compression. I think for highs, to make the guitar brighter, I use the Pultec UAD plug-in. I love the high frequencies in the Pultec. Usually I just choose the highest settings.

AF: On Sa'eed, the beginning percussion parts, is it your drummer who is playing?

Eisen: The percussions here are actually just tapping on an acoustic guitar.

AF: Really?

Eisen: Yeah with the fingers, just tapping on the body of the guitar and using the same stereo technique that we talked about before. The percussion of the whole thing is using an acoustic guitar, just drumming on the guitar. It sounded pretty cool. We didn't expect to use it. I don't know how it sounded like that. We just tried it, and the mic was really close to the tapping, and it sounds like that.

AF: Sometimes you have surprises.

Eisen: Always good stuff is by surprise.

AF: At 1:00 you have some effect on the voice. How do you make this kind of sound on the voice?

Eisen: Basically, we cut every syllable of the word. Let's say "I feel ashamed", we cut the "I" and then in the word "feel" we just cut the "f", the "ee", and then the "l". For example, only the "ee" of the "feel" we trigger that one. A really small trigger until we get the pitch, the note that we want.

AF: Yes. Because when you do a loop on it makes special harmonics.

[Editor's Note: the sound is tuned depending on the length of the loop: frequency (in Hz) = 1 / period of the loop (in seconds) - example: To reach a "A", your loop has to be a multiple of 2.2727 milliseconds]

Eisen: Yeah. When it's really short you get these special harmonics. So you need to know the length of the loop that you are doing until you get the right pitch. Basically we do this on every syllable. On "ashamed" there are a lot of them. Usually, on the "s", the "t" and the "d", the beginnings of words, the consonants, we keep, we don't touch them, and only harmonics sound we trigger. It takes a lot of time.

AF: I thought it was a plug-in that was doing that. So you are doing that manually.

Eisen: I hope there is a plug-in. Please give it to me. This is what we do. We did it a long time ago on a track called I Wish. This was the first time we tried doing it - on the album Converting Vegetarians. We did it here again, but only difference is that we put this one through a small distortion. We actually did it because we didn't have the time to remove all the clicks. We were lazy. When you sample a voice with clicks through distortion, it doesn't sound like with clicks anymore.

AF: You know Depeche Mode, right? Do you feel some cross influence sometimes?

Eisen: Of course. Listen, we are big Depeche Mode fans. We are very influenced by them. Even from Cities of the Future. It's very, umm, trying to be Depeche Mode in a way. Sadly we are far from that.

AF: It's really creative, very different, but we can feel the influence somehow.

Eisen: We like the chord changes of Depeche Mode, and also the way they do stuff is really unique and nice. So we try to do it in our own way but obviously everybody can hear that it's, you know, stolen from Depeche Mode.

AF: Not stolen but influenced. Now on Project 100, there is a very nice Rhodes piano. Is it a plug-in that you are using?

Eisen: No. It's just the Motif XS.

AF: And do you play any specific effect on it? Like an AM/FM modulator on it?

Eisen: There is a fast LFO, I think the LFO is on the panning, if I am not wrong.

AF: OK so once again it is manual work on the sound, as opposed to a preset. On [the song] Franks, in the beginning there are some really cool chords, like some mean EQ and some overdrive. So once again, what instrument and what effect do you use?

Eisen: I think it's also the Motif XS going through distortion. This distortion is not that great. Actually it's with the Cubase amp simulator. I added this onto the Motif sound, but I don't remember what style of sound it is.

AF: The big thing in this record is your collaborations with Jonathan Davis, Perry Farrell and the Doors. Is this something that you've wanted to do for a long time, collaborate with other artists? And what was their contribution?

Eisen: We can start with the Doors. It was the Doors track that Warner Brothers requested us to remix. They did a remix CD for many Doors tracks, and basically we got approved to use it in our album - The Riders on the Storm. We got original channels from the Doors which was really exciting to get all these cool recordings, which sounded pretty good I must say. This was the easiest one because it was pre-recorded so we didn't really collaborate.

With Jonathan Davis from Korn, in the beginning we asked him which song he wanted to sing. He chose Killing Time in the beginning. He came to the studio and we said, 'do you mind trying Smashing the Opponent because we think it fits more to your style'. And he said 'sure'. He didn't practice it, but we just printed the lyrics, he gave it a shot, and I think not more than one hour recording and it was done, the vocals.

AF: So basically, the lyrics and the melody lines were written and he just performed them?

Eisen: Yeah. Everything was written before. He just came and performed the vocals. Same for Jane's Addiction singer, Perry Farrell. We asked him if he minds doing Killing Time, and he liked it. With him we did two different sessions. We bothered him twice. Actually, he knows us for a long time. He has Classical Mushroom EP and The Gathering, which was very weird for us. Like, why do you have these albums? It was pretty fun.

Our move to Los Angeles was the move to make collaborations with people. In Israel we were pretty limited to Israeli artists, which I have nothing against. But it's limited to Hebrew mainly. We have dreams, as kids, you want to work with big artists, and you never believe that you will be able to do, so we said let's try. We almost got Dave Ghan from Depeche Mode singing, but at the end it didn't happen. Hopefully, it will happen with Dave in the next album.

AF: Last question about your lyrics from [the track] "The Legend of the Black Shawarma", they are very positive and they are almost sending a message but maybe with a little bit of a warning. I am assuming these are not totally random lyrics, is this something that you've realized with time and now you wish to share with your listeners?

Eisen: When we started doing lyrics, we said we will write about everything except about love. Because, it's not that we have anything against love, but every song is about love. So we said everything but love, which was not so hard. And slowly it became the Duvdev road, most of the lyrics. He came into the studio with almost all of the lyrics and maybe I didn't like one or two words. Duvdev is a pretty crazy guy. He has lots of weird ideas. Lots of them we cannot even write about. We try to write stuff with less meaning, that will open people to think about stuff. Or we write very un-serious lyrics that it's just private jokes between us and our friends. So please don't take our lyrics seriously.

AF: So you mean that actually you don't want to convert vegetarians for real?

Eisen: Why not? No, I'm just kidding... Everything is just funny, don't take it too seriously. Converting vegetarians, if there is a meaning it's mostly meaning: convert yourself from listening to regular music and be open to listen to other kinds of music.