Whether you are just starting to get into recording or live audio, you are undoubtably going to need to use a compressor on almost any project you are a part of. Like any audio signal modifier, you can use a hardware compressor or a plugin version. There are too many models, types etc to cover, so I will only cover the basics of a compressor, and how one works.
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I am going to start a series of posts on audio recording, mainly for my own benefit, but also for people out there who might benefit as well.
This first post will cover the basics of computer based audio recording. Whether you are recording a podcast or a full band, the principals are the same; sound waves are captured/generated by a microphone/instrument and then travel to a audio to digital converter, this converter converts the audio waves to a string of ones and zeros and then your recording sequencer of choice records and stores this data on your computer. This is about as basic as one can describe this process, and in reality it isn’t much more complicated than that.
A couple of years ago I purchased an Alesis “Blackface” Adat (alesis digital audio tape) recorder for recording live shows off of ebay for $150. I have never used it till last weekend and was pretty impressed with it. Here is a little history lesson for ya, The “blackface” Adat came out circa 1991, and recorded at 16 bit word size with sample rates up to 48khz, and recorded onto standard S-VHS tapes.
If that last sentance made no sence at all, then read this
The “blackface” cost alittle over a grand when it was introduced if I remember correctly. It has 8 channels i/o, and could be linked with other Adat machines to increase the channel count. I only have (1) so therefore I am limited to the 8 channels. The current band I am in interstate played a gig this past weekend and I thought I would try out the Adat and see how she worked. After a couple tries I finally got two tapes formated and ready for recording. I hooked the adat up to our mixer using the half-way point of the inserts. We were running behind and I wasn’t really thinking of what I was doing so subsequently I didn’t record half the drums lol…..but oh well. 8 channels…….just isnt enough! Put the tape in and hit record. After the show I went home and hooked the adat up to my recording interface’s (motu 828) optical input, or “Lightpipe” as Alesis has branded it, and hooked the other end up to the Adat’s optical output. This “lightpipe” can carry all 8 channels simultaneously over (1) optical cable……..pretty slick! Anyways here are some early results. These aren’t comletely mixed, but the quality is much better than our usually cassette tape two track recording (the tapes are more expensive though! I paid $12 at the local guitar center and they werent even formatted!).
