Recording

I want to record some vinyl into my DAW, could a turntable simply be plugged into any audio interface and the EQ applied after amplification?

In the final part of this series, Rob Toulson focuses on mic techniques for recording drums and talks us through the issue of frequency cancellation in a multiple mic setup, details how to choose the recording sweet spot in a room and explains the various stereo mic options that are available including the famous Glyn Johns technique.

Rob Toulson explains how to optimise the drum sound for recording by experimenting with drum head, damping system, tuning and drum shell combinations.

In Part 1, we look at the key principles of drum acoustics and discuss some scientific aspects of drums with respect to making music and creative recording projects.

Recently I had to record a Japanese taiko drum ensemble, but I got a fair bit of distortion even though my recording levels never reached 0dBFS. Why was I getting this distortion/compression?

These gadgets might not be the most glamorous devices, but at some point in your recording adventures you’ll probably find you need each and every one.

Mix engineers used to prefer hardware to software because it sounded better. Is that still true? And if not, is there still a reason to use it?

I’m seeing a lot of conflicting advice about using compression while recording. Some swear by it while others say it’s completely unnecessary with 24‑bit recording and modern converters. Where do you stand on this?

If I open a 16‑bit, 96kHz audio file, resample it to 48kHz, and then export it again, still at 16 bits, do I need to apply dither?

Two veterans of the online session world share their top tips for success.

A good engineer can make bands sound better than they are. In this video, Sound On Sound's Editor In Chief Sam Inglis explains how to turn musical lead into gold...

I recently started capturing my vinyl collection to DSD and hi‑res PCM. The result sounds great but when I examine the audio file in iZotope RX 8 Elements I see a band of ultrasonic noise. Should I be worried about this?

I want to split the output from my Gretsch electric guitar, to feed both a Boss Acoustic Singer combo and a computer audio interface...

I want to connect my synths and drum machine to a computer DAW and actually make a song, but don't yet have the computer...

Here are 10 ways engineers and studio owners can ensure the studio works as well for the musicians as it does for themselves.

Welcome to Sound On Sound's regularly updated, indispensible explanations of technical terms from the fields of Recording, Audio Production, Music Technology, MIDI, Music Software, Audio Plug-ins, Mac and PC Computing, Live Sound, Acoustics, Electronics and more...

What are your thoughts on recording stereo ambience on location (such as in a forest, supermarket, office, or restaurant) for use in movies, podcasts and so on?

In the AEA RPQ2 ribbon mic pre review, what exactly did the reviewer mean by "Still has limited ability to remove unwanted subsonic components"?

I need to do some recording of spoken word, using a cheap and cheerful lavalier mic, but it’s noisy — there’s a steady ‘hiss’. Is there some plug-in that can reduce said noise, perhaps by taking a sample of it and then adding it out of phase?

Why do people recommend a condenser microphone over a dynamic? I know it’s an idiot question, but I’m new to...

I have a very high quality D-A converter that boasts particularly low clock-jitter figures, so I thought it would be an ideal candidate to serve as a master clock — yet it doesn’t have a word-clock output socket!