Liberty University MUSC 218 Final

What is the most important thing to achieve a technically great sounding recording?

The Source

What is the most critical thing most artists lack in order to achieve a level of commercial success?

A hit song

What attributes are typically important for a music producer to possess?

Project management and budgeting

Creative guidance and vision

Musicianship skills

People skills and an understanding of basic human psychology

Connections to professional personnel and resources

What skill set is typically not associated with record producers

Equipent maintenance

What steps are part of the music recording and production process?

Pre-production

Tracking

Mixing

Overdubbing

Editing

The most successful Christian artist of all time was Amy Grant T/F

True

The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album sold 132 million copies T/F

False

What is The Wrecking Crew

Loose group of session musicians in LA from the late 50s through 70s

What step in the music production process is typically the most costly?

Tracking

What is overdubbing?

Recording while simultaneously monitoring and performing in sync with previously recorded tracks.

In a recording studio, which room typically contains the majority of the recording equipment and is designed for critical listening?

The control room

Which recording studio room is typically used as a recording space due to its natural room ambience during a recording session?

Live room

Should commercial musicians have a project studio of their own, and be equipped to record themselves via accepted professional tools and techniques?

True/Yes

What item is not found in every recording studio?

A large-format mixing console

What is the function of a studio patch bay?

It allows instant customization of signal routing to serve the unique needs of each session

Who is credited with the invention of stereophonic sound?

Alan Blumlein

What is Les Paul credited with inventing?

Multitrack tape recorder (that is the actual answer) - for further studying (may be on future test) - he also created solid body guitar, overdubbing

What recording innovation have been attributed to The Beatles?

Using a speaker as a microphone transducer

Vocal Double Tracking

Close Miking Instruments

Who invented the gramophone?

Emile Berliner

Is Nazi Germany responsible for the invention of magnetic tape recording?

Yes

What material did an Edison cylinder use for etching the grooves that represented sound waves?

Wax

What was the magnetic tape technology used to record The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

4 Track

What is the term "the pressure of sound vibrating (in air measured at a point in space" referring to?

Sound pressure level (SPL)

Is the decibel scale a linear scale used to measure the amplitude of sound waves?

No, it is a Logarithmic Scale

What is a good definition of sound?

Periodic oscillations in atmospheric pressure

What is a good definition of amplitude?

The vertical distance from the crest or trough position of a waveform above or below the centerline.

What is the name of the graph that represents the research on the frequency sensitivity of the human ear?

Fletcher-Munson curve

What term describes the frequency response caused by combining a sound with its time-delayed replica, creating a series of peaks and dips caused by interference?

Comb filtering

What term quantifies the timing of a waveform's positive and negative values in relationship to the amplitude of frequencies?

Phase

What term best describes the phenomenon by which loud signals prevent the ear from hearing softer sounds?

Masking

What is the velocity of sound at 70 degrees F at sea level through air?

1130ft/sec

When 2 identical sound signals are combined at exactly 180 degrees out of polarity (polarity reversed), what is the result?

The sound is completely cancelled out - silence

What is the difference between an audio source's signal level and the highest peak level possible in an audio signal path or circuit before distortion occurs?

Headroom

What is the inverse square law as it applies to sound?

For every doubling of distance between a transducer and sound source, the measured sound pressure level drops by 6 dB

Why is a flat frequency response in equipment like speakers, microphones, and amplifiers typically desirable for audio applications?

If the frequency response is not flat the original timbre of the sound will be artificially altered.

Is color a characteristic of a waveform?

No!

Do low frequencies oscillate faster than high frequencies?

No, they oscillate at slower rates

What is the highest frequency humans can hear?

20,000 Hertz.

The bit depth of a digital audio file directly determines the available __________ of the recorded audio?

Dynamic range

According to the lecture, a master word clock source is required when combining multiple digital audio systems and formats together into a single system. T/F

True

Jitter is a rounding error to the nearest bit depth value when digitizing audio dynamics. T/F

False

Which of the following terms describes the time delay caused by the conversion of electrical audio signals to and from digital data?

Latency

Which property of PCM digital audio represents the amplitude (dynamics) of the audio signal

Bit Depth

Choose the digital audio resolution settings that would produce the best sonic fidelity.

24 bit, 96 kHz

Which theorem states that a waveform can only be sampled accurately when the sample rate is at least twice the signal frequency?

Myquist-Shannon

Which of the following processors is required to eliminate quantization noise when reducing the bit depth of a digital audio signal?

Dither

Which of the following terms is used to describe one frequency being incorrectly coded as another?

Aliasing

What are examples of transducers?

Microphone, Electric guitar pickup, Loudspeaker, Ear drum

What is the term used to describe the artificial bass boost that results from placing a directional microphone close to a sound source?

Proximity effect

What are the types of microphone polar patterns?

Cardiod, Omni-Directional, Figure of Eight

What microphone type uses a diaphragm that is corrugated along its width and suspended within a magnetic field?

Ribbon

Which microphone is typically capable of being set to a variety of pick up patterns via a switch or control on the microphone?

Large Diaphragm Condenser

Which microphone pickup patterns are typically used for live sound reinforcement?

Cardioid, Hyper-Cardioid

What microphone is important to note when placing a microphone on a very loud sound source?

Overload point or Maximum SPL

What is the definition of a transducer?

Any mechanism that changes one form of energy into another, corresponding form of energy.

What is phantom power?

Voltage required by condenser microphones for proper operation, typically 48V

Dynamic microphones are called such because they ofer the widest dynamic range response. T/F

False

Condenser microphones are called this because they convert sound energy to electrical energy based on a capacitor-type design T/F

True

Which of the following microphone technologies is the one most commonly used for recording modern vocals? (hint: it's the same technology you use in the labs)

Large diaphragm condenser

Which amplification technology is generally considered to be the more musical, and therefore desirable?

Vacuum tubes

Which microphone technology is said to have an operating principle most similar to the human vocal chords?

Ribbon

Which microphone technology has the most accurate transient response?

Condenser

Which stereo microphone technique works only from level differences based on angling the microphones?

XY

Which of these concepts is a guideline for multiple microphone placement on the same source to avoid negative phase cancellation effects?

3:1

Due to probable phase cancellation problems, which stereo microphone technique should be avoided when using directional microphones?

Spaced Pair

Which stereo microphone techniques utilize both timing and level differences to translate stereo information to the listener

ORTF and Spaced Pair

What is a Decca Tree most commonly used for?

Micing an Orchestra

Which microphone placement is best for studio applications?

It depends on the sound you are trying to achieve

: The concept of "double mic'ing" is just another way to express the concept of "stereo mic'ing" T/F

False

Which of the following stereo microphone techniques is said to have the sharpest perceived focus?

Blumlein

T/F: Binaural microphone technique only sounds good over headphones

True

Which of the following microphones is largely considered to be the best microphone ever made?

Neumann U47

Which of the following microphones can trace its lineage all the way back to Woodstock?

Shure SM57

On the vocal comp sheet the "take" columns are to be filled out with pencil during the vocal recording process as a means of tracking the quality/usability of the performances. T/F

True

On the vocal comp sheet the "comp" column is to be filled out with pencil after the recording process by listening to/audition each take and writing down the number of the chosen performance/take per phrase T/F

True

A vocalist's proximity and orientation to their microphone must stay the same, generally, throughout the performances in order to capture consistent tone and signal level.

True

If a vocalist who normally sings in tune is struggling with pitch when singing in the studio, some strategies that could help are:

Expose one ear by pushing the headphones back on one side

Adjust the singer's headphone mix

Adjust the overall volume level of the singer's headphones

Adjust the amount of reverb on the singer's voice

According to the techniques taught in this class, how many high-quality, usable vocal takes should you have recorded for each lyrical phrase before choosing to end your vocal recording session?

4

A pop filter is not required on a vocal unless using the microphone outside T/F

False

What is a "comp sheet"?

A chart where the producer keeps track of and rates vocal performance takes which is used as a guide when editing a final vocal performance track

Naming Pro Tools tracks with the suffix "0.1" allows for each newly created playlist to auto-name with sequential numbers - 0.2, 0.3, etc. thus matching the "takes" column numbers on a comp sheet. T/F

True

In Pro Tools, for the class project, there should be a minimum of how many total playlists on the lead vocal track (including the final "comped" / edited vocal)?

5

When comping a vocal take, the only factors to consider are the pitch and timing of the vocal performance (T/F)

False

Where are the easiest places to accomplish a seamless vocal edit?

Between phrases

In the middle of "S"s, "F"s, or "TH"s

Before or during a breath

In the Songwriting Labs, you are allowed to disconnect the cables from the rear of the audio interface when you wish to connect your own equipment. T/F

False

What microphone(s) is/are available in the Songwriting labs?

Miktek C&e and Shure SM57

This course recommends maintaining how many simultaneous backups of your work?

3

The final project in this course is designed to emulate submitting a song demo to a publisher or producer T/F

True

How does the Pro Tools folder structure get created?

Automatically upon session creation

What folders might you find in a Pro Tools parent folder?

Audio files

Clip groups

Bounced files

Video files

MIDI files

Rendered audio files

Session file backups

What location is the best choice when choosing where to store your Pro Tools sessions?

A dedicated audio location

You must name your audio tracks in Pro Tools before recording any audio, so that the audio files created will be named appropriately. T/F

True

Where are the audio files that you record in your session going to be stored?

In your Audio Files folder

If you attempt to open your Pro Tools session file ('.ptx') when it has been removed from the main session folder, you will receive an error message regarding missing audio files. T/F

True

Which of the following folders is the designated location for any of the mixes you create throughout the life of your session?

Bounced Files

If you need to restore a backup of your Pro Tools session file ('.ptx'), what must you do before opening the backup file?

Move the backup file into the main session folder

The Wavecache.wfm file can be regenerated if it is somehow corrupted or lost. T/F

True

What is the correct way to close your Pro Tools session properly?

File > Close Session

The File > Save As... option in Pro Tools creates an entirely new copy of your session, including the audio files, in a new location. T/F

False

If you are moving on to a new phase of your project, and you want to save your session with a different name (while retaining your previous work in the old file), where would you do this?

File > Save As...