Talk-o -Jesse J. Smith-

WELCOME TO TALK ZERO

What Should Be Talked About?

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LET'S START WITH SOME RANDOMINIUMS

Good recording mics need phantom power (electricity) from a pre-amp; that's why they take 3-prong cords, but be careful with them, as they could electrocute you to death. All sound devices have a maximum limit before overloading and causing sound distortion. This limit is 0db (db="decibels" - a sound measuring scale). Anything above 0db is adding gain (artificially increasing the source's "volume", identified with a "+" in front of the decibel number), and anything below 0db (indentifed with a "-" in front of the decibel number), is reducing the source's "volume". Because decreasing the volume using this scale leads to infinitely increasingly more negative numbers, "zero" volume is represented with the horizontal, circle-eight, "infinite" sign.

Compression is volume reduction, starting at the desired -db number, (the volume at which you want everything louder than this volume to be turned down; known as the "threshold"), and ending at infinitely louder; then reduced by a set amount, usually by percent. This reduces the volume of the selected "threshold" area, while not affecting the volume of everthing quieter than the threshold. An analogy to compresson would be pouring a glass of pop, and having to stop before the foam spills over. By reducing the foam at the top, you can pour more of the drink you want in the glass. "Attack" is the delay before engaging the compressor, and "Release" is the delay in disengaging the compressor. An automatic volume increase can also be applied during compresson. The "attack" and "release" settings can keep the volume in balance if the signal is jumping above or below the "threshold" too quickly. An example of compression: a recording of a bass track peaks at 0db, but most of it doesn't go above -10db, except for one note that is played occasionally which is causing the 0db peak. Setting the threshold at -10db (where you want the compressor to start working), and setting the compressor to reduce the signal by 90%, that one note is reduced by 9db (from -10db to 0db is 10, and 90% of 10 is 9) to -9db (0db minus 9 is -9db), which is the new peak of the signal. Now this bass signal no longer has that jump in volume from around -10db to -0db as before when that one particular note is played, so now the volume of whole bass signal can be turned up from it's new peak of -9db to the old peak of 0db, without worry of that one note causing a jump in volume.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT ANYTHING YOU READ HERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONALLY INCORRECT.