Recording - February 2010 - 46

Our Keyboard Column returns with more information on incorporating keyboards and sound modules into the recording path, along with an introduction to that most mysterious of boxes the patchbay! RECORDING KEYBOARDS IN A By Devon Brent In Part 1 (December 2009) we gave you a blueprint for incorporating “real” synths into your studio, be they the keyboard versions that you play, or the keyboardless rackmount “modules” that you trigger remotely via MIDI. We talked about the practicalities of making space for the units and about the ergonomics of easy access. We listed a few representative examples of various synth types and their approximate values on the used market. We addressed the benefits of sequencing multiple MIDI parts on multitimbral synths, with or without separate audio outputs, and we came to the conclusion that you don’t necessarily have to spring for a new mixer just because you now have a bunch of new sound sources—you can record the synth parts one at a time while listening to all the sequenced parts at once. Now let’s take a closer look at the signal flow and the connections. DAW AGE—PART 2 separate inputs, with maybe a handful of S/PDIF and/or ADAT lightpipe digital inputs. If you have more synth signals than inputs, you can either buy a bigger interface, or consider doing everything Out of The Box. Make sure you are convinced that all those synth signals really absolutely have to come in simultaneously and separately—remember the one-at-atime option we discussed in Part 1! Out of the box—mixers and patchbays If you decide to keep your mixing out of the box, the main devices you’ll need to get the audio routed back to your DAW are a standard audio mixer and/or sub-mixer, and/or an audio patchbay. Using a traditional audio mixer is a great way to get lots of audio inputs down to a few audio outputs. The choices and sizes are vast. There are mixers the size of A half-normalled patchbay’s possible configurations (see the sidebar). Figure courtesy of Samson Technologies. paperback books, to small 1U rackmount mixers, to larger rack or tabletop mixers, to very big multichannel consoles. All of these will at minimum have a single stereo pair out that could be routed to your DAW. Another alternative is the “line mixer” or “keyboard mixer” popular in the synth-heavy 1980s and 1990s; these are desktop or rackmount mixers with few or no mic preamps, especially designed for summing lots of keyboards/modules. Mackie, Kawai, Fostex, Roland, Korg, Peavey, Yamaha, Alesis, and Behringer all made them, and they’re often available cheap on Ebay—but note that the older designs may not be up to the noise specs of modern mixers. If you’re very persistent, you might find a Speck SSM, a world-class “synth super mixer” that still fetches high prices on the used market. Depending on the mixer, you can fly audio in and out via channel inserts or aux send/returns, or just move audio to another device/mixer via direct outs and aux sends. From there, you could route back to your DAW. A newly popular method for mixing OTB is the summing buss, a very simple but high-quality mixer with minimal features designed to combine multiple signals with very little signal degradation. Getting audio in Working with your DAW and all your keyboards is really a two-way street. On the synthesizer side, you’ll need to consider how many outputs your synthesizer of choice has, how many audio outputs you wish to use if it’s beyond the standard mono or stereo out, whether the device supports balanced or unbalanced connections, and if you want to hook it up via a digital interface or the standard 1/4" analog plugs. On the DAW side, you’ll need to consider how you wish to mix down the incoming audio signals together into your DAW. There are two main schools of thought for audio mixing—ITB (In The Box, meaning within the DAW software itself), and OTB (Out of The Box, mixing via a console or summing buss). In the box If you wish to bring in the audio from each synthesizer individually, consider how many RCA, 1/4" jacks, S/PDIF, and ADAT connections you’ll need to fly in all the audio from each device. Most DAW audio interfaces come with at least two analog inputs, going up to eightRECORDING FEBRUARY 2010

Recording - February 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - February 2010

Recording - February 2010
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Recording Lead Vocals—All About Isolation and Rejection
Euphonix MC Control
Avant Electronics BV-1
Avid Digidesign Eleven Rack
Recording’s Vocal Column
PreSonus Studio Channel
KRK ERGO System
Readers’ Tapes
Recording’s Keyboard Column
TASCAM DR-100
Camel Audio Alchemy
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - February 2010 - Recording - February 2010
Recording - February 2010 - Cover2
Recording - February 2010 - 1
Recording - February 2010 - Fade In
Recording - February 2010 - 3
Recording - February 2010 - Contents
Recording - February 2010 - 5
Recording - February 2010 - Talkback
Recording - February 2010 - 7
Recording - February 2010 - Fast Forward
Recording - February 2010 - 9
Recording - February 2010 - Recording Lead Vocals—All About Isolation and Rejection
Recording - February 2010 - 11
Recording - February 2010 - 12
Recording - February 2010 - 13
Recording - February 2010 - 14
Recording - February 2010 - 15
Recording - February 2010 - 16
Recording - February 2010 - 17
Recording - February 2010 - 18
Recording - February 2010 - 19
Recording - February 2010 - Euphonix MC Control
Recording - February 2010 - 21
Recording - February 2010 - 22
Recording - February 2010 - 23
Recording - February 2010 - Avant Electronics BV-1
Recording - February 2010 - 25
Recording - February 2010 - Avid Digidesign Eleven Rack
Recording - February 2010 - 27
Recording - February 2010 - 28
Recording - February 2010 - 29
Recording - February 2010 - 30
Recording - February 2010 - 31
Recording - February 2010 - Recording’s Vocal Column
Recording - February 2010 - 33
Recording - February 2010 - PreSonus Studio Channel
Recording - February 2010 - 35
Recording - February 2010 - KRK ERGO System
Recording - February 2010 - 37
Recording - February 2010 - 38
Recording - February 2010 - 39
Recording - February 2010 - Readers’ Tapes
Recording - February 2010 - 41
Recording - February 2010 - 42
Recording - February 2010 - 43
Recording - February 2010 - 44
Recording - February 2010 - 45
Recording - February 2010 - Recording’s Keyboard Column
Recording - February 2010 - 47
Recording - February 2010 - 48
Recording - February 2010 - 49
Recording - February 2010 - 50
Recording - February 2010 - 51
Recording - February 2010 - TASCAM DR-100
Recording - February 2010 - 53
Recording - February 2010 - Camel Audio Alchemy
Recording - February 2010 - 55
Recording - February 2010 - 56
Recording - February 2010 - Advertiser Index
Recording - February 2010 - 58
Recording - February 2010 - 59
Recording - February 2010 - 60
Recording - February 2010 - 61
Recording - February 2010 - 62
Recording - February 2010 - 63
Recording - February 2010 - Fade Out
Recording - February 2010 - Cover3
Recording - February 2010 - Cover4
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