Sound recording, Recording material
For you as an AV-professional it is well know, that sound recording is happening in the tone studio or directly at the place of source. Sound recording has different goals:
- The source of sound (speech, music, noise) will be immediately amplified and broadcasted (i.e. music concert);
- The source of sound (speech, music, noise) will be immediately broadcasted to another location by using a different media (i.e. sports event);
- The source of sound (speech, music, noise) will be recorded on recording material (DVD, memory card) and broadcasted at a later point of time (i.e. news story in the evening tv-news).
The sound recording
Recording of music, singing or language for direct broadcasting (live meeting, radio or television) or the recording for a later use on specific media (i.e. CD, DVD, hard disk or flashmemory).
The microphone
The microphone is the primary transducer, which converts the acoustic waves into electrical pulsed voltages - thus into a sound signal -.
Depending upon situations and requirements completely different microphone types are to be used.
- Dynamic microphone (plunger microphone, small band microphone);
- Condenser microphone;
- Electrical condenser microphone;
- Coal microphone and
- Piezo or crystal microphone.
The pick-up (see also Playback)
The pick-up takes over mechanical oscillations (mechanical, electro-dynamic transducers) or optical differences (photographic sound recording system with the film of laser sensing systems on a CD) and converts these into electrical pulsed voltages, the sound signals.
The treatment of sound, the sound mixer
An sound mixer (also mixer, console) is considered as the heart of a sound studio. It serves for it, electrical signals of different sources of sound signal (e.g. microphone or electronic sound producers) on two or more output, mostly after frequency response and dynamic changes to join. For mixtures in Stereofonie e.g. all signals rare combined on the Stereo channels «left» and «right».
There are analog, digital and hybrid (similar with digital technology combined) mixers. In analog mixers the signal is an electrical image of the sound and is always handled like this. In digital mixers, the signal is converted into a digital signal and converted from processors (DSP). Hybrid sound mixer contain a combination of a digital control and an analog signal processing.
Mixers can also be realized on a computer. They are mostly into so-called digital audio work stations (DAW) integrated.
There are different mixers for different sound applications, like recording, mixture, acoustic irradiation, DJ or broadcasting which regarding size, ergonomics, sound characteristics and price ranges from 50 euros to over 1 million euros.
The sound recording, sound storage
The sound recording generally describes the procedure of the recording and storaging of sound on a medium for a later broadcasting. The recording can take place mechanically (grooves in rollers, records or on other suitable material), magnetically (tape), or optically (lightsound of motion picture).
The sound recording can take place digitally on magnetic (hard disk, DAT) or optical (CD, DVD) medias.