History of Recording Technology

Question 1

What are the difficulties of only having one microphone?

Answer 1

• The singer is always placed nearest to the microphone compared to the rest of the band and therefore is louder
• This can cause distortion

Question 2

When was magnetic tape introduced?

Answer 2

• Magnetic tape was introduced in 1946

Question 3

What is the Tape Delay machine?

Answer 3

• Introduced in early 1950s

- Simulates the sound of vintage tape echo machines

Question 4

What is Chamber Reverb?

Answer 4

• Created in 1947
• Used real, physical space as a natural reverb chamber
• Made typically from brick, stone or concrete

Question 5

What is Plate Reverb?

Answer 5

• Created in 1957

- Able to control the amount of reverb without needing a physical room using metal plates

Question 6

What is Spring Reverb?

Answer 6

• Created in 1930s but didn’t become popular until 30 years later
• Able to create reverb by using metal coils instead of a room or plates

Question 7

What are Ampex recorders?

Answer 7

• Created in 1960s

- A line of reel-to-reel tape recorders

Question 8

What is the Fairchild 660?

Answer 8

• Created in 1959
• One of the first dynamic processing units to be used in commercial recordings
• Used in many Beatles Albums

Question 9

What are Noise Gates?

Answer 9

• Created in the early 1970s

- Used to block out tape hiss

Question 10

Who created the first synthesiser and when?

Answer 10

• Robert Moog in 1964

Question 11

What is the Rotary/Leslie Speaker?

Answer 11

• Created in 1937

- Produces a Doppler effect which modulates sound

Question 12

What is the Mellotron?

Answer 12

• Created in 1946
• Electro-mechanical musical instrument
• Similar to a sampler but generates sound using analogue samples recorded on audio tape rather than digital samples
• Evolved from the Chamberlain

Question 13

What is meant by ‘Mastering Video’ ?

Answer 13

• A form of audio post production
• The process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device

Question 14

What are the advantages of Small Diaphragm Mics?

Answer 14

• Good transient response
• Extended high frequency response
• Consistent pick-up pattern

Question 15

What are the advantages of Large Diaphragm Mics?

Answer 15

• Captures more acoustic energy

- Shapes the sound in a pleasing way

Question 16

What is meant by ‘Delay Parameters’ ?

Answer 16

• Controls the amount of time between the initial signal and the repeated sound
• Lets you add modulation to the delay so that a chorus effect is created

Question 17

How was distortion created in the early 1970s?

Answer 17

• Loud amps and fuzz boxes

Question 18

How was distortion created in 1974?

Answer 18

• Operational amps instead of single transistors

- MXR Distortion, DOD 250, Dan Armstrong Blue Clipper, Dearmond Square Wave

Question 19

How was distortion created in 1978?

Answer 19

• Rat Pedal by Scott Burnham and the BOSS DS-1 (distortion pedals)

Question 20

What are the advantages of Analogue Tape Recording?

Answer 20

• Accurate representation of sound
• Tried and tested
• Audio is stored/archived
• ‘Warm’ sound
• Editing limitations discourage constant tinkering or over-effects

Question 21

What are the disadvantages of Analogue Tape Recording?

Answer 21

• Noise interference
• Expensive, hard to source and wears off easily
• Copying deteriorates sound
• Difficulty editing specific sections
• Sharing and portability is restricted
• Requires regular maintenance