The History of Modern Recording Flashcards
What was music recorded onto in the 1940’s?
Acetate disc
What was one of the main issues with recording straight to acetate disc?
The recording process was difficult and the mix and performances would have to be perfect as once disc was cut you couldn’t change it
When were the first tape based machines developed and by who?
Germans during the Second World War developed the first tape based machines
What were he settings of the first tape based machines?
Mono
1 single track on 1/4” tape
Ran at 15 inches per second
What is track bouncing?
Filling the 4 tracks on a reel of tape with audio, mixing them down into one track on another tape machine and then recording again on the other three tracks
What are the issues with track bouncing?
Increase in noise when the process was repeated a few times. Lack of control in mixing
What techniques did Les Paul develop with his custom made 8 track recorder?
Overdubbing Multi tracking Track bouncing Recording effects and delays Varispeed operations
What features came with the 1/2” 3 track tape I 1960?
Emergence of stereo recordings
Minimal panning options
Any use of panning was polarised panning: left, centre or right
When were 4 track tape machines emerge?
1964
What were the differences between AM and FM radios?
AM broadcasted in mono
FM broadcasted in stereo
What tape advances happened during the 1970’s?
8 track tape machines were widespread
16 track using 2” tape was emerging
Promise of 24 track machines
What were the main issues of increased track counts?
Build up of noise
Track bleed
What is synchronisation and when was it introduced?
Synchronisation is combining the track count of 2 - 3 tape machines and was introduced in the late 70’s
When was the compact disc introduced?
1982
What is a compact disc?
An optical disc used to store digital data
What were the positives of a compact disc?
No noise issues
Small, compact format
Reliable
Clean sound
What became the standard for mastering in the 90’s?
Digital audio tape
What became popular in home recording in 1996?
Computer systems and sequencers
What are the main features of computer based systems?
Unlimited track counts Use of midi as well as audio recording Infinite levels of undo Easy storage and portability Plug ins for effects and processing Superior audio quality Easy and cheap to replicate vintage and expensive processors
What are many studios going back to?
Recording on tape machines and utilising digital for editing and processing
What were the recording developments of the early 19th century?
Phonograph cylinder
Gramophone disc
How does a gramophone disc work?
A circular disc with grooves read by the needle which is attached to a diaphragm and a sound horn
What were the issues with early recordings?
Very poor quality
Suffered from distortion
Limited frequency response
Excess hiss and noise
How did magnetic tape develop?
Restricted mono format and single track in early 1950’s
Stereo format and two channels of playback controlled by two separate heads in late 1950’s
What did the introduction of thicker tape with smaller play and record heads mean?
4 - 8 track reel to reel take allowing for more room to experiment with layering and double tracking
What is tape saturation?
Subtle overload of level and gain to create musical levels of distortion on analogue equipment
What is the standard settings for all reproduced music?
Sample rate: 44.1kHz
Bit depth: 16
What is sample rate?
Number of individual samples of information per second
What is it depth?
Number of bit of data per sample
What does a higher sample and bit depth rate mean?
A higher quality recording but a bigger file size
