3rd lesson - Posted on 2013-11-08 by Devin Zorn

Thursday, November 7th

Time in: 11:59

 This lesson was really short and very simple. We discussed the point of the sample rate and why we sample at 44.1 or 48 kHz, which is because of the Nyquist Theorem, and I asked about bit depth and why it wasn't talked about as much in the book like sample rate was, and the answer was simply that we always use 24 bits instead of 16 because it is better and allows louder audio to be captured, so there isnt a real need to discuss it in detail. After we quickly discussed the chapter, the bassist for the song we were recording the past wednesday came in to record his bass track. We used a DI box and the amp at the same time. The amp was miced up with a Neumann u87, which was bewildering to me, because I have always been taught to NEVER use a condenser mic on a bass amp due to the high SPL could blow out the  mic, but tha amp was at a very low volume, so it didnt really matter. also, the bassist used his Green Rhino fuzz pedal and we mixed the fuzz with the direct signal and it fit the song by Queens of the Stone Age perfectly. I think of using both signals like micing a kick drum. The DI signal would be the internal mic, getting the sound of the beater while the miced amp would be the sub kick or large diaphragm condenser outside the drum head to get the "boom".  and combining them gets you a clear, great sounding bass with good attack but plenty of body. The bass part got done and the class was over. I stuck around for another hour and we are thinking of recording a cover of the Amboy Dukes song "Journey to the Center of the Mind" or maybe Boston's "Peace of Mind" next. The class is very interesting so far and I love going to the studio and just being around the MCI board (Aerosmith used a similar board by MCI for Toys In The Attic) and in the recording room getting to see the nice studio quality mics. I can't wait to get to EQ and Compression and Mixing/ Mastering. Really enjoying the experience!