Smooth As Signal Flow - Posted on 2014-02-04 by Raymond Callahan

     This week, I learned one of the most important things I will learn in this course. That bohemoth is signal flow. When we first learned about it, it was on a piece of paper that we were told to look over and memorize. I did just that, even though I had no clue as to what I was memorizing. It wasn't until our lab day, when we all got together and used Glenn's SSL 9000 to mic a piano, get the analog signal from the mic to be converted to digital, record that signal on protools, and then be converted back to analog and played back using pads, amps, bussers, and all kinds of signal manipulators that I got a grasp of what signal flow really was. I have to admit, it was pretty cool using all this top of the line technology. I felt like an actual engineer.

    We also got in to microphones this week. I learned this pretty quickly: a microphone to an engineer is like a steering wheel to a race car driver. And GAT3 has a crazy collection of microphones. I think my favorite is the NU-47 which was created by Bruce Swedien, the man behind the mixing for Michael Jackson's Thriller album. It has a wooden exterior and a blue light whenever its turned on, and the thing is seriously beautiful. There are so many different types of mics, all used to record different sounds. You really have to know your stuf when it comes to miking correctly because one microphone will capture a completely different sound than another. Even if you have the proper mic for the sound, there are still many factors in getting that perfect recording like the placement of the mic, the positioning of what your recording, and even the shape of the room has an effect.

    The last thing we touched on this week was connectors. I never knew these were so important, but the difference in signal beween a balanced and unbalanced connection is the difference between professional and unprofessional audio quality. Also, being able to understand and identify different connectors and connections can prepare you for work in any studio and even in live sound.