Blog Entry 4 - Miller Street Studios - Posted on 2014-11-19 by Ian Snow

Chapter 4 covered connectivity, which covered everything from signal flow to analog signal and voltage to all types of calbes on connectors. Cables are vital to every setup because they are the only way that a signal can start from an instrument and having the signal makes its way to to ProTools and back out through the speakers. Almost every musician has dealt with cables throughout his or her musical career, but I'm sure that very few properly know all the names and functions of the different types of cables and connections. Joe and I talked a lot about the importance of the Patch Bay, which acts as the hub of any good studio. The main levels include mic, line, and speaker. All mic cables, patch cables, and XLR are balanced and all instrument cables are unbalanced. During the session after the lesson, Joe focused on a vocal mix. I noticed that he enjoys using an EQ, and compressor, then another EQ, and a De-Esser. He then will send the vocal part to a reverb and delay bus to taste. I really enjoyed being able to watch Joe mix because that is currently my main focus regarding music production.