Home Recording Cables and Plugs

In setting up your home studio, you learned how to assemble your equipment in regards to spacial consideration, workflow optimization and organization. However, the cables and connectors are truly the ties that bind and make everything work together. Understanding which plug is needed where, and what each plug does is important information for any recording or home studio commando.

In this article you will learn:

• The cords, cables, and connections used in music production

• What they do and where they go

• Most common uses

1/4” Analog

The most common and popular cord you may recognize is the 1/4 inch analog plug. Their are two flavors mono, known as TS, (Tip sleeve) and stereo, known as TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve)

NO, we are not talking about the screen you are reading this article on, those are computer monitors.

Studio monitors look like high tech, expensive speakers… That’s because, well, they are.
But unlike an expensive stereo speaker system, they’re purpose is much less fancy, and much more practical. The goal in any monitoring system is not to enhance the sound and produce the highest fidelity, it is to be as transparent as possible.

Studio Monitors, also commonly referred to as reference monitors, are the means of translating the sounds and music you are mixing, thus you want them to provide as accurate a translation as possible.

Producing music in a home studio has never been more accessible or cost effective than it is today. One of the main configuration options that impacts the core of your recording rig is whether you want an audio mixer, or mixing board, to be the heart of your home studio.

The mixer-less studio option is a significant evolution to the world of audio recording and music production, primarily because what it has done is removed the main barrier that kept you and i from recording and producing our own music. The cost of the vintage mixing console you’ll see in pictures of professional studios may be more than what you paid for your house…

When it comes to producing music in a home studio, one of the most important things you need to understand in regards to editing or signal processing capabilities – is the distinctions between audio and midi. This article will give you an understanding of audio, digital audio, and midi in the home recording studio.

Audio and Midi are very different in what they are capable of from a production standpoint, and their overall nature. Knowing these differences is an essential part of understanding how digital music is produced.

By the time we’re done, you will learn:

• The practical and technical differences between audio, digital audio, and midi.

• Why you need to understand the distinctions.

Control surfaces are a marvel of DAW technology. These devices act as the physical liaison between the features of a digital mixer, and the tools of your DAW software. They are not an essential piece of gear, meaning they are not “required“ to use the features of your DAW software, rather they are an extension of physical control and offer the convenience of not having to rely on your mouse and cursor to control your functions of your software.

Control surfaces can be used to create more streamlined workflows, increase the intuitive controls of your software based home studio, and improve user satisfaction with real ”hands-on“ control.

The stock Sound Card that ships with your computer is fine for listening to mp3’s and watching YouTube video’s, but for music recording, home studio production, or any audio recording environment, it’s just not going to cut it.

What is an audio interface? What’s the difference between that and a Sound Card? What do i need to know about them?

In this article you will learn:

• What a Sound Card/Audio interface does
• Why you need a Sound Card/Audio interface
• The differences between a Sound Card and an Audio Interface
• The internal pieces of a Sound Card/Audio Interface
• The Connection Types
• General Best Settings

What is an Audio Interface/Sound Card and what does it do?

Because of the improved functionality of midi keyboards within the home recording studio, midi keyboards have become widely used by electronic musicians, live performers, compositional producers, and hobbyists of all levels. Keyboards provide hands on control over virtual instruments and synthesizers. Keyboards can serve a number of modern recording or performance purposes. They can be used to program sounds, trigger notes, transmit musical data, or create a customized arrangement of samples-onto assigned keys for playback.

In This Article You Will Learn:

• The difference between MIDI keyboards and MIDI keyboard controllers

• What to look for in a MIDI Keyboard

• How to choose one that is right you

• What a midi keyboard workstation is

Through properly understanding audio effects, you can add flavorful spices and unique characteristics to your recordings.. They can add warmth to acoustic instruments, put life into your virtual instruments, or soften a brittle sounding sample. They can also strengthen an electric guitar track, or create the illusion of a vocal performance from an acoustically sound cathedral.

In This Article You Will Learn:

• What audio processors can do to a recorded audio signal.

• What the difference between an effects processor and a signal processor is.

• Practical uses for modifying a recorded signal.

• The unique functions of popular processors.

• The difference of hardware and software audio processors.

The two root-categories of audio processors are:

How does an analog signal transform into a digital audio sample?
What equipment is used to turn audio – into a file format that can be stored onto a digital medium?

Digital Audio Conversion

To record and produce music onto CD, with a Digital Audio Workstation: This conversion, and the equipment that facilitates it is an important part of the signal path.

This article is intended to explain these questions, and help you develop a solid understanding for the analog to digital conversion process.