Computers. Damn them and the evil that resides in their circuits! The intrusion, the aggravation, the childlike demand for attention, the incessant whirring and blinking of lights, the way they draw you in with promised delights, feign friendly intelligence and then unexpectedly turn on you just when you think you’ve got the hang of it, or more usually when you are about to show you wife/husband/dog something clever. A curse we’ve grown accustomed to. You may have bought one with the mistaken belief that it’ll help you do the accounts, or write letters, help your kids with their homework or maybe let you print your own flyers for your next gig. The reality can often be one of miscomprehension, feelings of inadequacy and even fear. The last couple of years though have seen normal people, everyday people, start to tug the computer out of the exclusive grasp of the nerdy, geek, pasty-faced computer user and are discovering the excitement, joy and wonder of what this technology can really offer. You get a digital camera for Christmas, you plug it into the computer and suddenly you’re looking at pictures on screen. This leads you to working out your email so you can send your pictures to friends and family. Email leads to links to the World Wide Web with vast storehouses of information, entertainment and badly disguised rubbish. Printers and scanners are purchased, online music discovered, speakers attached, DVD’s viewed and very soon you’re a MSM Messaging, Photoshop tweaking, Napster listening, Internet navigating, computer conquering wizard.

You may not have quite got there yet but the general fog and mystery surrounding computers is thankfully fading and the way we look at the machine is changing. What I would like to do over the course of the next few articles is to dig even deeper, to peel back more layers of beige, and show you the hidden potential that sleeps within the bleeping, whirring box sitting under your desk. With a little bit of software, maybe some carefully chosen hardware and enough knowledge to make you dangerous I hope to demonstrate how a computer can become an all singing, all dancing, bona fide, recording studio.

My computer, the one on which I’m writing this piece, is nothing extraordinary, a couple of years old, although quite up to date and powerful at the time, and yet it’s a recording studio, a mixing and editing suite, a multi-effects processor, an instrument with a huge library of sounds, a sampler, a drum machine, an arranger, a compositional tool, score writer, mastering facility, CD duplicator and publishing/distribution house – oh, and I write letters, do my accounts, use email and even play games. It is truly a thing of wonder and requires no more knowledge or grasp of technology than that required to use an effects pedal or a tape recorder. Don’t be fooled into thinking that computers only do electronic dance music, that’s like saying Microsoft Word only lets you write non-fiction. I’m a musician, a guitarist, used to call myself a singer/songwriter, hatching out tunes on my four-track, until about 10 years ago when I got hold of my first piece of multi-track recording software. It was very simple, four tracks of audio and MIDI. I wired up my guitar to the microphone socket on my soundcard (not ideal but it worked) and recorded a few chords. Then I chose another track and recorded some riffs along side – so far so four-track. What happened next changed my life. I’d recorded four bars of the same riff, I’m a terribly sloppy player so the first riff wasn’t very good as I wasn’t concentrating, the second one wasn’t bad, the third was spot on and the fourth was nonsense. Using the mouse I was able to select the first two bars and the last one, cut them (like you would with a razor blade on tape) and delete them. Next I selected the third bar, the one I liked, and clicked “Copy”, moved the marker to the first bar and clicked “Paste” – just like you would with text in a word processor. A couple more pastes and all four bars were playing back with that perfect third bar riff. With my four-track the mistakes in my playing would drive me to despair, the constant re-recording often meant losing all sense of what I was trying to create in the first place. What I realised is that with the computer I can sketch out the music in my head quickly and easily without losing my thread or feeling like a rubbish guitarist. I could take the best bits of my playing and my best ideas and cut away the bad stuff. I never touched my four-track again and I had only begun to scratch the surface.

So what can a computer do for me?

MIDI sequencing – You may be familiar with this through the use of workstation keyboards or MIDI file players. It’s the ability to record, edit and playback the keys pressed on a MIDI keyboard. On a computer you have complete mouse driven editing control over each note, each parameter. You can paint notes on screen and compose things that would be impossible to play (if you like). 

Scoring – MIDI data contain the same information as you’d find on a sheet of music. Your MIDI sequencer can often display the data as a score or with more specialised software you can create scores directly, to a professional, publishable level and hear them playback through software instruments. 

Software Instruments – An enormous palette of sounds is available in software. From models of vintage synths like the MiniMoog and Prophet 5, through to the real instruments of the orchestra painstakingly sampled for breathtaking accuracy, and beyond into new forms of synthesis and sampling.

Audio recording and editing – Slap a microphone in front of something and record live sound into your computer, Slice, cut, copy and paste on screen where every detail of that sound is displayed giving you the best chance of creating the perfect sound and the perfect track. No real limit on the number of tracks you can record which gives you a freedom to explore your creativity. 

Mixing and Effects – The quality of effects you can run on a computer now matches that of the hardware world, in fact some hardware companies also have software versions available. All the parameters on screen, all automatable along side the tracks they are effecting. Mix hundreds of tracks together and use a huge variety of effects, and dynamic processing to get the sound you want and often a sound you hadn’t even thought of. 

Mastering and publication – Mixdown everything on the computer at the highest quality and resolution for CD or DVD. You can of course create your own audio CD’s, even print the label, or create a master to send off for duplication. Alternatively the Internet provides a new way of releasing your music as an MP3 file. You can do all this on the same machine. 

If that seems a bit overwhelming then let’s take a few simple, practical examples: 

Singer/Songwriter

It might be just you, guitar and a microphone, wanting to make some music. The computer gives you the ability to record multiple tracks and use the best bits, gives you guitar effects and amp modelling, and software drum machines and accompaniment – perfect. 

Composer

You’re wanting to write for TV or film, or maybe the theatre, creating pieces of music for orchestra or groups of musicians. The computer can give you on-screen scoring, editing, arranging and instead of using just your piano you can call up a wide range of realistic software orchestral instruments to give you an idea about how it could really sound. 

Band

You and a bunch of mates, in a rehearsal room (unless you have understanding/deaf neighbours) with lots of microphones and a laptop. You can plug everyone into the laptop, record multiple tracks and then take it home for mixing where you can, if you want, change, alter, re-record, add synths, loops, noises etc.

Whatever sort of music, whatever format, and whatever you want to achieve the tools are there to help you do it.

You may be thinking that your computer doesn’t look much like a studio at the moment, so let’s compare our PC with something you may be more familiar with, the good old Portastudio. These all-in-one recorders have come on in recent years to include 8, 16 and 24 track recording, effects, mixing and even through to the creation of a CD – fabulous.

Recording Media

First things first, what are we recording onto? With the portastudio it used to be cassette, four whole tracks, at one time they even squeezed on eight tracks if I remember rightly. Then we had Minidisk, four and eight track, now we find built in hard drives. On a PC you also have a hard drive – this is our recording media. 

Monitoring Display

The portastudio has some kind of indication of level or signal, maybe some flashing LED’s and a counter, or, if it’s a modern one, it may have a small LCD display with all sorts of information. On a computer you get as much information as you can fit onto a screen showing levels, faders, knobs, parameters, timelines, whatever you want on whatever size screen you want. You can also have two or three screens, even more if you’ve got a few pennies to spend.

Input and Output Connections

This may be where your PC is lacking rather at the moment. On the portastudio you’ll have a couple of microphone inputs, with gain controls, some instrument inputs and line inputs all on suitable XLR, ¼”jack or RCA connectors. Similarly on outputs you’d have monitor and mix outputs and maybe even direct outputs from each channel. Your PC may have nothing, however, it’s more than likely that it does have something. If your computer makes sound of any kind, plays CD’s, plays sound in games, off the Internet or in general use then you have a basic sound recording and playback system, known as a “Soundcard” – a pair of speakers is usually a good give away. The actual connections may not be up to much as these will invariably be 3.5mm minijack, the bane of the audio world, but it’s a start. Traditionally a soundcard is a card shaped PCB (printed circuit board) that slots into your computers motherboard and provides the computer with the ability to record and playback sound.

These days they are more likely to be external boxes that connect over USB or Firewire but the name remains. We will look at soundcards in great depth next month but for now I can tell you that whatever connections you want (XLR, jack, S/PDIF, ADAT, AES/EBU) and whatever you want to plug in (microphone, instrument, line) you’ll find a soundcard with the right sockets and as many as you need.

Audio Connections Idiots Guide

Analogue:

Balanced – Uses 3 lines (or wires) to help eliminate noise picked up in the cable. One line is earth, the other two are the same signal where one is phase inverted at one end and then inverted back at the other, the theory being that any noise picked up on the cable will be picked up equally on both signal lines and when they are inverted back together to noise will cancel each other out. For this to work the connectors on both ends must be 3 pin (usually XLR) and the system it’s being connected to must be able to receive 3 lines.

Phantom Power – Usually 48 volts provided by mixers and DI boxes to power condensor microphones. Requires a balanced line and works by applying the same voltage to both signal lines.

<¼” Jack – The standard instrument or guitar cable, uses two pins, signal and earth in a “tip” and “sleeve” configuration. You can have balanced jacks that include a third line on a ring between the tip and sleeve giving it the name TRS (Tip – Ring – Sleeve). A Stereo jack, like those found on the end of headphones, has the same TRS configuration but rather than having the same signal in two lines you have left and right.

RCA – also known as “Phono”, uses two lines, signal and earth. Often seen in pairs for stereo left and right and coloured white and red respectively.

3.5mm Minijack – Most often seen in a stereo configuration with left in the tip, right in the ring and earth in the sleeve. 

Please note that any of these analogue audio connectors are interchangeable. You could have a stereo minijack on one end and two ¼” jacks on the other, or a single phono to a single jack, or by ignoring one pin a jack to XLR, or using all three a TRS balanced jack to XLR. There’s no magic involved, they are simply different connectors on the end of the same bits of wire that run between all our audio equipment. You can make them yourself with a pair of wire strippers and a soldering iron.

Digital:

S/PDIF – Sony Philips Digital InterFace. This is usually on coaxial cable with RCA phono connectors and moves digital data as an audio signal. If you listen to it, it sounds like a fax machine or modem.

Optical – Also known as “Toslink” (Toshiba) is a laser format that can carry S/PDIF digital or ADAT

ADAT – An 8 track optical format created by Alesis for their ADAT (Advanced Digital Audio Tape) recorders. Allows you to send 8 independent channels of audio between digital systems.

AES/EBU – Professional digital format created by the Audio Engineering Society and European Broadcasting Union. Uses balanced XLR connectors and cabling.

Digital formats are not interchangeable without a physical conversion taking place. To listen to the audio you have to convert it to analogue using a Digital to Analogue Converter (DAC).

Recording, Mixing and Processing

Computers don’t change recording technique. It’s still all down to microphones, positioning, cabling, the environment and the performance of the musician. The recording is your raw material and this will always need to be as good as you can possibly manage. Sure computers can give you the tools to correct, enhance and edit recordings but the old analogy about polishing a turd remains applicable.

The portastudio may have a row of faders and knobs for mixing whereas the computer has the humble mouse, however, if you want tactile control over the computer then this is available in a range of MIDI control surfaces. The amount of software effects available now is amazing and you can use as many as you like on as many tracks as you like (processing power permitting).

But Aren’t Computers Notoriously Bad for not working?

Most of the problems people have with computers comes down to bad advice, confusion or just not really knowing what they are doing. With my help you should be able to have a stress free computer music experience. If you have any questions then please email me. 

The most important piece of gear in your studio is your ears, they ultimately dictate everything and no computer is going to listen for you. A computer will not make you into a creative genius, however, it might give you the opportunity to discover if you are one. Having all the software in the world won’t make your music sound good if you don’t know what you are doing but at least you have the time to learn and experiment.