Categories of effects

Hi, My name is Pamela García. I’m from Guatemala, Guatemala. I’m going to write a lesson about the effect categories, from Introduction to Musical Production, week three, of coursera.org.

The effects are divided on three cateories:

• Dynamic Effects
• Delay Effects
• Filter Effects

The Dynamic effects are related to the amplitud.  They help us to adjust the volume of our tracks, such as:

• Compressors:  reduces the volume of loud sound or amplifies quiet sounds.

• Limiters:  Compression and limiting are not different in process but in degree and perceived effect. A limiter is a compressor with a high ratio and, generally, a fast attack time.

• Expanders:  The expander is a compressor in reverse. There are two types of expander. In some, signals above the threshold remain at unity gain whereas signals below the threshold are reduced in gain, whereas in others the signal above the threshold also has the gain increased.

• Noise Gates:  attenuate signals above a threshold, noise gates attenuate signals which register below the threshold.

The Delay effects are related to the propagation.  They help us to adjust our sense of space in our tracks, such as:

• Reverbs:  is the persistence of sound in a particular space after the original sound is produced. A reverberation is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space causing a large number of echoes to build up and then slowly decay as the sound is absorbed by the walls and air.

• Delays: it records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time.

• Phasers:  is an audio signal processing technique used to filter a signal by creating a series of peaks and troughs in the frequency spectrum. The position of the peaks and troughs is typically modulated so that they vary over time, creating a sweeping effect.

• Flangers:  is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds.

• Choruses:  it occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly (but never exactly) the same pitch converge and are perceived as one.

The Filter effects are related to the timber of the sound.  They helps us to adjust the high and lows of our tracks, such as:

• High Pass Filter:  is an electronic filter that passes high-frequency signals but attenuates(reduces the amplitude of) signals with frequencies lower than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter.

• Low Pass Filter:  is an electronic filter that passes low-frequency signals and attenuates (reduces the amplitude of) signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter.

• Band Pass Filter:  is a combination of a low-pass and a high-pass. is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects (attenuates) frequencies outside that range.

• Parametric EQ:  are multi-band variable equalizers which allow users to control the three primary parameters: amplitude, center frequency and bandwidth. The amplitude of each band can be controlled, and the center frequency can be shifted, and bandwidth ("Q") can be widened or narrowed. Parametric equalizers are capable of making much more precise adjustments to sound than other equalizers.

• Graphic EQ:  the input signal is sent to a bank of filters. Each filter passes the portion of the signal present in its own frequency range or band. The amplitude passed by each filter is adjusted using a slide control to boost or cut frequency components passed by that filter. The vertical position of each slider thus indicates the gain applied at that frequency band, so that the knobs resemble a graph of the equalizer's response plotted versus frequency.

Hi, My name is Pamela García.  I’m from Guatemala, Guatemala.  I’m going to write a lesson on How to prepare a Project in your DAW, from Introduction to Musical Production, week two, of coursera.org

HOW TO PREPARE A PROJECT IN YOUR DAW

The first thing to do, is to open your DAW and give your new project a proper name.  I’m using for this The Adobe Audition 1.5. 

Go to File, and the option Save session as.

Choose a location for your folder.  In this case, I choosed  C: \User\Pamela y Neri\Desktop\Pame\Estudios Berkley\Music Production,  and I named my project “Assigment week two”.

Once you have this, you can continue with the project.  Now you have to set your digital audio preferences on the DAW.  I’m going to start with the sample rate, the beat depth and choosing the mono track.  In the Adobe Audition, this options are in the same window.

Go to the Window of “Edit View”  and go to “File”, “New Waveform”.  In this windows you can choose your sample rate, I picked 48000.  Mono Channel, and Resolution of 32-bit (float).  In the Adobe Audition there is no choise of 24-bit.  So I choosed the 32 for recording. As in the picture above.

To change the buffer size, go to Options, then Settings, and it will open this windows above.  There you will look out for the option Recording buffer size, and change it to 128. As in the picture above.

All this set, you will continue with the recording. 

In the lesson seen in class, it was told that you have to choose first the file type and put the name of the track before recording.  In this case, as I am using the Adobe Audition 1.5, this steps will be the last ones, because the software doesn’t save the audio while recording it.  You make your recording first and if you are happy with the result you save it.  And you will have to save it every time you change something on it.

After having your first recording, that you made on Edit View, you can save it, choosing the file type and the name of the track.  Go File, and Save as… option, as in the picture above.

In the Save As window, you will choose the file to save your audio tracks.  I choose

C: \User\Pamela y Neri\Desktop\Pame\Estudios Berkley\Music Production\Assigment week two

This means than in the Music Production folder, where I saved the session, I created also a folder named as the session “Assignment weed two” , and here I will save all my audio tracks, or midi, or any other type of track I create.  As in the picture above.

In this same windows of Save as, I will choose the type of file.  I choosed in this case, Windows PCM (*.wav).

 

MULTITRACK VIEW

If I need to record something else, I have to go to the multitrack view, I will drag my track to the multitrack window, and now I can record a new track listening at the first one.  Before recording, I have to enable the key  Record.

You can see in this picture, how the first track has the key record enable, while in the second track is not.

In this next picture, you will see that in the first track, the key record is not enable, and the second one is.  This allowed  me to record in the second track while listening at the first one.  You’ll also see at the buttom of the screen, that there is the record button.  When you use that button, the recorging mode will start, and it will record on all the tracks that you had enable the key record.

Arter the recording, you will have to go to edit view and save the new track.

You will see at the end of the screen too, the monitor record level, there you can check the volume of your microphone or instruments.

After setting the volume you can start recording. 

You have to remember that every DAW is very different, and the important thing is to research your DAW,  explore it until you find the basic things that you will need to use, and from there you will be able to explore more and more each time you use your DAW.

This is all for this lesson, I hope this information was clear.  Please feel free on giving me your opinions.  My first language is no English, so it may be some mistakes on the spelling or the grammar, if you can help in that area too, I will be gratefull.