Analog and Digital Recording:

1
Analog and Digital Recording

• Advances In Digital Audio

2
The Human Ear

• The human ear hears sound through rapid
  variations in air pressure (Keating 02).
• This can be referred to as analog sound (Gateway
  3).

3
Earlier forms of Recording

• Edisons phonograph, invented in 1877 was one of
  the first ways of recording analog sound This
  process involved a sharp needle etching grooves
  onto foil cylinder (Gateway 4).
• Before the advent of digital recording, analog
  recordings could also be done via reel to reel
  machines. This technology involved using magnetic
  tape and tape heads to read the variations in
  sound (Sweeney 5).

4
Digital Audio

• Digital audio is represented using binary code
  (1s and 0s) to reproduce the audio frequencies
  (Hass).
• The sound waves are reproduced by sampling
  Sampling is the times per second a sound wave is
  measured (Keating 7).

5
What's wrong with Analog?

• Recording audio with analog equipment cannot
  reproduce sound with absolute precision (Gateway
  5).
• In certain instances, editing capabilities in
  reel to reel machines are hindered by having to
  physically cut the tape, splicing (Keating 7).
• When re-recording over top an existing recording,
  the quality of the tape is degraded (Gateway 5).

6
What's wrong with Analog?

• Playback on analog machines introduces extra
  noise (wow and flutter, tape hiss) (Gateway 5).
• When making copies of a copy, quality is reduced
  in each copy (Gateway 5).
• Most analog tape recorders can only record 8
  tracks at a time, sometimes less.
• Professional grade analog recording equipment is
  very costly compared to digital.

7
What's right with Digital Recording?

• When recorded at a high sampling rate and bit
  resolution, digital recording is far more
  accurate than analog, primarily due to analog
  recording having a low signal to noise ratio
  (Gateway 8).
• Signal to noise ratio is far superior to analog
  (Keating 7).
• No loss in coping copies. Copying digital
  information is copying bits, where as analog
  stores information on grooves of a record or on a
  magnetic tape (Gateway 8).

8
Whats right with Digital recording, continued.

• Editing capabilities are in most cases,
  limitless.
• Purchasing digital audio recording equipment is
  getting cheaper and cheaper.
• Messing up and needing to record something over
  does not degrade tape or disc, like it does with
  analog tape (Gateway 8).

9
Its hard to find anything wrong with digital
audio recording!But, to be as objective as
possible
10
One conceivable advantage analog has over digital
recording is

• When levels run hot, or in the red, on a analog
  recording, there is a forgiving threshold of
  headroom before the recording sounds distorted
  (Keating 3).
• In most cases this is a highly desired sound.

• When a digital recording is faced with hot
  levels, the sound of digital distortion is very
  unappealing. The sound must be remedied by
  adjusting the level to where there is no clipping.

11
Digital Options

• When deciding on what type of digital recording
  equipment to buy there are several things to
  consider.
• Budget
• Size of recording room
• Whether to record using a computer or a stand
  alone Digital Audio Workstation or DAW.
• MIDI?

12
Budget

• Many exciting options are available for all
  budgets. Check online at
• www.musiciansfriend.com
• www.americanmusical.com
• Advances in technology have made it easier to
  make good quality recordings on even a limit
  budget.

13
Size

• Overall size of your recording production
• How many microphones/instruments to record at
  once.
• How many inputs you will need.
• How many outputs you will need.
• If you will be tracking, or if you want to master
  (finalize) you recording.

14
MIDI?

• Whether or not you will be MIDI applications.
  MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital
  Interface(Keating11).
• MIDI is a way of digital instruments, i.e.
  keyboards, to communicate with each other.
• MIDI is also used to sequence other MIDI devices
  together.
• If you are interested in using several keyboards
  and/or sequencers you may want to look into a
  recorder with MIDI capabilities.

15
Tracking Options

• You can decide to do you tracking with a
  computer. For tracking on computers you will need
  at least a soundcard, tracking program and a
  mixer.
• Or you can use a DAW. DAW are essentially a mixer
  with a computer inside them. Some also come with
  CD-R/RWs built into them.

16
Specifications Of digital.

• The most common method of creating digital audio
  is Pulse-code modulation (PCM). PCM digital audio
  is typically sampled at 44.1 kHz (for CD
  recordings) or 48 kHz (for professional audio
  applications). For comparison, speech signals for
  telephony are only sampled at 8 kHz. Higher
  sample rates for professional recording are
  becoming popular. These include 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz,
  and 192 kHz (Wikipedia).

17
Conclusion

• Whether or not your mind is made up, it is
  obvious to all that digital recording is the way
  of the future and beyond.
• You have many options and help resources assist
  everyone from the beginner to the novice.

18
Bibliography

• Sweeney, Daniel. Demystifying Compact Disc A
  Guide to Digital Audio. Blue Ridge SummitTBI,
  1986.
• Keating, Carolyn, ed. Digital Home Recording.
  Technical Ed Craig Anderton. San FranciscoBB,
  1998.
• Use Your PC to Explore Digital Music. Poway
  Gateway Inc., 2002.
• Hass, Jeffery. Principals of Digital Audio. 27
  Jan. 2005 lthttp//www.indiana.edu/emusic/digital_
  audio.htmlgt.
• Digital Audio. 27 Jan. 2005 lthttp//en.wikipedia.o
  rg/wiki/Digital_audiogt.
• Brain, Marshall. How Analog and Digital Recording
  Works. 27 Jan. 2005 lthttp//stuffo.howstuffworks.c
  om/analog-digital1.htmgt.

19
Thank You

• for watching.