Sony Music Entertainment México is a Mexican subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment (SME). It was founded in 1947 as Discos Columbia de México as a subsidiary of Columbia Records .
95-700: Sony Music Entertainment Mexico and its recording studios opened their doors as part of Discos Columbia de México S.A., having as its first recording “ The National Anthem of the United Mexican States ” on 8 December 1947. From 1955 until 1 November 1961, Andre Toffel served as general artistic director of the label, responsible for building the company's roster of artists like Rosa de Castilla , Flor Silvestre , Sonia Furió , José Alfredo Jiménez , Amanda del Llano , María de Lourdes , Dora María , Luis Pérez Meza , La Prieta Linda , Elvira Quintana , Cuco Sánchez , and Irma Serrano . After converting
190-498: A telephone hybrid for putting telephone calls on the air, a POTS codec for receiving remote broadcasts , a dead air alarm for detecting unexpected silence , and a broadcast delay for dropping anything from coughs to profanity . In the U.S., stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also must have an Emergency Alert System decoder (typically in the studio), and in
285-456: A 305mm bass cone made with new thermoplastics led to development and deployment of the LS5/5 and LS5/6 monitors that occupied only 60% volume of its predecessor. As recording became less and less "live" and multi-tracking and overdubbing became the norm, the studio monitor became far more crucial to the recording process. When there was no original performance outside what existed on the tape,
380-500: A BBC white paper published in January 1963, the authors explored two-channel stereophony, and remarked that it was at a disadvantage compared with multi-channel stereophony that was already available in cinemas in that "the full intended effects is apparent only to observers located within a restricted area in front of the loudspeakers". The authors expressed reservations about dispersion and directionality in 2-channel systems, noting that
475-401: A different machine, which records the combined signals (called printing ) to a 1 ⁄ 2 -inch two-track stereo tape, called a master . Before digital recording, the total number of available tracks onto which one could record was measured in multiples of 24, based on the number of 24-track tape machines being used. Most recording studios now use digital recording equipment, which limits
570-737: A few high-end studios, but with increasing costs of manufacture, they became rare. The once dominant JBL fell gradually into disfavour. One of the most striking trends was the growth of soft-dome monitors. These operated without horn-loaded drivers. Horns, while having advantages in transient response and efficiency, tend to be hard to listen to over long periods. The lack of distortion of high-end dome midrange & tweeters made them easy to work with all day (and night). Typical soft-dome systems were made by Roger Quested, ATC, Neil Grant and PMC and were actively driven by racks of active crossovers and amplifiers. Other monitor and studio designers like Tom Hidley, Phil Newall and Sam Toyoshima continued research into
665-750: A home studio is challenging because they are usually the loudest instruments. Acoustic drums require sound isolation in this scenario, unlike electronic or sampled drums. Getting an authentic electric guitar amp sound including power-tube distortion requires a power attenuator or an isolation cabinet , or booth. A convenient compromise is amplifier modeling , whether a modeling amp, preamp/processor, or software-based guitar amp simulator. Sometimes, musicians replace loud, inconvenient instruments such as drums, with keyboards, which today often provide somewhat realistic sampling . The capability of digital recording introduced by ADAT and its comparatively low cost, originally introduced at $ 3995, were largely responsible for
760-594: A home studio via the Internet. Additional outside audio connections are required for the studio/transmitter link for over-the-air stations, satellite dishes for sending and receiving shows, and for webcasting or podcasting . Studio monitor Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios , filmmaking , television studios , radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate audio reproduction
855-413: A large role in the recording process. With software, a powerful, good quality computer with a fast processor can replace the mixing consoles , multitrack recording equipment, synthesizers, samplers and effects unit (reverb, echo, compression, etc.) that a recording studio required in the 1980s and 1990s. A computer thus outfitted is called a digital audio workstation , or DAW. While Apple Macintosh
950-444: A lesser amount of diffused reflections from walls to make a good-sounding room. A drummer, vocalist, or guitar speaker cabinet, along with microphones, is acoustically isolated in the isolation booth. A typical professional recording studio today has a control room , a large live room , and one or more small isolation booths . All rooms are soundproofed by varying methods, including but not limited to, double-layer 5/8" sheetrock with
1045-482: A linear phase response helps impulse response remain true to source without encountering "smearing". An unqualified reference to a monitor often refers to a near-field (compact or close-field) design. This is a speaker small enough to sit on a stand or desk in proximity to the listener, so that most of the sound that the listener hears is coming directly from the speaker, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from
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#17327827326631140-559: A number of technical advantages. The interface between speaker and amplifier can be optimized, possibly offering greater control and precision, and advances in amplifier design have reduced the size and weight of the electronics significantly. The result has been that passive monitors have become far less common than powered monitors in project and home studios. In the 2000s, there was a trend to focus on "translation". Engineers tended to choose monitors less for their accuracy than for their ability to "translate" – to make recordings sound good on
1235-508: A regular stage or film set. In the era of acoustical recordings (prior to the introduction of microphones, electrical recording and amplification), the earliest recording studios were very basic facilities, being essentially soundproof rooms that isolated the performers from outside noise. During this era it was not uncommon for recordings to be made in any available location, such as a local ballroom, using portable acoustic recording equipment. In this period, master recordings were made by cutting
1330-421: A room called the "studio" or "live room" equipped with microphones and mic stands, where instrumentalists and vocalists perform; and the " control room ", where audio engineers, sometimes with record producers, as well, operate professional audio mixing consoles , effects units , or computers with specialized software suites to mix , manipulate (e.g., by adjusting the equalization and adding effects) and route
1425-410: A rotating cylinder (later disc) made from wax. Performers were typically grouped around a large acoustic horn (an enlarged version of the familiar gramophone horn). The acoustic energy from the voices or instruments was channeled through the horn to a diaphragm to a mechanical cutting lathe , which inscribed the signal as a modulated groove directly onto the surface of the master. Electrical recording
1520-497: A selection of instruments in their live room, typically instruments, amplifiers and speaker cabinets that are large, heavy, and difficult to transport (e.g., a Hammond organ ) or infeasible (as in the case of a grand piano ) to hire for a single recording session. Having musical instruments and equipment in the studio creates additional costs for a studio, as pianos have to be tuned and instruments and associated equipment needs to be maintained. General-purpose computers rapidly assumed
1615-402: A signal from one or more of the microphones in the studio could be routed to the loudspeaker in the echo chamber; the sound from the speaker reverberated through the chamber and the enhanced signal was picked up by the microphone at the other end. This echo-enhanced signal, which was often used to sweeten the sound of vocals, could then be blended in with the primary signal from the microphone in
1710-414: A single take. In the 1970s the large recording companies began to adopt multi-track recording and the emphasis shifted to isolation and sound-proofing, with treatments like echo and reverberation added separately during the mixing process, rather than being blended in during the recording. Generally, after an audio mix is set up on a 24-track tape machine, the tracks are played back together, mixed and sent to
1805-470: A twelve-inch mid-bass driver. Most studios, however, also used more modest monitoring devices to check how recordings would sound through car speakers and cheap home systems. A favourite "grot-box" monitor employed in this way was the Auratone 5C, a crude single-driver device that gave a reasonable facsimile of typical lo-fi sound. However, a backlash against the behemoth monitor was soon to take place. With
1900-431: A variety of playback systems, from stock car radios and standard boom boxes to esoteric audiophile systems. As the mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge has noted: But it is uncertain just what tools aid translation. Some producers argue that accuracy is still the best guarantee. If a producer or audio engineer is listening to recorded tracks and mixing tracks using a "flattering" monitor speaker, they may miss subtle problems in
1995-408: A vibrant acoustic signature as the natural reverb enhanced the sound of the recording. In this period large, acoustically live halls were favored, rather than the acoustically dead booths and studio rooms that became common after the 1960s. Because of the limits of the recording technology, which did not allow for multitrack recording techniques, studios of the mid-20th century were designed around
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#17327827326632090-430: Is a compact studio monitor designed for listening at close distances (3 to 5 feet (0.9 to 1.5 m)), so, in theory, the effects of poor room acoustics are greatly reduced.) The 4310 was small enough to be placed on the recording console and listened to from much closer distances than the traditional large wall-(or "soffit") mounted main monitors. As a result, studio-acoustic problems were minimized. Smaller studios found
2185-428: Is a key goal, the musicians, singers, audio engineers and record producers still need to be able to see each other, to see cue gestures and conducting by a bandleader. As such, the live room, isolation booths, vocal booths and control room typically have windows. Amplified instruments, like electric guitars and digital keyboards, may be connected directly to the recording console using DI units and performance recorded in
2280-443: Is a list of artists current signed to Sony Music Mexico: Recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both
2375-569: Is crucial. Among audio engineers , the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses . In other words, it exhibits minimal emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies, the loudspeaker gives an accurate reproduction of the tonal qualities of the source audio ("uncolored" and "transparent" are synonyms), and there will be no relative phase shift of particular frequencies—meaning no distortion in sound-stage perspective for stereo recordings. Beyond stereo sound-stage requirements,
2470-409: Is essential to preserving the ability to fine-tune lines up to the last minute. Sometimes, if the rapport between the lead actors is strong enough and the animation studio can afford it, the producers may use a recording studio configured with multiple isolation booths in which the actors can see each another and the director. This enables the actors to react to one another in real time as if they were on
2565-490: Is used for most studio work, there is a breadth of software available for Microsoft Windows and Linux . If no mixing console is used and all mixing is done using only a keyboard and mouse, this is referred to as mixing in the box (ITB). OTB describes mixing with other hardware and not just the PC software. A small, personal recording studio is sometimes called a project studio or home studio . Such studios often cater to
2660-514: The RCA company in the 1930s were crucial to the crooning style perfected by Bing Crosby , and the famous Neumann U 47 condenser microphone was one of the most widely used from the 1950s. This model is still widely regarded by audio professionals as one of the best microphones of its type ever made. Learning the correct placement of microphones is a major part of the training of young engineers, and many became extremely skilled in this craft. Well into
2755-668: The recording and monitoring (listening and mixing) spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties (acoustic isolation or diffusion or absorption of reflected sound reverberation that could otherwise interfere with the sound heard by the listener). Recording studios may be used to record singers, instrumental musicians (e.g., electric guitar, piano, saxophone, or ensembles such as orchestras), voice-over artists for advertisements or dialogue replacement in film, television, or animation, Foley , or to record their accompanying musical soundtracks. The typical recording studio consists of
2850-438: The "face-to-face listening arrangement" was not able to give an acceptable presentation for a centrally-located observer in a domestic setting. The paper concluded: The achievement of suitable directional characteristics within the aesthetic and economic limitations applying to domestic equipment will however require a much greater research effort than either the corporation or the radio industry have so far been able to devote to
2945-577: The 1950s and 1960s, the sound of pop recordings was further defined by the introduction of proprietary sound processing devices such as equalizers and compressors, which were manufactured by specialist electronics companies. One of the best known of these was the Pultec equalizer which was used by almost all the major commercial studios of the time. With the introduction of multi-track recording , it became possible to record instruments and singers separately and at different times on different tracks on tape. In
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3040-513: The 1960s, in the classical field it was not uncommon for engineers to make high-quality orchestral recordings using only one or two microphones suspended above the orchestra. In the 1960s, engineers began experimenting with placing microphones much closer to instruments than had previously been the norm. The distinctive rasping tone of the horn sections on the Beatles recordings " Good Morning Good Morning " and " Lady Madonna " were achieved by having
3135-561: The 1980s. While its sound-quality has often been derided, even by those who monitor through it, the NS-10 continues in use to this day and many more successful recordings have been produced with its aid over the past twenty five years than with any other monitor. By the mid-1980s the near-field monitor had become a permanent fixture. The larger studios still had large soffit-mounted main monitors but producers and engineers spent most of their time working with near-fields. Common large monitors of
3230-478: The 30th Street Studio at 207 East 30th Street, the CBS Studio Building at 49 East 52nd Street, Liederkranz Hall at 111 East 58th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues (a building built by and formerly belonging to a German cultural and musical society, The Liederkranz Club and Society), and one of their earliest recording studios, Studio A at 799 Seventh Avenue. Electric recording studios in
3325-455: The 30th Street Studios in the late 1940s and A&R manager Mitch Miller had tweaked it to perfection, Miller issued a standing order that the drapes and other fittings were not to be touched, and the cleaners had specific orders never to mop the bare wooden floor for fear it might alter the acoustic properties of the hall. There were several other features of studios in this period that contributed to their unique sonic signatures. As well as
3420-458: The 4310 ideal and that monitor and its successor, the 4311, became studio fixtures throughout the 1970s. Ironically, the 4310 had been designed to replicate the sonic idiosyncrasies of the Altec 604 but in a smaller package to cater for the technical needs of the time. The 4311 was so popular with professionals that JBL introduced a domestic version for the burgeoning home-audio market. This speaker,
3515-431: The Altec 604 but was a more accurate and powerful speaker and it quickly made inroads against the industry standard. However, it was the more compact 4310 that revolutionized monitoring by introducing the idea of close or "nearfield" monitoring. (The sound field very close to a sound source is called the "near-field." By "very close" is meant in the predominantly direct, rather than reflected, sound field. A near-field speaker
3610-625: The BBC required monitors to sound balanced, be neutral in tone, and lack colouration. Monitor usage in the industry was highly conservative, with almost monopolistic reliance on industry "standards", in spite of the sonic failings of these aging designs. The Altec 604 had a notoriously ragged frequency response but almost all U.S. studios continued to use it because virtually every producer and engineer knew its sound intimately and were practiced at listening through its sonic limitations. Recording through unfamiliar monitors, no matter how technically advanced,
3705-537: The JBL L-100, (or "Century") was a massive success and became the biggest-selling hi-fi speaker ever within a few years. By 1975, JBL overtook Altec as the monitor of choice for most studios. The major studios continued to use huge designs mounted on the wall which were able to produce prodigious SPL's and amounts of bass. This trend reached its zenith with The Who 's use of a dozen JBL 4350 monitors, each capable of 125 dB and containing two fifteen-inch woofers and
3800-801: The L-100, was used in a large number of homes, while the Yamaha NS-10 served both domestically and professionally during the 1980s. Despite not being a "commercial product" at the outset, the BBC licensed production of the LS3/5A monitor, which it used internally. It was commercially successful in its twenty-something-year life, from 1975 until approximately 1998. The diminutive BBC speaker has amassed an "enthusiastic, focused, and ... loyal following", according to Paul Seydor in The Absolute Sound . Estimates of their sales differ, but are generally in
3895-583: The LS5/8 – a large "Grade I monitor" already in use at the time – and with live sources, the BBC Research Department developed the LS3/5, which became the famous LS3/5A that was used from 1975 to much of the 1990s and beyond by the BBC and audiophiles alike. In the late 1960s JBL introduced two monitors which helped secure them pre-eminence in the industry. The 4320 was a direct competitor to
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3990-1149: The United States, a position it maintained in its various incarnations (the 604 went through eleven model-changes) over the next 25 years. It was common in US studios throughout the 1950s and 60s and remained in continuous production until 1998. In the UK, Tannoy introduced its own coaxial design, the Dual Concentric, and this assumed the same reference role in Europe as the Altec 604 held in the US. The British Broadcasting Corporation researchers conducted evaluations on as many speakers as they could obtain in around 1948, but found commercial loudspeaker makers had little to offer that met their requirements. The BBC needed speakers that worked well with program material within real professional and domestic settings environments, and not just fulfil technical measurements such as frequency-response, distortion, monitors in anechoic chambers. Above all,
4085-467: The advent of punk , new wave , indie , and lo-fi , a reaction to high-tech recording and large corporate-style studios set in and do-it-yourself recording methods became the vogue. Smaller, less expensive, recording studios needed smaller, less expensive monitors and the Yamaha NS-10 , a design introduced in 1978 ironically for the home audio market, became the monitor of choice for many studios in
4180-627: The brand companies from Columbia to CBS Records International in 1961, the company was renamed Discos CBS S.A. in August 1962. In April 1963, it was one of the founding member companies of the current Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON). During the 1960s to 1980s, Discos CBS remained one of the most important record companies in the country. In 1988, CBS sold Columbia and CBS Records International to Sony Corporation of America , and finally in 1991, Sony renamed CBS International to Sony Music Entertainment , giving it
4275-519: The case of full-power stations, an encoder that can interrupt programming on all channels which a station transmits to broadcast urgent warnings. Computers are used for playing ads , jingles , bumpers , soundbites , phone calls, sound effects , traffic and weather reports , and now are able to perform full broadcast automation when no staff are present. Digital mixing consoles can be interconnected via audio over Ethernet . Network connections allow remote access , so that DJs can do shows from
4370-418: The characteristics of every type of system available; technical faults must not be apparent to even a minority of listeners while remaining undetected by the operating staff. It is further argued that, because of technical progress in the science of sound transmission, equipment in the studio originating the programme should have a higher standard of performance than the equipment employed in reproducing it, since
4465-489: The concept of grouping musicians (e.g., the rhythm section or a horn section ) and singers (e.g., a group of backup singers ), rather than separating them, and placing the performers and the microphones strategically to capture the complex acoustic and harmonic interplay that emerged during the performance. In the 2000s, modern sound stages still sometimes use this approach for large film scoring projects that use large orchestras. Because of their superb acoustics, many of
4560-480: The consideration of the physical dimensions of the room itself to make the room respond to sound in the desired way. Acoustical treatment includes and the use of absorption and diffusion materials on the surfaces inside the room. To control the amount of reverberation, rooms in a recording studio may have a reconfigurable combination of reflective and non-reflective surfaces. Soundproofing provides sonic isolation between rooms and prevents sound from entering or leaving
4655-436: The control room. This greatly enhances the communication between the producer and engineer with the player, as studio mics, headphones and talkback are unnecessary. Recording studios are carefully designed around the principles of room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties required for recording sound with accuracy. Architectural acoustics includes acoustical treatment and soundproofing and also
4750-431: The current name of Sony Music Entertainment México. Between 2004 and 2008, Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) founded a joint venture company called Sony BMG Music Entertainment , during those four years, Sony Music México and BMG México worked together as Sony BMG México. Finally Sony Music bought BMG in 2008, and returned to the name Sony Music México, absorbing the entire BMG catalog. The follow
4845-407: The design principle or cost, has a completely flat frequency response; all speakers color the sound to some degree. Monitor speakers are assumed to be as free as possible from coloration . While no rigid distinction exists between consumer speakers and studio monitors, manufacturers usually accent the difference in their marketing material. Generally, studio monitors are physically robust, to cope with
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#17327827326634940-455: The early years of the recording industry in the 1920s and 1930s, studio monitors were used primarily to check for noise interference and obvious technical problems rather than for making artistic evaluations of the performance and recording. Musicians were recorded live and the producer judged the performance on this basis, relying on simple tried-and-true microphone techniques to ensure that it had been adequately captured; playback through monitors
5035-582: The former has a longer life. In fact, most professional audio production studios have several sets of monitors spanning the range of playback systems in the market. This may include a sampling of large, expensive speakers as may be used in movie theatres, hi-fi style speakers, car speakers, portable music systems, PC speakers and consumer-grade headphones. Amplification: Studio monitors may be " active " (including one or more internal power amplifier(s)), or passive (requiring an external power amplifier ). Active models are usually bi-amplified , which means that
5130-415: The high volumes and physical knocks that may happen in the studio, and are used for listening at shorter distances (e.g., near field) than hi-fi speakers, though nothing precludes them from being used in a home-sized environment. In one prominent recording magazine, Sound on Sound , the number of self-amplified (active) studio monitor reviews significantly outweighs the number of passive monitor reviews over
5225-448: The high volumes and sudden sound bursts that may happen in the studio when playing back unmastered mixes. Broadcasting and recording organisations employ audio engineers who use loudspeakers to assess the aesthetic merits of the programme and to tailor the balance by audio mixing and mastering to achieve the desired result. Loudspeakers are also required at various points in the audio processing chain to enable engineers to ensure that
5320-412: The inherent sound of the large recording rooms, many of the best studios incorporated specially-designed echo chambers , purpose-built rooms which were often built beneath the main studio. These were typically long, low rectangular spaces constructed from hard, sound-reflective materials like concrete, fitted with a loudspeaker at one end and one or more microphones at the other. During a recording session,
5415-534: The input sound signal is divided into two parts by an active crossover for low and high frequency components. Both parts are amplified using separate low- and high-frequency amplifiers, and then the low-frequency part is routed to a woofer and the high-frequency part is routed to a tweeter or horn . Bi-amplification is done so that a cleaner overall sound reproduction can be obtained, since signals are easier to process before power amplification. Consumer loudspeakers may or may not have these various design goals. In
5510-664: The larger studios were converted churches. Examples include George Martin 's AIR Studios in London, Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York City, and Pythian Temple studio in New York. Facilities like the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York and Abbey Road Studios in London were renowned for their identifiable sound—which was (and still is) easily identifiable by audio professionals—and for
5605-414: The mic'ing or recording quality that a more precise monitor would expose. Other producers feel that monitors should mimic home audio and car speakers, as this is what most consumers listen to music on. Still more believe that monitors need to be relentlessly unflattering, so that the producer and engineer must work hard to make recordings sound good. No speaker, monitor or hi-fi sound system, regardless of
5700-584: The mid-20th century often lacked isolation booths, sound baffles , and sometimes even speakers. A major reason that isolation was not used was that recordings in this period were typically made as live ensemble takes and all the performers needed to be able to see each other and the ensemble leader while playing. The recording engineers who trained in this period learned to take advantage of the complex acoustic effects that could be created through leakage between different microphones and groups of instruments, and these technicians became extremely skilled at capturing
5795-422: The mid-20th century, recordings were analog , made on 1 ⁄ 4 -inch or 1 ⁄ 2 -inch magnetic tape , or, more rarely, on 35 mm magnetic film , with multitrack recording reaching 8 tracks in the 1950s, 16 in 1968, and 32 in the 1970s. The commonest such tape is the 2-inch analog, capable of containing up to 24 individual tracks. Throughout the 1960s many pop classics were still recorded live in
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#17327827326635890-445: The mistake of replacing the 604 with the 605A Duplex, a design widely regarded as inferior to its predecessor. There was a backlash from some record companies and studios and this allowed Altec's competitor, JBL (a company originally started by 604 designer James B. Lansing), to make inroads into the pro monitor market. Capitol Records replaced their Altecs with JBL D50 Monitors and a few years later their UK affiliate, EMI , also made
5985-465: The monitor became the touchstone of all engineering and production decisions. As a result, accuracy and transparency became paramount and the conservatism evident in the retention of the 604 as the standard for over twenty years began to give way to fresh technological development. Despite this, the 604 continued to be widely used - mainly because many engineers and producers were so familiar with their sonic signature that they were reluctant to change. In
6080-601: The move to JBL's. Although Altec re-introduced the 604 as the "E" version Super Duplex in response to the criticism, they now had a major industry rival to contend with. Over the next decade most of the developments in studio monitor design originated from JBL. As the public broadcaster in the UK, the BBC had the determinant role in defining industry standards. Its renowned research departments invested considerable resources in determining studio monitor suited to their different broadcasting needs, and also created their own models from first principles. A 1958 research paper identified
6175-446: The normal condition and avoidable departures from this state, while justified upon occasion, should not be allowed to become a permanent feature of the system. In designing a loudspeaker, the BBC established the compromise that had to be established between size, weight and cost considerations. Two-way designs were preferred due to the inherently simpler crossover network, but were subject to the limitations of speaker driver technology at
6270-524: The number of available tracks only on the basis of the mixing console 's or computer hardware interface's capacity and the ability of the hardware to cope with processing demands. Analog tape machines are still used in some cases for their unique sonic characteristics. Radio studios are very similar to recording studios, particularly in the case of production studios which are not normally used on-air , such as studios where interviews are taped for later broadcast. This type of studio would normally have all of
6365-457: The past two decades indicating that studio monitors are predominantly self-amplified, although not exclusively so. Hi-fi speakers usually require external amplification. Monitors are used by almost all professional producers and audio engineers. The claimed advantage of studio monitors is that the production translates better to other sound systems. In the 1970s, the JBL 4311's domestic equivalent,
6460-526: The problems of cinema sound. Stereophonic sound was in its infancy, having been pioneered in Britain by an engineer who worked for EMI . Designing monitors for recording studios was not a major priority. The first high-quality loudspeaker developed expressly as a studio monitor was the Altec Lansing Duplex 604 in 1944. This innovative driver has historically been regarded as growing out of
6555-634: The programme is reasonably free from technical defects, such as audible distortion or background noise. The engineer may mix programming that will sound pleasing on the widest range of playback systems used by regular listeners (i.e. high-end audio , low-quality radios in clock radios and " boom boxes ", in club PA systems , in a car stereo or a home stereo). While some broadcasters like the BBC generally believe in using monitors of "the highest practicable standard of performance", some audio engineers argue that monitoring should be carried out with loudspeakers of mediocre technical quality to be representative of
6650-502: The property. A Recording studio in an urban environment must be soundproofed on its outer shell to prevent noises from the surrounding streets and roads from being picked up by microphones inside. Equipment found in a recording studio commonly includes: Not all music studios are equipped with musical instruments. Some smaller studios do not have instruments, and bands and artists are expected to bring their own instruments, amplifiers, and speakers. However, major recording studios often have
6745-467: The regular systems end-users are likely to be listening with; or that some technical defects are apparent only with high-grade reproducing equipment and therefore can be ignored. However, as a public broadcaster dealing with a lot of live material, the BBC holds the view that studio monitors should be "as free as possible from avoidable defects". It is argued that real life low-grade sound systems are so different that it would be impossible to compensate for
6840-459: The rise of project studios in the 1990s. Today's project studios are built around software-based DAWs running on standard PC hardware. An isolation booth is either a partially enclosed area in the live room or a completely separate small room built adjacent to the live room that is both soundproofed to keep out external sounds and keep in the internal sounds. Like all the other recording rooms in sound industry, isolation booths designed for having
6935-413: The room). Monitor speakers may include more than one type of driver (e.g., a tweeter and a woofer ) or, for monitoring low-frequency sounds, such as bass drum , additional subwoofer cabinets may be used. There are studio monitors designed for mid-field or far-field use as well. These are larger monitors with approximately 12 inch or larger woofers, suited to the bigger studio environment. They extend
7030-444: The same equipment that any other audio recording studio would have, particularly if it is at a large station, or at a combined facility that houses a station group, but is also designed for groups of people to work collaboratively in a live-to-air situation. Broadcast studios also use many of the same principles such as sound isolation, with adaptations suited to the live on-air nature of their use. Such equipment would commonly include
7125-401: The saxophone players position their instruments so that microphones were virtually inside the mouth of the horn. The unique sonic characteristics of the major studios imparted a special character to many of the most famous popular recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, and the recording companies jealously guarded these facilities. According to sound historian David Simons, after Columbia took over
7220-508: The seams offset from layer to layer on both sides of the wall that is filled with foam, batten insulation, a double wall, which is an insulated wall built next to another insulated wall with an air gap in-between, by adding foam to the interior walls and corners, and by using two panes of thick glass with an air gap between them. The surface densities of common building materials determines the transmission loss of various frequencies through materials. Thomas A. Watson invented, but did not patent,
7315-523: The skill of their staff engineers. As the need to transfer audio material between different studios grew, there was an increasing demand for standardization in studio design across the recording industry, and Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood was highly influential in the 1970s in the development of standardized acoustic design. In New York City, Columbia Records had some of the most highly respected sound recording studios, including
7410-501: The smaller independent studios were often owned by skilled electronics engineers who designed and built their own desks and other equipment. A good example of this is Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, the site of many famous American pop recordings of the 1960s. Co-owner David S. Gold built the studio's main mixing desk and many additional pieces of equipment and he also designed the studio's unique trapezoidal echo chambers. During
7505-474: The sound and keep it from bleeding into the other microphones, allowing better independent control of each instrument channel at the mixing console . In animation, vocal performances are normally recorded in individual sessions, and the actors have to imagine (with the help of the director or a reader) they are involved in dialogue. Animated films often evolve rapidly during both development and production, so keeping vocal tracks from bleeding into each other
7600-408: The sound for analog or digital recording . The engineers and producers listen to the live music and the recorded "tracks" on high-quality monitor speakers or headphones . Often, there will be smaller rooms called isolation booths to accommodate loud instruments such as drums or electric guitar amplifiers and speakers, to keep these sounds from being audible to the microphones that are capturing
7695-485: The sound goal, in a monaural system: It is assumed that the ideal to be aimed at in the design of a sound reproducing system is realism, i.e. that the listener should be able to imagine himself to be in the presence of the original source of sound. There is, of course, scope for legitimate experiment in the processing of the reproduced signals in an endeavour to improve on nature, however, realism, or as near an approach to it as may be possible, ought surely to be regarded as
7790-445: The soundproof booth for use in demonstrating the telephone with Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. There are variations of the same concept, including a portable standalone isolation booth and a guitar speaker isolation cabinet. A gobo panel achieves the same effect to a much more moderate extent; for example, a drum kit that is too loud in the live room or on stage can have acrylic glass see-through gobo panels placed around it to deflect
7885-474: The sounds from other instruments or voices, or to provide "drier" rooms for recording vocals or quieter acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar or a fiddle . Major recording studios typically have a range of large, heavy, and hard-to-transport instruments and music equipment in the studio, such as a grand piano , Hammond organ , electric piano , harp , and drums . Recording studios generally consist of three or more rooms: Even though sound isolation
7980-544: The speaker/room interface and led developments in room design, trapping, absorption and diffusion to create a consistent and neutral monitoring environment. The main post-NS-10 trend has been the almost universal acceptance of powered monitors where the speaker enclosure contains the driving amplifiers. Passive monitors require outboard power amplifiers to drive them as well as speaker wire to connect them. Powered monitors, by contrast, are comparatively more convenient and streamlined single units, which in addition, marketeers claim
8075-444: The specific needs of an individual artist or are used as a non-commercial hobby. The first modern project studios came into being during the mid-1980s, with the advent of affordable multitrack recording devices, synthesizers and microphones. The phenomenon has flourished with falling prices of MIDI equipment and accessories, as well as inexpensive direct to disk recording products. Recording drums and amplified electric guitar in
8170-435: The studio and mixed into the track as the master recording was being made. Special equipment was another notable feature of the classic recording studio. The biggest studios were owned and operated by large media companies like RCA, Columbia and EMI, who typically had their own electronics research and development divisions that designed and built custom-made recording equipment and mixing consoles for their studios. Likewise,
8265-434: The subject. To complement its larger two-way monitors for studio use, the BBC developed a small speaker for near-field monitoring of the frequency range from 400 Hz to about 20 kHz for its outside broadcasting monitoring. The principal constraints were space and situations where using headphones is unsatisfactory, such as in mobile broadcasting vans. Based on scaling tests done in 1968, and detailed audio work against
8360-469: The time – there were few high-frequency units available at the time that functioned down to 1.5 kHz, meaning that the woofer must operate in a predictable manner up to about 2 kHz. The BBC developed a two-way studio monitor in 1959, the LS5/1, using a 58mm Celestion tweeter and 380mm Goodmans bass unit, but continually had problems with consistency of the bass units. The successful testing of
8455-406: The time were Eastlake / Westlake monitors with twin 15" bass units, a wooden midrange horn and a horn-loaded tweeter. The UREI 813 was also popular. Based on the almost ageless Altec 604 with a Time-Align passive crossover network developed by Ed Long , it included delay circuitry to align the acoustic centers of the low and high-frequency components. Fostex "Laboratory Series" monitors were used in
8550-571: The unique acoustic properties of their studios and the musicians in performance. It was not until the 1960s, with the introduction of the high-fidelity headphones that it became common practice for performers to use these to monitor their performance during recording and listen to playbacks. The use of different kinds of microphones and their placement around the studio is a crucial part of the recording process, and particular brands of microphones are used by engineers for their specific audio characteristics. The smooth-toned ribbon microphones developed by
8645-435: The width of the sweet spot, allowing "accurate stereo imaging for multiple persons". They tend to be used in film scoring environments, where simulation of larger sized areas like theaters is important. Also, studio monitors are made in a more physically robust manner than home hi-fi loudspeakers; whereas home hi-fi loudspeakers often only have to reproduce compressed commercial recordings, studio monitors have to cope with
8740-473: The work of James Bullough Lansing who had previously supplied the drivers for the Shearer Horn in 1936, a speaker that had rapidly become the industry standard in motion-picture sound. He had also designed the smaller Iconic and this was widely employed at the time as a motion-picture studio monitor. The 604 was a relatively compact coaxial design and within a few years it became the industry standard in
8835-442: Was common by the early 1930s, and mastering lathes were electrically powered, but master recordings still had to be cut into a disc, by now a lacquer, also known as an Acetate disc . In line with the prevailing musical trends, studios in this period were primarily designed for the live recording of symphony orchestras and other large instrumental ensembles. Engineers soon found that large, reverberant spaces like concert halls created
8930-422: Was hazardous because engineers unfamiliar with their sonic signatures could make poor production decisions and it was financially unviable to give production staff expensive studio time to familiarize themselves with new monitors. As a result, pretty well every U.S. studio had a set of 604's and every European studio a Tannoy Dual Concentric or two. However, in 1959, at the height of its industry dominance, Altec made
9025-456: Was used simply to check that no obvious technical flaws had spoiled the original recording. As a result, early monitors tended to be basic loudspeaker cabinets. The state-of-the-art loudspeakers of the era were massive horn-loaded systems which were mostly used in cinemas. High-end loudspeaker design grew out of the demands of the motion picture industry and most of the early loudspeaker pioneers worked in Los Angeles where they attempted to solve
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