Shakai Jonas-Thompson

Task 2- Sound Editing Equipment

DAWS
A DAW stands for digital audio work-station and Logic pro X Is an example of a DAW. The
benefits of a DAW is that they can be used by anyone, beginners or professionals. Also they
work on desktops and laptops because DAWs are digital not analogue which means they can
be used anywhere unlike mixing desks that can’t be moved. Logic is a professional
application used to edit sounds, it runs on both macs and PCs, however it relies on the
computer do the processing. DAWs have a user friendly interface which mimics a mixing
desk, as its digital it’s almost like having a portable mixing desk which is efficient.

Mixing Desk
Mixing desks are expensive equipment around £1200, but you could get both digital and
analogue mixing desks. With analogue mixing desks they always need air con as without it
the equipment would over heat and break, they also need sound proofing so the sound
doesn’t echo and bounce around. Mixing desks can only be used by pros because it’s hard to
get the hang of and very complicated. The whole point of a mixing desk is to mix and edit
sounds, usually music and adverts. To use a mixing desk, you’ll need a mater computer with
slides and channels and speakers. Popular mixing desk brands are; Allen and Heath, Yamaha
and Behringer and they’ve been around since the 1900s.

Daws seem to be more effective than mixing desks because they are much cheaper and
since its digital you can take it on the go, although it picks up ambient sound and your
laptop could potentially break its easier to use than a mixing desk and it can be self taught.
To use a mixing desk, you need to sound proof a room, you need a lot of space and they
usually cost £20,000 which could be too expensive for someone.
Shakai Jonas-Thompson

Cut
A cut is a shortcut and we use it to remove unwanted audio and sounds, using the cut tool
determines the end of the audio.

join
joining is when two separate sounds are added together by cross fading. If you don’t cross
fade it you’ll get a harsh jump between tones, by joining them they sound natural. To join
the sounds you need to select a fade over the edge and hold shift

Copy And Paste

The benefits of copying and pasting is it can give you the exact same sound multiple times
which means you don’t have record multiple times and you’ll save time. When you copy
something you can listen to it before and after the editing. One limitation of copying and
pasting is you could accidentally copy the wrong sound which could take a while to fix.
Shakai Jonas-Thompson

Stereo Field
This is the projected area of sound, its used to control sound. We use a stereo field to make
the audio sound natural or to add artistic effects. The limitation is that you need two or
more speakers to make it work.

Stereo Sound
Stereo sounds is made with two speakers, its used when bands are performing on stages so
everyone is heard equally. It sounds natural, like you are in the actual place but the
limitations is that it needs to be mixed and requires multiple speakers.

Mono Sound
Mono sound can be made with only one speaker and it doesn’t need mixing. It is mainly
used when a person is talking or singing.
Shakai Jonas-Thompson

Automation
This is similar to an EQ but it has control over the frequencies and how much they are
adjusted by. There are only digital automations, there arent any anologue ones. It is found
in the plug in section. Its purpose is it does mass jobs and controls hours to sound then the
EQ fine tunes it.

Colour Coding Clips

It allows you to do know what is what and who is who is a film or a band, it seperates all the
sound sources but you can only colour code DAWs and it helps to identify individual sound
sources.

Clipping
This is when you put a mark on a sound file, you can colour code your mark and you’d make
key words if its for acting. You might also mark significant changes in a song.
Shakai Jonas-Thompson

EQ
An EQ digitaly edits sound. It reduces the extreme high frequencies and low frequencies. It
boosts the middle frequency and increases the range of the middle frequnecies to make
them louder. On logic its known as a plug in and you bus sounds through it. On an anolouge
mixing desk it’s a piece of hardware and It has valves. Mics pick up all frequenciess so the
EQ is used to even it all and natralise the sounds. To use an EQ you need to listen to the
recoreded audio and decide where the high, low and middle frequencies are then the EQ
would digitaly adjust the sound.

Procedure 1: Review Recorded Material Before Using It

You need to listen over what you’ve recorded straight after you’ve recorded it, its called the
first check and its done so you know the quality of the audio and if its good enough to be
edited and worth using. The benefits are it can save a lot of time in post editing and it gives
you a better quality product. If this isnt done you could miss a deadline or you might not be
able to remove ambient sound, the only way to fix it is to re-record and ask the person to
speak slowly and clearly.

Procedure 2: Naming Tracks And Clips

Taking them off the recording device and putting it on the computer, we do this because the
computers are the safest places to sore the audio. Naming the audio makes it easy to locate
them in a later date and it saves time and ensures you wont lose or confuse any work. If you
don’t name your tracks you are risking losing them.

Procedure 3: Dragging Clips Into Timeline For Readiness

You need to drag your sound files onto the soundtrack. If you record a band, you’ll have one
channel per voice or per instrament and you can have infite channels. You need to rename
the channels to keep it organised. If you have the same instrament on different channels the
sound would be edited differently and it wouldn’t sound the same. it helps order the audio
Shakai Jonas-Thompson

and make it linear. If this procedure isnt followed you wont have the same sound through
out and it’ll sound unnatiral.