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Introduction to the Studio Foundation Sound Recording Kits v.5 (Sp13)

Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Studio Foundation Department

Introduction to the

Studio Foundation

Sound Recorder Kits

Version 5, revised January 22, 2013

Please send corrections and suggestions to david.tames@massart.edu

Thrown together by David Tamés, Media Arts Studio Manager, with contributions from Zak Ray, BA, Film/Video, 2011 and Bill Shamlian, Location Sound Recordist

Contents

1. Title Page

2. What is sound?

3. Studio Foundation audio kits

4. Comparison of the three recorders

5. Power on the recorder

6. Format card and set recording settings

7. Your rst recording

8. Listen to your recording

9. Selecting les for playback

10. Setting and monitoring levels (1/3)

11. Setting and monitoring levels (2/3)

12. Setting and monitoring levels (3/3)

13. Setting low cut and mic sensitivity

14. Display information during recording

15. Using the external microphone

16. Microphone placement (1/2)

17. Microphone placement (2/2)

18. Audio formats and sampling rate

19. Common audio le formats

20. Copying audio les to the Mac

21. Importing audio les into Final Cut

22. R-09 and R-09HR Conguration

23. R-05 Conguration

24. Additional sound resources

Introduction to the Studio Foundation Sound Recording Kits v.5 (Sp13)

What is sound?

Sound is vibrations of

air particles moving

through the air...

... that moves a diaphragm in the

microphone which in turn gets

translated into an electrical signal...

...that is converted to a

stream of binary data and

stored in a digital format

by the camera or audio

recorder and stored as a

digital le.

The digital le can be can

be played back by a

computer or media player

through speakers or

headphones which in turn

reproduce the vibrations

originally recorded.

Bonus: distortion, coloration and noise are

added by the microphone and additional noise

might be added by cables and electronic

circuits along the way (the reproduced sound

is never identical to the original)

Reections

(sounds you

don’t want)

Noise

(more sounds

you don’t want)

Source

(the sound

you want)

Microphone

Summary of content (12 pages)

PAGE 1
Massachusetts College of Art and Design Studio Foundation Department Introduction to the Studio Foundation Sound Recorder Kits Version 5, revised January 22, 2013 Please send corrections and suggestions to david.tames@massart.edu Contents 1. Title Page 2. What is sound? 3. Studio Foundation audio kits 4. Comparison of the three recorders 5. Power on the recorder 6. Format card and set recording settings 7. Your first recording 8. Listen to your recording 9. Selecting files for playback 10.
PAGE 2
Studio Foundation audio kits Roland R-09, R-09HR, and R-05 digital audio recorder kits are available from the R-09 Foundation Cage (the three models are very similar, this handout points out Studio the salient differences). ◀ The newest R-05 is similar to the R-09 and R-09HR with some minor differences: input and headphone volume buttons are on the front, and connectors are in different positions. Like the R-09HR it offer a choice of Automatic Gain Control (AGC) or LIMITER.
PAGE 3
Power on the recorder 1. To power on, press the POWER button (R-09 or R-09HR) and hold for a second or so; or slide the POWER slider (R-05) and hold for a second or so. 1 2. Check the battery level: all white (all black on the R-05 display) = 100% full* R-09 1 3.
PAGE 4
Your first recording 1. Press the ●REC button, the red ● flashes, indicating Record-Standby mode 3 1 2. If you are not using AGC (Automatic Gain Control)*, press the + or – INPUT level buttons to adjust the level of the recording so the meter in the display has peaks averaging between -12 and -6 (0 being the maximum level). More later on setting levels. R-09 2 R-09HR 3 3. Adjust the headphone volume level to a comfortable monitoring level, this does not affect the level of the actual recording. 4.
PAGE 5
Selecting files for playback Each time you record, the recorder creates a new audio file on the SD memory card, to view and select individual files for playback: 1 2 3 1. Press the FINDER MENU button on the R-09 (or the FINDER button on R-09HR and R-05) 2 2. Navigate through the list up and down using the ▼ and ▲ buttons. R-09 3. To play a specific file, press ●REC twice, then press ▶ 4. For other options, press ●REC once, then navigate with the ▼ and ▲ buttons to select your choice (e.g.
PAGE 6
Setting & monitoring levels 1. Adjusting levels manually provides the best results, however, in a pinch, especially when recording with lots of variation between soft and loud you can’t predict or control, turn on Automatic Gain Control (AGC) to let the recorder adjust levels automatically. R-09 1 R-09HR 2 2. If you are using an R-09HR or R-05 recorder, we suggest enabling the LIMITER which will gracefully curtail peak audio to avoid distortion.
PAGE 7
Setting low cut and mic sensitivity R-09 1. Turn the LOW CUT filter ON to eliminate lowfrequency rumble. Good when recording dialog since it cuts low frequencies that are below the vocal range. Sometimes intense low frequencies will throw off your levels. Set the LOW CUT filter OFF when you actually want these low frequencies in your recording, e.g. recording low-frequency sound effects. R-09HR 2. Adjust overall sensitivity with the MIC GAIN switch as needed: a.
PAGE 8
Using the external microphone The older R-09 and R-09HR kits come with a CS-15 external cardioid stereo microphone. R-05 kits do not include an external microphone, however, small shotguns and lavaliere microphones are available as separate checkout items, check with the cage monitor on duty for more information. 1 1. The mic w/ foam windscreen makes it easier to place the mic where it needs to be.
PAGE 9
Microphone placement The recorder has a built in stereo microphone with two capsules in an X-Y configuration. Each of the microphone capsules has directional characteristics. If you want to record in stereo, point the front of the recorder towards your source. In a situation in which you want the best mono recording, you’ll need to take into consideration the directional characteristics of the built-in microphones.
PAGE 10
Common audio file formats A codec (Compressor/Decompressor) is a method of compressing (encoding) and decompressing (decoding) audio that make it easier to store and play on a computer. There are many popular codecs in use, including: AIFF (or AIF) and WAV (or Wave) are uncompressed file format suitable for field recording and editing.
PAGE 11
R-09 Configuration Hold the FINDER/MENU button for two seconds to enter configuration menu R-09HR Configuration Press the MENU button to enter configuration menu * Source: Roland R-09 Owner’s Manual, August 1, 2006 *Set ON if using external mic. Recommended settings are circled Introduction to the Studio Foundation Sound Recording Kits v.
PAGE 12
Additional sound resources Websites Books Audio Bootcamp Field Guide by Ty Ford Concise introduction to professional sound recording. Producing Great Sound for Digital Video sf.massart.edu You can download TIME handouts and more from the Studio Foundation web site (from the home page on Resources, then choose TIME) filmsound.org A comprehensive introduction to sound recording for digital video.