alt.music.home-studio FAQ
Updated 04 Feb 2006

Note: use http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s-faq.html to bookmark this document.

To contribute to the FAQ email me (killermike) using this address: mike at unmusic dot co dot uk or raise the matter in the news group. Any submitted material will include a credit to the author.

Purpose of this FAQ.
Section 1 of this FAQ contains answers to some commonly raised questions about alt.music.home-studio. Before taking part in the group, you might want to at least skim through this section.

Section 2 contains some information about the actual practice of audio recording. Section 2 is not supposed to be an in depth explanation of recording techniques, there are better resources for that on the Internet. That section is aimed largely at people new to home studio recording. When embarking on a new type of activity, it is often difficult to know what the issues actually are and it is therefore difficult to know what questions to ask more experienced people. Hopefully section 2 will help people to understand the basic principals at work and thus to better form their questions. It also contains some of the most basic and commonly asked questions in the group. Hopefully after looking through it, a newcomer to the subject won't be forced to post an unanswerable question such as "How do I record my music with my computer?"

Index
Section 1 - The Group
1.1 - What is this group for?
1.2 - When/why was the group created?
1.3 - Didn't the group already exist?
1.4 - How do I access the group?
1.5 - I requested the group from my news server. It's been over a week and I have had no response from them and the group has not appeared.
1.6 - May I post binaries to alt.music.home-studio?
1.7 - Can I use the group to organize collaborations with other musicians?
1.8 - What languages may I use to post to the group?
1.9 - I've just got the group or I have just decided to start taking part, can I introduce myself to the group?
1.10 - Is it considered acceptable to post examples of my work for criticism?
1.11 - What sort of things have been discussed in the past?
1.12 - Explanations of some common terms and acronyms which are peculiar to this group
1.13 - Is there a listing of regular participants?
1.14 - Can I use the group for discussion of pirated or cracked software (where to get it etc)?


Section 2 - Home Studio Techniques
2.1  - I would like to record some of my music. What do I need?
2.2 - I would like to record some music. I would like to record some songs that I have written. My music consists of some acoustic guitars, an electric guitar and a drum machine along with my singing. I would like to record the music into my computer. I am just getting started so, I want to do it all on a minimal budget.
2.3 - I would like to buy a sound interface (soundcard) for my computer. What should I get?
2.4 - What is IRQ sharing, how can it be avoided and is it a problem?
2.5 - What is an effect loop and how is one used?
2.6 When using my muti-track audio recording software, I find that each track I record has the sound of the previous audio channels recorded along with the new material.


Section 1 
1.1
Q - What is this group for?
A - From the charter:

"The group is for the discussion of issues relating to home studio based or other amateur audio recording or processing for musicians. The newsgroup is un moderated. Spam is not allowed. Off-topic posts are discouraged but permitted if they have some interest to the majority of subscribers. Any off-topic posts must have "OT:" (without the quotes) or a similar indication present in the subject field. Binaries are not permitted but posting links to online audio files of interest to other users of the group would be permitted and encouraged. Other types of hobbyist, amateur or semi professional audio discussion that is not directly related to the central topic of of the newsgroup is also tolerated to some extent but if there is a more appropriate newsgroup for the discussion of a subject, this can pointed out to the poster. "

That pretty much covers it.

1.2
Q - When/why was the group created?
A - The group was created after some discussion in alt.music.4-track and rec.audio.pro. It was setup as a place for the discussion of home recording for beginner, amateur and semi professional musicians.

1.3
Q - Didn't the group already exist?
A - No. From a post I (killermike) made on the subject to rec.audio.pro:

"I would like to clarify a few issues raised further down in this in this thread. First of all, it *was* alt.music.home-recording that already existed. The group must have been created long ago and then abandoned. It doesn't even have a control message archived at ftp://ftp.isc.org/. The only online reference I could find to the group was a few server logs in google web search and it is mentioned as one of the newsgroup headers in some cross posted messages in the google Usenet archives. At one point, it was suggested that it might be a good idea to resurrect alt.music.home-recording rather than to create a new group from scratch. Unfortunately, I somehow made a mistake and started working under the assumption that alt.music.home-studio was the now dead group that needed resurrection. What this basically adds up to is that I created alt.music.home-studio rather than resurrecting alt.music.home-recording. As you can imagine, I feel pretty stupid for making such a mistake. I would also like to apologize to anyone that I may have inconvenienced by my getting mixed up in a thread in alt.music.4-track. However, it should make no real difference to the future of the new newsgroup. "

1.4
Q - How do I access the group?
A - If the group is already on your news server, you simply subscribe to it with your news reader software. If the group does not show up within the list of available newsgroups on your news you may have to request it. First, make sure that you first update your list of available groups to make sure that it hasn't been recently added. The procedure for making such a request varies from ISP to ISP. Typically it would consist of sending an email to the news admin of your ISP. This is often something like newsmaster@[yourisp].com

1.5
Q - I requested the group from my news server. It's been over a week and I have had no response from them and the group has not appeared.
A - First of all, your provider offers poor customer service. If there was some reason that they could not offer offer the group, they should have emailed you with an explanation. Some providers will fulfill a customer request and assume that the fulfillment of this request is an answer in itself, which is acceptable practice, in my opinion.

The next thing you can do is send a more verbose request. Include the following details.

The control messages are archived here:
ftp://ftp.isc.org/pub/usenet/control/alt/alt.music.home-studio.gz

Google feature the group and it's contents can be viewed here (sorry
for long URL):
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&group=alt.music.home-studio

There is an information page for the group here:
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s.html

There is an FAQ file for the group here:
http://www.unmusic.co.uk/amh-s-faq

It might also be a good idea to include some full headers from messages already in the group. Obviously, you can't obtain these until you can access the group, so email me or another regular from the group asking for these. Another way of getting the headers would be to find a free news server that carries the group (perhaps read only) and then get the headers from some existing messages that way.

Some providers might not add a group until more than one of their users asks for the group. If you know any of the other users, ask them to request it too.

1.6
Q - May I post binaries to alt.music.home-studio?
A - No. Under no circumstances may you post binaries to alt.music.home-studio. alt.music.home-studio is a text only group. If you have a file to share with the members of the group, put it on line somewhere and post the URL. Posting links to your music to share with the group is encouraged.

1.7
Q - Can I use the group to organize collaborations with other musicians?
A - Certainly. Using the group to recruit others to collaborate with you with you on a project is actively encouraged. Just post up a message saying what sort of thing you are planning to do (perhaps, with a link to examples of your work or an unfinished version of the project in question) and sit back to see if anyone is interested. Also, if you are interested in on line collaboration, scan back through old messages to see if anyone else has made a request for collaborators on a project that you might be interested in.

1.8
Q - What languages may I use to post to the group?
A - amh-s in an English language only group.

1.9
Q - I've just got the group or I have just decided to start taking part, can I introduce myself to the group?
A - Sure. Why not post a quick "New to the group" message and tell us a bit about yourself? Tell us if you have a website, what sort of music you like to produce, what sort of equipment you have, etc.

1.10
Q - Is it considered acceptable to post examples of my work for criticism?
A - Yes it is. Do not post a sound recording directly to the group - post a link to it instead. People are more likely to reply in a helpful manner if you include some details about the recording and yourself. Typical information would include: an overview of the equipment you used, software used, interesting techniques employed, what type of advice you would like, etc. People aren't forced to respond to your request for criticism or help but they are more likely to if you provide these extra recording details. If you have some material that you would like to share with the group but don't know how, just ask in the group.

1.11
Q - What sort of things have been discussed in the past?
A - Threads which provoked interesting discussion in the past include: Recordings of live events such as worship performances and rock performances, micing techniques for acoustic instruments, mixing techniques, software recommendations, integrating midi into a setup, evaluations of recordings, the sexual technique of George P, etc.

1.12
Q - Explanations of some common terms and acronyms which are peculiar to this group
A - Not a lexicon of all specialist terms in use on the Internet and in the audio field but there are some that are specific to this group [needs adding to (killermike)]
1.13
Q - Is there a listing of regular participants?
A - There is the amhs webring - AMHS Webring Home.Use that link to add your own site to the list or to browse other member sites.
The webring has been abandoned. There is now a AMHS hubsite which includes a list of regular contributers. Click here to visit the amhs hubsite.

1.14
Q - Can I use the group for discussion of pirated or cracked software (where to get it etc)?
A - This was discussed in the following thread http://tinyurl.com/5dem2 and the outcome of that discussion was the majority of people who participated in the thread didn't think that it was a suitable topic of discussion for the thread.



Section 2
2.1
Q - I would like to record some of my music. What do I need?
A - This question is too broad to be answered in any meaningful way. It is the responsibility of the person asking this question to first define exactly what it is that they are trying to achieve. Here are some of the questions that have to be answered:

2.2
Q - I would like to record some music. I would like to record some songs that I have written. My music consists of some acoustic guitars, an electric guitar and a drum machine along with my singing. I would like to record the music into my computer. I am just getting started so, I want to do it all on a minimal budget.
A - In this example you need a computer with a sound card, a microphone, a mic pre amp, some way of monitoring the sounds that you record and some recording software.

Computer
Sound Card
Microphone
Mic Pre Amp
Recording Software
Monitoring
Connecting it all together
2.3
Q I would like to buy a sound interface (soundcard) for my computer. What should I get?
A - If you are ready to purchase a sound input/output device for your computer you need to specify the following:

Why upgrade?
How many inputs?
How Many Outputs Do I Need?
What sort of bus (USB, Firewire, PCI, etc) do I want to use?
PCI audio adapters (sound cards)
External audio adapters using USB or Firewire
PCI cards (sound cards)
In summary
Mic Preamps
Bit depth, sample rate
Latency
In what situations might latency cause a problem?
2.4
Q - What is IRQ sharing, how can it be avoided and is it a problem?
A - PC compatibles running Windows can have this problem. Each  PCI expansion slot is assigned an IRQ number. System resources such as IDE channels, AGP graphics, USB and Firewire also have an IRQ number. When two system resources are assigned to the same IRQ, problems can occur. Typical symptoms of an IRQ clash can include stuttering, popping sound or system slowdown/crashes during audio playback/record.

Here is an edited version of a post that I made to alt.steinberg.cubase on the subject of troubleshooting IRQ conflicts:

"Bottom line - IRQ sharing is supposed to be problem free on modern systems but I've had bad luck when attempting it and I've heard lots of reports of other people having problems with it.

On mother board implementations that I have encountered each of the PCI slots is hardwired to an IRQ. Unfortunately, each of the those IRQs is usually hardwired to a system resource too. So, it would seem that your PCI slot 1 is hardwired to IRQ 11 and that the AGP slot is also hardwired to IRQ 11. Moving the card into another slot should overcome this conflict. However, bare in mind that each of the other slots probably shares an IRQ with a system resource as well. For example, slot 2 might be on the same IRQ as USB, which could cause more problems if you want to use USB and the audio card at the same time.

There is often a page in the BIOS that tells you which slot is hardwired to which IRQ. However, this won't help you resolve conflicts because when you change the IRQ assigned to a slot, the system resource that it shares with will also change (on every board I've ever used, at least). So, a bit of experimentation is probably required. You could try going into the BIOS setup and making a note of which slot is linked to which IRQ. On most systems, there is screen that pops up after the POST memory test has completed and just before the operating system starts to boot. This screen often gives a list of IRQ assignments. I consider this list to be definitive and the information in Windows' Device Manager to be less reliable/accurate. This screen can go by too quickly so you could put a blank floppy disk into the drive (which should produce an error) to keep that screen up. [Update - I just discovered a neat little trick: pressing the 'Break/Pause' key causes this screen to stay up. I had to press space to get the machine to continue booting.]

"


So in short, technically, it may be possible to run more than one resource on the IRQ but in practice, it often causes problems and is probably best avoided. It is good practice to make sure that no two resources which will be used during audio/midi recording occupy the same IRQ.

2.5
Q - What is an effect loop and how is one used?
A - Most mixing desks and many portable multitrack recorders (portastudios) feature an effects send-return loop. Put simply, an effects loop allows you to apply an effect (such as reverb) to an incoming signal or to an already recorded track.

To illustrate the usefulness of an effects loop, let's look at how you might apply an effect to a signal on a recording setup that does not feature an effect loop. One might plug a guitar into a multi fx device and then into a recording input of a recording device. This allows you to record the guitar plus effect onto a tape track. This is called using the effect 'in line'.

However, it is often the case that having recorded something, one might want to alter the amount and type of effects and a track. If the recordist has recorded with the effect it is impossible to remove the sound of the effect from the recording. This is very common in recording. One might have a different view of what effects sound right upon adding more tracks and hearing the effected tracks in context as apposed to hearing them in isolation.

This is where the effect send-return loop becomes useful. Plug the send of your recording setup into the input of your effects unit. Now take the output of your effects unit and plug it into the effect return of your recorder. Now, by adjusting the send for an individual track, you can add the effect to an incoming signal or an already recorded track.

With this sort of setup it would be possible to record an acoustic guitar completely dry (no effects) and then add some reverb to the track afterwards. Or you might have loads of reverb on the track when recording and then decide to lessen the amount when listening to playback. In other words, you haven't committed yourself to any sound while still at the recording stage. You are deferring your final choice of effect type and amount until the mixing process.

Another advantage of an effects loop is that it enables you to share an effects unit between multiple tracks. You start by plugging, for example, a reverb into the effects loop. You might then increase the FX send to varying degrees on the acoustic guitar, vocal and snare tracks. One effects unit can service multiple tracks. Musically, this makes sense because it puts each of the tracks 'into the same reverb space' just like acoustic instruments would be if you were listening to a live performance.

Yet another advantage is a quality one. If you had a unit with an effects loop, I would have advised setting the reverb patch on your guitar unit to 100% wet. This way, if you have a reverb unit of only marginal quality, only the *reverb* is of low quality - the original signal passes through at it's original quality. For example, many pro studios still use an old Roland 12bit reverb unit because it has a great sound. They use it in an effects loop. If they used it in line, the whole track would be grainy, 12bit quality. Putting it on a send/return loop, only the ambiance that they are adding is of 12bit quality.

Q. When using my muti-track audio recording software, I find that each track I record has the sound of the previous audio channels recorded along with the new material.
A. Some soundcards have the facility to make a recording of any sound that they output. Some soundcards (Creative Labs for example) have this feature enabled by by default. The setting can be accessed from the control panel application for the soundcard. The setting is sometimes called 'record:what you hear' or similar.


alt.music.home-studio webring

Home/Join | List | Next | Previous | Random

alt-webring.com