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Brief Overview of the Professional Recording Industry

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Introduction

Professional sound recording and reproduction typically employs expensive equipment and techniques to produce sound of the highest standard, for public entertainment of one form or another. Concert halls, for example, often require clusters of loudspeakers or public address systems to amplify sound over a wide area. The recording side of the industry includes recording studios and providers of ancillary services such as mastering, pressing and duplication, record producers, audio engineers etc.

Professional Recording Techniques

Traditionally sound was recorded in analogue form; the fluctuating analogue wave of the human voice, a musical instrument, or other sound was recorded as a series of magnetic patterns on a 24-track tape machine or similar device. The advent of digital technology such as digital mixing desks, audio workstations etc in the 1990s meant that higher quality digital recording became a possibility. Digital recording converts an analogue sound wave into a series of numbers or digits via a device known as a "DAC" (or "Digital-to-Analogue Converter"), which are recorded on a digital storage medium such as digital tape or hard disk drive. When the recording is played back the digital data is converted back to an analogue signal producing sound of very high fidelity to the original.

The recording of voice or musical instruments often takes place in a sound or recording studio, which has been built specifically or modified for that purpose. Sound proofing (isolation from extraneous noise) is a necessity for satisfactory recording as is optimisation of the acoustics of the space for voice and music. Outdoor, or "field" recording on the other hand is much more susceptible to the effects of extraneous noise and poor acoustics (which typically cannot be avoided) and recording equipment is often limited to that which is easily portable.

A recording whether it be digital or analogue, can never be better than the original signal picked up, so microphones and their placement are critical to the recording process. One or two high quality microphones are likely to produce better results than a handful of those of lower quality but should, nevertheless be kept away from electric or RF ("Radio Frequency") noise and any vibrating surface. Audio compressors, and limiters, can provide sound that is more even in amplitude, so that if you are buying wireless speakers or other surround sound components, you can play back your recordings safely, without risking overload.