History of Recording Technology Flashcards
What are the difficulties of only having one microphone?
- The singer is always placed nearest to the microphone compared to the rest of the band and therefore is louder
- This can cause distortion
When was magnetic tape introduced?
- Magnetic tape was introduced in 1946
What is the Tape Delay machine?
- Introduced in early 1950s
- Simulates the sound of vintage tape echo machines
What is Chamber Reverb?
- Created in 1947
- Used real, physical space as a natural reverb chamber
- Made typically from brick, stone or concrete
What is Plate Reverb?
- Created in 1957
- Able to control the amount of reverb without needing a physical room using metal plates
What is Spring Reverb?
- Created in 1930s but didn’t become popular until 30 years later
- Able to create reverb by using metal coils instead of a room or plates
What are Ampex recorders?
- Created in 1960s
- A line of reel-to-reel tape recorders
What is the Fairchild 660?
- Created in 1959
- One of the first dynamic processing units to be used in commercial recordings
- Used in many Beatles Albums
What are Noise Gates?
- Created in the early 1970s
- Used to block out tape hiss
Who created the first synthesiser and when?
- Robert Moog in 1964
What is the Rotary/Leslie Speaker?
- Created in 1937
- Produces a Doppler effect which modulates sound
What is the Mellotron?
- Created in 1946
- Electro-mechanical musical instrument
- Similar to a sampler but generates sound using analogue samples recorded on audio tape rather than digital samples
- Evolved from the Chamberlain
What is meant by ‘Mastering Video’ ?
- A form of audio post production
- The process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device
What are the advantages of Small Diaphragm Mics?
- Good transient response
- Extended high frequency response
- Consistent pick-up pattern
What are the advantages of Large Diaphragm Mics?
- Captures more acoustic energy
- Shapes the sound in a pleasing way