Ryan Vaz

The inline mixing console......What is it? There are essentially two different sources of sound in a typical recording studio. One obviously from the artist or source you are recording, and the other from the track which was already recorded on your digital audio workstation (DAW). You want to be able to listen to, as a recording engineer, to both these sources on your loudspeakers in the control room. Inline mixers are a specially configured type of mixer that are able to monitor ‘multitrack’ tape returns using the same channels that were used to connect line ins and microphones, I.e. the two different sources we saw earlier. This would be in opposition to the other type of mixers known as ‘split mixers’ which difference is that they have separate inputs dedicated to returns and sends. Since the inline mixer basically does a two in one job, they have the advantage of beings smaller and comparatively cheaper. It would just generally have a few more knobs and switches on e...

How Does File Compression Work? I think all of us reading this has heard of file compression. The  compression principle is a very important and useful invention, for Web users, because it basically reduces the overall number of  bits and bytes (size)  in a file so it can be transmitted faster over slower Internet connections, or take up less space on a disk . File compression is one of the fundamentals of how the web works. But how does it work? At first inspection, this seems very interesting and weird almost, as in how can you reduce the number of bits and bytes and then get those exact bits and bytes back later? As it turns out, the basic idea behind the process is fairly straightforward but sounds oddly magical. It’s not really magical, but it is the result of a lot of hard work put in by many very smart people to make all of our lives easier. Let’s explore how file compression works. First of all we should know that there are two kinds of compression: ...

How do we hear? In this blog, I will talk about and explore how our hearing system works.  The human ear is an extremely delicate and complicated natural device, so much that it is truly fascinating to know of how it works and almost impossible to believe so much actually happens in such a small place. The anatomy of the human ear exists in three major parts extensively known as - the outer, middle, and inner ear. The part that we can see, along with the ear canal, is known as the outer ear. The eardrum can be found towards the end of the ear canal which separates the outer from   what is known as the middle ear. It is small cavity that consists of three tiny bones known as the ‘auditory ossicles’. The auditory ossicles is made up of the malleus (aka hammer), incus (aka anvil), and stapes (aka stirrup). Then we have the inner ear which in reality is two different components: the cochlea, which handles the hearing aspect, and the vestibular system, which helps controls...

Buying a Microphone What to look for when purchasing a microphone? There are 5 common properties that affect the sound produced by a microphone: 1. Microphone Type:  There are three types of microphones: dynamic, condenser, and ribbon.  Church vocal microphones are usually dynamic microphones and condensers like the classic Shure SM 58  ("SM58® - Dynamic Vocal Microphone", 2019) .  Each type works differently and the nuances of the sounds they detect improve from dynamic to condenser to ribbon mics. 2. Polar Pattern:  Microphones capture sound differently based on the source of the sound in relation to the head of the microphone.  The area in which it captures sound is known as the polar pattern. These polar patterns show the regions around the microphone where the microphone will detect sound.  The reason for these different types of patterns is to provide microphones that work best in specific environments or to get a specific sound. 3....

Wanna Know The Different types of Microphones? We've all seen them being used atleast once in our lives, be it being used at a concert to make Justin Beiber sound 10 times louder (and manlier), or being lowered down from the ceiling of a wrestling ring for the announcements, but all these MICROPHONES essentially do the same thing but in a different way which brings up the question of the different types of Microphones.                                                                                First off lets us look at the principle a microphone uses to work. A Microphones is technically a transducer which is a device that converts a type of energy into a different type, which in the case of a microphone, converts physical energy into electrical energy. Different types...