Audio Recording

LaneyAH200 is a multipurpose power amplifier for live band and recording use. This is an actual review of the capabilities of this amplifier and highlights its best practices and limitations.

AH200 in Live Venue Use: Power Rating

LaneyAH200 is rated with 160 watts output. This is suitable for a live venue with at most 45 people.
Bear in mind that each person in the venue would absorb the sound coming out from your PA system, so if you are planning to buy a power amplifier you need to examine the number of your audience.

If you are using a power amplifier for a live venue more than 45 people (say for example 100 or more), you need to have a power amplifier with more than 160 watts (e.g. 300 watts or more).

Below is rough guideline in determining how much PA wattage you need:

Since Laney AH200 is rated at 160 watts, it can handle:

Recommended number of audience for each specific application:

Speech only application = 160/0.75= 213 audience
Solo music performance or duets= 160/2.5 =64 audience
Live band performance = 160/3.5 = 45 audience

For example, you can use AH200 to power the live band performance in a home party with less than 45 audience. The resulting loudness is sufficient for this number of audience.

5 Channels for Flexible Live band Inputs

AH200 has 5 channels with built in EQ/treble/bass and gain adjustments:

In total, it can accommodate around 11 inputs. It is because each channel accepts two inputs + one aux. Connectivity details are as follows:

-Channel 1 accepts XLR mic input and another line input= you can connect your XLR output mic here and then plug another instrument to line input.
-Channel 1 and 2 has XLR mic inputs. Read the rest of this entry »

I received this common inquiry by mail, so I decided to write a post on this to clarify these common questions.

Hi

I read your article about how to make quality recordings and have a couple of questions.

First I am planning buying an audio interface with built-in preamps and wonder which is best. I have read some reviews about presonus fireproject and motu and mackie onyx, and its very confusing to choose one.

I also wonder if I need some external effects like compressor and processor between the different instruments and the audio interface.

Many internet sites are writing about using DI boxes when recording guitar and bass, and compressor on drums and vocal.

Thank you in advance.

Importance of Preamps on Audio interface

First, buying an audio interface with built-in preamps should not be that hard. You can refer to this article buying an audio interface tips for beginner.

I cannot advise you which is good or great because of the lot of factors involved, such as your budget, number of inputs, etc. But since you are talking about quality of recordings and the importance of having a quality signal chain; I would put a strong importance on the quality of the pre-amps.

Researching further, I found out that some audio interface have decent and award winning preamps, such as Focusrite. I do not know with the others, but currently I am using Saffire Pro 40 which is a great sounding audio interface.

Saffire Pro 40 has eight inputs, although this might look too much for your needs, you can use one with lesser inputs. Manufacturers such as Focusrite use the same preamps both in their high-end and low end audio interface. So for example, if you purchase a Saffire USB 6 (one of the cheapest on the Focusrite line of audio interface) it uses the same preamp with the Saffire Pro 40; only that it has two inputs.

If you plan to buy another brand whether Presonus, Mackie or M-audio, try to read their manual or reviews and make sure you got a decent sounding preamps.
Read the rest of this entry »

I received a lot of request to write a tutorial on how to transfer or copy karaoke/minus-one music from YouTube or other sources like DVD player to computer. This tutorial is very helpful for singers looking for ways to obtain a high quality minus-one/karaoke music of their favorite songs. There are songs in YouTube and in your DVD player karaoke but the problem is that beginners find it hard to obtain a clear minus-one audio of the music.

Bear in mind that the scope of this tutorial is for personal use of karaoke music only. You are not authorized to distribute copyrighted music using the methods below. You should ask for a license from the music publisher and the owner of the sound recording.

For beginners: Using Youtube and other video sites

This is the simplest method, follow the steps below:

Step1.) Go to Youtube.
Step2.) Search a minus one for the songs. You can type it on the search box like this (artist + song title + minus one or karaoke):

“Jim Groce” “Time in a bottle” “karaoke”

You can also remove the quotation marks to get some broader results.

Step3.) The objective is to record the streaming audio from Youtube to a recording software like Audacity (which is free). You can read this very helpful tutorial on how to record minus-one or karaoke music from Youtube in Windows 7 using Audacity:

If you are using Linux, you can read this tutorial. After following all those steps, you should now obtain a clean minus one of your favorite songs.
Read the rest of this entry »