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.
-Only channel 3 has hi-z inputs (for plugging high impedance instruments like passive bass guitar and electric guitars)
-Each channel has line inputs.
-You can connect another instrument through Aux inputs.
-CD players and computer line outputs can be connected to CD input of the amplifier.

For optimum results, you would only want to use 5 distinct inputs at most so that you can assign a unique EQ/gain setting for every instrument per channel. Supposing you would like to use Laney AH200 for a live acoustic band use. An optimal connectivity are as follows:

1.) Connect a dynamic microphone with XLR output (such as SM58) to channel 1 (for vocals). You can additionally utilize the Channel 1 line input for backup vocals.

2.) Connect one guitar (acoustic or electric) through an external DI box first then connect the DI output to the AH200 Channel 2 Microphone input. If you have a rhythm guitarist, you can plug it directly through Line input of channel 2 provided the guitar output is already amplified (e.g. an acoustic guitar with active pickup)

3.) Connect one bass guitar to channel 3 Hi-Z (high impedance input).
4.) Connect keyboards through Channel 4 line input.
5.) Connect the drum box (cajon) through Channel 5 line input.
6.) If you have additional strings (like a violin) you can pass it through AH 200 Aux input. You can adjust the incoming volume with Aux level.

Recommended Live Band mixing tips for Laney AH200

The sound coming out of AH200 is loud and crystal clear. I would recommend the following settings for live audio mixing:

General Effect: Rev+Ch or Room Reverb (ON) (refer to manual for detailed operation on effects)

Vocals:
Bass (35%), Treble (60%) (note:100% is full knob maximum setting)
FX level: 40%

Acoustic or Electric Guitars
Bass (25%), Treble( 50%) or if mid range is too much, you can switch treble down to 35%
FX level: 55%

Bass guitar

Bass (95%), Treble(0%) or if bass is too much lower down to 85% or 70%.
FX level: 0% (no effects)

Drum Box/Cajon

Bass (75%), Treble (45%) or if bass is too weak increase to 100% or make sure the microphone on the cajon is correctly placed.
FX level: 0%

The gain settings varied a lot, I recommend that once the effect settings above are done, you will start balancing the volumes by using the gain knob for each channel. Let the band play and then tweak the gain until everything sounds balanced.

Applications of Laney AH200 for Recording

Other capabilities of Laney AH200 when used in home studio applications:

1.) Using the amplifier to record guitars and bass:
a.) How to Record overdrive distortion guitars using an amp
b.) Record Clean Guitar using DI or Amplifier Cabinet Method

2.) Using the amplifier when extending the bass of a nearfield monitor:
a.) Adding Subwoofer to M-audio Studiophile BX5a using Laney AH200 as Sub

3.) Additionally you can use Laney AH-200 as a powered karaoke recording system. All you have to is to:

a.) Connect your computer line output (soundcard/audio interface) to AH-200 CD-input.
b.) The music source(minus-one) will be controlled by a media player in your computer but the sound would come out in AH-200.
c.) Connect a dynamic microphone to XLR input and set desired effects (recommended effect is only Rev+Ch)
d.) Adjust the gain of the vocalist microphone until it sounds balance with the karaoke music.
e.) To record the karaoke performance, you can connect the output of Laney AH-200 (using Record Out or Main out feature of the amplifier) back to computer audio interface.
f.) Using a recording software (e.g. Audacity) you can record the karaoke performance easily and well-mixed.

Known limitations

1.) There is only one hi-z input. So if you are plugging a lot of high impedance musical instrument like guitars and bass, you need to pass it first with a DI box for best results.

2.) There is no built-in overdrive or distortion effects. Although a lot of quality effects are included including reverb, delay and chorus.

3.) EQ setting is only two-way through treble and bass, it would have have been nice if there are three (bass, mid and treble).

4.) The XLR microphone input does not seem to have a built-in phantom power if you are using condenser microphones. You need to use an external phantom power supply unit before you can use condenser microphones with this amp.

Summary and Recommendations

Nevertheless, Laney AH-200 is an excellent PA system for home live band and recording use at an affordable budget. The price is around $499 in Amazon.

With that valuable piece of PA system, you can:

1.) Play and rehearse with your band live (its very loud enough for at most 45 people listening to your gig).
2.) Take advantage of quality built-in effects like reverb.
3.) Record the sound of your guitars, bass and keyboards by placing a microphone on it and using your DAW (Digital audio workstation).
4.) Amplify the output of CD players, mp3 players,karaoke system etc by connecting them to AH200.
You can read the manual here to read more about the features:

http://www.laney.co.uk/manuals/AH200%20Manual%20-%202005%20-%20Issue%201.pdf

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.

Importance of having analog effects on the signal chain

Analog effects add warmth and realism to your recordings. Most of the time, producers are too obsessed with software effects (plug-ins, etc) only to complain the project lacks the analog warm sound at the finish.

One very simple tip is to use analog effects on your recording. So yes, it is advisable to use analog gears like compressors, EQ before recording if that makes the recording sound great.

You can connect it as follows:

Instruments (guitars, for example) == > Analog effects (compressor, EQ) == > Audio Interface Input (preamp) == > Computer (DAW)

You can even record all instruments using this technique and get the benefits of having a few processing during the mix (such as EQ and compression).

A common example is live band recording. EQ and compressors can be applied on the guitar and bass guitar as analog effects and adjust for good sound before recording. EQ can be applied to increase clarity not only the guitars, bass but on the vocals also (cutting on the guitar EQ band, not on vocals).

The same technique with the drums while only the vocals are recorded dry (without any effects). During the mixing stage; bass, guitars and drums do not anymore need digital effects since they already sound polished before being recorded.

Only the vocals needs a little processing, so the overall result of your mix is warm and great sounding because of less digital effects applied.

Importance of DI boxes in recording guitars and bass

DI boxes are important for getting a great recording sound for guitars and bass. The function of the DI is to convert a high impedance input to a low impedance output. This is necessary for getting a nice sound as impedance miss-match can result to an awful guitar and bass sound.

You need to use a DI box when recording guitars and bass to a low impedance microphone input of the preamp. A common example is the audio mixer microphone preamp XLR input. See screenshot of the sample audio mixer (Behringer Xenyx series):

As what you have noticed the mixer preamp requires a low impedance XLR input. Supposing you are recording a passive bass guitar and need to have a strong and clean signal; you can record it as follows:

Passive bass guitar == > DI box == > Audio Mixer XLR preamp input

Passive bass guitar have high impedance but very weak signal output (instrument level signals), so a DI box would convert this to low impedance output suitable for microphone preamps input. And then the preamp would boost it to line level signals. Read this tutorial on difference of line, instrument and microphone levels if you are familiar with these terms.

DI box are inexpensive yet very useful recording gears. One of the commonly used DI box is Pyle-Pro PDC21.

However some audio interface has the capability to recognize instrument level inputs such as Saffire Pro 40. This audio interface has an “instrument” level button that when pressed (see screenshot below in yellow box), it will automatically adjust impedance when a high impedance input is connected for recording (such as a bass guitar).

In this case, you do not need an external DI because the audio interface should handle the impedance matching pretty well. But bear in mind that not all audio interface has this feature.

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.

For novice users: Extracting Audio from Youtube Videos

Sometimes, a lot of singers would take advantage of the lyrics posted along with the karaoke video in YouTube. This would be very helpful during the karaoke practice. So with this aspect, you can do the following:

Step1.) Find your favorite minus-one or karaoke music in YouTube.

Step2.) You can download the video of that YouTube URL. There are lots of ways you can download video from YouTube. You can start with this article:

http://mashable.com/2007/05/05/download-youtube-video/

Step3.) You can then practice the minus-one directly on your desktop even without an Internet connection since you have downloaded the karaoke video. The next challenge is to extract the minus-one audio from that video.

Step4.) You need to download Reaper here:

http://www.reaper.fm/download.php

Make sure to select the correct installer. So if you are using Windows 32-bit, you should download the 32-bit version of Reaper. Proceed to install and all features are working even without the license. If you will be using Reaper on a continual basis, it is always better to get a license.

Step5.) Launch Reaper and go to File – Batch file/Item Converter.

Step6.) Click “Add” and find your video that you would like the audio to be extracted.

Step7.) Select the browse directory and the name of the audio file. See screenshot below:

Step8.)Set the sample rate to “44100Hz” and, channels to “stereo” and bit depth to “16-bit”. The purpose is to make the audio file playable in all CD players and also you can burn this file to a CD (creating an audio CD disc). You can also create an mp3 version on this audio file.
See screenshot below:

Step9.) Finally click “Convert all”. The resulting WAV file (audio minus-one of the song) can be found in the output directory that you have set.

Advance users: Transferring karaoke/minus-one songs from DVD player to PC

Sometimes you would be unlucky that you cannot find the minus one version of your favorite song in the Internet (YouTube, etc.).

But most of the time, there are DVD karaoke disc that would most likely include that song. The problem is that this song is still in DVD format and you would still need to transfer the audio to your computer.

This can be a complicated work as you need to have an external audio interface to do this job. If you are not familiar with this equipment, it is recommended to take a quick look at the following posts:

Buying an audio interface tips and complete beginner guide

USB vs. Firewire Audio Interface

Cheapest 24-bit/96KHz USB Audio Interface

The purpose of the audio interface is to convert the analog audio output of your DVD player into a digital audio such as WAV or MP3 which you can then burn to a CD or put in your mp3 players.

Below are the steps:

1.) Install the audio interface to your computer. You can refer to the manual on how to hook up this gear to your PC.

Make sure you have installed the drivers.

2.) Put the DVD disc (containing the minus-one version of your song) on the DVD player.

3.) You do not need to hook up the DVD player to a TV or your computer screen because the song tracks number can be controlled using the DVD player buttons or the remote control.

Hook up the DVD player to your audio interface. You need an audio interface with at least two inputs. See screenshot below:

Most DVD player audio outputs are RCA labeled in red and white. You need a male RCA (red and white) to dual TS male plug cable to connect this to your audio interface; such as this one:

4.) Prepare the minus one track on the DVD player but do not yet hit the play button.

5.) Launch Reaper; go to Track – Insert New Track.
6.) Configure the track to record in stereo (the DVD output is stereo; it’s why you are utilizing the two inputs in your audio interface). If you use the first and second inputs, it would look like this way:

7.) Switch the recording level to moderate. You can do this by switching the gain input on your audio interface; make sure it does not hit red (or clipping).

8.) Hit the record button on Reaper.
9.) Play the DVD player, the track would now be recorded to your computer. You can then export the recorded audio as wav file and burn it to a CD.

Setting Recording bit depth and Sample rate in Reaper

The first thing is to configure your audio device to work with Reaper. And also to set the desired bit depth and sample rate to use in recording. Supposing you would want to record at 24-bit/48KHz, these are the things you need to check if Reaper is recording at your defined bit-depth and sample rate (enclosed in yellow box):

If it is not showing correct bit depth/sample rate, you can configure your audio interface (using the provided software or driver like the mixer control) first to record at the define bit depth/sample rate, then Reaper would automatically use that setting. If you click on that, you will see the device configuration:

As you can see, audio system should be set to ASIO then the ASIO driver showing your audio interface driver. And well as to enable the inputs 1 to 8 (using Saffire Pro 40 which has around 8 inputs, it may be different depending on the number of hardware inputs). For configuring sample rate; you can adjust it on your audio interface (for example 48 KHz is set on audio interface mix control which is also the one used by Reaper in default):

Inserting new Tracks, Media Items and Configuring for Multi-channel Recording

This is very simple to do:

1.) Go to Track – Insert New Track. This insert one track. Repeat the process if you want to insert more than one track to your session.
2.) If you want to insert media items (audio files such as WAV, mp3, etc.), go to Insert – Media File.

Most of the time, you might want to insert a new track for two reasons:

1.) Mix existing wav files in your computer (so you would be inserting media items such as illustrated in the procedure above).
2.) Record new tracks in Reaper using your audio interface.

For the second reason, you need to add several new tracks in Reaper and configure it for multi-channel recording. As an illustration, supposing you are recording drums using 4 microphones (one microphone for each of the following: snare, kick, overhead 1 and overhead 2)

There will be four simultaneous channels to be recorded at the same time (from four microphones pointing at snare, kick drum and overheads). If you have an audio interface capable of multi-channel recording and accepts more than 2 inputs (for example a Saffire Pro 40 audio interface) at the same time; then you need to connect those four microphones to each of the audio interface preamp inputs (total of 4 inputs used). Then in your Reaper DAW, do the following:

1.) Insert 4 new tracks.
2.) Configure each of those tracks to receive inputs from each of your microphones in audio interface. For example look at the screenshot below:

You noticed that there are four tracks added (snare, kick, overhead 1 and 2). And then if snare microphone is connected to input 1 of your audio interface; then snare track is configured to receive IP 1 input (signifying audio interface first input) as seen in your Reaper input device (see enclosed yellow boxes). The name of your inputs might change depending on the type of audio interface used. Some might be using “analog 1”, “analog 2”, instead of “IP 1”, “IP 2”, etc. The key is to match the track name to the correct inputs you set in the hardware (audio interface). Then the rest would follow as shown in the screenshot below:

You can configure each track to choose a specific input by clicking on the drop down arrow – select “Input: Mono” then choose the corresponding audio interface inputs.

3.) Finally when you hit the record button, the drummer would then perform and Reaper would be recording all these 4 tracks simultaneously.

Duplicating items/media files within the track

Sometimes you are working with drum samples which are only loops (not actual recordings). In a certain drum track consisting of samples, it is looped thus you need to duplicate it. To add and loop samples (or any items or media files):

1.) Insert media item (a drum sample for example). See screenshot:

2.) Position the marker to the end of the sample and make sure the track is selected (it will highlight to white):

3.) While the track is highlighted and marker placed at the end of the sample; press Control + C in your keyboard.

4.) Then press Control + V. It will paste/duplicate another sample next to the original sample. To make several copies/duplicates, continually press Control + V until you have the desired number of samples. See screenshot:

Using MP3 with Reaper

You can use Reaper to convert any audio file to mp3:

1.) Download lame dll file here:

http://aegiscorp.free.fr/lame/

Make sure you correctly downloaded a DLL file that corresponds to your operating system.

2.) Put the DLL file in your Reaper directory (where you can find Reaper exe), see screenshot below:

3.) Launch Reaper.
4.) Go to File – Batch File/item converter.
5.) Click “Add” to files to convert to MP3. You can add more than one audio file.
6.) Assign a filename; configure the output directory of the resulting MP3 files.
7.) Set the output format to Mp3 Lame, and have the rest at default, see screenshot:

8.) Click “Convert all”.

Other Important Reaper tutorials

1.) How to Install Focusrite VST Plugin Suite in Reaper
2.) Reaper Click Track: How to set recording timing & Multitrack BPM
3.) Volume Automation Tutorial in Reaper DAW
4.) Mixing in Reaper Tutorial: Basic Beginner Skills
5.) Reaper Tips: Adding Audio Editor & High Quality Mixdown

a.) Credit the original work creator in case the work will be shared or distributed by public users.

b.) Protect the copyright owners against unauthorized use. It is because if an object is watermarked (for example images), then another user cannot easily claim they owned that because of the presence of watermark crediting and acknowledging the original creator.

c.) Promote the name of the brand or company creating the work. You have seen this in copyrightable photographs where the watermark bears the presence of the photo studio responsible for the work.

Watermark in MP3 Audio: Some Important Concepts and Background

Similar with photographs and copyrightable images, watermark can also be used with music copyright application and sound recording such as MP3.

Back in the old days, sound recording copyright owners depends on the ID3 tagging system to credit and place the name of the artist, creator, album, etc. Although the ID3 tagging system proved to be a success in identifying the work; it does not provide sufficient protection against unauthorized use.

It is because if an MP3 is re-encoded or re-processed using an audio editing software or mp3 tagging software, the original ID3 information would be lost; thus the MP3 would be re-distributed without proper credits and information to the original creator.

Watermarking is designed to survived even if the audio is re-encoded, re-processed or undergo any means of MP3 tag editing and audio processing. In other words, once the watermarking has been embedded with your MP3 audio; it is now permanent and irreversible.

And there is no other existing technology that could have 100% accuracy in separating the watermark from protected MP3 audio.
What is the best concept of watermarking MP3? I have initially read an article from Michael Borges in License Quote here:

http://www.licensequote.com/blog/index.php/2011/03/audio-watermarking-for-promotion-and-file-sharing-control/

It is about the concept of watermarking MP3. I elaborate the entire process in this post and showing the watermarking process as shown below:

It shows the difference between non-watermarked MP3 vs. a watermarked MP3 audio. The key is to add a voice over to your existing MP3 that you want to be protected. This voice over can be your own voice or any method such as an automated/programmable voiceover software.

To be “permanently embedded”, it will be mixed with your MP3 and the result is the watermarked audio. You can then embed your ID3 tags such as ISRC (see an example here on how to embed and read ISRC codes on MP3 files).

You can then use this MP3 as a preview file in your website (where you are selling or offering your original work for licensing). This preview file is only used for public demonstration of your work. So if it gets shared to another sources (such as in a file sharing system), your originally created work still have its watermark that can be identified by any listeners and potential fans. However the actual MP3 file that your customer would be receiving (after purchase) should not contain any watermark.

Although this watermarked system is not a solution for MP3 piracy, it does have a lot of benefits to the original creator of sound recording:

a.) When used as a preview files, listeners can identify the song creator or other information embedded in the watermarked. This will be a big factor in the song marketing.

b.) You do not have to worry about your MP3 being shared to other users, the watermarked on them can help the user trace the original source or creator.

Actual Demonstration on how to add a watermark on your MP3 file

Step1.) Decide first which information you would like to embed in the watermark. Remember that you will be embedding this information as a voice over. Below are some important lists of information that you can include in your voice over:

a.) Title of the song
b.) Name of the performing artist
c.) Owner of the Sound Recording
d.) Website

Step2.) Generate the WAV file of your voice over. If you have a home studio with microphone, you can record it by speaking to the microphone, for example:

“Visit the music publisher website,
www.audiorecording.me ,
Thank you”

Or if you do not want to record your own voice and does not want to hire a voiceover talent, you can do it yourself by going to this website:

http://mary.dfki.de:59125/

And then enter the text you would like to be converted to speech, for example see the following text and settings used below:

After you have finalized the automated voiceover, you can click “Save audio file” link and save it to your computer. You can use a lot of text to speech generated software and there are lot of great solutions out there.

Step3.) You can use any audio editing software to mix the voiceover to your MP3 file to form the watermarked audio. Supposing you will be using Audacity (free software); you need to add two new tracks (one for the voiceover and the other for the MP3).

Then import the MP3 and the voice over. By default, the voice over would be 16KHz sample rate and 24-bit PCM when imported in Audacity. Your MP3 should be in standard 16-bit/44.1KHz. The Audacity project rate should also be in 44.1 KHz to match with the MP3 sample rate.
Use the “time shift tool” to move the voice over to the desired location. For example, see screenshot below:

Step4.) After you have finalized the blending of your MP3 and the voiceover, save the project first and assign a file name. After that, go to “Tracks” then click “Mix and Render” in Audacity.

Step5.) After mixing, the resulting single stereo waveform is now the watermarked mp3. You can then use this file as a preview or any other marketing purposes where watermarking is needed.

To Export as MP3 in Audacity, go to File – Export then assign a filename to the watermarked MP3. You can optionally assign ID3 tags (recommended) as well as the MP3 bit rate (128KBPS recommended for most streaming purposes, although you can also use 320kBPS)

Listen to the sample watermarked MP3 below created by following the above steps.