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Real-Life Activities

Real-Life Communication

A local rock band plans to record its first album. They've chosen your company, Tuning Fork Productions, for the job.

They've heard you've got a good ear for music. However, now that they've seen your small recording studio, they're concerned.

The problem is, they were hoping to make their small band sound big. They want it to sound like they're playing in a large arena.

To keep this gig, you're going to have to do some persuading. Read the following recording tip, and then write down what you'll say to the band. You need to be convincing, but not too technical. Just make sure you explain how you'll create that big room sound.

If you are recording drums in a big room and you want a big room sound, simply place one or two room microphones about 20 to 25 feet away from the drum set. Either mix them in with your close microphones going to tape, or put on separate tracks if you have enough.

If your drums are in a small room and you want a big room sound, you can simulate one or two room microphones by using a delay.

Here's the deal. Sound travels through the air at a speed of about 1,130 feet per second. To keep things simple, we'll figure about one millisecond per foot. (A millisecond is 1/1000 of a second.)

This means that a mic placed 20 feet away from the drum set is receiving the sound at a delay of about 20 milliseconds.

The above tip was copied by permission from the website of the Internet Recording School.