Last Updated - 09/01/07
The Wild Hog in the Woods
Links for Acoustics, Sound Reinforcement, and Recording
(if you have an excellent link that should be here or think some of these are not very good, or are broken, Please let me know - hogwebmaster6 <at> tds [dot] net )
I have tried very hard to post here only the best links I could find related to folk music, and have tried to jump into sites on the other side of splash pages and such. If you find that is not the case, please let me know, and I will see if I can find a way to vector around them.
Wild Hog Related Links
- In our sound workshops we use an excellent booklet - "All Mixed Up" by Bob Mills, who is a traditional acoustic and folk musician out on the east coast. He plays mandolin, banjo, and guitar. Bob wrote this booklet to fill the need of small acoustic bands who need help understanding sound system use for sound reinforcement at their performances. He also has some excellent sound tips online (especially - how to mic a piano, and onboard mics for fiddles (which could also be applied to other acoustic instruments) that you might find helpful.
- Rane - they have an excellent web site devoted to quality in acoustic engineering. We use their GE-14 graphic equalizer in our sound system. Their Audio Glossary is very through and may be useful to some of you. Here is their list of Discontinued Products - for the the GE 14 equalizer, here is the Data Sheet (200K, PDF), the User Manual (200K, PDF), and the Schematic (200K, PDF). Their Library is excellent - most of their library articles are in Adobe PDF format (which you can get from that same page). Important! - if you do sound with "ballanced" and "unballanced" components, or if you have hum in your audio system - here is their Technical Note 110 - Sound System Interconnection (HTML) (PDF), and also Considerations in Grounding and Shielding, both are MUST reads if you do sound or are in charge of sound system for your organization.
- Shure Microphones has a wonderful site for sound personnel, here is their Technical Support page which has very useful links to - current and obsolete microphone specifications, product selection guides, FAQ's, and excellent articles on acoustics, especially their Microphone Techniques for Music/Sound Reinforcement (Adobe Acrobat, 677KB - actually if you do or are interested in doing sound - it is a must have - very complete, accurate article. Here are their pages on Cleaning Microphones, Impedance Matching, Understanding Microphones and Their Terminology, Basics of Equalization and Feedback. Here is their SM57 User Guide (341 KB, PDF), and their SM58 User Guide (320 KB, PDF).
Here is information on our new Mackie CFX-16 sound mixer board.
These were taken from the Mackie CFX webpage -
Owners Manual (pdf)
Hookup Guide (pdf)
Specifications (pdf)
Master Selection Picture (jpeg)
Channel Strip Picture (jpeg)- Peavey - their Products - Here is their short discussion on - Taking the Mystery Out of Feedback, and another on Clipping, and everything you wanted to know (or didn't even know about) about Impedance in Audio Technology - not for the faint of heart. It is an in-depth technical discussion of the electrical aspects of audio/sound reproduction.
- Our power amp is also made by Peavey the model # is PV.-8.5C - here is the manual.
Other Good Links
- New Link! unpluggedsound.com I haven't had time yet to fully peruse this site, but from what I've seen, its a winner.
- To help you get started with microphones - Microphone Review. They are fairly new and so far are focusing on condenser mics. They have comparison of microphones, magazine and user reviews of microphones, microphone discussion forum and much more.
- Here is a link to - "A Sensible Way to Mic a Mandolin" using an AKG C406 microphone. This would probably work for you fiddle/violin, banjo, and other acoustic musicians too.
- Amplifying Acoustic Guitars with Inexpensive Condenser Microphones - Low cost do-it-yourself - with excellent quality - would also work well with mandolins, violins, etc.
- Countryman Associates Inc. - make microphones that can be used on-board for violins, mandolins, etc.
- Here is the rec.audio.pro FAQ Listing
- Here is the rec.audio.* FAQ Listing
- Acoustics FAQs
- Shavano Music Online - here is a Sample Band Contract, Audio Cables - General Information - a good basic discussion of cables, connectors and their use and care.
- Audio Mythologies - nice site, I don't agree with all their points, but I do with the vast majority of them. Very useful to read.
- Here is Cascade Sound's Audio Article Index the Live Sound Mixing tutorial is very good.
- Electro Voice makes microphones plus other things.
- Full Compass has a very nice site - and they don't buy into the standard consumer mythologies (e.g. monster cable). Here is their Useful Pro Audio and Electronics Information.
- Go to DPA Microphones "Microphone University" Application Guide on micing various acoustic instruments. (This is a frames based server, and if it does not jump in directly to the right page - you will have to do it manually - it is worth the effort).
- Here is a very nice discussion of the Basics of Sound and Sound Systems. The last half of the article gives and excellent discussion on how hearing works. And, also, a good discussion of Sound Reinforcement. Here is his Glossary of Sound Terminology. By Kai Harada.
- The Soundry - "an exciting, interactive, and educational web site about sound. Covering everything from the most basic concepts of what sound actually is to the specifics of how humans perceive it, The Soundry aims to promote enthusiasm and knowledge of sound." Their "Time Line" page is a good historical perspective of recording technology. This is a frames based website so you may not be able to link in directly, but does have a good user interface - so finding the right page is no problem. A good site for kids (and adults too) to learn about sound and hearing. The Java applets did not appear to be working when I accessed the site on 11/25/2000.
- Art Ludwig's Sound Page - a nice site - has discussions on acoustics, sound, and the design of a sound room.
- The Virtual Times - a link to a well organized large list of links on acoustics and sound. Here is their list of FAQ's
- Harmony Central - "The Internet Resource for Musicians!" Their Recording page is very good. They have DAT Heads FAQ on microphones (text), (here is a hypertext version from josephson.com). Their Other page has a lot of out of the ordinary stuff related to music - Music Theory, Music Education, Health related stuff (tinnitus, repetitive motion injuries), Speaker FAQ, Audio Page, rec.audio.* FAQ. It is a veritable potpourri of music related information. Their link to more links.
- Bill McFadden and his Loudspeaker Primer (text).
- Here is ePanorama - they have a excellent list of links to sites covering a wide range of technology topics. If you have a question on audio - stop and see them FIRST. Here is their Audio and Hifi page - a very complete list of links, their Pro Audio page - excellent, their Microphones links, and Mixing links.
- Professional Sound is and online eZine devoted to Audio professional, they have their articles (current and past) available to view. Nice site.
- Live Audio Board is a bulletin board devoted to live audio related content only.. They have discussion groups, FAQ's, Classifieds, Bookstore, Study Hall. Unfortunately they are a frames based website so I can't jump into pages directly. Those of you who used to belong to the old MidiLinks BBS network will find some of the same experts here [thank God!]. Their Study Hall is very technical, but one of the best sound web pages you will find.
- Sticky tape problem - a solution. "...Tape manufactured in the mid-to-late 1970's is starting to come out of storage now for remixing and re-issue, and engineers are finding that it won't play. The surface of the tape has become gummy and it sticks to the heads and fixed guides of the tape transport, squealing, jerking, and, in extreme cases, slowing down or stopping the tape transport. This problem has cropped up on all brands of tape, but is nearly always fixable, at least temporarily." [ed - I personally know of one person who had a master tape with this problem.]
- If I Knew You Were Coming I’d Have Baked A Tape! (A Recipe for Tape Restoration) - another sticky tape restoration recipe.
- Easy Music Theory - Instruction on Line
- Peter Berryman's Whither Zither Column Archives from October 2000 Mad Folk Music Society's Newsletter discussing how he and Lou produced their last CD at home.
- Home Recording - a nice site with good information on recording, mixing, microphones, etc.
- For those of you who do home recording on MiniDisks - minidisk.org, minidisk secrets
- The USA New Gear Price List is a compilation of market prices for electronic music and pro audio equipment. One can use this list to eliminate some of the guesswork when buying gear.
- Here are some classified ads for sound equipment from Sound Reinforcements
- Analog Tape Deck Alignment Procedures
- Analog Tape Deck Alignment Procedures from rec.audio.pro FAQ.
Useful Music and Audio Tools, Plus Some Other Useful Software
- Musician's CD-Player for Windows from Roni Music in Sweden - speed up or slow down wave files, and CD music without changing pitch. Excellent for practicing along, or for learning or teaching dances. They also have other nice shareware audio and midi software for Windoze and Atari.
- Syntrillum Software - the makers of CoolEdit - a Windoze software package for editing all types of wave files, signal processing abilities include noise removal, speed up/slowdown waveforms with or without changing pitch, FFT filtering, cue lists, play lists, crossfade splicing, plus more. Shareware. Ver 2000 is $69, upgrade from Ver 96 is $29
- Metronome by Nick Baciu is shareware $9, it will do irregular rhythms (9/16, 11/16, etc.)
- CDex is a is utility which can record Digital Audio (DA) tracks from CD into files. The recorded audio tracks can be stored as WAV or MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3) files. Freeware
- NoteCard is a Freeware music-reading drill utility for Windows. Comes in 16 and 32 bit versions. It's an ideal tool for anyone in the first stages of learning to read music. It can significantly shorten the time it takes to learn to recognize the notes instantly, an absolutely necessary ability for fluent reading. Practice the bass staff, the treble staff, or both at once, Three input modes, including piano keyboard style, Detailed on-line help. If you are new to downloading they have a short tutorial to help you.
- WinAmp - I got it from TUCOWS - "An outstanding MP3 (Mpeg Layer-3) audio player. Includes spectrum analyzer, graphic equalizer, playlists, and more! You can rewind and fast-forward the files by its handy bar at the bottom. Great user-interface!" Freeware.
- Shareware Music Machine - "The World's Biggest Music Software Site" - Definitely check this out if you are into music or audio. Plenty of tools here.
- ClipMate is a powerful clipboard replacement - it puts items that you clipped onto a stack that you can recall at a later time. No more switching between applications to transfer stuff, just copy everything you need from one application, switch to the next application and you can "power paste" the items into it. It does more - too much to describe here. Very useful! Shareware $20. Winner of numerous awards.
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