MODERN sow rAaC =CC 'C WI. %ii ?Irvia &MUSIC MAY 1984 VOL. 10 NO 5 $1.95 4ï94î HEART /KANSAS LIVE1 RECORDING TECHNIQUES: Recording The Spoken Word MUSICIAN'S NOTEBOOK: P Sequential Circuits'l Prophet-T8 ADVICE: bies ectors ND Rights ons RT: 029 1/3-Octav ualizer www.americanradiohistory.com /an /m// a a /f//n//mf//f/istu///r /Is/isM il s , -< al// min >r/////Ifrt///f/Iei/nf/f/ -` DJ , J --, JI J r/ -jy DJÍJFTJ\L J, rJ J ) J .C.0 . l \j\J1 . wueaiiîirriilr1 r _C_Cai Yr`MK\'t!.S n, .., 'a * _ -\_ CCw, --; ` v/- . i,N; 1" .$ 1111., '77 MI ' ..; .. - p0am5vscmR-sw iiii4iIiiiì*3, DOD Delay systems from The new 900 series Digital Y with than can do much more functionslin one truly get all delay DOD do you and R-910 all have unit. The DOD R-908, unit to flange and to allllow,s each widths of 10 delay system. chorus like no other digital PCM (900 ms.30-8KHZ) R -908 Digital Delay: 15KHZ) Delay: PCM (450 ms.- 30- R -909 Digital ms.- 30- 15KHZ) R -910 Digital Delay: PCM (1900 check the digital delay systems, *When comparing find that the effect specifications -you will full specialists ataldelayhave today. dig emsoavailable function less than 6 to 1. have sweep widths of Note: Most other digital delays in the U.S.A. Electronics, Manufactured DOD Lake City, t h 84115 t O 0 Telephone (801) 85 -8534 Circle 14 on Reader Service Card www.americanradiohistory.com MAY 1984 MODERN VOL. 10 NO. 5 _POI-- rA1 - -rM -- MINI A -1 I MAORI . & MUSIC FEATURES SOUND IDEAS 7 RECORDING TECHNIQUES HACKER'S DIGEST 14 by Bruce Bartlett by Ken Pohlmann Many recording engineers find work Whether you like it or not, sooner or at studios recording speech rather later the computer is going to become than music. This month, Recording part of your life. In this new column Techniques covers the most effective we introduce you to the many aspects way of recording the spoken word. of modern computing, especially how it relates to the recording industry. 18 MUSIC AND THE LAW by Eric M. Berman, Esq. SOUND ADVICE 41 Songwriters negotiating a deal by Susan Borey should be extremely careful to in- This month -a description of the sure that as many of their rights are types of cords, cables, and connectors, retained as possible. In his second plus various do- it- yourself methods article of this series, Mr. Berman to maintain a good quality collection. discusses the various performing rights organizations. MUSICIAN'S NOTEBOOK 43 by Craig Anclert00 20 HEART /KANSAS LIVE The Sequential Circuits Prophet -T8. by Sam Borgerson The recent Heart /Kansas show in AMBIENT SOUND 46 Nashville promised to be quite an by Len Feldman event -especially to recording en- In this installment Mr. Feldman ex- gineer Guy Charbonneau. For Mr. amines the impact of the Zenith sys- Charbonneau, owner of le Mobile re- tem of transmission and the dbx sys- mote truck, the double bill meant tem of companding on the recording working twice as hard to get a cus- industry. tomized mix for each band. LAB REPORT 48 30 DAVID SANBORN by Len Feldman by Gene Kalbacher The Carvin EQ2029 1/3 Octave David Sanborn has become perhaps Equalizer. the most in demand alto sax player in the business. He's played on al- bums by the Rolling Stones, James Taylor and David Bowie. He has also released numerous solo LPs, but it DEPARTMENTS wasn't until he began to feature his own compositions that his albums hit the top of the charts. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 2 34 DON FELDER: FLYING SOLO TALKBACK 6 by Vicki Greenlee! The technical Q and A Scene. Former Eagle Don Felder recorded and produced his recent solo LP in a MARKET PLACE studio he had built in the guest house What's new in sound and music. of his Malibu estate. Working alone has been a worthwhile change for '/a NOTES 55 this ex- Eagle. Here, he talks freely New and Noteworthy events in the with MR &M about his past with the recording industry. Eagles, as well as his recent solo projects. & MUSIC 56 Reviews of albums by the Thompson Twins, Christine McVie, Sugar Minott, Dave McKenna and Sphere. ADVERTISER'S INDEX 64 MODERN RECORDING & MUSIC 1 www.americanradiohistory.com MODERN piP7rIet.FT. rill NA Nivm 7 iia.w1 1111.0111 V & MUSIC Letters Is This Stuff Tough? I have become interested in PAIA electronic kits. Could you MARK WALDSTEIN please tell me the degree of difficulty in building one of these Editor kits? I have a moderate knowledge of electronics but am RICKI ZIDE unable to follow schematic diagrams. Also, could you please Managing Editor tell me the address of PAIA and if there is a catalog of kits LINDA CORTESE available? Technical Editor -Robert Blaser Hales Corner, WI JOHN WORAM Technical Advisor The PAIA electronic kits come with a fairly comprehensive CRAIG ANDERTON manual. In theory, as long as you can follow BRUCE BARTLETT instruction We SUSAN BOREY instructions clearly, you shouldn't have much trouble. RICK CHINN do recommend keeping on hand a copy of Craig Anderton's LEN FELDMAN Electronic Projects for Musicians, published by Guitar Player VICKI GREENLEAF Books, a division of Music Sales. It should get you through some GENE KALBACHER of the more complicated construction problems. In addition, JAMES RUPERT PAIA has a technical services department that will troubleshoot JEFF TAMARKIN Contributing Editors over the phone or by mail. PAIA informs us that if you purchase the kit, read the manual and feel it's too complicated, you can MARTIN BASCH return the unbuilt kit. MICHAEL FISHMAN To receive a copy just ROB HOERBURGER There is a catalog of kits available. NORMAN WEINSTEIN write to: Music Reviewers PAIA Electronics, Inc. 1020 W. Wilshire KAREN COHN Advertising Coordinator Oklahoma City, OK 73116 KATHI LIPPE Layout and Design SUSAN MONAHAN A Cheesy Chorus Circulation I read with interest Bruce Bartlett's column on delay units in the to many people not SPARTAN PHOTOTYPE CO. February MR &M. It was informative Typographers familiar with working with time delay. I do, however, have one disagreement with the article. On page 13 he states (under the 15 -35 msec heading) that when regeneration is used with ELAINE ZIDE this delay, "the effect is called `chorus,' and sounds like many Associate Publisher voices." In effect, however, what happens when you add regen- LARRY ZIDE eration to these delay settings is a reverberation effect, and Publisher a rather cheesy reverb at that. In extreme settings, this is called "bathtub reverb" and especially happens at longer delay set- tings up into the slapback range. To achieve the chorus effect, there must be some frequency modulation in addition to the delay setting. This is because when a real chorus (of people) sing, they use vibrato in their voice. This makes the pitch waver (frequency modulation) and they don't say the words at exactly the same time, which accounts for the time delay. When this sound is simulated electronically, regeneration can be added to help add extra fullness but is not essential. The delay and the modulation are the key components for the chorus effect. -Vince Motel Modern Recording 8 Music (ISSN 0273 -85111 is published monthly by MR&M Publishing Corp 1120 Old Corintry Rd Plainview NY 11803 Design Audio Stuff and contents are copyright 1984 by MR &M Publishing Corp and must not be reproduced in any manner e*cept by permission of the publisher Second 12115A Woodruff Ave. class postage paid al Plainview New York and a( additional mailing othces Subscription aces 51500 Ior 12 issues $2600 loi 24 issues Add $300 per Downey, CA 90241 year Ior subscriptions outside of U S Subscription s must be paid in advance in US funds Postmaster. Send Form 3579 to MR &M Publishing Corp. 1 120 Old Country Rd Plainview NY 11803 2 MODERN RECORDING & MUSIC www.americanradiohistory.com A peculiar look that eliminates a peculiar sound. It's a matter of physics. Since phase interference is eliminated, music Whenever you place a microphone near a is reproduced with a naturalness never before hard reflective surface, sound from the experienced. source reflects off that surface into the microphone. Sometimes a microphone has to be "flat" to Conventional microphones receive direct and provide a flat response. reflected sounds at different times, causing phase interference - this colors the recorded tone quality. crown.. The Crown PZM captures direct and 1718 W. Mishawaka Rd. sound waves at the precise moment reflected Elkhart, IN 46517 they are in- phase; adding coherently and reinforcing each other. (219) 294 -5571 Circle 15 on Reader Service Card www.americanradiohistory.com We received the following reply from Many readers should find it helpful. It Bruce Bartlett: is put out by LT Sound, P.O. Box 338, Thanks for the information, Vince. In Stone Mountain, Georgia 30086. my first article on signal processors (Dec. '82 issue), I said that, with doubling or chorus, "the delay should Thanks! be randomly varied for the most To The Editor: natural sound. " But even if the delay Just a note of thanks for the interview is varied, without regeneration you with me you recently published. Erin still hear only two voices (the direct Morris did an excellent job, and I sound and its delayed repetition). I'd believe her article will be helpful for call this "doubling" or "automatic Sound Emporium. double tracking" rather than "chorus." Jim Williamson A chorus is more than two voices.