Bits . . .

. . . of information . . .

(from wikipedia.com)
Even after getting the signal converted to bits, it is still difficult to record; the hardest part is finding a scheme that can record the bits fast enough to keep up with the signal. For example, to record two channels of audio at 44.1 kHz sample rate with a 16 bit word size, the recording software has to handle 1,411,200 bits per second.

For optical disc recording technologies such as CDs or DVDs, a laser is used to burn microscopic holes into the dye layer of the medium. A weaker laser is used to read these signals. This works because the metallic substrate of the disc is reflective, and the unburned dye prevents reflection while the holes in the dye permit it, allowing digital data to be represented.

The number of bits used to represent a single audio wave (the word size) directly affects the achievable noise level of a signal recorded with added dither, or the distortion of an undithered signal. The sample rate is even more important a consideration than the word size. If the sample rate is too low, the sampled signal cannot be reconstructed to the original sound signal.


Slough of Despond
By OHO [Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak]
(original tracks recorded at Blueball Studio, Stewartstown, PA)




What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be digitally downloaded at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

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Recording . . .

. . . is still fascinating to me. . . 


(from http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/recording-studio1.htm)
". . . Western Electric made electronic recording using microphones and amplifiers possible in 1925. Before that, performers in a music studio had to sit very close to the bell of a horn to record. This could mean crowding a large band or orchestra into a small space without a way to balance the volume produced by the various performers. Sound waves traveled through a membrane and onto a wax-coated disk.

Using the new technology, large groups could sit in their usual formations and sound volume could be modified, but larger halls were needed to produce the acoustics for a natural sound. Until the late 1940s, though, recordings could not be edited. That's because records continued to be produced by sending sound direct to disk and then creating a metal master to use in making copies [source: London: A Musical Gazetter].

That changed when the recording industry began using magnetic-coated sound recording tape. A German company, I.G. Farben, had improved the tape-coating process during the 1930s, but the tape didn't become available to the United States and other Allied nations until after World War II.

The arrival of multi-track recorders in the 1950s allowed studios to take cutting and mixing music a step further by taping and then combining separate tracks recorded at different times. The move to two-channel stereophonic sound in the late 1960s extended sound mixing even further by allowing studio engineers to experiment with effects like echo and reverb.

The 1970s saw long-playing disks (LPs) replaced by cassette tapes, which made music portable and offered technological advances like Dolby B noise reduction. However, the compact disc and digital tape recorder had superceded cassettes by the mid-1990s. The digital tape recorder allows studio tapes to be re-recorded onto digital tape, which is then used to burn master laser disks. From these, aluminum-coated plastic copies, or CDs, are made [source: History of Tape Recording].

The move to digital technology has extended beyond just tape production. Using digital devices and sometimes little more than a computer, musicians can easily and inexpensively combine composing, performing, recording and mixing functions. . . "



Slough of Despond
By OHO
(recorded at Blueball Studio, Stewartstown, PA)




What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)

My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Thirty-one . . .

. . . days

. . . 'til April 8th.

The release date of "2014".


". . .thanks for sending me a copy of your 2014 disc...great music!  I'll definitely give it some air play on the Tuesday Morning Set.  It was honestly the best CD in a pile of 20 jazz CD's waiting for me when I got back in town after being gone for a month.  .  . "

Mark LaMaire
90.7 WWOZ New Orleans


Stick To Your Guns
©2013 Raymond M. Jozwiak
from '2014'
available April 8, 2014 at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak



What do you think?
Tell me at
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html 

OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD). 

My latest solo release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet