Cuốn sách này là thành quả của rất nhiều công sức và kinh nghiệm nghề nghiệp: bởi lẽ từ lần đầu tiên xuất bản tới nay, trải qua nhiều lần tái bản, chúng tôi đã có dịp gởi các "bản câu hỏi", và xin góp ý kiến của rất nhiều các nhạc sĩ sử dụng và dạy đàn Guitar về phương pháp tự học đề ra trong sách này
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nome recording
Setting up a home recording studio allows you
to record music in the convenience of your
home Modern home recording systems generally
include all the basic components of professional
recording equipment and often produce close
There are a number of steps you should take
to properly set up your home recording studio
Each room will produce different sound, so you
may want to experiment with various rooms to
determine which one is best for recording
Soundproof Room
It is important to make the recording room
soundproof so that as little sound as possible
passes in or out of the room To avoid sound
coming through the door from outside, pad the
top and bottom of the door with soundproofing
material
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Dampen Sound Since sound has a tendency to bounce off hard, flat surfaces, creating an echo, you need to soften
the room you plan to use for recording to ensure good audio quality To dampen the sound, cover
the floor, walls and ceilings using rugs, heavy drapes or soundproofing material Also, remove
items, such as extra furniture, that may reflect
sound and cause an echo
Remove Noisy Items
Clear the room of items
that make noise, such
as a fan or other
electronic equipment
Recording equipment
also makes noise, so try
to keep only essential equipment in the room It is a good idea to place
all your recording equipment in a separate room
from the room where you will record the sound
If you cannot remove items from the room, you
should cover the items with heavy material
Do not cover up electronic equipment such as
a computer or amplifier, however, since the
equipment may overheat and malfunction or cause
a fire
Trang 3CHAPTER 15: Home Recording
with mixers
A mixer is a device that allows you to input live or
recorded sounds and then combine and manipulate
the sounds
You can plug input devices, such as a microphone, an
electric guitar or an acoustic guitar that has a pickup,
into a mixer The number of channels a mixer has
determines the number of input devices you can plug
into the mixer For example, you can obtain a mixer
with eight channels that allow you to plug in eight devices
To work with the mixer, you connect the mixer to
a recording device For information on recording
devices, see page 274 You can also connect speakers
or headphones to the mixer so you can listen while you are recording sounds or playing back previously recorded sounds
You can use the mixer to incorporate effects, such
as reverb, delay or chorus, from effect pedals, a
multi-effects unit or rack-mounted effects For
information on effects, see pages 228 to 236
Adjust EQ
You can adjust the equalization (EQ), which involves
boosting or lowering the bass (low) and treble (mid
and high) frequencies of the sound from each channel
Adjust panning
The panning allows you to control which sounds
will be sent to the left or the right speaker
Provide phantom power to microphones
You can use some mixers to provide phantom power to microphones Condenser microphones
often require phantom power For information
on condenser microphones, see page 276
Adjust fader You can adjust the fader to change the level of the sound from each channel
Use preamp
Mixers usually have a built-in preamp that
you can use to convert a low-level signal to a
high-level signal
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Trang 4devices
A recording device allows you to record sound,
such as that from a guitar Recording devices are
either analog or digital Analog recording devices
are no longer commonly used, but digital recording
devices are quite popular for home recording
Analog recordings are stored on cassette tapes or
reel-to-reel tapes, while digital recordings are stored
on CDs, hard disks, MiniDiscs or Flash memory
cards Digital recordings are easier to edit and have
a higher sound quality that does not degrade over
time Digital recordings also do not have the background hiss typically heard in analog recordings Recording devices record and store each instrument
or voice as a separate track Storing recorded information as individual tracks allows you to later work with each track separately so you can manipulate or add to the recorded information
without affecting other tracks
Multi-Track Recorder
A multi-track recorder is a device that allows
you to record one track while playing back another
track at the same time Basic multi-track recorders
can record up to 4 separate tracks, while advanced
multi-track recorders can record up to 8, 16 or 24
tracks
You can connect devices, such as headphones,
electric guitars and acoustic guitars with a pickup,
to a multi-track recorder You can also connect
microphones to a recorder to record acoustic
guitars without a pickup or vocals
274
4-track and 8-track recorders usually come with
built-in mixers However, 16-track and 24-track recorders often do not have built-in mixers, so
you would need to connect an external mixer
to the recorder For information on mixers, see page 273 Many advanced recorders also have built-in effects, such as reverb, delay and chorus,
or built-in amplifier modeling, which allows
you to imitate the sound of different amplifiers Multi-track recorders can store recordings onto cassette tapes, CDs, hard disks, MiniDiscs or Flash memory cards Digital multi-track recorders allow you to perform limited editing tasks, such
as moving or deleting parts of a song With analog
multi-track recorders, the only way to edit a
recording is to cut and splice the tape
Trang 5MiniDisc Recorder
MiniDisc recorders are becoming
increasingly popular MiniDisc
recorders are very small and
compact, but they can deliver
high-quality recordings By simply
plugging a microphone into a
Computer
You can use your computer as a recording device
Your computer must have a sound card that allows
you to plug in microphones and other line-level
devices, such as electric guitars and acoustic guitars
with a pickup Less expensive sound cards have
only one microphone input and one line-level
input, but more expensive sound cards can have
up to 24 inputs The sound quality is also better
with more expensive sound cards
You must use recording software to turn your
computer into a multi-track recorder Most
recording software includes mixer software that
offers most of the same features as an external
mixer Some people, however, use an external
mixer to make it easier to send signals into the
computer For example, if you need to connect
several devices to a computer with only one input,
you can plug all the devices into an external mixer
and then connect only the mixer to the computer
to avoid having to constantly plug and unplug
devices
Recording software also often has built-in effects,
such as reverb, chorus and delay To share your
CHAPTER 15: Home Recording
MiniDisc recorder, you can record
a live performance or your own music so you can then play the recording back to hear yourself
play or share your music with
others
music with others, recording software allows you
to create MP3 or Wave files or burn CDs of your music Popular recording software for PCs includes
Guitar Tracks, SONAR and Cool Edit For Macs, popular recording software includes Cubase, Logic and Digital Performer
your tracks, such as looping, or repeating specific bars over and over
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Selecting the proper type of microphone is crucial for
obtaining the best results in your home recordings
Generally, a higher-quality microphone increases the
quality of the sound you are able to record
Types of Microphones
Microphones come in two basic types—condenser
and dynamic Condenser microphones are
generally more expensive and more delicate than
dynamic microphones Condenser microphones
also have greater dynamic ranges and better
frequency responses compared to dynamic
microphones A greater dynamic range allows a
microphone to pick up the quietest or loudest
sounds, while a better frequency response allows it
to pick up a wider range of low and high
frequencies Condenser microphones require
batteries or an external power source to function,
while dynamic microphones do not
Condenser microphones are more commonly used
for acoustic guitars, while dynamic microphones
are more often used for electric guitars Since the
sounds generated by acoustic guitars are more
subtle, you also usually need to use better-quality
microphones for acoustic guitars than electric
Microphones have two common types of pick
up patterns—omnidirectional and directional Omnidirectional microphones are good for picking
up the sound of an entire room, while directional microphones are better for picking up sounds that are directly pointed toward the microphone
Directional microphones are most commonly
used for guitars
Recommended Microphones
Microphones recommended for use with electric
guitars include Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421, For acoustic guitars, some recommended
microphones include AKG 460, AKG 414,
Neumann KM184 and Audio-Technica 4033
Trang 7Positioning Microphones
There are no set rules for positioning microphones
You should experiment with different microphone
positions to achieve the sound you want
For a more defined sound, place the microphone
about an inch from the guitar or speaker This is
Acoustic Guitars
Start by positioning the microphone close to the
sound hole If you strum the strings loudly, move
the microphone further away from the sound hole
To get less pick noise, position the microphone
where the neck joins the body If fret noise occurs
when you move your fingers on the strings, place
the microphone closer to the bridge
Microphone Accessories
You will need a microphone stand to hold a
microphone and a microphone cable to connect
a microphone to other devices, such as a mixer
or recording device A special adapter is usually
CHAPTER 15: Home Recording
known as close miking If you move the microphone further back, you reduce the amount
of bass and sound level, but you get more of
the sound of the room This is known as distant
miking
Electric Guitars
Start by placing the microphone one inch in front
of the center of the speaker You can also position the microphone behind or to the side of the
speaker Placing the microphone behind the speaker results in a more muffled sound
Using Multiple Microphones
You can use more than one microphone For example, you can position one microphone close
to the guitar or speaker to get the sound of the
guitar and another microphone further away to get the sound of the guitar as well as the room You can later mix the two sounds together to achieve
a grander sound
required to connect a microphone to a recording device You may need to buy the stand and cable separately since microphones typically do not
come with accessories
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Trang 8his chapter is a great
access guitar information
where to find and how to interpret
You can use the chord and scale diagrams provided as a quick reference when you want to know how to play a specific chord or scale There is also
a comprehensive glossary of terms you will encounter when learning to play the guitar
resource when you want to
quickly Read this chapter to learn
guitar information on the Internet
Trang 10on Tne internet
Reading Tablature on the Internet
Many resources on the Internet provide tablature for
popular songs you can play on your guitar Tablature,
often called guitar tab, is a notation system that
visually depicts the strings on the guitar and
indicates the strings you need to press down and at
Horizontal and Vertical Lines
In tablature on the Internet, the dashed horizontal
lines represent the six strings on the guitar The top
line represents the 1st string, and the bottom line
represents the 6th string The vertical lines, called
bar lines, help to break down tablature into smaller,
more manageable units of time, called bars or
The numbers on the lines indicate at which frets
you position your fingers For example, the number
3 indicates you should press the string down just
behind the third fret A zero (0) indicates that you
play the string without pressing it down If there is
no number on a line, you should not play that
string
Read the numbers from left to right When two or
more strings have numbers in the same vertical
position, you should play the strings at the same
time
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which frets you need to position your fingers
On the Internet, tablature is written using a standard system of characters and numbers, so any computer will be able to interpret and display the characters
and numbers
Letters and Symbols
Tablature often includes letters or symbols with the numbers to indicate articulation techniques For information on articulation techniques, see pages 134 to 141 The following is a list of the
most frequently used letters and symbols:
Letter or | Articulation
h hammer on | 5h7 - Press down the string at
the 5th fret and then hammer your finger on at the 7th fret
the 2nd fret and then pull your finger off the string
b bend string | 5b7 - Press down the string
at the 5th fret and then bend the note until the pitch is the same as the note at the 7th
fret
/or\ | slide up or | 3/5 -Slide your finger along
slide down | the string from the 3rd fret to
the 5th fret
string at the 7th fret
Trang 11CHAPTER 16: Quick Reference
Reading Chord Notation on the Internet
Many Internet sources provide information on the
chords you need to play songs, along with partial
lyrics for the songs Chord notations, such as
C: X32010, are often given for chords used in a
song
Each character in a chord notation represents one
string on the guitar, from the 6th string to the 1st
string, moving from left to right An X indicates
you should not play that string and a 0 indicates
you play that string without holding it down A
number greater than zero indicates the fret at
which you hold down the string
Popular Guitar Web Sites
www.chordfind.com - This site allows you to
select a chord to display the fingering for the
chord on the neck of a guitar There is also a
left-handed version available for each chord
www.fender.com - Fender, the makers of the
popular Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars,
maintains this site
www.gibson.com - This site provides information
about Gibson acoustic and electric guitars
www.harmony-central.com - This site provides
product reviews, articles and answers to frequently
asked questions about guitars and accessories,
and more
www.jimdunlop.com - The Dunlop Web site is a
good place to find guitar accessories, such as
picks, straps and capos
Example of Chord Notation
www.lasido.com - Visit this site to find information from the makers of Godin electric guitars and Seagull acoustic guitars
www.looknohands.com/chordhouse - At this site, you can view and print chord diagrams for
specific chords
www.martinguitar.com - You can find information
on the popular Martin acoustic guitars at this site
www.olga.net - OLGA (On-Line Guitar Archive)
offers a huge library of files to help you play songs
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