2019-07-01_Computer_Music

Audiointerface

Anaudiointerfacecombineswithyour

computerandDAWtocreatea complete

audioandMIDI-basedproductionsystem.

Theinterfaceitselfgetsaudio(andpossibly

MIDI)signalsintoandoutofyourcomputer,

soit’sthe‘box’towhichyouconnectyour

mics,instrumentsandlinelevelsignals,and

thathandlesoutputtoyourmonitorsand

headphones.It mayalsohaveMIDIinsand

outs,enablingolderMIDI-basedhardware–

synths,keyboardcontrollers,etc– tobe

pluggedin.Mostkeyboardcontrollersthese

daysincorporatedirectUSBconnectionto

yourcomputer,sotheinclusionofMIDII/O

onyourinterfacemightbeunnecessary.

Thefirstthingtoconsiderwhen

choosinganaudiointerfaceishowmuch

connectivityyouactuallyneed:thinkabout

thenumberofmicrophoneinputs,

instrumentinputs,headphoneoutputsand

mainmonitoroutputsyou’llbeusing

simultaneously.Clearly,justrecordinga

singlevocalistdoesn’trequiremuchinthe

wayofspecs,butrecordinga drumkitora

wholebandismuchmoredemanding.

Thesefactorswillhavea bearingonthe

typeofinterfaceyouneed.

Anaudiointerfaceconnectstoyour

computerusingoneofseveralconnection

protocols,themostcommonofwhichis

USB2.0.Thisubiquitousstandardis

availableon

most

computersand

includesbus

powering

capability,

alleviatingthe

needforan

externalpower

supply.However,mostaffordableUSB2.0

interfacesonlyofferuptoaround 20

streamsofsimultaneousrecordingat

24-bit/48kHz,so,if that’snotenough,there

areothermoreexpensiveoptionsto

consider.Theseincludecertainhigher-end

USB2.0systems;PCIecard-basedsystems

usingEthernet,MADIorproprietary

connections;Thunderbolt(versions1, 2 and

3);andFirewire(400and800).

Thenextthingtoconsiderishowthe

interfacehandlesheadphonemonitoring.

Typicaloptionsareeithera simplemix

controlonthefront(greatfora simplevocal

session),ormorecapablebutcomplex

software-basedmonitoring(fora band

setup).Finally,mostrecordingsaremadeat

24-bit,ateither44.1kHzor48kHz,butmany

interfacesofferhighersamplerates– 96kHz

and192kHz– soyoualsoneedtodecide

whetherornotthisisimportanttoyou.

DAW

Witha suitableinterfacesorted,youcan

recordyourmicrophonesandinstruments

inanyapplicationthatsupportsaudioinput,

andwhetheryou’reonWindows,MacOSor

Linux,therearea raftoffreeappsavailable

togetyoustarted– Audacityand

GarageBand,forexample.However,these

arecomparativelylimitedintheir

functionality,andwhenyougetintothe

realmsofaddingrecordings one at a time

(overdubbing)orrecordingmultiple inputs

together,you’llneeda professional quality

digitalaudioworkstation(DAW) that can

performsuchtaskseffortlessly and, most

importantly,reliably.

It’squitepossiblethatyour audio

interfaceincludesa freebundled DAW

(AbletonLiveLite,Steinberg Cubase LE/AI

orPreSonusStudioOneArtist, for example).

Theseareusuallyfeature-limited versions

ofeachcompany’sfull-priced offering, and

forsimplerecordingsessions they should

suffice.What’smore,mostof them put you

ona discountedupgradepath to the more

fully-featuredsibling.

Nonetheless,there’sstilla definite

advantagetohavingthefull version of any

DAW:flexibility.You’lltypically get unlimited

tracks,multiplesendsandreturns, the

abilitytorecordmanyinputs

simultaneously,a bundleofadditional

plugineffects,virtualinstruments and audio

content,andadvancedediting features

suchaspitchcorrectionand audio warping.

Indeed,if pitchcorrectionis important,

PreSonusStudioOnecomes with an

embeddedversionofMelodyne, while Avid

ProToolsincorporatesexcellent flexible

timeadjustmentintheshape of Elastic

Audio.Forbundledcontent, Apple Logic Pro

X includesanimpressivelibrary of Apple

Loopsanda tonofsoftsynths and plugin

effects,whileforcreativity,Ableton Live

featuresboththetraditional timeline-based

ArrangementView,andthe‘non-linear’ clip-

basedSessionView.

Thefinalthingtoconsider is your

personalpreferencewithregard to DAW

design,layoutandworkflow. Most DAWs

essentiallytakeyoutothesame end

productindifferentways,and thus share

manycorefeatures;butuntil you try a

particularDAWforyourself, it’s hard to

knowwhetherornotit willsuit you. Again,

thosebundled‘lite’editionsand free

versionsletyoutrybeforeyou buy.

What you need

“Consider what

connectivity you

actually need”

USB interfaces like the M-Audio M-Track and Focusrite Scarlett are popular choices

PreSonus’ Studio One 4 Artist edition comes free with certain audio interfaces

24 / COMPUTER MUSIC / July 2019

make music now / the fast guide to recording