Welcome back to the ongoing series that began with Frequency Fundamentals. I trust and hope it has been as helpful for you as it was fun for me to write.

Moving along, this is the start of a new series that will dovetail with the frequency series. Consider it the second suite of a broader work. These new articles will continue our discussion and build on top of the foundation we laid down previously. This time we will focus on audio effects.

“Relevance?”, you ask.

Find me a musician, audio professional, or recording/mixing/mastering engineer that doesn’t use audio effects – and I will be the one to question if they have red blood coursing through their veins!

A more pertinent question would be this: “Effects… OK. But why now?”

If you are familiar with the previous frequency series, you should know the answer by now:
Click to read the rest…

Missed the previous posts in the series? Catch up with Part One and Part Two.

So you’re planning on buying some new toys, or shifting your set up around, but how will you know if you have actually made things better?

First things first, you need some test material. Several hi-fi manufacturers make CDs of test tracks, but I suggest finding a small selection of material you know really well and covers the range of music that you enjoy. My personal selection includes: The Cinematic Orchestra, Björk, Led Zeppelin and Steve Reich.

Burn these tracks on a CD and take it with you when you go shopping (any decent hi-fi or pro audio shop should have a listening room to try out equipment).

Wherever possible shut your eyes and ask a friend or shop assistant to switch (or rearrange) equipment so you can be sure you are listening with your ears and not your eyes or bank balance.

Guidelines

You don’t need to be an expert to listen for the changes you have made, just trust your ears and listen out for the following:
Click to read the rest…

Missed part one? Catch up here.

Welcome to part two of my series helping you gain new enjoyment from ear training by showing you how to get the best sound quality. This week we are going to be talking about amps and speakers.

This is a huge subject and you could easily fill books on such esoteric subjects as crossover design and porting. I’m going to skip those topics and try to give you just the information you need to get great sound. In this article I’m assuming you are interested in stereo music content. Surround sound set-ups really deserve their own article and should be avoided unless you have a very large sum to spend, or you are only interested in home cinema.

Alive And Amplified

Amplifiers serve a simple purpose: they make things LOUDER!

An amplifier multiplies the incoming signal, giving it enough power to drive speakers or headphones. An amplifier can be separate, but may be combined in an all in one Boom Box, or Mini System, or in a pair of active speakers.

Modern amplifiers are great value for money and you don’t have to spend much on a separate hi-fi amp to have a wonderful quality of sound. I would avoid Click to read the rest…