Hello everyone! Today we’re going to discuss cables used in professional audio and electric instruments, like guitar and keyboard. The terminology can be confusing sometimes, so we’re hoping to clear that up and give everyone a basic understanding of what audio cables to use for what application. The audio cable is the basic building block of a sound system and there are three primary types used in any sound system, guitar setup, or stage.

Instrument/Line

The line level (or instrument) cable is probably the most common. This is the cable used to plug a guitar or bass into an amplifier or a keyboard into a sound system. An instrument cable is made up of a single copper conductor at its core that is insulated and then wrapped with a copper shield wire. The shield can be wound around the center conductor or braided; both are very common. The center conductor carries the audio signal from one place to another and the shield is there to keep noise out of the signal. Instrument cables are susceptible to signal degradation when using cables over 20 feet long.

Microphone/Balanced Line

Microphone or balanced line cables are a better solution to noise cancellation than a standard line cable. A microphone cable has two internal conductors (+ and -) with a shield around both. This was designed for a “balanced” signal to reduce noise. The signal is split into two equal but out of phase parts (the – part is “flipped” over) and sent down each conductor. As the signals travel down the cable they pick up the same amount of noise. Once the signal reaches its destination, the balanced input of the mixer or whatever is receiving the signal, “flips” the – signal back in phase with the + signal and recombines them. This puts any noise picked up along the – conductor out of phase with noise picked up on the + conductor, cancelling it out. An important thing to remember about balanced cable is that if the equipment on either end of the cable does not have balanced ins and outs, the cable makes no difference at all, as the signal splitting and phase shifting is not done by the cable itself.

Speaker

Speaker cables are perhaps the most misused cable in the audio industry. Unlike an instrument or microphone cable, a speaker cable does not have a shield that wraps the internal conductors. Speaker cables are designed to carry higher current signal than audio cables and as such are usually larger in diameter. A speaker cable is only designed to carry a “powered” signal such as between an amplifier and a speaker (thus the name). While they can be used as an instrument cable in a pinch, it has no noise cancellation properties and will probably pick up any interference that may be around.

While there are many other types of cables used in the audio industry, these are the basic building blocks of any sound system. Some things to remember about them:

• Guitars, basses, and keyboards use the same cables (unbalanced line) but have different level outputs. Make sure the appropriate amplifier is used.
• Balanced line level is used for many applications, not just microphones. Microphones have a lower output level than balanced line and so need a mic preamp to plug into (these are built into any mixer out there).
• NEVER use an instrument or line level cable to connect a speaker to a power amp. ONLY powered speakers use line or balanced line inputs. Also, avoid using speaker cables on powered speakers, this will just induce noise.
• Just because a unit has an input or output that looks like a microphone cable (three prong or XLR), doesn’t mean it has to be a microphone plugged into it. It does however usually mean that input or output is balanced.

So there’s a little background into common cables and their uses. If you find yourself wondering about what cable to use or how an output or input works on a piece of gear, check the manual they will usually tell you what level input or output the gear needs to operate correctly. There is also a wealth of information online about balanced vs. unbalanced and different types of cables if you feel like researching this further. Thanks for reading!

While other musicians generally only consider pitch as they are tuning, we drummers are primarily concerned with creating tones and textures to fit the requirements of the music. Tuning drums is therefore a very subjective process that adheres to personal taste and musical considerations rather than any particular standard. Finding the drum sound that you are after often requires lots of experimentation, but here are a few basic guidelines to consider.

Every drum has a general range in which it can be tuned, and a specific tension in the middle where the drumhead will resonate the most freely. As you tune the drum higher, the drum will have greater stick articulation and projection. Lower tuning results in longer sustain and warmth. At the upper extreme, the drum will begin to sound choked. At the lower extreme, the drumhead will create an undesirable buzzing sound. Regardless of what tension you tune the head to, it is very important to maintain even tension between each lug.

Many jazz drummers favor higher tuning, especially styles that are rooted in bebop. Drummers like Max Roach, Elvin Jones, and Tony Williams were known for playing fast melodic figures around the kit and required a dry stick articulation. The drum sounds often heard on modern rock albums tend to feature deep, punchy drum sounds with lots of low end. The thick tone from lower tuning gives weight to the drum sound.

While drummers in particular styles tend to favor a particular sound, there are many notable exceptions. John Bonham played large diameter drums and tuned them very high, much like a big band drummer from the 30’s and 40’s would have done. This was a major aspect of the distinct drum sound he had playing with Led Zeppelin. There are no hard and fast rules for where you should tune your drums.

It can be very worthwhile to spend time trying to emulate the sounds of drummers that you really like. Drum sizes, head choices, and muffling are also important factors in getting the right sound. While you may not have the same gear available, you can often achieve similar results through minor adjustments in tuning. Don’t be afraid to pull out your tuning key and experiment.

For a great demonstration on how to tune a drum, check out the following YouTube link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0rVntds_oY. Or you can sign up for drum lessons and have a Guitarfish Music instructor demonstrate in person!

Metronomes have come a long way since I first began studying music.  While my first metronome was clunky, harsh sounding, and lacked even a volume control, smartphone and tablet apps now offer tons of advanced features, can travel with you everywhere you go, and are available for a fraction of the cost.  For Android and iOS users, I highly recommend Frozen Ape’s Tempo Advance, which is available for $2.99.  Using some of the features on these apps, there are many great exercises that can help any musician develop their time.  Here are a few to get started with.

As you become more comfortable with the piece you are practicing, change the setting of the metronome to play half as many beats.  Over time you will move from every beat to hearing half notes, then just once every bar. When that becomes comfortable, you can set the click to play just the downbeat of every two or four bars.  Hearing the click less often will force you to use your inner clock to keep track of the time.  It will also train you to remain consistently focused on the groove, a very important skill for playing along with other musicians.

Another great variation of this exercise is to practice hearing the click on other beats of the measure.  Begin by setting the metronome to half notes. Instead of hearing the click on beats 1 & 3, let the click mark 2 & 4.  It may be useful to clap quarter notes and count out loud as long as it takes for you to “feel” where the downbeat is. Gradually, you can go further by hearing the click on offbeats and more advanced subdivisions such as triplets and 16^th notes.  For example, the click could be set to whole notes, and sound on just the & of 4. Make a game out of it, and see how far you can take this idea.

Having a strong internal clock is important for every musician and every style of music.  The jazz pianist Thelonious Monk is often quoted, “ Just because you’re not a drummer, doesn’t mean you don’t have to keep time.”  One reason is that the rhythm section may not always be there to spell out the time for you. But more importantly, it is because every member of an ensemble is capable of influencing the time and the groove, and shares responsibility for making the music feel great.

Happy practicing!

 

 

 

In our second article about the electric guitar, we’re going to head on down the signal path, past the pickups (from last week’s article) to the amplifier. What is an amplifier exactly? Well today we’ll talk about it and find out.

Last week we talked about the pickup, the first component involved in getting the sound of the guitar from the instrument to the stage. From the pickup, the guitar signal goes to the output of the guitar and down a cable to the amplifier. Now, much like a pickup, the amplifier is aptly named as it amplifies the signal from the guitar and puts that signal through a speaker at a volume that you can hear. But the question is, how does that work?

An amplifier works in two stages, the preamp and the power amp. Each of these stages is separate but is integral to the functionality of the other stage. Without getting too technical, the descriptions are below.

First in an amplifier is what’s called a preamp. The preamp amplifies the signal before it goes to the power amplifier. The purpose of a preamp is to take the low voltage/low current electrical signal from the guitar’s pickup and bring that voltage up to a level that the power amplifier section can actually see. Usually in the preamp stage you will also find tone shaping, such as equalization that helps the user mold the sound to get what they want to hear.

The next stage is the power amplifier. This takes the signal from the preamp and/or tone section and just makes it louder. Usually the power amp section is very simply put together and made to either reproduce exactly what the preamp gives it or, in the case of tube amplifiers, take the signal from the preamp and not only amplify it but give it some unique character. The power amplifier stage is what is responsible for making all the loud noises we associate with electric guitar and bass.

Though guitar and bass amplifiers have many different brands and faces, they all do basically the same thing. They usually sound different depending on brand and the type of music they are made for but they all make the guitar louder and prouder.

After the amplifier comes the speaker. A speaker is basically the reverse of the pickup, instead of taking vibrations (sound) and turning it into voltage and current, it takes voltage and current and turns it into sound via an electromagnetic medium. So, the greatest thing about the sound coming from the pickup to the amplifier is the fact that it goes through a complete reversal from sound to electromagnet to amplifier to electromagnet to sound. This is the magic of the electric guitar.

If you’re new to the world of electric guitar, you’ll no doubt have a lot of questions. Often one of the first questions is, “What makes the guitar electric?” Well today we’re going to discuss a fundamental part of an electric guitar, the pickup. No doubt if you haven’t heard of a pickup before, you definitely will again. Guitarists place a lot of concern on the pickups in their main axe and rightly so, the pickup is the first link in the chain of getting the sound from your strings to the stage.

A pickup is actually somewhat self-explanatory in its name. It is a device that “picks up” the vibration of the string and converts it to electricity. This may sound like magic but it’s actually very basic science and physics. Most electric guitar pickups are magnetic; they consist of some sort of magnet with very thin wire coiled tightly around it, usually a few thousand times. This device sits under the strings on the guitar. Now, the strings on an electric guitar are made of metal for a specific reason. When plucked or strummed they vibrate and this vibrating metal causes a ripple in the magnetic field created by the pickup magnet. This vibration is converted to current that flows from the wire that is coiled around the magnet to the output of the guitar. From there a cable transfers this current to an amplifier that reproduces the sound of the strings.

Pretty simple right? The science behind an electric guitar is surely no mystery and not very complex. Pickups are integral in producing sound from an electric guitar and the materials that they are made of change the way they reproduce this sound. Magnetic pickups can use different types of magnets like ceramic or Alnico and can also use different configurations like a single bar magnet or a separate magnet “pole” for each string. The type of magnet and the amount of times the wire is wrapped around it can change the overall sound of the pickup. There are also different types of pickups like single-coils and humbuckers. There are even pickups that don’t use magnets at all like piezo-electric (mainly found in acoustic guitars) and optical. While they may use a different method of “picking up” the sound of the strings, the end result is the same; the sound goes from the guitar to the amplifier and from the amplifier to your ear.

We hope this article has helped clear up one of the mysteries of the electric guitar. We will be writing more informative articles on musical instruments every Tuesday so like our Facebook page and make a suggestion. Thanks for reading and we’ll be back next Tech Tuesday.