Faq

In preparation for our final performance, here is a checklist of technical issues to double-check.

1. You are using your Cornell login in Zoom. The easiest way to verify is to visit https://cornell.zoom.com and login, joining the meeting after. You may also need to download the latest Cornell version from the same place.

2. Your Zoom preferences are set to enable stereo audio. See here for details.

3. Your Zoom preferences are set to Show in-meeting option to “Enable Original Sound” from microphone. This will disable Zoom’s noise and echo cancellation. See here for details. Once turned on in preferences, a button will appear in the Zoom window (upper left) to allow you to “Turn on original sound” for your audio device.

4. You are using a hard-wired ethernet connection wherever physically possible! Bandwidth will affect many aspects of your performance and so a hard-wired connection to your home router is ideal.

5. Use good lighting where available! Extra lamps, phone LEDs, and other sources will dramatically improve your camera fidelity.

6. You have reviewed your sound settings for your particular situation by reading this post.

When visiting CEMC studios, as with any lab space on campus utilizing shared equipment (see Cornell guidance), sanitation will be an important part of studio protocols. Keyboards and mice, as well as the desktop itself will are the most obvious, similar to any shared desk or table on campus. But electronic music studios have additional shared items whose design and sensitivity require specific treatment.

Microphones

When using common microphones, the following is recommended.

1. Students must wear an approved mask during any microphone use.

2. Use sanitizing wipes provided, clean the microphone body itself, including the front grill. Then proceed to other surfaces you will come into contact with, such as the microphone clip, the cable, and the adjustment mechanisms of the microphone stand.

2. Use a disposable microphone cover, provided on the desk within each studio. You will want to remove this cover when you exit the studio out of courtesy to the next user. If the microphone is covered when you arrive, replace it with a new one, sanitizing your hands and the mic before putting on a new cover for your own use.

Further advice is provided by the Shure microphone company, makers of the mics we’ll be using this semester.

How should I clean my microphone?

To sign up for a studio time on the course website, log in with the username you created. Then:

1. Go to “Studios” and click on “Sign up for studio times —>”

2. Choose a studio to sign up for from the drop-down menu.

Note that at the top of this signup page, you will also see a list of your current bookings, if any. Here you can cancel times that you no longer need, important as a courtesy to you colleagues.

3. Click on a desired time slot and confirm it. The schedule defaults to showing the current week and the following week, but you can navigate to future calendars as you like.

Ableton Live projects are stored in folders, containing all pertinent audio files, processed files, MIDI, and other project details. When files are added during mixing (drag-and-drop, etc), their location on the disk is referenced BUT the file itself is not automatically copied into the project folder.

In order to make sure that all files are stored together in the project folder (to bring to another studio, to upload as part of an assignment or finished project, etc), please use “File–Collect All and Save”, which gathers all files into the project folder automatically.

See here for more details: How to ‘Collect All and Save’ a Live Set

If you wish to view a more detailed view of all gathered sounds in any project, this can be done with the “File Manager”, with more information available here.

Recording audio directly into Ableton Live’s DAW is simple, requiring only an audio track and the specification of the input channel. This recording method has advantages over an editor, such as Audacity, in that it allows the selection of arbitrary input channels and easily facilitates the layered synchronization of new material onto old.

1) Create an audio track in Live

2) In the new track’s input/output section, select the audio input channel you wish to record from.

3) Arm the record for this new track (WARNING: if the input is a microphone, make sure the speakers are turned down, monitoring only through headphones).

4) Arm the master record (circle, top-level “transport” control) and hit “play” (triangle)

1) Using the cable supplied in each studio (1/8″ to split 1/4″, red and white), connect your laptop output to the front “Hi-Z 1 and 2” inputs on the Apogee Ensemble (top-most silver device under the computer).

2) In either Audacity or Live, set monitoring to “On” or arm record for channels 1 & 2 — in Audacity, 1& 2 are the default; in Live you must specify the track input, as shown here:

Tutorial on “Recording Audio” (as needed): https://www.ableton.com/en/articles/recording-audio/

3 (May be needed)) Open the “Apogee Maestro” software (in /Applications if not shown as a purple “A” icon in the Macintosh dock). In the software’s “Input” tab, under channels 1 & 2 (left-most channels), set the input from “Mic” to either “Inst” (instrument) or “+4”, depending on what is listed.

• If you do this, please do set it back to “Mic” when you are finished as this might confuse others using the studio after you.