| Getting Started | |
 Press the “start” button on the Furman Power Sequencer located directly under the desktop at the main desk. Give the equipment about 20-30 seconds to turn on all the components. |
 Once the speakers and interface power on, you’ll need to adjust the master volume knob which is located next to the desktop. Turn it clockwise to increase volume. |
 Underneath the computer is our audio interface, which is the Universal Audio Apollo x8 Gen 2
Each of the instruments in this room is routed to this interface, and is assigned a channel. |
 Ensure that the circular knob labeled “monitor” is green if you want to hear audio from the studio’s speakers. |
 Open the UA “console” program to see which instruments are routed to each channel. |
 When you power on an instrument and play it, “Console” will display levels at the corresponding input in the region shown above. |
 To use an electric guitar, or bass, plug in the instrument to the “HI-Z input” located on the front of the interface. Doing so will automatically route the instrument to channel one. |
 Extra patch cables are located on the desk behind the Prophet Synthesizer. |
 Plug the other end of the cable into the instrument you want to record. |
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| Recording Audio | |
 To record, first open Ableton Live. |
 Navigate to the settings menu from the “Live” dropdown in the top lefthand corner of the screen. |
 Once the settings menu opens navigate to the “Audio” tab. |
 Ensure that both the “Audio Input Device” and the “Audio Output Device” are set to “CA Studio Audio.” |
 Press the icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to switch to the track view in Ableton. |
 Ableton will default to loading two “Audio” tracks and two “MIDI” tracks. To record audio, select the input on an audio track which corresponds to the instrument you’d like to record in the dropdown. |
 Press the icon shown above to arm the audio track to record. |
 Press the record button at the top of the program to record audio to the track you armed using the instrument you selected. |
| Using the Microphone | |
 The studio has a Neumann TLM 102 microphone. |
 The mic is routed to channel 8 of the studio’s audio interface. |
 You must unmute channel 8 by clicking the “Mute” button to use the microphone. |
 Also ensure that the button labeled “+48V” is lit up red on the front of the interface. The mic will not work if this setting isn’t engaged. |
 While using the microphone, mute the speakers in the studio by pressing the “monitor” knob on the left-hand side of the audio interface inwards. It should turn red as shown. If you don’t mute the speakers while using the mic, it may generate feedback, which is an extremely loud high-pitched screeching noise. |
 Adjust the headphone volume as shown, and wear the headphones to hear what you’re recording while the speakers are muted. |
| Recording MIDI | |
 To record MIDI, first select what controller you’d like to use as an input from the dropdown shown above. |
 Arm the MIDI track to record in the same way that you would for recording audio. |
 MIDI doesn’t produce any sound on its own. Rather, it produces data which can be used to control software instruments in Ableton. To use one of these software instruments, select one from the browser section of the program. |
 Drag and drop the instrument to the bottom of the program. |
| Press the “record” button at the top of the program to record MIDI to the track you armed using the controller you selected. |
 After you record, double-click on the track to access the “Piano Roll” which will display the notes you recorded. |
 One advantage to recording MIDI is that the notes can be adjusted after playing. If you play something that you don’t like, you can adjust it after recording it. |
 Click and drag a note up or down to change its pitch. Drag a note left or right to adjust its timing. |
| Saving a Project File | |
 To save your Ableton project, first click on the “File” button at the top left-hand side of the program, and select “Save Live Set As” from the dropdown menu. |
 In the finder window, name your project file and save it to an external hard drive. This is a shared computer, and any project files on it may end up being deleted. |
| Exporting an Audio File | |
 To export an audio file (.wav, .mp3, .flac, etc.) Press the File button at the top left-hand side of the program. Then select “Export Audio/Video.” |
 This will open the “Export Audio/Video” settings window. In this menu, choose what file types you want to export by selecting the green “on” buttons under PCM, and MP3. Once you select your settings, press “Export.” |
 Name your file and save it to an external hard drive. You can play your export on any standard audio playback program. |