Connections and Setup 

This post is a continuation to my last post  “ Basic Requirements for Recording and Producing Music “ and has been written assuming that all the equipments have been gathered and are ready, so that we can connect everything and start working .

To reassure, these are the list of equipments i mentioned before  -

A Computer

An Audio Recording Interface

A Microphone

A pair of headphones/ studio monitors

A Digital Audio Workstation (D.A.W)

Cables - XLR and 1/4” instrument cables

If you have all the things ready, then we are ready to proceed. But before that we should be familiar with a few connectors .

XLR Connector (Male & Female )

1/4” TRS (Male & Female)

Combination Jack

3.5 mm Jack

Firewire port

USB Port

Male XLR Connector 

Combination Jack

3.5mm Jack

1/4" TRS ( Female )

1/4" TRS (Male)

Firewire Ports

USB Port

Female XLR Connector

Connecting our Audio Interface to our Computer 

Typically Audio Interfaces have 2 types of connections, through which they can be connected to the computer, i.e. USB and Firewire . 

Firewire connections are mostly seen in apple computers and a few older windows machines. But now a days most of the interfaces have a USB connectivity as both mac and windows have this port in common .

I will assume that we are using a interface with a usb connection. And for connecting the same, we need to follow the following steps :

Insert the narrow side of the USB cable to the back of the audio interface .

Now insert the other end (The wider side ) to one of the usb ports of the computer .

Note: Some interfaces require external power and some don’t . If it does require external power and contains some kind of power cable along with the package, don't forget to power the same with some external power source .

Now, the interface should be successfully connected to your system . Don't worry if your interface has a firewire connection . The process is pretty much similar. All you need to verify before connecting your interface, is that your computer has a firewire port build into it . Else, a firewire card is needed to be installed in your system before connecting your interface .

After you connect your interface, its time to install the drivers and softwares that came along with the interface . Some packages include CD’s and some needed to be downloaded from the internet after providing the authentication code given to you along with the interface . 

Once the drivers are installed , we are ready to turn our interface on . Do remember to select the audio interface in computer settings as input and output device .

For Windows user’s 

Start > Control Panel > Sound 

For Mac users

Apple > System Preferences > Sound 

Connecting Headphones / Studio Monitors to the Audio Interface 

Now, that we have successfully connected the interface to the computer, its time to connect the monitors and headphones to the interface and to make sure the interface is working . To do so we need to follow these steps :

Connecting Headphones :

For connecting the headphones to the audio interface, we need to look for a 1/4” TRS female port in the interface. There might be more than one ports of the same type . The ports which are for the headphones will be mentioned as phones/headphones or will have signs made like this . 

The headphones we are trying to connect will most probably have a 3.5 mm jack and needs an adapter, that converts that tiny port to the big 1/4” TRS jacks. Most studio monitoring headphones contains a 1/4” TRS converters with the pair but even if there’s none , they are not hard in any electronic store .

Now we can connect the male 1/4” TRS jack from the headphones to the female 1/4” TRS ports in the interface . 

There will also be volume knobs for independent ports for headphones as they are the level controls for the headphones . Once the headphones are connected, try playing any piece of audio from the computer , you should hear the same in your headphones .

NOTE: If you don't hear anything , check the I/O’s (Inputs and outputs) once again and try restarting your computer. 

Connecting Monitors :

If we choose to work in studio monitors, we will be needing two 1/4” instrument cables to connect the monitors to the audio interface . 

For connecting the monitors, we need to connect one side of the cable to the female 1/4” TRS port built in the monitors and the other end to the 1/4” TRS outputs of the interface . 

NOTE : We need to connect both the monitors individually from two different output ports of the interface to the monitors with two different 1/4” instrument cables . Don't worry about the positioning of the monitors, as it can be controlled from monitors itself . 

Now, as the headphones/monitors are connected and we have everything set up, its time to use the interface for our D.A.W .

Setting Up the Interface in the Workstation’s Preference 

NOTE: It is assumed that the workstation has been pre-installed in the computer before proceeding to this step .

Once we are done connecting all the gear and equipments, its time to choose the interface in its I/O ( Input/Output ) settings in our D.A.W , which will enable us to record audio into the D.A.W and playback the same .

I use Logic pro X as my primary workstation and this is how you can choose the interface in it .

Logic pro X > Preferences > Audio… > Output device & Input device 

We need to select our interface in both of these columns, which will enable us to use the desired interface to record and playback audio to and from the workstation through it 

Different D.A.W’s have different options but the principals remain the same . And if we face any difficulty setting up the I/O device in your workstation, we can always check the manual.

Connecting Microphone and other Instruments 

Microphones have Male XLR ports build into them . To connect them to the interface, we will need XLR cables . We can connect the Female end of the XLR cable to the microphone whereas the other end ( the male XLR end) to the interface. 

There will be female XLR ports or combination jacks built into the interface known as inputs . Both can connect to male XLR jacks . There will also be gain knob along with the inputs. These knobs sets the amount of gain for individual inputs.

Also, there will be some kind of button or switch referred to as +48 volts (Phantom power) for every individual inputs . These are extra 48 volts, that any condenser microphone requires to run . But do remember only condenser microphones require that extra +48 volts .

Do not turn on the phantom power in any other kind of microphone . If done, it might destroy or damage the microphone .

For connecting any other instrument that has a TRS jack built in it, the method is same as connecting microphones, but only instrument cables should be used instead of XLR’s . In some interfaces there are instrument buttons build into it which increases the gain of the input when a direct instrument is plugged into it . No instrument requires phantom power and requires any extra power .

NOTE : Set the gain of every input very carefully , as more of it might lead to clipping whether less might lead to a lot of noise in the recordings . Always make sure the levels of the inputs are healthy and are not clipping .

Well, that was for this post . And if these all steps are followed carefully with precautions, then there should not be any difficulty in recording any kind of audio . No matter its an instrument or a microphone . 

In the next post , we will learn the basics of recording in our D.A.W (Logic Pro X) and will try to record one guitar and one vocal track .