Some of the most beloved processing is also the most potentially detrimental. In the hands of an artist, a compressor can be used to carve out a beautiful sonic sculpture, but in the hands of a novice it can completely ruin the music. The controls used on the compressor--------- 1) Threshold 2) Attack 3) Release 4) Compression ratio 5) Make-up gain

====THE MOST CRITICAL PIECE IS ALWAYS YOUR OWN CREATIVITY==== But the items that give that "professional sound" are: o 1. Excellent Preamps for the Mics o 2. Excellent digital audio converters) o 3. Appropriate Mics for the task o 4. Excellent monitors that reveal the flaws as well as the strengths o 5. Room treatment: A good sounding room that does not mask audio problems o 6. The effective use of mixers, signal processors such as eq, compression, reverb, delay. These may exist in software or hardware. o 7. Good sound sources--instruments, amps, synths, samplers, loops.

===SIGNAL CHAIN=== Microphone -> Preamp -> A\D Converter -> Recorder -> D\A Converter -> Monitors. The quality of your sound will only be as good as the weakest component in this chain.

===ANALOG SIGNAL PROCESSING=== Is any signal processing conducted on analog signals by analog means. "Analog" indicates something that is mathematically represented as a set of continuous values. This differs from "digital" which uses a series of discrete quantities to represent signal. Analog values are typically represented as a voltage, electric current, or electric charge around components in the electronic devices. An error or noise affecting such physical quantities will result in a corresponding error in the signals represented by such physical quantities. Examples of analog signal processing include crossover filters in loudspeakers, "bass", "treble" and "volume" controls on stereos. Common analog processing elements include capacitors, resistors, inductors and transistors.

+++FM SYNTHESIS+++ In audio and music frequency modulation synthesis (or FM synthesis) is a form of audio synthesis where the timbre of a simple waveform is changed by frequency modulating it with a modulating frequency that is also in the audio range, resulting in a more complex waveform and a different-sounding tone. The frequency of an oscillator is altered or distorted, "in accordance with the amplitude of a modulating signal." For synthesizing harmonic sounds, the modulating signal must have a harmonic relationship to the original carrier signal. As the amount of frequency modulation increases, the sound grows progressively more complex. Through the use of modulators with frequencies that are non-integer multiples of the carrier signal (i.e. non harmonic), bell-like dissonant and percussive sounds can easily be created.