Digital recording workstations, also referred to as a soundboard or a mixer, record instrument or vocal parts on separate tracks. Along with recording, digital workstations allow individuals to equalize tracks to their liking before finishing the recording.
While many mixers and soundboards allow for instruments to be plugged directly to the soundboard, digital recording studios still require microphones to record tracks of vocal parts, drums, horns and acoustic-stringed instruments, such as the cello, violin or acoustic guitar. High-density microphones, often referred to as condenser microphones, are popular in modern digital recording studios because their internal pickups process a wide range of frequencies while retaining sound quality.
XLR cables are simply microphone cables, which are necessary to connect any studio microphone to a soundboard. Each of these cables has both male and female ends, and come in varying lengths, sizes and colors.
Regardless of the genre of music you're recording, retaining the sound quality from instruments or from vocals is imperative. Sound waves reverberate off of surfaces such as glass, wood, cement, plastic, rubber and plaster, leading to poor sound quality. Installing foam panels inside of the room where vocals and instruments are recorded absorbs sound by reducing echoes, while also reducing the amount of noise that travels both in and out of the studio.
One goal when recording music digitally is creating the highest quality and best sounding recordings possible. Just as studio designers look to reduce noise and sounds from reverberations off of walls and glass, studio designers also install sound-reducing carpet that is able to absorb noise and stop it from echoing off of the floor. For studio spaces that wish to reduce sound and noise but have previously installed a series of rugs or a carpet, several brands manufacture carpet underlayment, which can be placed between the bottom of the carpet and the original surface of the floor.