Recording Secrets For The Small Studios Part 2

   1 .2   THE LINE-CHECK  Returning to our stated task (namely recording the output of a stereo playback device), in an ideal world you should now be able to start playback, make any necessary internal signal-routing assignments within your recording system, and see the appropriate meters on your recorder lighting up. Back on Planet Earth, however, it’s actually very common for source signals to go AWOL, which is why “where’s the signal?” is probably the most common setup problem in any studio. As such, one of the recording engineer’s primary tasks before every session is to “line-check” the rig, ensuring that all signals are reaching their intended destinations. “There’s nothing worse on a session, and nothing worse on an engineer than when things are just not working right,” comments Al Schmitt, 1  echoing similar comments from Simon Climie 2  and Stephen Hague. 3  “It’s like they say in the boy scouts,” continues Schmitt: “Be prepared. Be on top of your game. Make sure everything’s working.”



1  .2.1   Unity Gain  To make the line-checking process as straightforward as possible, you should fi rst try to make sure nothing in the recording path is changing the level of your audio signal at all, which means setting every gain control that precedes the recorder track to its 0 dB or “unity gain” position. There can be hundreds of gain controls even in entry-level recording systems, manifesting themselves as knobs, switches, or faders labeled Gain, Volume, Level, Sensitivity, Pad, or Trim—or sometimes just calibrated in decibels. Digital gain controls usually default to their 0 dB setting, while analog controls often have their unity-gain position marked or detented, so the trickiest part of zeroing them is usually just tracking them all down! Computer audio interface drivers and DAW software mixers in particular often have little gain controls tucked away in nooks and crannies all over the place, and if just one of those has been pulled down inadvertently it can throw a spanner in the works. Some gain controls (such as +4 dBu/−10 dBV sensitivity switches) may offer no unity-gain position at all, while others (such as headphone volume knobs) may have no calibration—in either case start off with those at their lowest gain settings.  Don’t forget to check that any Pan or Balance controls are centered too, because both of those are essentially stereo-ganged gain controls. Also, confi rm that there are no Mute/Solo buttons engaged, and that any signal-processing facilities have been reset or removed from the circuit—particularly the channel EQ if you’re recording via an analog mixer. Once you’ve set your whole recording chain to unity gain, do the same for the monitoring chain.


  ECORDING FROM TURNTABLES   Despite being superseded in the mass market by digital playback formats, the vinyl record shows little sign of dying out, especially now that scratch DJs have elevated it to the status of musical instrument. Capturing the output of a turntable isn’t any trickier than dealing with regular line-level sources, as long as you realize you can’t just record the cartridge’s raw signal—it’ll require both amplifi cation and heavy RIAA-standard equalization fi rst. Fortunately, most DJ mixers and turntable-equipped hi-fi s have built-in RIAA preamplifi cation to handle all that, so the trick is to take your recording feed from the DJ mixer’s master outputs or from the hi-fi  amplifi er’s dedicated line-level recording outputs, rather than using the RCA phono sockets on the turntable itself. Also, be sure that the turntable itself is correctly earthed, otherwise the cartridge won’t be properly shielded from unwanted electromagnetic interference. This may require a separate earth wire to be connected between dedicated binding posts on the turntable and preamplifi er.


 Now you can start the line-check. Level meters should be adequate for the purpose, so your monitors can remain muted for now. Set the playback machine going, turn up any output-level or headphone-volume control it has, and examine your recorder track’s level meter. Don’t worry too much about what the level actually is for the moment—just check whether there’s something there! If you can see something on the readout, then stop the player and check that this reading also dies—a simple step which confi rms that what you’re metering is really the playback device, and not some other unwanted signal. Now restart the player, pull down the recorder track’s monitor-channel fader, unmute your studio monitoring system, and carefully fade up the recorder track to confi rm that what you’re hearing tallies with what you’re seeing. All of which should take no more than 20 seconds if all’s well, after which you’re ready to set recording levels. If nothing comes through, though, then it’s time to troubleshoot.

1.2.2   Divide and Conquer!  The secret to line-check troubleshooting is to make like Daft Punk: Keep a cool head! Unless you work methodically, you’ll waste masses of time going down blind alleys. When a signal isn’t reaching the recorder track, your fi rst call should be the recording system’s input metering: in other words the very fi rst meters the input signal hits after exiting the connection cable. These might be single LEDs next to the input sockets or something much more sophisticated within a computer soundcard’s software control utility, but unfortunately they’re not always that easy to fi nd—the input-channel metering in most DAW software rarely fi ts the bill for line-checking, for example, because a signal can so easily be misdirected by the audio drivers prior to that. Whatever form the system’s real input meters take, it’s paramount that you fi nd out where they are, because they allow you to speedily eliminate a whole section of the studio setup from your inquiries: if those input meters light up but you’re still not hearing anything, then something’s awry in your recording system; if they don’t, then you need to scrutinize your sound source or its connections.
 Armed with this information, try to slim down the variables further, as illustrated in  Figure 1.7 . For example, assuming a no-show on your recording system’s input meters, try to fi nd any readout on the player itself, or try plugging headphones directly into its headphone socket. If something’s actually coming out of the player, then the fi nger of blame points at your cabling; whereas if the player’s silent, then it’s time to dust off its instruction manual or ring the repair shop. Alternatively, let’s say audio is indeed arriving at your computer system’s recording inputs, but not showing up at the recorder track. Try inspecting your DAW’s input-channel metering: if you get a reading, then you can concentrate on tinkering with the routing and channel-assignment options.