ANALOG AND DIGITAL AUDIO EQUIPMENT
Analog technology was used in audio production for almost a century. Most analog technology has been replaced by digital equipment, although even some forms of digital production equipment seem antiquated today. Most analog equipment, and even some digital equipment, has lost most of its importance, and as such has been relegated to the back of the book. It is unlikely that you will ever work in an analog-dominated environment, but many facilities still use analog equipment for specialized purposes. In this appendix, we will discuss many of these pieces of equipment, and give you the information you will need to know if you ever operate it.
Microphones and speakers will not be discussed in this appendix. Although each can contain digital elements, they are still basically analog and probably always will be. The human voice box and the human ear operate in an analog fashion, and barring some major genetic breakthrough, people are not going to spew forth 0s and 1s from their mouths or hear them with their ears. At the beginning and end of the audio process, analog will remain with us. Therefore, what was discussed in Chapters 4 and 7 about microphones and speakers is still relevant in covering the analog aspects of these pieces of equipment.
Even if you have no contact with the analog equipment discussed in this chapter, you may find it interesting. Knowledge of history is always advantageous. Some of the capabilities and quirks of modern digital equipment are there because people wanted to keep the best of the analog characteristics and make it easy for people who were experienced in analog to make the transition to digital. You may wind up marveling at what audio practitioners were able to do in the past, given some of the limitations of the equipment.
The turntable (see Figure A.1) was the first piece of analog equipment to succumb to digital technology when the compact disc (CD) player became popular in the early 1980s. Because a turntable cannot record, its functions relate only to playing back sound material. The two basic functions are to spin a record at the precise speed at which it was originally recorded, and to convert the variations in the grooves of the record into electrical energy. The main parts of most professional turntables include a platter, an on/off switch, a motor, a speed selector switch, a tone arm, a cartridge/stylus, and a preamplifier.
The platter is a metal plate about 12 inches across covered by a felt or rubber mat, which spins the record that is placed on top of it. The on/off switch turns on the motor, which turns the platter. The speed selector switch is needed because during the reign of turntables several types and sizes of records were developed. The first were 10-inch discs invented around 1900 that operated at 78 revolutions per minute (RPM). They had very large grooves and held only 3 minutes of music per side. They were also made of shellac and were thick and heavy, and broke easily. In the late 1940s, two different formats emerged that were made of less breakable vinyl, and had smaller grooves. One was 7 inches in diameter, played at 45 RPM, which held about 5 minutes of music per side. The other was the long-play (LP) record, which was 12 inches wide, operated at 33⅓ RPM, and could hold about 30 minutes per side. As a result, turntables were developed with a speed selector switch that controlled the speed of the motor.
The tone arm is usually a metal tube attached to a pivot assembly near the back of the turntable. Its purpose is to house the cartridge and stylus and allow them to move freely across the record as it is played. The stylus (sometimes referred to as the needle) is a small, highly compliant strip of metal with a diamond end that sits on the record groove. It picks up the vibrations from the record and sends them to the cartridge where they are converted into variations in voltage and then sent to the preamplifier to increase the level of the signal. From there, the signal can be sent to another piece of equipment, such as an amplifier or an audio console. Some consumer turntables had a volume control to adjust the loudness of the sound as it was produced.
FIGURE A.1 A turntable showing the on/off switch, speed selector buttons, platter, tone arm with the cartridge and stylus at the end, and volume control. (Image courtesy of Denon Electronics.)
Today, turntables are used mainly as performance instruments, an application that early audio technicians never envisioned. Club disc jockeys and other live performers use turntables to create unusual sounds that they incorporate within their performances. Turntables are also used to play vinyl recordings that are in someone’s record collection and were never remastered for CD. Many new turntables have digital USB outputs to facilitate transferring vinyl discs to some form of digital media.
If you are ever working with a turntable, you should handle the tone arm gently. Most tone arms have small handles by the cartridge/stylus assembly that you should use to pick up the arm and place it on the record. Do not touch the stylus with your fingers. If it’s necessary to remove dust, do so by blowing lightly on it, or use a fine-hair brush. If you are using a turntable made after 1960, it probably has only a two-speed speed selector switch of 45 or 33⅓RPM, because by then, those formats had replaced the 78s. One other thing to watch for is that 45 RPM records have a larger center hole than the 33s, and turntables usually include a separate adapter to fill the hole. If that adapter has been misplaced (and many of them have), you will not be able to play 45 RPM records.
Care of the records is also very important. Dust can be a big problem, because it can fall into a record’s groove and cause permanent popping on playback. Static electricity is produced by playing a record and this compounds the problem by attracting more dust. Use a good-quality record cleaner before playing records to help minimize dust problems. Unlike CDs, records can be wiped clean with a cloth and record-cleaning fluid, using a circular motion following the record grooves. Records should be handled by their edges to avoid getting fingerprints on the surface. Unless they’re being played, keep records in their paper or plastic inner sleeve and cardboard jacket and store them in a vertical position to prevent them from warping.
Many production facilities still have a stack of vinyl LP records around, such as an old sound effects library or a production music bed library, and some radio stations even still have a collection of music on records. If you’re looking to store your vinyl for the long term, do it the right way. Try to use a conventional wooden enclosure designed for record storage that is appropriate for the size of your collection. The most important point about vinyl storage is to keep the records absolutely vertical. If you do, the only weight at the edge of the record will be the record itself. If you allow the records to lean to one side or the other, then the weight will be unequal and it could cause the disc to warp. Also avoid storing records in either very dry locations, which will cause the paper record jackets to crumble, or very damp locations, which will cause mildew. A temperature between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit with relative humidity between 30 and 40 percent offers the best environment for storing vinyl.
If you are going to be playing a record on a turntable or using a turntable as a musical instrument, you will need to use its ability to cue. When radio disc jockeys used turntables, their cueing process was fairly complicated by today’s standards. Because a turntable’s motor does not get up to speed instantly when it is turned on, the record has to start turning slightly before the stylus hits the groove. If the motor isn’t up to speed when the music starts, the record produces a wow sound—a change in pitch caused by slow variations in the playback speed. (You can hear this sound on the book’s accompanying website.) This was an undesirable sound on early radio, but is often used by today’s club disc jockeys to create unique audio effects such as mixing and scratching.
There are several techniques for cueing records. For conventional use, you place the stylus on the outer groove and then rotate the turntable platter clockwise until the first sound is heard. Then, if you do not want the “wow,” place the speed selector switch to “neutral” and back-track the platter (turn it counter-clockwise) about one quarter of a turn. You start the turntable just before you want the music to play. If you want a “wow” or a scratching sound you can start a record at any point and also rotate it while it is playing.
Another way to cue a record is known as slip cueing; hold the edge of the record with your finger, using enough force to keep it from spinning when the on/off switch is turned to “on” (the turntable platter will be spinning below the record). Release the record when the actual sound is to begin. You can attempt to slip cue only if the turntable platter has a felt mat; a rubber mat does not allow the platter to continue to spin as you hold the record edge. Both methods of cueing records take practice and skill and can produce interesting effects.
A.4 REEL-TO-REEL AUDIO TAPE RECORDERS
Prior to the advent of digital recorders, analog audio tape recorders were the workhorses of the production room. The reel-to-reel tape recorder first surfaced in the 1940s and was the most-used recorder for several decades (see Figure A.4). All tape recorders rearrange oxidized particles on magnetic tape so that sound impulses can be stored on the tape and played back later. The physical makeup of the tape consists of three basic layers: a plastic base sandwiched between a backing layer and a magnetic layer (see Figure A.2). The top layer is composed of tiny slivers of magnetic oxides that are capable of storing an electromagnetic signal. Another type of tape, called leader tape, is made of colored paper or plastic and is not capable of recording because it does not have a magnetic layer. Its main use is at the beginning and end of a tape so that it takes on the wear and tear of threading the tape through the recorder, and not the magnetic tape. It can also be written on, so it can be used to identify what is on the tape. Reel-to-reel recorders use magnetic tape and leader tape that is ¼-inch wide, but other types of recorders use different widths.
The rearranging of particles on the magnetic tape is done by the recorder’s heads, which are actually small electromagnets. When a tape is blank, the magnetic particles on the tape are scattered about in a random pattern (see Figure A.3). The heads electromagnetically arrange these particles to represent sounds. Usually, professional-quality recorders have three separate heads: erase, record, and play (in that order). The erase head is always before the record head so that old material can be erased and new material recorded at the same time. With the play head behind the record head, it’s possible on some decks to monitor what’s just been recorded. When the machine is just in play mode, the erase and record heads are disengaged.
An important part of a reel-to-reel tape recorder is its tape transport. It is the part of the recorder that is involved with the actual motion of the audio tape. The audio tape is threaded manually from left to right; the left reel is known as the supply reel or feed reel (the reel that has audio tape on it as you begin to use the recorder) and the right reel is the take-up reel, which starts out empty. Behind each reel (inside the tape recorder) are motors that help drive the tape from one reel to the other and help maintain proper tape tension and speed. The standard reel sizes used in audio production for many years were 5-inch, 7-inch, and 10½-inch reels.
The audio tape is kept in line with various tape guides and tension arms so that it properly passes the heads, which are under the little box in the middle of the recorder. Sometimes the tape guides are stationary pins that provide a track that is just wide enough for the tape to pass through. The tension arms are generally more flexible. As the audio tape threads through them, they provide some spring, or tension, against the tape. One of these tension arms is known as the idler arm; if the tape breaks, this arm drops down into an “off” position, and the reel-to-reel recorder stops running. The heart of the tape transport is the capstan and pinch roller. Normally located just to the right of the tape heads, the capstan is a metal shaft, and the pinch roller is a rubber wheel. The audio tape must pass between these two components or it will not move. When the recorder is running, the pinch roller holds the tape against the revolving capstan, while the capstan controls the speed of the tape as it passes the heads.
FIGURE A.2 The basic “layers” of audio tape are the magnetic layer, the plastic base, and the backing layer.
FIGURE A.3 Tape recorder heads align the metallic particles of audio tape in a pattern analogous to the original sound.
FIGURE A.4 The top part of this reel-to-reel recorder includes the supply and take-up reel, tension arm, tape guides, heads under the box with “Tascam” on it, capstan, pinch roller, and idler arm. The bottom section contains VU meters, pots, controls for playing, pausing, and so on, and various function switches to route the sound. (Image courtesy of Tascam.)
Other components of a reel-to-reel recorder are its controls. Typically, recorders have buttons for rewind, fast-forward, play, stop, pause, and record. Often professional recorders also have a cue button that allows the tape to stay in contact with the tape heads during rewind and fast forward or even in the stop position, so you can find a certain spot on the tape. The electronics of the audio recorder include record-level and play-level potentiometers, VU meters, and a source/tape switch. The record-level pots adjust the volume or level of the incoming sound signal while play-level pots control the volume of the sound signal as it’s being played from the audio tape. The signal you see on the audio tape recorder VU meter is dependent on where the source/tape switch is set. In the “source” position, the VU meter shows the volume of the incoming signal while in the “tape” position the VU meter shows the output level of the reproduced signal at the playback head. Reel-to-reel recorders have counters that show minutes and seconds, and they also have speed selection switches because they are able to record and play back at varying speeds (mostly 7½ inches per second (IPS) and 15 IPS). The faster the tape speed, the higher quality the recording, but the sooner you will run out of tape.
Today, reel-to-reel recorders are used primarily to play back archived materials. Many important programs were stored on reel-to-reel tapes, especially the 10½-inch reels, because they could hold a great deal of information. Today the content of those reels, like the content of vinyl records, is being transferred to digital media. One aspect of the 10½-inch reels is that they had a larger hole in the middle than other size reels and therefore needed special hubs to hold them on the supply and take-up reels. These hubs, like the 45 RPM adapters, may have strayed from their recorders.
If you are playing something back on a reel-to-reel recorder and it sounds groggy or too fast, you probably need to change the speed control. If the sound is not consistent or fades in and out, you may have dirty heads. Normal use of a tape recorder leaves some oxide material on or near the heads. It’s good production practice to clean the tape heads gently with cotton swabs and head cleaner or denatured alcohol before you begin any production work. When playing a tape, if there is one dominant sound but bits of other sounds that creep in, this probably means there is cross-talk—the signal from the dominant track is picking up sound from an adjacent track. You can check to make sure that the tape is properly aligned as it passes the heads, but the problem might not be correctable.
Another reason that you might hear garbled sound is that the recorder you are listening to has a different track configuration than the recorder used to originally record the material. Although all reel-to-reel recorders used tape that was ¼-inch wide, they used the tape space in different ways. There were full-track recorders that used the whole ¼-inch space to record one mono signal. There were also half-track mono recorders, in which one signal could be recorded on the top half of the tape and when the tape was turned over, another signal was recorded on the other part of the tape going the opposite direction. When stereo came along, two signals were recorded on the tape, both going the same way, a configuration known as two-track stereo. Later on, reel-to-reel recorders were configured to record two stereo signals or a total of four tracks (quarter-track stereo) with each occupying one quarter of the tape: two going one way and two going the other way.
This was all well and good, except that tapes recorded on one type of machine might sound incoherent on another. For example, a tape recorded on a quarter-track stereo machine can be played on a full-track mono recorder. All the tracks will be heard; however, there will be recorded material going both forward and backward, and the resulting sound will be a garble. If you run into this problem when you are trying to listen to a tape, there is little you can do except try to find a different, compatible reel-to-reel recorder.
FIGURE A.5 Drop-out is an audio tape problem that results in flaking of the oxide coating.
Print-through is another problem, especially with older tapes. It is the transfer of the magnetic signal on one layer of tape to the magnetic signal on the next layer of tape, either above it or below it on the reel. Visualize a jelly sandwich stacked on top of a peanut butter sandwich. If the jelly soaks through the bottom piece of bread and onto the peanut butter, print-through has occurred. It’s most audible when one of the tape layers contains a very loud sound and the adjacent layer contains a soft sound.
Perhaps the biggest problem with audio tape is signal loss due to drop-out. Drop-out (see Figure A.5) is a defect in the oxide coating that prevents the signal at that point from being recorded. Drop-out can be a problem that occurred during the manufacturing of the tape, but it can also be caused by flaking of the oxide coating due to heavy use or improper storage. The results of these problems, such as incorrect speed, cross-talk, tracking incompatibility, print-through, and drop-out, can be heard on the web site that accompanies this book. To some extent these problems can be overcome with digital technologies. For example, sound can be artificially created to fill in where drop-out has occurred. Although important material can be restored that way, the process is tedious and expensive.
If you are using a reel-to-reel recorder, you may need sel sync (selective synchronization). As already mentioned, the erase head is first followed by the record head, followed by the play head. Because of this head arrangement, you can’t easily record one track in synchronization with a previously recorded track. For example, if you record one voice on one track and want to record another voice on another track on the same tape, you run into the following problem; as the previously recorded voice is playing, the sound signal is coming from the play head, but the second voice is recording at the record head. Because of the small distance between these two heads, you hear the previously recorded material a split second before you can record the second voice and therefore the two tracks will be out of sync when played back. To overcome this problem, some recorders have sel sync, which makes the record head also act as the play head. Now you’re hearing the previously recorded material at the same time as you’re recording the new material, so there is no time difference between them, and you can easily synchronize the two recordings.
The cassette tape recorder found its way into broadcast facilities in the 1960s mainly because of its portability and ease of use, but also because a professional-quality cassette recorder could offer high-quality recordings. There are units, such as the one shown in Figure A.6, that mount into a rack in the studio, and there are also small portable cassette recorders that reporters and others can take into the field.
One of the reasons the cassette recorder became popular in a portable configuration is that the tape it uses is much narrower (⅛-inch wide) compared to the ¼-inch reel-to-reel tape. The tape also moves at a little less than 2 inches per second, so not as much tape is needed to obtain a quality recording. This tape is housed in a plastic case (see Figure A.7) that slips into the recorder, which is a definite time saver, because no one needs to thread it manually.
FIGURE A.6 A cassette recorder that mounts in a studio rack. (Image courtesy of Tascam.)
Of all the analog tape equipment, the cassette is the one most likely to still be used in a production facility. If you do use one to record, you need to be aware of several issues. For starters, portable recorders have a built-in microphone, but you should avoid using this microphone for broadcast work, because it often picks up internal noise, such as the tape recorder motor. Use a good-quality microphone like those mentioned in Chapter 4.
Also, the tape in the cassette housing has a short leader tape attached at each end, and both ends of the tape are permanently attached to the reels. When recording onto cassettes, it’s important to remember the leader tape, because if you’re at the very beginning of the cassette, the actual recording will not begin for a few seconds, until you are past it.
FIGURE A.7 The internal structure of an audio cassette tape.
Another feature of the cassette is the knock-out tabs on the top edge of the cassette shell. There are two of these little plastic tabs (one for each side of the cassette), which allow the recorder to go into record mode. If someone has previously recorded on the tape and wants to be sure to save what was recorded, the tabs will be knocked out and you won’t be able to record over the cassette. To solve this problem, put a small piece of cellophane tape over where the tab was, and it will record just as if the tab were still there.
You may also run into track problems, although they are not as confusing or severe as those related to reel-to-reel recorders. There are two basic cassette tape-recording methods. One is half-track mono and the other is quarter-track stereo. However, unlike reel-to-reel configurations, the tracks are laid out in such a way that the mono configuration and stereo configuration are compatible. In other words, you can hear a cassette tape recorded using halftrack mono on a stereo recorder and you can hear a cassette recorded in stereo on a mono recorder, but of course it will be heard as mono, not stereo.
The cartridge recorder (shown in Figure A.8) became predominant in radio facilities during the 1960s and was used to play anything from songs, to commercials, to public service announcements, to station promos, and jingles. The audio tape cartridge is constructed as a plastic container with a continuous loop of tape inside. The tape pulls from the inside and winds on the outside of the spool.
Cartridge tapes (commonly referred to as “carts”) have an inaudible cue tone placed just in front of the recorded information so that when music or a spot is played, the tone signals the machine to stop the tape before it repeats itself. This automatic re-cueing also allowed several different spots to be put on one cartridge and played one at a time without fear of playing another before stopping the machine. As cart machines became more sophisticated, they were able to put secondary and tertiary cue tones on the cartridge that could be used to indicate the end of a spot, to start another cart machine, and to activate other programming features often found in automated situations.
FIGURE A.8 The cartridge recorder and player once played a major role in delivering the commercials, PSAs, promos, jingles, and music heard on the radio. (Image courtesy of International Tapetronics Corporation.)
You are not likely to use analog cart machines, as they have been replaced by a variety of digital equipment and software programs replicating the cart machine. Most carts did not hold more than 5 minutes of tape, so they were not used for archival purposes. However, if you do need to operate one, they are simple. Some are play only, and because they cue themselves and stop themselves, all you really need to do is push the PLAY button. Decks that record have a record button and a meter for setting levels.
A.10 TAPE-BASED DIGITAL RECORDERS
Although most of the tape formats discussed so far have been retired after decades of use, some more recent digital tape formats have also found themselves on the fringe of common use. The decline in their use has nothing to do with their technology, however, but more with their applicability and functionality in the studio.
One of these digital tape formats is the DASH system, which stands for Digital Audio Stationary Head. DASH is a reel-to-reel standard for digital recorders, like the Sony PCM-3202 or Mitsubishi X-86. Because of their high costs, multitrack reel recorders like these are used mainly in high-end recording studios for music and film production.
Another digital tape-based format that found some broadcast application but has faded from regular use is DAT (digital audio tape). The DAT recorder, also known as R-DAT (rotary head digital audio tape), is based on VCR and CD technology. The DAT system records using rotating heads, putting digital data on a ⅛-inch tape in a series of diagonal tracks similar to VCR recording. DAT recording is 16-bit with sampling rates of 32, 44.1, or 48 kHz.
The DAT cassette tape is designed similarly to a VCR tape and consists of two small tape reels encased in a plastic housing about the size of a pack of playing cards (see Figure A.9). DAT, like CDs, have several controls for selecting specific songs on a tape. An AMS (automatic music sensor) button allows the operator to skip forward or backward to the start of a recorded track.
Although DAT recorders have the same superior sound quality associated with all digital equipment—exceptional frequency response and S/N ratio; wide dynamic range; and virtually no wow, flutter, hiss, hum, or distortion—being tape-based became a disadvantage because audio tape was subject to breaking, deterioration, and manufacturing defects. Today, if a DAT system is used in an audio production facility or radio station, it is generally used for archival and storage purposes.
FIGURE A.9 The DAT tape cassette is similar in design to a VCR tape. (Image courtesy of TDK Electronics Corporation.)
FIGURE A.10 A splicing block. (Image courtesy of Xedit Corporation.)
A.11 ANALOG TAPE EDITING TOOLS
The tools used to edit tape during most of the analog days were not electronic—they consisted of a grease pencil, a splicing block, a razor blade, and splicing tape. The editing process was called “cut ’n’ splice” and has all but been replaced by computer editing. But if you have a need to undertake cut ’n’ splice editing, you will use a white or yellow grease pencil to physically mark the points where you’re going to cut on the back or unrecorded side of the tape. You do this utilizing a reel-to-reel recorder, where the tape is totally exposed, because it is extremely difficult and practically impossible to cut ‘n’ splice with a cassette or cartridge tape. The splicing block is a small metal block (see Figure A. 10) with a channel wide enough to hold the audio tape and two grooves to guide the razor blade when cutting it. The grooves are usually at 45-degree and 90-degree angles to the audio tape. For almost all production work, you’ll use the diagonal cut, because it provides more surface area for contact with the splicing tape at the point of the edit and it provides a smoother sound transition. Any standard single-edged razor blade will work for cutting audio tape. Splicing tape is commercially available, although a bit hard to find these days, and is specially designed so that its adhesive material does not soak through the audio tape and gum up the heads of the tape recorder. Do not use cellophane tape to do editing work. Splicing tape is slightly narrower than audio tape so that any excess adhesive material does not protrude beyond the edge of the audio tape.
Audio was sometimes edited using a dubbing method, and some facilities still use this method for digital as well as analog editing. It requires the use of two tape recorders. You simply dub or copy from one to the other with the “master” tape recorder in the play mode, and the “slave” tape recorder in the record mode. You cannot do the precise types of editing that computer editing allows, but through careful manipulation you can transfer the material you want and eliminate material you don’t want. Usually dubbing produces a glitch at the edit point that can range from barely noticeable to terrible, depending on the tape recorders used. Dubbing works very well if you simply want to make duplicate copies of any existing tape.
If you are editing with the cut ’n’ splice method, you will find that it involves a two-step process: marking the edit points and then making the cut. Because audio tape passes through the recorder from left to right, sounds are recorded on the tape in the same manner. For example, the phrase “editing is really a two-step process” would be recorded on audio tape in this manner: “ssecorp pets-owt a yllaer si gnitide”—the rightmost word (“editing”) would be recorded first. If you want to edit out the word “really” in this phrase, you would make two edit points, one on each side of the word. To do this, you find the playback head on the reel-to-reel recorder then play the tape, stopping it right before the word “really.” By rocking the tape reels back and forth in the stop position and cue mode, you can hear (with some practice) the beginning and end of the word “really.” Make your mark at those two places in line with the middle of the play head, being careful not to get grease pencil on the head because it will cause head clog. If you are making more edits, you can proceed to mark them, too.
Once you have marked the edit points, it’s time to perform the actual cut ’n’ splice (see Figure A.11). Normal splicing technique follows these steps:
| A. | Position the tape at the first edit mark in the splicing block. You can do this by placing the splicing block below the recorder play head and pulling the tape down to it. The unrecorded side of the tape should be facing up in the splicing block, and the edit mark should be at the 45-degree cutting groove. |
| B. | Cut the tape at your first mark. A simple slicing motion with the blade through the groove should cut the tape cleanly. Be careful! Razor blades are sharp and will cut your fingers as easily as they cut audio tape. |
FIGURE A.11 To edit audio tape: (A) position tape at first edit mark; (B) cut tape at first mark; (C) position and cut tape at second edit mark; (D) butt tape ends together; (E) apply splicing tape; (F) smooth out splicing tape; (G) remove audio tape from splicing block.
| C. | Repeat Steps A and B at the second edit mark. Remove the unwanted piece of audio tape, but don’t discard it yet. It’s good production practice to hang on to cut-out tape until after you’re sure the splice has been accomplished as you want it. It’s possible (although difficult) to splice the cut-out piece of tape back in and try the splice again if you’ve made a mistake. |
| D. | Butt the remaining tape ends together. Move both pieces of the tape slightly left or right so that you don’t butt them together directly over the cutting groove. |
| E. | Apply the splicing tape on the edit. About ¾ inch of tape is the proper amount. The splicing tape should be centered at the edit. Because the splicing tape is narrower than the audio tape, it should not protrude over either edge of the audio tape. |
FIGURE A.12 An analog audio console. (Image Courtesy of Toft Audio Designs.)
It’s best not to fast forward or rewind the tape until you’ve played it, in order to help secure the splice. Manually wind the tape on the feed reel until you’re past the splice, then thread the tape on your recorder, and listen to the edited tape. If it came out as you wanted, you can discard the unwanted tape section. Sometimes you may find it necessary to shave a piece of the edit by splicing off one edge of the tape. If you’ve made a good edit mark, however, you’ll rarely have to do this.
Editors often encounter problems with their first few splices. These are usually overcome with practice and experience. One of the most common problems with splicing-tape manipulation is simply using too much; a piece of splicing tape that’s too long is difficult to position properly on the audio tape and makes the tape too stiff at the edit, which prevents proper contact with the tape recorder heads. On the other hand, a piece of splicing tape that’s too short may not hold the audio tape together during normal use. Other problems arise when the splicing tape is put on crooked. A portion of the splicing tape will hang over the edges of the audio tape, making it impossible for the tape to glide through the transport properly. Another problem is leaving a gap as you butt the two tape ends together. Obviously, a gap at the edit point will be heard as an interruption of sound or too long a pause. On the other hand, if you overlap the two tape ends as you butt them together, the splice won’t occur where you thought it would. By now, you may be glad you were not editing tape during the analog era.
It is not uncommon to still find analog audio consoles in a production facility, such as the one shown in Figure A. 12. They are built so that they can handle digital inputs (such as CD players) and output to digital sources (such as a computer), but the electronics of the console itself are analog. Some people feel that going through an analog process gives audio a mellower, pleasing sound.
The functions of an analog audio console, whether one from the past or one that is new, are essentially the same as those discussed in Chapter 5 (“The Audio Console”), for digital consoles. They have input selectors and output selectors, VU meters, headphone jacks, and so on. This is due in part to the fact that digital consoles were made to imitate analog consoles so that the operators switching from analog to digital would not have a steep learning curve. In addition, the functions that you need from a mixer (the ability to adjust volume, equalize, pan, and so on) are the same for the digital realm as for analog.
The main difference is the interface and the size. With a digital console, you may call up and execute functions by operating a mouse or touching a screen, and you can place only those functions that you need on a computer screen. With an analog board, you physically manipulate levers, switches, buttons, and knobs. If these are numerous, then the console is going to be very large, whereas the digital console, regardless of the number of functions, can be the size of a computer screen.
Mini Disc (MD) recorders and players saw moderate success in the audio production studio, but lately have seen reduced use. Originally developed by Sony as a digital replacement for the cassette, an MD deck can be a handheld, tabletop, or rack-mounted system (see Figure A.13). Employing a small disc, the MD can still hold up to 80 minutes of music because of its data compression scheme. The MD is not actually CD quality, but is still an extremely high-quality audio medium. The MD also features a “shock absorber” system that uses a memory buffer to store music that continues to play for a few seconds if the player mistracks, until the pickup can return to its correct position.
FIGURE A.13 The recorder in a rack mounted configuration (and combined with a CD player) can still be found in some audio production facilities. (Image courtesy of Tascam®.)
FIGURE A.14 A portable MD allows recording and editing in the field, as well as all the other features of the format. (Image courtesy of HHB and Sennheiser Electronic Corporation.)
The portable MD recorder, an example of which is shown in Figure A. 14, is still a serious competitor for other recorders when it comes to news gathering or any production situation requiring field recording. The stand-alone unit offers recording, playback, and editing tracks on the move.
The MiniDisc is permanently sealed in a plastic cartridge (see Figure A. 15), so it can be handled without worrying about dust, dirt, or fingerprints. The actual disc is much smaller than a CD—about 2½ inches in diameter—but otherwise shares many of the CD’s characteristics, including its storage of digital data in a spiral of microscopic pits. The MD, like a computer disk, has a sliding protective shutter that automatically opens when the disc is put into a recorder or player.
FIGURE A.15 The MD is housed in a plastic case to keep it free from scratches, dust, and fingerprints.
Recordable MDs employ a magneto-optical design. A magnetically active layer of the disc is heated (by a laser) to the point where its magnetic orientation can be changed by a magnetic recording head. As the heated spot moves out of the laser beam, it rapidly cools, “freezing” its magnetic polarity according to the data applied to the recording head. During playback, the laser senses variations in reflected light in relation to the magnetic orientation. New material is recorded directly over the old with the format. In order to record large amounts of digital data in a small disc-recording medium, the MD recording process uses a data compression system developed by Sony known as ATRAC (adaptive transform acoustic coding) to provide digital-quality sound.
The popularity of MD technology has waned recently, especially with the growth of flash media technology for field recording. The MD was never really a true competitor for studio playback technology, so the advancements in field production technology took away the only distinct advantage it had. Additionally, MD technology is proprietary-based, and some radio stations and production facilities found its cost prohibited its use, especially when compared to flash media and other storage and playback options.
In addition to MDs and DAT, other digital recording and production formats have mostly gone by the wayside. Floppy disks, Zip drives, and removable, IDE (integrated drive electronics) computer drives have all had their moments in the world of audio production. Over time, however, each has faded from regular use as technology has improved.
For years, turntables and tape recorders were the primary workhorses in most radio production studios and cut ’n’ splice was the only way to edit audio tape. With the advent of digital equipment and the quality and convenience it offers, the use of older analog equipment and production techniques have all but disappeared. Analog had an illustrious past and deserves occasional use and a revered position in the history of sound. As time goes by, further advances in technology, as well as how producers use it, will determine the obsolescence of both analog and digital audio production technology.