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Do microphone preamps make a difference in a recording? They certainly do for me. In this episode, I discuss why preamp quality is important, and the reason why different mic preamps sound different.

You might think that these differences are only detectable by engineers with “golden ears,” working with top-notch equipment. How could that have any impact on the average listener? I argue that it does make a difference, and improved sound helps everyone be more successful.

 Here are links referenced in this episode:

 Doug Fearn and Corrie Lynn Green talk about the making of her album, “Day 4 of living on the Edge.”

https://youtu.be/9rv0m94nq8w?si=Z0mawTYiKCX1PohD

 Why Vacuum Tubes Sound Better for Audio:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/episodes/4721579

 Gain Staging:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/episodes/19067208

 Mic Preamp Design:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/episodes/4998686

 Listening

https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/episodes/11165606

 Why Different Gear sounds different:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/942952/episodes/11564815

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https://dwfearn.com/

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We use the term “ground” frequently in the studio, but what does “ground” actually mean?

It can be confusing, because we use the same word to describe many different things. For example, we say that the shields of our audio cables are “grounded.” Or we may think that “grounding” our equipment will eliminate the electrical noise we hear in the audio.

I attempt to clarify some of the misconceptions about “ground” in this short episode. The main point I try to stress that is that a connection to the Earth is not necessary for our equipment, or any electronic or electrical device, to work. The purpose of “grounding” electrical things is for one purpose only, and that is safety.

Consider this an overview of a complex topic. I focus on things that matter in the studio. The true story would take much more explanation, and probably be of minimal interest to most recordists.

One of the topics I mention is the “Pin 1 Problem” that is found in some otherwise excellent professional audio products. Here are links to an excellent explanation by Jim Brown, an electronics engineer who devoted his career to professional audio. He also co-wrote many of the AES standards that make our gear sound as good as it possible can.

http://www.k9yc.com/Pin_1_Revisited.pdf

http://www.k9yc.com/Pin_1_Revisited_Part_2.pdf

http://www.k9yc.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf

You will find many more useful references on Jim’s web site, if you want a deeper understanding of many noise and grounding topics.

This is the last of the 6-part series on Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers. I may add additional episodes later, but I think this helps people understand some of the electronic principles as they relate to our job.

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This is part two of a 2-part series contrasting recording to tape versus digital recording. In this episode, I look at the strengths and weaknesses in digital recording. And then I summarize both episodes with a comparison of the two approaches, in a number of categories like sound, ease of use, maintenance, and cost. For each comparison, I share my conclusion about which is better.

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A tape machine was the only way music was recorded for about 40 years. Then, in the 1990s, computer technology made digital audio recording possible. There was a period when both technologies were in use, but the advantages of digital were overwhelming. The cost of a digital recording system, using commodity computers, was less than a tenth the cost of a multitrack tape machine. This vastly expanded professional-quality recording availability.

Digital recording has many advantages. But recording to magnetic tape has never disappeared entirely. In this first part of a two-part series, I talk about the practical aspects of tape recording.

In part 2, I will contrast the two technologies, and offer my opinion on the advantages and disadvantages of tape and digital.

I will return to the last episode of Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers after this short series.

Thanks for listening, commenting, and subscribing. I can always be reached at [email protected]. I enjoy reading  your reactions, suggestions for future episodes, and hearing your personal stories.

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In electronic equipment, a schematic diagram is used as a map to show how all the various components are interconnected. This is useful for troubleshooting and repair. And following the signal path through a circuit gives us a deeper understanding of how the equipment does its job.

Schematics in the past were beautifully drawn and easy to interpret. But today, most electronic equipment is not repairable at the component level, so manufacturers have mostly stop including schematic diagrams. And those that do usually describe circuitry built on printed circuit boards. The software used to design those boards do not care about the readability of the schematics, so the diagrams are difficult to interpret.

In this episode, I describe the various symbols used to represent the most common parts found in audio equipment. I hope it will be helpful should you ever need to see how a circuit works, for repair or just education. And you can learn to draw your own schematics, even if only to show how your studio is wired.

Since this an audio podcast, I cannot show how the symbols actually look. This link leads to a good reference of schematic symbols, including many variations you might encounter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_symbol

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The design of professional recording gear requires knowledge of how to best distribute the necessary gain through multiple internal gain stages. In this episode, I explain how that is done, and how you can use the same principles to achieve the best gain-staging of all your equipment. Proper gain-staging optimizes the signal chain for lowest noise, and the least distortion.

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This is the third installment in a series on Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers. This episode focuses on equalizers and amplifiers. Why do we call them equalizers? And amplifiers are at the heart of every piece of audio gear, even if we don’t usually recognize them as such.

I discuss different approaches to designing an equalizer. And cover the concepts of amplification from the original vacuum tube circuits, through transistors, and then to opamps. Opamps make large format consoles possible, and they are at the heart of almost every audio device in your studio.

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In this second episode of a multi-part series on Basic Electronics for Recording Engineers, I continue with the fundamental principles of electrical and electronic devices, with an emphasis on practical implications. The explanations are simple, and therefore, incomplete. But I hope it will give you some insight on what goes on inside your equipment – and in the electrical world in general.

This episode focuses on the relationship between electricity and magnetism and how that is used in our studios. I explain why our equipment requires DC to operate, but electrical power is distributed in AC form. That leads to an explanation of transformers, for power distribution, and to convert the incoming voltage to what we need. I also explain a bit about audio transformers.

Our equipment needs DC internally to operate, and I talk about how AC is converted to DC. That introduces capacitors, and their many applications in our studios. I end with resonant circuits, which form the basis of equalizers, as well as how all musical instruments work.

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The chain of equipment between the recording artist and the listener is long and complex. Every piece of gear, from the microphone to the listener’s speaker or headphones, has the potential to be the weakest link in this chain.

In this episode, I go through every major link in the chain and describe why it could be the weakest link in any recording situation. Are there types of equipment or facilities that have an outsized effect on the ultimate quality of a recording? What can we do about that?

By the way, I decided to try a new microphone for this podcast episode. It is a Sennheiser MKH8030, which is a bi-directional small-diaphragm RF condenser mic. I like RF condenser microphones because they have a lower level of distortion than traditional condenser mics. I like the sound of MKH8030, and I am sure it will get a lot of use on my sessions. But for my voice, I still prefer the AEA R44C that I normally use. What do you think?

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Music relies on technology, and music recording is entirely dependent on electronics technology. You don’t need to be electronics engineer to record, but some basic knowledge of electricity and electronics can be useful to any recording engineer.

When something doesn’t work as expected, or a piece of studio gear fails, some insight into what might be the cause can save time and money – even if you pay someone else to make the repair. Giving them useful information ahead of time means that the tech will probably spend less time troubleshooting, and that will save on repair costs.

And in any profession, extended knowledge beyond the minimum to do the job gives you an advantage.

And who doesn’t want to have an advantage? And who doesn’t want to have a deeper understanding of the technology that we depend on?

This is the part one of a series on basic electronics. I am keeping the content as simple as possible, which means it is often incomplete. So don’t take this as an electronics course. It’s just information that might be helpful when doing your job.

I will intersperse these basic electronics episodes with the typical content you are used to hearing in this podcast. Tell me if you find this useful.

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