When making a checklist of essential equipment for a recording studio, most prospective buyers cite only the gear that handles the audio. In many cases, little attention is paid up-front to non-audio staples that are needed by every studio. These “comfort” items tend to send many budgets over the top.
ATSC 3.0 is slowly rolling out in the form of actual on-air tests at multiple sites. This type of launch provides engineers the perfect opportunity to use the time to better understand this complex technology before equipment purchase decisions must be made. This primer peels back the multiple layers of ATSC 3.0…
In this series of articles, we will explain broadcasting for IT engineers. Television is an illusion, there are no moving pictures and todays broadcast formats are heavily dependent on decisions engineers made in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and in this article, we look at camera lenses, why, and how we use…
As audio facilities move away from professionally built studios to homes, offices and other locations, the precise matching of listening components becomes more tricky. Many of these makeshift studios use budget monitors with no software for matching with the acoustic environment. This can result in audio sounding different from place…
It’s elementary knowledge that if water gets into any electrical system it is bad news. Though we may specify waterproof cables and connectors, sometimes moisture gets into cables in the strangest and most unexpected ways. Here are some tips on trouble-shooting moisture problems in cables.
A pilot goes down a pre-flight check list before taking off in an airplane. Since the pilot’s life is at stake, this idea is not a hard sell. However, an audio professional should do the same thing, since his professional reputation is on the line.
The first commercially available helium-filled hard drives were introduced by HGST, a Western Digital subsidiary, in November, 2013. At the time, the six terabyte device was the highest capacity hard drive available. Backblaze, a major hard drive user, wanted to find if helium-filled drives are more reliable than standard air-filled hard…
In this series of articles, we will explain broadcasting for IT engineers. Television is an illusion, there are no moving pictures and todays broadcast formats are heavily dependent on decisions engineers made in the 1930’s and 1940’s, and in this article, we look at the most fundamental element of video – senso…
In the 1980s, it was easy to define a recording studio. For major studios, most of us would name the Record Plant, the Hit Factory, Criteria or Electric Lady among the premiere American studios. There were also some private studios, mainly owned by artists for making their own music. Today,…
Microphones — depending on the owner — either are treated gently or with abuse. This treatment often extends to how the microphone is used. There is a big difference between shouting mindlessly into a dynamic mic in a small club and recording pristine audio in a studio. Here are some tips on how…
