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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.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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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.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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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?

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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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.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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Back in the 1960s and 70s, it was common to slightly change the speed of a tape machine when recording vocals, and sometimes other instruments. When the tape was played back at normal speed, the singer sounded younger and the performance was more exciting -- an important consideration back then. The tape speed was only changed a small amount, around 2% was typical. But the effect could be amazing.

There were other applications for tape speed changes. For example, if a piano needed to be overdubbed on a song that had been recorded with the instruments tuned a bit off from standard tuning, the tape speed could be adjusted to bring the song to the tuning of the piano. And instruments could be recorded at speeds even farther off standard than you could get away with with vocals, creating an entirely new sound.

Digital recording does not lend itself to variable speed recording, although some DAWs are capable of changing speed. But not too many engineers know about this classic effect.

In this episode, I describe how it was done in the past, and how you can achieve the same thing in the digital world.

You might notice that it has been a while since the last episode of this podcast. My voice was even worse than it usually is for a couple of months after getting a severe cold. I blame it on my 18-month old grandson, but he is worth the price I had to pay from catching his colds!

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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What makes a good engineer? There are many skills required, both technical and interpersonal. In this short episode I talk about some of those skills and how they apply to a recording session.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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Creating software plugin versions of actual hardware is challenging. Acustica did a superb job of creating a plugin version of the D.W. Fearn VT-5 Stereo Equalizer several years ago, called Ruby. And now MixWave has done the same for the VT-7 Compressor.

In this episode, I speak with Taylor Larson, founder of MixWave, about creating the VT-7 plugin. Taylor explains the process for the VT-7, and other plugins that MixWave has developed. Learn more about MixWave and their products at https://mixwave.com/

Our conversation covered a lot more than that, however. We discuss the engineering and producing aspects of music, vintage gear, and how our careers in audio evolved over the years.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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https://dwfearn.com/

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Recording sessions can be technologically complex. There are mics to set up, cables to run, headphones to deploy, maybe patching in the control room, and software and hardware to configure. It is a lot for one person to handle.

The job of assistant engineer has existed as long as recording. It not only spreads the work around, but it is also potentially a stepping-stone to becoming a fully-fledged engineer.

In this episode, I talk about the role of assistant engineer. What are their tasks? How do you teach them? I use an example of how I work with assistants in my studio, which may not be typical of most recording sessions, but it explains what my assistants do. I also discuss the same aspects from when I had a commercial studio.

You, as engineer on a session, have certain obligations as a mentor to your up-and-coming engineers. And the assistants have skills to master, plus learning about the human factors when interacting with creative people.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
www.youtube.com/c/DWFearn
https://dwfearn.com/