Recording - August 2012 - 72

Plugs and Jacks The plug is a male connector, the jack is a female connector. You plug the plug into an outlet or into a jack (sometimes a socket in the UK). Now, I understand this gets a bit confusing with XLR connectors and some multipin connectors where there’s an inserted part that goes into the part with the pins. But the part with the pins is the plug. If it’s a Whirlwind MASS connector or some other hermaphrodite connector, there is no plug and no jack so please call them something else. Oh, and don’t mix up “phono plug” with “phone plug”. The former is what we call an RCA plug for coaxial S/PDIF digital or unbalanced analog audio; the latter could mean 1/4", TT/Bantam, or 3.5mm mini. Speaking of which...

Guest editorial by Scott Dorsey

Misused Words
Mini Phone Plugs What we call a 1/4" plug or jack actually is 1/4" in diameter, but miniature (“mini”) phone plugs are not and never were 1/8" in diameter. Mini plugs are 3.5mm plugs. You can say 3.5mm or “mini” and be correct almost all the time (there are 2.5mm “subminiature” plugs and jacks out there but they’re almost never seen in audio), but calling such a connector 1/8" is never correct. I would argue that it is never correct to use the stupid things either, but that’s getting harder to avoid in the iPod era. Phantom Power Phantom power is differential power; it is applied between the two conductors of a balanced pair and ground. It’s called “phantom” because it does not affect the pair itself at all and provides a second “free bonus” signal path to power a device. Cheap computer microphones which are single-ended microphones do not use phantom power. They use power which is applied to the same lead the signal is, and there is only one signal lead and one ground return lead. Sony calls this “Plug-In Power” and most other vendors have followed suit. It’s 12V common mode-power; it has absolutely nothing to do with phantom power, so don’t call it that. If you promise a client that your recording device provides phantom power, but you show up with something that has a mini phone jack on it, not only will you be made fun of but you might lose the gig. Comping Comping is the process of creating a composite track from multiple individual takes, or of accompanying a jazz soloist on piano. Neither has anything to do with compression. If you take several vocal takes and combine the first verse from the first take with the chorus from the second take and the bridge from the third, you’re comping vocals. If you run the result through a Distressor, you’re compressing vocals. Go and misspeak no more Now that there’s no more smoking in studios, your chances of getting an ashtray thrown at you are pretty much zero. However, careful attention to these word usages will reduce the chance of getting an ugly look from old guys behind the console. Perhaps more importantly, they’ll help you be properly understood when communicating during a session, which can only be a good thing when your artist is asking you to hand him a wire with an 1/8" jack so he can play you a track to comp with the 1176... after you flip the phase, of course. Scott Dorsey (dorsey@recordingmag.com) is an audio engineer, gear design guru, lover of vintage audio gear, and educator of the masses, living and working in Williamsburg, VA.

When I was a kid in Hawaii, I learned video production from a fellow named Mr. Fordham, who was famous for yelling at people and throwing ashtrays at them when they used the word “filming” to mean “videotaping” or talked about “microphone wires” when they meant “cables”. Now I’m as old as he was back then, and I’m developing the same sort of grouchy annoyances. I feel like I’m sitting on my porch waving my cane at all those annoying kids who cannot learn to speak properly, but I’m not sure that’s really a bad place to be. Here are a few of the word usages that annoy me: Phase People say “phase” when they mean “polarity.” And they say “phasing” when they mean comb filtering. This drives a lot of people up the wall, because it’s just not correct and it leads to people having a misconception about what phase really is. If you switch the top and bottom of the waveform you are changing polarity. If you are advancing or delaying it you are changing the phase. When you have two microphones at different distances from the source and you bring them both up and the frequency response becomes very strange due to destructive interference, this is comb filtering. It is not flanging, which is a deliberate audio effect that incorporates comb filtering; it is certainly not phasing. Cables Mr. Fordham’s pet peeve. A wire is a single strand, a cable is multiple wires bundled together. A microphone cable consists of many individual wires bundled into two conductors and an outer shield. You can call each conductor a “stranded wire”, which is strictly speaking not correct but won’t get an ashtray thrown at you. But a cable is not a wire.
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RECORDING August 2012

Recording - August 2012

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