Recording - December 2014 - 8

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More hope for the neither rich nor famous

Paul J. Stamler replied:

I really enjoyed "Hope for the not-so-rich and not-so-famous" in
September's Talkback. For what it's worth, as a longtime Recording
Magazine reader, here are my five simple rules for finding success and
happiness in the world of DIY recording:
1. Select three to five songs that are really important to you, then practice up (be really ready to record) and book a 3-hour session at a "real"
studio near you. For $150 you can get the best possible recording of the
material at the top of your list. You will have a benchmark for your
home recordings and take years off your learning curve, just by paying
attention and asking a few important questions during the session.
2. Your first purchase should be a good pair of nearfield monitors.
Start by listening to recordings similar to what you're wanting to produce through these monitors, and train your ears to interact effectively with them.
3. Remember that this journey is a marathon and not a sprint. You
don't have to buy all of your equipment at once. For example: buy a
$200 mic and start recording, then make it your secondary mic when
you add a better mic to your locker. However, even your inexpensive
early purchases should be of a quality that you can keep using later
on rather than abandoning because they can no longer pull their
weight. Try to make as few "dead end" purchases of low-end equipment as possible. "Disposable" equipment is not a good investment;
it's only a money loser.
4. Try and keep your equipment purchases in the same realm. A
$4000 mic isn't going to bring that much of an improvement to your
overall sound if you're using an entry-level preamp, compressor, etc.
5. Practice, practice, practice. A great performance captured with
entry-level equipment is going to take you much farther than a
mediocre performance captured with world-class equipment.

Hi Ben: From a mechanical point of view, you
should be able to use solid wire if you're careful
while you thread it through the conduit. On the
other hand, for mic cables, which are prone to
picking up electromagnetic interference, you
might seriously want to consider using Star-Quad
or the equivalent, which rejects such interference
more effectively than conventional cable. It's
stranded, and a pain in the neck to strip and solder, but the results (in a bad interference field)
can be nothing short of miraculous. Peace-PJS

Thanks,
Steve Ford
via email

Thanks for the words of wisdom, Steve! I think our readers will
get good mileage out of what you have to say. While all of your
points are good ones, I was particularly interested in your first
suggestion; it represents, in a way, the other side of what Sean
Shannon is describing in his "Zero To Hero" article in this issue.
The engineer who wants to provide a great opportunity for an
artist to capture his work meets the artist who's ready for his best
work to be captured! In a situation like this, both sides win.
Thanks for reading-MM

Wire we wiring?
Dear Paul Stamler: I recently read your article "Wire We Doing This:
The ins and outs of cable and wire...", which I found very useful. [It's available on the Recording website, at is.gd/RECWireWeDoingThis -MM]
I am about to wire my home studio. I have PVC pipes that have been
laid before pouring the cement floor, which will contain the runs. (See the
photo.) These runs will feed mic hookup terminal boxes at several points
between the control room and the main room/iso booth. I was wondering
about using solid-core wire as opposed to stranded? Thank you,
Ben Robert
Montreal, QC

To which Ben replied:
Thanks for the info. I guess solid core copper doesn't
have the capacitance issues encountered with multistrand? As far as interference goes, I am in a residential area and 12 feet underground-so far, no buzzes!
The AC power line is clean; I ran an isolated ground
from the water pipe entrance to the chassis ground lug
at the studio's 100A panel. I also kept all the inductive
loads (motors) on a dedicated 110V phase, the audio is
on the other phase which eliminates pops and clicks
when motors turn on and off. Thanks!-BR

And Paul came back with:
Hi Ben. No, solid-core copper wire still does have
the capacitance issues as well. Having metal wires
separated from one another by insulation creates
a capacitor, regardless of whether the wire is
stranded or solid. What I like about solid-core is
that it's a lot easier to solder, without little strands
going every which way and creating shorts.
Being 12 feet underground in a residential area
is fine, but the time may come when somebody
puts an old guitar amp on the floor, with a power
transformer that radiates a huge hum field. Or a
new TV station or cell-phone tower may be set up
a block from your house, pouring radio-frequency
garbage into all your lines. At that point StarQuad is worth its weight in gold. For a permanent
installation, I'd prefer to be ready in advance by
wiring the place with Star-Quad from the start.
And your power management is good, but those
motor pops can also radiate through the air as radiofrequency junk, so you're not totally out of the woods.
But you've made a fantastic start to what sounds like
a potentially nice clean studio. Good luck!-PJS

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8

RECORDING December 2014

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