Recording SMPTE through console

[Matt Syson]

Hi
Ensure it is, and stays balanced. Don't put it through 'channels' of a desk, but if it has an onboard patch you MAY get away with it if it is wired in twin screened cabling throughout.
Keep the level as low as can be read reliably. If you have -10 db levels available on 'send and receive', use that rather than +4 levels. Try it before committing to a full rewire!
Matt S

[thenoodle]

I've never run smpte through the console. But I do routinely feed it from the generator through a separate line mixer in cases where some of the locked tape machines need a higher smpte level. Easy to distribute that way while keeping the whine away from any main signal paths.

[Rolf Ebitsch]

Hello Clueless

my SMPTE setup:

From the SMPTE generator in the console to:
- Patchbay - to track (24)
- 2" tape machine
- Patchbay - from track (24)
- Back to the console in the SMPTE generator (reader)

I use also:
- Patchbay - send (Channel 24)
- for my DAW Timecode reader (Steinberg Timelook Pro SMPTE)

Well, everything is in time. Console, 2" Tape Machine, the Effect Rack, DAW....

Hopes that helps a little bit.

R.

[Clueless]

Originally Posted by Rolf Ebitsch

Hello Clueless

my SMPTE setup:

From the SMPTE generator in the console to:
- Patchbay - to track (24)
- 2" tape machine
- Patchbay - from track (24)
- Back to the console in the SMPTE generator (reader)

I use also:
- Patchbay - send (Channel 24)
- for my DAW Timecode reader (Steinberg Timelook Pro SMPTE)

Well, everything is in time. Console, 2" Tape Machine, the Effect Rack, DAW....

Hopes that helps a little bit.

R.

It does. While others try assiduously to avoid running SMPTE through the patchbay and the console, you seem to have no problems when you do, which is one of the data points I was trying to collect.

[Ben B]

I've run LTC through a console channel on many occasions without issue. Often the reason has been to set a recording level when striping tape. I realize there are other ways this can be done (such as lowering the record level on the ATR calibration card), but routing the SMPTE through a channel on its way to track 24 has never caused a single problem for me.

[Rick Sutton]

No problems in the past when I used to use the console to push smpte onto the tape machine. My console does physically separate the line drivers from the channel strips so that may have been part of the equation.
I did keep the level as low as possible though.

Its been a long time since I've used it but I do seem to remember returning the smpte via a dedicated line to the computer so as to keep it out of the console during mix.