Would you help this newbie?

[TapeOp]

Well... first post in this great forum... You guys seem to be in a totally different level from mine.
I'm just a musician who records his own songs at home, but would like to go a bit deeper in the audio world... fascinating stuff.
I've been lurking around here for some time, but there's stuff that I just don't understand cause... well, I just don't know.
So, for those of you who have some patience...

(1) What's IC?
(2) What's Class A?
(3) What's Discrete?
(4) What's an In-Line console?
(5) Is there any book I could get to learn about this stuff?
(just answer one of them if you wish)

Many people here seem to give much importance to the first three on the list...
Thanks!

[Jonny Mumra]

Hi tapeop

Mastering Audio from Bob katz is a very good start WRT to Books.
I know hes working on the 2nd edition which could be due soon so if you want to ask the man himself
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/ind...3859e9857aa184
Join and send him a personal message.

All the best

Ps
like your picture

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by TapeOp

(1) What's IC?

Integrated Circuit... also known as a "chip". These are generally "operational amplifiers" that are found through out a design on a repeated basis. They're the little black rectangular things that have little silver legs coming off the sides and numbers on the top like "5534" and "TLO 72"

(2) What's Class A?

Class A is an amplifier design that amplifies the waveform as a whole. A Class B amplifier will split the top and bottom halves of the wave and amplify them separately [one amp for the top half of the wave, another amp for the bottom half of the wave] You get a bit of distortion when you split the wave, but the amplifier is more efficient. Sometimes in design you have to trade expense and power consumption over audio... and it's really not that egregious if it's a well designed amp... often these come in "IC" form which makes the design even more cost effective

(3) What's Discrete?

Individual components that make up the amplifier instead of using a "plug and play" IC based amp. It means that you have individual transistors, tubes, etc. instead of an IC socket and an IC amp. "Discrete" generally nets better headroom from the amplifier which leads to a deeper/clearer sound.

(4) What's an In-Line console?

This is when you have the potential for two signals on the same channel strip to coexist in a desk. In the early days of large format consoles you had the "input strip" and the "monitor section". The "monitor section" [a.k.a "jukebox"] was used for the returns from the multi-track deck.

Your microphones would come into the channel strip, be assigned to their respective tracks, then the output of the tape machine was monitored on the jukebox. As consoles began to get larger this became kinda impractical... so as a space saving measure console designers came up with the "inline" format. This is where you have the [input] mic signal and the [monitor] tape signal co-existing on the same channel strip.

You have an input gain [mic-pre] that can be assigned to a tape track through the routing section with it's own level and pan controls... and a return path which also has it's own level and pan controls... when you see two faders on a channel strip, this is generally an "inline" configuration... usually the "small fader" is feeding the track assignment section and the "big fader" is your monitor return fader that is feeding the 2 Mix buss.

(5) Is there any book I could get to learn about this stuff?

The only one I can think of at the moment is "Modern Recording Techniques" http://www.modrec.com and I'm not sure if it covers this kind of stuff or not.

BTW, my explanations here are exceptionally basic [as in sub-rudimentary], so finding a book or something like that is definitely advised.

[Marjan]

Wow... what a welcome...!
That's what GearSlutz is about!

[TapeOp]

Thanks for your suggestion Jonny! I've actually read a few bits of that book, but I think although it's excellent, it doesn't seem to cover that sort of technical stuff...

Fletcher, you sound like my guardian angel...!
I ask him about the path to follow and he comes straight away with a self-explanatory map!
Got it!
Many thanks!


Can someone give me an example of an In-Line desk that's currently manufactured?
I can't remember seeing any...