Earth Loops

With unbalanced equipment, i.e. normal semi-pro gear, there is the possibility of an earth loop occurring because of the mains wiring arrangements which will create an annoying hum in your speakers and on your recordings. Ideally, the entire system should be earthed at only one point and if more than one piece of equipment is connected via its own mains lead to earth, then an earth loop will be created through the screen of the signal connection cable. A common cure for this is to disconnect the earth wires of all but one piece of equipment in the set up. The equipment will still be earthed, but through the screens of the signal cables. Unfortunately, although this will cure the earth loop and get rid of the hum, it isn’t safe because it would be very easy to remove an item of equipment from the setup and use it without an earth. The most practical alternative is not to connect the screen of the cable at the input(s) of any piece of equipment which has an earth in its mains lead. Where equipment is designed not to have a mains earth, then the screen must be connected.

Not every town has its home studio supplies shop - yet. If you live in London or another major city, then it is well worthwhile having a browse through the high tech department of a good musical instrument shop, where you can see loads of interesting bits and pieces that might earn their keep in a personal recording setup. If you do not live in a studio-aware area, then the catalogues of mail-order suppliers are a must, just to see what is available. Sometimes, you do not realise you have a problem until you see the solution, available for the cost of a telephone call and credit card bill at the end of the month. Here I present, in no particular order of importance, a modest collection of many of the small items which make my home project studio run more smoothly than it otherwise might. I don’t recommend that you go out and buy everything you see here. But every good studio, large or small, will have a fair proportion of these items in regular use. You’re bound to see something that takes your eye.

Adaptors

Incompatible connectors are one of the greatest time wasters in any studio operation. Just when you want to do something really adventurous, you find that it involves a mixture of connector types that sends you rushing to the work bench for a soldering iron. The best answer to this problem is to make up short adaptor cables in sufficient quantity to cover any mismatch that may arise. But it is always as well to have a few adaptors such as these to hand. Some, like jack to phono, are not fantastically reliable in use because the weight of the jack plug strains the connection. XLR to XLR sex reversers work well.

Cable

A stock of cable in various types never comes amiss. There is always that extra lead to be made up. I keep three types of cable in my cupboard: lapped screen single for phono leads, foil screen twin for wiring within my racks, and conductive plastic screen twin for XLR and jack leads. If you have more money to spare then you should buy the more expensive type of phono connector which can accept a larger cable diameter and use thicker conductive plastic or lapped screen cable.

Cleaning