Regular cleaning of analogue reel to reel recorders is vital. A clean tape recorder is a happy tape recorder. Isopropyl alcohol is available from chemists. It is a much better head and tape guide cleaner than the alcohol and water mixture sometimes marketed as head cleaner. Your chemist will probably warn you not to drink it as it is definitely not the type of alcohol you would find in a gin and tonic. The pinch roller on any tape recorder gathers a lot of dirt very quickly. Alcohol is usually not so good for shifting this and may damage the rubber. I have always found 'Jif’ from the supermarket very efficient, used in minuscule quantities. You can’t clean digital multitracks or DAT recorders in the same way, so you will need to buy cleaning tapes exactly as recommended by the manufacturers. Unfortunately, even these don’t clean the recorder thoroughly and you will have to send the machine for service every so often, depending on how much use it gets. Don’t open up a digital recorder and try and clean it yourself, it’s a job for an expert.

Apart from analogue and digital recorders, everything else in the studio needs regular cleaning to function at its best. Try and brush dust away from the fader slots on the mixing console, and it’s a good idea to rotate every control and press every switch once in a while to shift any dirt that might accumulate before it sticks hard and fast.

Connectors

The types of connector that you use will be governed mainly by your equipment. Buying the cheapest, especially jacks and phonos, is unwise. They will be difficult to solder and will probably cause trouble in the long term. Studio suppliers usually stock only reliable types. High street electronics hobbyist shops often keep more doubtful brands. Note the difference between the Type B jack and the ordinary variety. The Type B jack has a smaller tip. Although they are both 1/4" in diameter, a Type B jack should not be plugged into a standard jack socket, and vice versa.

If you use a stereo reel-to-reel tape recorder, then you can’t manage without this equipment. The photo shows an expensive Editall splicing block, which is extremely good but there are cheaper models available. It is also possible to edit analogue multitrack tapes with a splicing block and splicing tape of the correct size. If you want to edit digital audio, then the equipment necessary could cost up to about a hundred times as much!

Ironmongery

Blank aluminium panels are used for filling in holes in racks (while you save up for more gear!) and for mounting odd components. In Chapter 4 I showed such a panel in my rack on which I mounted a Quad 306 amplifier. I could also have mounted connectors, controls or switches, as commonly happens in pro studios. The diecast box is also well loved in studios for making up switch or connector boxes etc. For making holes in metal, the Q-max punch is available from good tool shops. Check the sizes of the panel mounting XLRs you buy and get two punches, one for male and one for female. Of course, you don’t have to get into metal bashing if you want to run a home studio - but if you want a more productive studio then it’s a great idea to have everything precisely as you want it.