Journal Entry #5

Max Casco, Recording Connection

Lesson 4

Thursday, January 17, 2013

 

On Thursday, January 17, 2013, I went to the studio for my 5th session on patch bays and signal flow. The session was scheduled for 10:00 am so I arrived about 10 minutes to 10. This was another interesting session for me because I started to learn more about the gear that my mentor has in his studio. We talked about signal flow. He brought it down to simpler terms in which you pretty much are the one who controls the signal, you just have to make sure you know exactly where it’s coming from and where you want it to go. First, we went over what patch bays are and their use. He then explained the different types. His are set up as open patch bays, so therefore, he showed me how he would control the signal that would flow through them. He also showed me on his console (Tascam M-3700 21 i/o) exactly where the signal flows from to where it ends up at the bays from which he then would send them out to the corresponding units.  Then he brought me over behind the console and showed me how he had all the gear hooked up. He would show me where the effects hardware is hooked up, one, for example, being the Roland sde3000 Digital Delay or the Lexicon LXP-15, and how he would control the signal in order to add in certain effects from those processors. Before I came in to the studio, I only had a brief idea of how a signal is controlled. After he went over the different steps in how to control a signal, it all came together and I was able to quickly grasp and understand the basics of singal flow. I’m anxious about my next lesson on learning the console and doing some more signal flow!