L541: Introductory Phonetics (Spring 2004)
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Recording Equipment Instructions

This manual provides instructions on how to record speech onto DAT in the Recording Room (Memorial Hall 336). This manual and other manuals are in the recording room. Click here to view pdf for this page.

Equipment in this manual are:

• Media Mixer: Mackie Microseries 1202-VLZ
• DAT deck: TASCUNM DA-30 MKII
• MIC1: Headmounted microphone Shure SM 2
• MIC2: Stand microphone Electro-Voice RE50

Mixer Setting

1. Plug in the microphone to [Mic 1] or [Mic 2].

MIC1 (Headmounted Mic): split Mic to [Mic 1] and DAT phones out
MIC2 (Stand Mic): Mic to [Mic 2]

2. Plug in the headphone to [PHONES].

3. Setting for selected microphone (MIC1 or MIC2)

Patchbay panel

• Push in [LOW CUT] button.
• Turn [TRIM] all the way to the right to –40dB.

Channel strips panel

• Turn all [AUX] knobs all the way to the left to 8.
• Set all [EQ] and [PAN] knobs to neutral (straight up).
• Unpress [MUTE] button.
• Unpress [SOLO] button.
• Turn [GAIN] all the way to the left to 8.

4. Settings for all other channels

Patchbay panel

• Push in [LOW CUT] button.
• Turn [TRIM] all the way to the left to 8.

Channel strips panel

• Turn all [AUX] knobs all the way to the left to 8
• Set all [EQ] and [PAN] knobs to neutral (straight up).
• Push in [MUTE] button. => It is very important that no other sound enter input channels.
• Unpress [SOLO] button.
• Turn [GAIN] all the way to the left to 8.

5. Settings for Output panel

• Push in [MAIN MIX] source button.
• Unpress all other source buttons.
• Turn [MAIN MIX] all the way to the left to 8.

6. Turn on Mixer FIRST (switch on top; power indicated by green light on front).

7. Then turn on speaker (if desired).

8. Adjust [GAIN] and [MAIN MIX] gradually to set volume levels between 0 and +7 (or green range). => Both knobs must be off 8 in order for sound to register.

Additional notes for mixer:

• U stands for ‘Unity gain’, which means no change in signal level.
• When you set [TRIM] to –40dB, Maximum gain is 40 dB for 1/4” plug, and 60 dB for XLR jack.
• Turning on the Main output level switch will add 30 dB gain. Use this for low level input.
• Phantom switch needs to be [ON] for a standard mic with XLR jack (3 pins), and [OFF] for 1/4” plug mic.
• Blinking light on front indicates that you are in solo mode. Unpress [SOLO] button.
• By using [LOW CUT], the recorded signal was high pass filtered at 75 Hz at a rate of 18 dB per octavo.
  

Microphone setting

Headmounted Mic

• Position the microphone close to the corner of the talker’s mouth, being sure not to touch the face of the talker.
• Have the talker say isolated CV syllables, such as [pa] and [ka].
• Listen through the headphones to ensure that breathing, aspiration pops, etc. are not heard.
• Adjust mic location as necessary.

Stand Mic

• Position the microphone on the table 6-9 inches from the talker’s mouth.
• Have the talker say isolated CV syllables, such as [pa] and [ba].
• Listen through the headphones to ensure that aspiration pops, etc. are not heard.
• Adjust mic location as necessary.
  

DAT Player/Recorder

• Open door and load DAT. => Use Open/Close button for BOTH opening and closing the door to avoid breaking the machine.
• If your tape is new, FF all the way to the end of the tape; then REW all the way to the beginning of the tape to enable ABS time.
• Do NOT use 180-min tapes.
• Read DAT Rules.

DAT Recorder Settings

• Set the Rec Mode switch to Standard. (Long mode uses a sampling rate of 32 kHz)
• Set the Input switch to UNBAL (BAL for the RCA jack connection).
• Set the Analog input switch to Uncal.
• Set the Fs switch to 44.1 kHz (Fs=sampling frequency).
• Press [RECORD] (paused by default).
• Adjust [INPUT] level control to set recording levels in the –9 to –12 dB range (Mixer levels should also be in the green).
• Press [MARGIN RESET] to examine peak level of current signal => if “00” blinks, quality will be distorted so turn down [INPUT].
• If your tape has an existing recording on it, use FF to find the beginning of the unformatted section. Do NOT overwrite a recording.

Recording

• Press [RECORD] and [PAUSE] (paused by default).
• Press [PLAY] to start recording.
• To interrupt audio recording temporarily, press [PAUSE].
• To resume recording, press [PLAY].
• To end recording, press [STOP].

Auto ID

• For automatic ID, press [AUTO ID] until AUTO ID shows on the display.
• For manual ID, press [AUTO ID] until AUTO ID does not show on the display, but instead press [ID Select] until START ID WRITE shows on display. Then press [EXECUTE] every time you wish to mark an ID.
• ID numbers are not required.