A “Cue” may be visual or aural. In television it is usual for somebody in the studio to be given a visual cue to begin by a wave from the Floor Manager, and also sometimes to conclude by “winding up” gestures (which become more frantic as time runs out!). In radio a cue light is…

The human ear does not react to changes in sound in a simple, linear way. To double the loudness of a sound, say by turning up the volume control on an audio amplifier, most people find that they need to increase the power produced by the loudspeaker by about ten times. If we were to…

First of all to quash a big misnomer. A Diary Service is not there in order to ‘get you work’. That is what an Agent does. Now – to more detailed thoughts. When looking at Diary Services it might be wise to take a brief look at how they emerged and why. In the late…

This page lists the most common digital interface standards used to connect between digital mixers, recorders, editing systems and microphones etc. Contents ADAT AES/EBU SPDIF SDIF TDIF-1 Mitsubishi ProDigi MADI Yamaha ADAT ADAT is an acronym for Alesis Digital Audio Tape, a format for recording 8 tracks of digital audio onto Super VHS magnetic tape.…

Direct Current or DC refers to the unidirectional flow of electrons from high to low potential, as opposed to Alternating Current or AC where the flow regularly reverses in direction at a specific frequency. By convention this flow is considered to be from positive to relatively negative points; note that this direction is not the…

Direct Stream Digital (DSD) uses a sampling rate of 2.8224 MHz to directly record a 1-bit signal. Used for recording SACD, launched by Sony in 1999.

Earthing for Audio The following is taken from an article published in the Nov/Dec 2005 issue of LineUp by Peter Thomas, Managing Director of the Professional Monitor Company, with his kind permission. At the outset, I need to make clear that there are no references to PMC loudspeakers at all (except in this introduction). Neither…

The European Broadcasting Union or EBU was formed on 12 February 1950 by 23 broadcasting organisations from Europe and the Mediterranean. Members are radio and television companies, most of which are government-owned public service broadcasters or privately owned stations with public missions. In 2007 the EBU has 74 active members from 55 countries, and 43…

An Edit Decision List (EDL) is simply an ordered list of items of recorded video and audio with Timecode references which enables a video editor to assemble a version of the final programme.

Electret personal microphones are all unbalanced. They all need a screen, both for the cable and for the grille and casing around the capsule. This usually gets connected to 0V. The electronics inside the capsule will have two external connections. One connection always needs to be kept more +ve than the other but it makes…