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04.18.2006

Putting the whole thing together.

No more sanding drywall. The past two months have been spent buying things (gulp) and wiring them all together (fun, in a very geeky way). A few random bits we've learned:

1. Analog tape machines sure are the way to go. But there's one big problem - alignment tape. This is tape that you use to make sure your machine is correctly calibrated before each recording session. And it is EXPENSIVE. Magnetic Research Laboratories makes the tape that everyone recommends. Get ready to bite the bullet when you buy it; for the two machines we're using, it's about $650 for the alignment tape we need. YEOWCH.

2. We finally had to learn how to solder. This isn't that hard, provided you have the right tools. The right tools are a good soldering iron (we got a $90 Hakko soldering station thing), at least 2 vice grips to help you steady things without having to hold them, decent solder, a desoldering pump, a comfortable chair, good lighting, patience and a clear work space. The $7 soldering accessory kit from Radio Shack seems to come in handy, too. The thing that's really scary is that we'll probably end us soldering patchbays in a year's time. The Re'an /Whirlwind /Neutrik /Samson ones were using are destined to crap out on us.

3. You can read up all you want about oscilloscopes, but it will all make very little sense until you have one in front of you to play around with.

Musical accompaniment:

John Hastie's 2004/2005 CD Exchange.

This picture only looks good if you know that we took it just before plugging everything in. But what a mess, huh?


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