Paul White presents 20 ways to ensure your studio runs smoothly.

If only he'd ta
ken notice of
them himself, he might be managing Abbey Road by now!
Even a relatively small studio setup is a complex, symbiotic organism strung tog
ether by innumerable leads and
often relying on several pieces of software to make it run smoothly. All it take
s is one faulty connection and the
function of the whole system can be compromised. A little planning and preventat
ive maintenance goes a long
way, but because it's boring, it tends to get put off. Don't let it! This month'
s tips concentrate on those simple
things that if done will help your studio run smoothly, but if ignored, can disr
upt smooth running... I have done my
very best to resist the temptation to point out that if you really want a smooth
-running studio, the only PC
computer in it should be used to do the accounts! And so, without further ado an
d in no particular order, here
are 20 things you can do to help keep the gremlins at bay.
1. Check all your mains cables periodically by removing the covers from the
plugs and tightening the connectors. These do work loose with time and give
rise to crackles and buzzes, not to mention the risk of electric shock. Ensure
cable clamps and fuse holders are tight and that the correct fuse value is fitte
d.
Budget distribution boards can be dismantled and the contacts tightened up
using a pair of pliers, but remember to unplug them first!
2. Wipe all jack plugs using a cloth sprayed with Deoxit (see right), and spray
some into
your patchbay sockets as well to help avoid the build-up of corrosion and dirt.
This stuff also works well on
mains plugs where it is essential to maintain a low impedance, especially on the
earth pin. I don't know if I'd go
to Martin Walker's lengths of cleaning all the mains plug pins with wire wool, b
ut it can't do any harm.
3. Make up track sheets to document your recording sessions, and expand your des
ign to include
details on effects and processor settings. If the session includes sequenced sou
nds, keep a note of
all the synths, patch numbers, expansion cards and sample CD-ROMs used during th
e session. A
double-sided track sheet with one side for audio and another for MIDI is a pract
ical way to do the job.
4. If your sequencer doesn't have a facility for showing the patch names of your
various
synths, photocopy the relevant patch sheets from your synth manuals and get them
laminated. Many local photocopy shops do laminating quite cheaply and it saves t
he
sheets getting creased or torn.
5. Label all used tapes. Labelling the boxes is not good enough as tapes often
end up in the wrong boxes. Stick to the APRS labelling convention (for details
of which see the January 1995 issue of SOS) so that master tapes, production
masters and backups are clearly identified.
6. When you get a new piece of gear, take the time to learn it thoroughly before
using it on a session where

other musicians are involved. Even if it's not a paid session, musicians will ge
t impatient if you're messing
around with a piece of gear that you're not familiar with, and this in turn affe
cts their creativity.
7. Many pieces of software have 'key-disk-installs' as a form of copy protection
, and if you have a lot
of software plug-ins, it's easy to lose track. To ensure you don't miss any if y
ou have to deinstall
everything from your hard drive, keep a notepad file with the names and version
numbers of all the
key-disk-install protected software you have on the machine. It also helps to ke
ep all your key disks
in one (safe) place.
8. Use a separate hard drive for recording your audio files and defragment it re
gularly. Failure to do this will
reduce the number of simultaneous tracks you can play back without suffering gli
tching. Try not to work with a
drive that's more than around three-quarters full as it can slow down noticeably
.
9. Back up everything, especially if it's digital! Digital data cannot be consid
ered
to truly exist unless it is stored in at least two, and preferably more, differe
nt
places! If you have a CD-ROM recorder, make a copy of your entire hard drive
so that it will be easier to reinstall your system in the event of a serious cra
sh.
Of course you can't copy key disk installs to a CD-ROM, so you still need to
take care of these by manually deinstalling. The same CD-ROM recorder can be
used to store the audio files used in your sequences. If you make a lot of
changes, you might want to use a rewritable disk/drive, but standard CD-Rs are s
o cheap that it's
hardly worth it.
10. When wiring your studio, always make the cables just a little longer than yo
u need. There'll come a time
when you want to move something, and Sod's Law dictates that your cables won't q
uite reach! Line-level cables
can safely be made a few metres longer than necessary without compromising the s
ignal quality, especially if
they are balanced.
11. Do a SysEx dump of all the user patches in your synths, modules and effects
units and then
make further backups of these. You never know when the internal batteries may di
e, resulting in the
loss or corruption of all your patches (see page 42 for more on this). If you us
e RAM memory cards,
you should also back these up as SysEx dumps as everything is lost when the batt
ery is removed.
12. Subscribe to an Internet service, especially if you use a PC for your music.
Often the only way to ensure you
have the latest drivers is to check the manufacturers' web sites and then downlo
ad what you need. The Internet
is also a useful place to look for answers to your technical problems, and of co
urse the SOS site is brim full of
PC-related FAQs (see picture on page 200).

13. Even if you don't play guitar, buy a guitar tuner. There'll come a time when
a guitarist turns up at
the studio without one and even if you do tune it to a keyboard, it's bound to d
rift out as the day goes
on. It pays to check guitar and bass tuning before just about every take.
14. Don't skimp on media, whether it's DAT tapes, CD-R blanks, ADAT
tape or whatever. You've spent a lot of time and money on your music, so
it makes sense to preserve it in the most reliable way possible. Also,
follow the manufacturer's advice on storage.
15. However much RAM your software tells you it needs to run
properly, always fit at least 16Mb more and preferably 32Mb more.
At today's low prices, it doesn't make sense to cut corners, and
having inadequate amounts of RAM can cause all sorts of
problems, including crashes.
16. Use the right cables for connecting digital audio. Cheap audio phono
leads may appear to work when connecting one S/PDIF device to
another, but you could end up with intermittent clicks and glitches. Buy purpose
-made digital cables and keep
the connections as short as is practical.
17. Don't cut corners when choosing a computer monitor. Most audio software feel
s distinctly
cramped on anything other than a 17-inch monitor, but don't just buy the cheapes
t as you may end
up with a fuzzy display that strains your eyes. A really good monitor will cost
a little more, but you
may be able to change the display resolution to make it display as much as a 19inch monitor with no
loss of definition.
18. Arrange your equipment racks so that you can get to the back easily if you n
eed to. No matter how clever
your patching system, the time will come when you have to string together someth
ing out of the ordinary.
Self-adhesive PTFE (Teflon) gliders fixed to the bottom of a large rack make it
easy to move on carpet.
19. Mark up your patchbays clearly. I know you don't get a lot of space, but if
your abbreviations are
too cryptic, visiting musicians won't have a clue as to what goes where. I print
mine using an inkjet
printer with eight socket labels per line using tabs to set the spacing between
sockets. Three strips
cover the full width of a 24-pair patchbay, and clear Sellotape gives a good pro
tective finish to the
labels.
20. When you buy a new piece of equipment, stick the receipt to the bottom of th
e case so you can find it
quickly in the event of a breakdown within the warranty period. Those self-adhes
ive pockets used to hold parcel
documents are good for this.