RECORDING and PLAYBACK DEVICES Book: “Modern Radio Production” by Hausman, Benoit, Messere, & O’Donnell: Chapter 4 Pertemuan 3 Matakuliah: O Dasar-Dasar Produksi Siaran Radio Tahun: 2010

Bina Nusantara University 3 SAMPLING Sampling is the process of converting analog audio signals into numerical representation. Basically it involves taking a snapshot of the audio wave and breaking it down into very small segments of the signals that can be expressed in a form computers can use. The sample sound is going to be converted into a computer word, called a bit.

Bina Nusantara University 4 MAGNETIC TAPE AUDIOTAPE is a strip of material with a thin coating of iron oxide (a fancy name for rust) on one surface. The iron oxide particles are in powdery form, they line up when they are exposed to an electromagnetic field, and they are the elements that holds the magnetic information. The backing of the tape-the material over which the coating is applied-is made of Mylar, which is a resilient, extremely tough substance that will stretch before it breaks.

Bina Nusantara University 5 MAGNETIC TAPE Digital Audiotape (DAT) is the tape corolarry of the compact disc: It is recorded using the same kinds of sampling and coding methods described earlier. However, DAT has an advantage over CD’s by being readily available for recording as well as for playback and the tape can be used over and over again.

Bina Nusantara University 6 TAPE MACHINE CONTROLS and INDICATORS PLAY: Depressing the Play button will cause the machine to play back the recording on the tape. RECORD (REC): When record is activated, the record head impresses a signal on the iron oxide particles on the tape; this is the signal that can be read back by the play head. VOLUME UNIT (VU) METER: The tape machine’s VU meter monitors the signal coming into the tape machine so that proper levels can be maintained when recording.

Bina Nusantara University 7 TAPE MACHINE CONTROLS and INDICATORS FAST-FORWARD (FF): Control moves the tape forward at a high rate of speed. REWIND (REW): Control moves the tape backward. STOP: Brings the motion of the mechanism to a halt. PAUSE: Temporarily stop the play mechanism without disengaging the tape from the heads.

Bina Nusantara University 8 TAPE MACHINE CONTROLS and INDICATORS OPEN/CLOSE: toggles the sliding door holding the DAT cassette. SHUTTLE: A dial that allows you to play the tape at faster than normal so as to find cue points on the tape.

Bina Nusantara University 9 TAPE MACHINE CONTROLS and INDICATORS CUEING a TAPE: –Sometimes, there’ll be a countdown or a cue tone on prerecorded tapes to help the operator in cueing. Learn to listen to the countdown on cue, stop the tape machine after the last countdown, and be set to put the program on air. DAT PLAYBACK: –A DAT machine’s tape head places the signal at a specific location on a stripe called a track. It is a function of recorded or player configuration, not a property of the tape itself. –In the playback mode, tape is pulled across the head in the same fashion as in the record mode.

Bina Nusantara University 10 DISK DRIVE RECORDING A hard disk drive has one or more self-contained, glass disk that have been coated with iron oxide and then polished to a high-precision, smooth surface. The record/play heads move over the disks without actually touching the surface. When playing back an audio file, the hard drive head moves across the data along a path determined by the hard drive’s file directory.

Bina Nusantara University 11 DISK DRIVE RECORDING The pulses represent a series of 0s and 1s, and the data is accumulated within the computer in a “Buffer,” then transferred to the data registers within the computer. Then, the data is converted into audio pulses by the digital- to-analog converter (D-to-A) within the computer’s sound card. Modern disk drives have extremely fast ‘seek’ times; can retrieve the data fast enough to allow the computer to accumulate the audio data and play it back as an audio file in real time.

Bina Nusantara University 12 DISK DRIVE RECORDING Digital Audio Workstations (DAW): –Software that provides recording and mixing capabilities turns a computer into a DAW. –With DAW, a producer can perform editing functions far more easily and expertly than was possible using splicing and editing. –The major advantages of this technology are the automatic functions that can be built into the software by making use of the computer’s lightning fast power.

Bina Nusantara University 13 HEADS and TRACKS (Analog tape Machines) An analog tape machine’s heads place the signal on a specific location on the tape, a stripe called a track. Many track machines place the signal across the entire width of the tape; sensibly, this is called a full-track recording. The most common reel-to-reel configuration for broadcasting is known as two-track. Two stripes are recorded for stereo, the left track is track one, the right is track two.

Bina Nusantara University 14 HEADS and TRACKS Each tracks is placed onto the tape by means of a separate head. However, multiple heads can be situated on the same structure. The element that actually puts the signal on the tape is a tiny rectangle on the structure that holds the head. When you see more than one head, the structure holding them is called a headstack.

Bina Nusantara University 15 CARTRIDGE MACHINES The advantage of using carts is that the units designed to play them are able to sense a cue tone on the tape that will stop the tape automatically after it has played through full cycle. The tape will be all set to start again from the beginning. In essence, the tape cues itself up. This is why cart machines are so useful in radio production. A mono cart machine has two tracks; one contains only the cue tone. Stereo cart machines have two tracks of audio and a track for the cue tone.

Bina Nusantara University 16 BULK ERASER Often called a bulker; is a large electromagnet that scrambles the impulses on the iron oxide coating of the tape. The bulker also works with reel-to-reel tapes and cassettes if you want to erase them completely. Magnetism from the bulking operation can also damage your wristwatch, so be sure to remove your watch before you begin to erase tapes.