To save space this month I am not going to repeat the questions sent to me, I will just supply the answers. In some cases it will be easy to figure out what the question is. If not, you can substitute any question you would like.

1. I prefer recording my multitrack at 48kHz and my final mix machine at 44.1kHz. First of all because it will be harder to synchronize the two later, and why would I take the easy way out? Secondly, I have noticed a slightly (very slightly) less grainy quality in the final result. I think this is because each cycle of the waveform is sampled at a slightly different spot at 48kHz than it is at 44.1kHz. When re-sampled at the new sample rate, any resulting quantization errors are smoothed over improving the luster just like wet sanding a new paint job.

2. With the big digital consoles like the Sony Oxford and the AMS/Neve Capricorn, I have not been able to tell the difference between a) sample rate converting the entire 48 tracks from 48kHz to 44.1kHz before the console and clocking the console at 44.1kHz (the normal Capricorn setup with a MADI sample rate converter), and b) clocking the console from the 48 track at 48kHz and sample rate converting to 44.1kHz after the console going into the mix machine (the Sony Oxford method). With my 02R, my ADATs and Pro Tools run at 48kHz, the 02R is clocked from the ADATs and the stereo mix is sample rate converted to 44.1kHz before the DAT machine (or wherever).

3. I think that would be 6.0221367x10^23 Mole^-1. That would be the correct number of Avogadros to make good guacaMole.

4. Well, if you want to mix back to two tracks of your multitrack machine, then the result sample rate must be the same as the multitrack. For recording and mixing for video tape like D2, since the digital audio tracks on the D2 are 48kHz, you may as well do all of the multitrack stuff at 48kHz also. Something deep inside tells me that if I ever run across anyone recording 44.1kHz multitrack and sample rate converting up to 48kHz mixes for transfer to D2, I would have to break a few fingers.

5. No, I have started the weaning process off of 16 bit and will be including fewer and fewer 16 bit devices in my recording projects. Even when using a 16 bit only machine, like the OLD Sony 48 track, I record at least a few tracks 24 bit using the Rane PaqRat.

6. It is a Breitling Aerospace Repetition Minute.

7. 310.4 MPH in 4.94 seconds. And that would be the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala Florida.

8. It is a form of plate tectonics. The salad plate will always push the dinner plate up from underneath, spilling the gravy on the tablecloth.

9. That is nonsense. If you bombard Element 115 with Protons, the decay products will be anti-matter particles which, when recombined with matter will result in complete annihilation producing pure energy with no radioactive byproducts. Jeeze, where did you go to school?

10. Cleaning tapes only work if your rotary heads are not very dirty. Sort of a preventative measure. The tapes are very abrasive and can actually shorten the life of your heads if used too often or used improperly. The best method is still a Chamois tipped stick from Chemtronics wetted with head cleaning solution or denatured Alcohol (NOT RUBBING ALCOHOL!!!). In some states you can buy booze like Everclear 190 proof drinking Alcohol. This will work well, and if you break off the little rotary head, you can drink the rest. If there are no experienced ADAT or DA-88 technicians in your neighborhood, you can take your machine to a reputable video repair shop and ask them to show you the proper way to clean the video heads using the Chamois sticks.

11. My favorite direct boxes are the BSS (Brooke Siren Systems) DI boxes. The only DI box that has ever beaten it in a shoot out (and I’ve been using them for 12 years) is the Avalon DI box with a built in mic preamp. Even I am afraid to ask how much the Avalon is.

12. Yes, burning your own CD-Rs is just like flying in an airplane. Hours and hours of pure boredom punctuated by moments of shear terror. I have never heard of a case involving a CD recorder and engineer being hijacked to Cuba, though.

13. That would have to be Al Bielek and his brother involved in the Philadelphia Experiment in Philadelphia harbor on August 12, 1943 (or October 28, or never, depending on who you ask), and the Phoenix Experiment at Montauk Point Long Island on August 12, 1983.
14. If everything is working like it is supposed to, a digital copy of a DAT is a clone and not a generation down. If you are showing lots of errors on the original, enough to sound like tearing or digital grunge, then send the original to the mastering facility. If you send a copy, the tearing sound will be recorded on the copy, but will show no errors. The mastering facility may have a DAT machine that is adjusted differently than yours and possibly play your damaged tape back where you couldn’t. Usually, though, the best chance of recovery is when playing back on the DAT machine that recorded it. As a trick, sometimes a Sony TCD-D7 or TCD-D8 will play back an unplayable tape because of the way it tracks data.

15. No, no Compton Scattering has nothing to do with LA gangs and confrontations with the LAPD. Compton scattering is similar to the photoelectric effect except that only part of the incident photon energy is absorbed by the electron that is ejected from the atom. The rest is carried off as a lower energy photon. The sum of the kinetic energies of the free electron, the remnant nucleus and the emitted photon are equal to that ot the incident photon.

16. You are correct. Sometimes tuning digital synthesizers to an acoustic instrument can be a drag. The increments are in digital steps, and the exact amount you need is in-between steps. Doppler to the rescue. If you play the synth through a speaker and have the assistant hold the microphone and at the punch-in point, run toward the speaker (if the synth is slightly flat). The speed at which he must run toward the speaker is found by the following equation:
F= the frequency in Hz you desire.
E=the frequency in Hz of the actual synth note.
V=343 m/s the speed of sound at sea level with an air temperature of 20 degrees C.
R=the speed of the assistant engineer in meters per second.
R=(V(F-E))/F.
You can probably only get one note per punch, but it will work, I’ve done it.

17. The connections between any two pieces of audio equipment is the weakest point in the chain. There is an error correction spec for AES and S/PDIF, but nobody implements it. Optical cables can be used, but the optical connection is consumer format which only passes 20 bits. If you need to pass 24 bits, AES is your only option. If you have to go analog because of copy protection or because you don’t have a sample rate converter, I would definitely use the best Monster Cable for the audio interconnect. For digital, Monster Cable and Apogee are the only two choices.

18. Yes, a gigabyte is 10^9 bytes (one with nine zeros). There is already talk of terabytes (10^12) of data storage. I am waiting for petabytes (10^15, not the wound inflicted by an Italian animal), or maybe even yottabytes (10^24, not the Star Wars character).

19. Wow, thanks for asking. I haven’t been this moved since the 9.5 earthquake in Chile in 1960. Me and the wife are doing just fine. The kids are great, one girl is a high school Senior this year and the other is in the seventh grade. I had to move from Nashville because my dog had bruised ribs from kicking her when I came home from the studio in my pickup truck. I moved to Miami because it is the home of the World Headquarters of Burger King. Their address is even 9700 My Way. Cool, huh?