The Studio Maintenance and Troubleshooting Program

1 - Week • 38 Hours

This program is designed to help the graduate perform routine maintenance tasks necessary to keep recording equipment in prime operating condition. And it also teaches effective methods of finding and fixing common technical problems. Though the training is not intended to prep someone to the level of a full-time service tech, it greatly enhances a recording engineer’s ability to save the day when things crash and burn in the middle of a session. A skill that is certainly attractive to employers.

Studio Maintenance Lecture featuring Ian Budd of ICB Audio

The curriculum also provides practical knowledge about studio design and acoustics, and the studio activities include exercises in the installation and hook-up of professional audio gear. This additional information is extremely beneficial to grads with plans to have their own studios, helping them make better decisions and save money.

The Maintenance Program is offered right after the end of the 5-Week Program. Each day of this 38-hour curriculum includes a flow of classroom lectures, and students work in teams of six for their studio activities.

Studio Classes

Tech Gear Operation – In these classes, students get familiar with the use of multimeters and oscilloscopes, basic test instruments for audio maintenance. Students start by making simple electronic measurements to assure they understand the function and controls of these devices and how to properly read the displays.

Equipment Install and Hook-up – Compared to the backside of a recording console, the wire snarl behind a typical home entertainment center can look quite simple. And the console is just one device. By the time you consider multitracks, patchbays and outboard gear, the task of keeping things straight is daunting. Our students have important hands-on classes where they practice gear hook-up and smart cable management.

System Troubleshooting – We set up some bugs in our recording systems that students must find and correct. It’s not a random search, since students are prepped with logical methods of zeroing-in on where the problems must be. In another troubleshooting class, students test groups of transistors and learn to recognize failed components.

Equipment Performance Testing – Recording gear can sometimes function, but be operating at less than peak condition. For this reason, we have studio classes that
teach how to verify audio performance. Students measure the frequency response and signal-to-noise characteristics of consoles and amplifiers.

Analog Recorder Maintenance – This is an area of maintenance training that can be quite important to some employers. Analog multitrack recorders need a good deal
of attention to perform their best. Our students learn the procedures for mechanically aligning the tape heads. And just as critical is the electronic alignment, where our students properly adjust trim pots for bias, EQ, record and playback level.

ADAT/Rotary-head Recorder Maintenance – Digital recorders that use tape can need attention too. This studio class focuses on the Alesis ADAT, a digital recorder very prevalent in the industry. Our students learn the proper cleaning procedures for the delicate parts inside this device. And they also become familiar with replacing components of the transport mechanism that often wear out.

Soldering Lab – Continuing where the solder class in the 5-Week Program left off, maintenance students construct their own simple electronic device. A project box, panel-mount connectors, resistors and LEDS all come together as a cable tester, a handy item for any recording engineer’s gadget bag.

Acoustics Seminar – To enhance the understanding of studio design principles as discussed in lecture, maintenance students have practical exercises calculating the effects of acoustically absorptive and reflective surface treatments. They also have activities illustrating the relationship of room dimensions to resonant frequencies.