Things That I Know

Go ahead and try to buy yourself some surround sound speakers, or a sound card for your computer. No doubt the person selling you your equipment will tell you that you need some monster cables for all of your connections with gold connectors, as well as monster cables for your speakers, and of course, the top-of-the-line sound card for your computer.

As someone who has worked in the pro audio field for most of my career, and was also formally trained in audio production and engineering, I’m going to tell you a little secret — you don’t need great equipment to have great audio.

I spent more than five years of my radio career doing production from my home studio. Do you want to know what kind of soundcard I had to do professional audio production? Factory. That’s right, I never even installed an upgrade. I never even used anything other than the 1/8 in. input on the back of the computer. And you want to know what else? No one ever noticed a single difference in the quality of the sound produced from my studio compared with any of the state-of-the-art studios at the stations.

I’m not saying that there are no differences, I’m saying that the differences are very difficult to hear. This doesn’t mean that you can record an album in your home that will sound as good as one at a good recording studio, but it means that if you do things right, you can make a pretty damn good sounding piece of audio.

Audio quality is only as good as the source. When it comes to the actual recording process, the acoustics of the room are far more important than the equipment you are capturing it with. Having a $3,000 microphone doesn’t mean much if your room has a terrible hum or buzz that shows up in everything you record. I’d rather record a voice-over on a Shure SM-58 in a silent room than record on a Neumann U87 in a room with a chronic hiss.

In my opinion, audio quality is dependent more on the source recording (acoustics and such) and speaker quality than anything else.

If you want to spend money on a home studio, spend it on the acoustics of the room you plan to record in. In today’s digital world, sound quality remains good through as many generations as you go through. Running a recorded piece of audio through an average mixer with digital (RCA) connections will keep the audio the same on the other end. If you were to record it on tape, then onto tape again, you would be losing a generation of sound and it would lose quality. If you have a digital signal flow, you will keep your quality all the way through.

For instance, you are at a bar and meet a celebrity who you’d like to record a liner for a project you’re working on. You happen to have an SM-58 and a digital recorder on you (as we all do), and get them to record a 10 second liner. Once that liner is on your digital recorder, you can keep that same quality sample through a dozen pieces of equipment, assuming all links in the chain are properly working. You can run your digital recorder into a 16-channel mixer, into a 2-channel mixer, into an amp for your speakers, split off into your computer, and you will not hear a difference from the original.

All of this with plain old RCA cables or XLRs if your system is compatible. I literally run an RCA-to-mini cable out of my 16-channel mixer into the MIC input on the back of my factory PC, and do all of my recording that way. And no one has ever noticed.

If your business is post-production or voice-overs or something like that, you can get by on a very small budget and not sacrifice audio quality. If you are recording music, you can do pretty good if your room is acoustically acceptable.

I’ve recommended Monster cables in the past, but I’ll tell you right now, I don’t use them anywhere in my studio. I think they are fantastic for video, and I have them in use on my HD televisions, but for audio, they simply aren’t worth the cost. If somebody tells you that they can hear the difference between the same album on Monster cables versus some Radio Shack RCA cables, they are full of it. Call them on it and play an album they are not familiar with five or ten times, and see how many they get right.

There are certainly times when you need better cables and equipment. If you plan to record a full-scale album, you might not want to upgrade your inputs into your computer. But I stand by that if you have good acoustics in the room you are recording in, and you know how to place a microphone, you can make a damn good piece of music.

For those in the professional audio industry, there are certainly times to use better equipment and spend some money. But for “audiophiles” who are simply listening to music for pleasure, your money is better spent elsewhere.

And if you are sitting at home with a $5,000 audio system to listen to CDs on, I feel for you. I have no doubt in my mind that you could enjoy your music just the same by spending 10% of that. Then you could spend the rest on more albums and a new chair to sit in. Unless you are paying for volume, you are probably wasting your money.

I’m sure some of you will disagree with me about hearing the difference, but if you do, please set up a legitimate Pepsi Challenge for yourself before you disagree with me.

The art of making good audio is in the hands of the engineer and producer. Whether it’s a full album or a few radio promos, the producer can make it sound great or make it sound lousy. Good cables and soundcards are no substitute for basic technique and creativity.

Tags: Audio, Cables, Home Studio, Microphones, Signal Flow

Having worked in both a recording studio and radio stations, I’ve been around my fair share of microphones. Microphones are usually in the “you get what you pay for” category, but there are a few exceptions.

The obvious are the Shure SM57 and SM58, the industry standards for workhorse microphones. You know you’re always getting quality at a low price with those, but there are others out there that offer good sound at a reasonable price.

Working in radio, I found myself doing a lot of work from home, particularly voice over work. I had an SM58 and used that for remotes and live voice work, but I needed something for my home studio that would give me my best chance of getting the quality sound I could get at the station.

In the studios at the radio stations, the usual suspects were the Shure SM7B and the Electro-Voice RE20, both great voice microphones. These were the mics I was trying to duplicate at a lower cost. The first one I got was the Behringer B1. Not a terrible microphone, but if you have less than perfect acoustics in the room you’re recording in, this mic will bring out the worst in the room. I got by for a while on this mic, but I had to do so much cleaning up of my work that it eventually wasn’t worth it anymore.

The next mic I tried was the MXL 990. At somewhere like $60, it was a bit skeptical of it’s ability. I had used an MXL at the radio station once or twice in one of the production studios and was impressed, so I gave this one a shot. I made a good call. The MXL 990 is a very quality microphone.

The MXL 990 has great warmth and depth, which was what I was looking for in a voice over microphone. I was a bit worried that this mic would do the same thing as the Behringer with my questionable acoustics, but alas, it handled the room noise much better. It is a naturally quiet microphone and handled everything I asked of it quite well. I’ve even recorded guitars with it with good results.

This microphone will never be confused with a Neumann, but it gets the job done. If you are looking for something better than what they have at Radio Shack, and want something versatile, this may be you’re microphone. I would recommend this microphone for the home radio worker (like me), as well as the podcaster. If you have decent acoustics and do voice work on a regular basis, this microphone will suit you well.

I would rank the MXL 990 as one of the top microphones under $300 that isn’t a Shure SM57 or SM 58. The fact that you can get it for less than $60 is just a bonus. If you’re on a budget and are looking for a good microphone, I can safely recommend the MXL 990. Once your budget goes up, so do your options, but this is a very serviceable microphone. When you combine the overall quality of this microphone with it’s miniature price tag, you get a product everyone who records should have. At the very least, even if you have a bunch of expensive pro equipment, you should throw an MXL 990 into your arsenal because it’s quality is so much higher than it’s price tag.

This microphone is recommended by ThingsThatIKnow.com

Tags: Audio, Home Studio, Microphones, MXL 990, Reviews

Now that we’ve figured out what you need as your basic ingredients for a home studio, it’s time to put the recipe together and make a studio. For this we’ll start with the basics of a computer, a mixer and a microphone, then add as we go.

You’ll want a permanent home for your major equipment, like the mixer, so that should be placed in a comfortable work area on a good sized desk. How you arrange everything is up to you, so I’ll just assume that you have a happy home for your mixer and computer. This is where you need to know your signal flow.

Signal Flow

Everything comes down to signal flow. When dealing with audio, you are dealing with the flow of an audio signal. If it starts with your voice, then the signal flows into the microphone, down the mic cable, into the mixer, in and out of any outboard gear, out to your computer, out to the speakers (with some possible variations). Keep signal flow in mind when hooking your cables up. With each piece of equipment, you should have it’s signal flow mapped out before you hook it up.

Microphone to Mixer

Since we’re starting basic, all we need to do is get the microphone signal into the mixer. If you have a condensor mic, you probably need phantom power. Phantom power is the power that runs a microphone, supplied by the mixer or a preamp. The 48 volt signal travels up the microphone cable to power the mic. If your microphone needs phantom power, make sure you have a way to supply it. If your mixer provides phantom power, you simply plug the microphone cable into the mic and the mixer and it will work. If your mixer does not have phantom power, you’ll need either a power supply or a mic preamp. If this is the case, then you run your cable from the mic to the power supply or preamp, then from there into the mixer. If your microphone is a dynamic microphone, you can plug it right into the mixer.

Mixer to Computer

Once the signal is in the mixer, you need to get it to the computer if you want to record it. This move depends on what kind of input you have on your computer. You’ll need to identify your input and determine what kind of cables you’ll need to connect the mixer and the computer. Your mixer will likely have multiple outputs. You can either use the XLR, RCA, or 1/4 inch output, and connect it to the input on your computer’s sound card. You may need an adaptor to make all of the cables work together, but there is always a way. Choose an output on your mixer and run a cable (with the appropriate adaptor, if necessary) to the audio input on our computer or sound card.

Computer to Mixer

Not only do you need your mixer’s signal to go to your computer, you’ll want the computer’s signal to go back to the mixer. Creating this “loop” will allow you to record at any stage of the signal flow. This means you can capture sound from your computer without a separate sound card. This will come in handy if you do a lot of production work, particularly if you like to pull audio from sites like YouTube, that don’t offer downloads. Having your signal loop back to the mixer isn’t technically necessary for a lot of functions, but in my experience, it’s something you should do. To do this, simply take the audio output from your soundcard (or 1/8 inch output) and run a cable to an input on your mixer. Now anything that goes into the board goes into the mixer, and anything that plays on the computer goes into the board, thus back again into the computer.

Speakers & Headphones

If you’re going to edit sound, you need a reliable way to judge what you are editing. If you mix or edit on low quality speakers, don’t be surprised if your mix sounds bad on good speakers. Get yourself a decent set of speakers to listen to your work on, or at the very least, a good set of headphones. If you don’t have a great set of speakers or headphones, be sure to listen to your work on another source to judge it’s quality. Once you learn what things should sound like on your system, your fine.

Your speakers or headphones should be set up to come from the end of you signal flow. You want to hear what the final product is going to sound like, not what it sounds like going in.

Outboard Gear

For most studios, the basic setup won’t last forever. Software can do wonders, but it can’t always do everything. This is where you bring in your outboard gear. Outboard gear is equipment used for a specific function. This could be an effects processor or a compressor, or the like. I personally use a compressor and a gate, to make up for the less-than-perfect acoustics in my studio.

To set up outboard gear, you usually have to consult with that particular piece of equipment’s manual. Most pieces of gear can be hooked up via inserts, which require a special cable. If you are buying a piece of outboard gear, I recommend talking to the guy at the store about how you should hook it up to your studio. Usually, there will be instructions that come with it that are written with studio owners in mind. If you can’t figure it out from the instructions, do a simple Internet search and you’ll probably find a solution for that particular piece of gear.

Troubleshooting

After you’ve got all of your cables connected and equipment in place, odds are it won’t work. Nobody knows why, but it just always works out this way. Double check all of your connections and make sure everything is in the right place, then try again. If it still doesn’t work, then it’s time for some troubleshooting.

The beauty of signal flow is that a simple understanding of it can save you loads of time when it comes to troubleshooting. If you can test your signal at certain points in the chain, you can narrow down where the fault lies. If you plug some headphones into your mixer and can hear through the microphone, but the computer isn’t showing any levels, then you know the problem lies between the mixer and the computer. Use this method to pinpoint where the fault lies, then look for all of the things that could be wrong. In this instance, make sure you check your audio settings on your computer. You may have the “line-in” muted, thus preventing the computer from getting a signal.

As you hook things up, make a mental note of the signal flow. This way, when something isn’t working right, you’ll have an idea of where to look and what might be wrong. Another good idea is to label your cables as you hook them up. As you add more pieces of equipment, troubleshooting becomes more and more difficult. Being able to pull a cable from each end, and have the right one can save you loads of time.

Acoustics

Most situations where people build a studio at home, they are going to be dealing with inferior acoustics. From the sound of the air conditioner, to someone taking a shower, and the noise outside, you may not always have a great room to record or edit in. There are some simple steps to make this better.

If you need a great voice booth, you might consider spending to have a room or booth soundproofed. For most situations, you can build a pretty suitable acoustical setup pretty simply.

As far as sound goes, you may want to deaden the room a bit. This will keep the sound waves from reverberating off of all the walls. This can be something as simple as putting some texture on the wall. You can buy acoustic material at pretty reasonable prices, and that’s always a good solution. If you’re looking for a do-it-yourself project, you can use carpet on the walls, or I’ve found good success using the egg cartons that go on mattress.

If you need a voice-over booth, a closet is always a good option. The best part about it is you can use a fully-stocked, working closet. The clothes inside of it will dampen the sound to give you a good clean sound. If you have a walk-in closet near your studio, you can just install a mic stand and run one cable, and you have a V.O. booth.

Conclusion

Now that you know the basics of what you need to build your studio, and how to put it together, it’s time to build a studio. Everything I’ve mentioned here can be done at a quite reasonable price. You don’t need the world’s best mixer and microphone to do quality audio production. I’ve seen people with the best setup in the world that can’t edit a piece of sound, and I’ve seen people with nothing but freeware and a minidisc player produce gems. If you’re good at what you do, or have the patience to become so, build the appropriate studio and don’t spend a fortune to do so.

There are obviously many, many ways to expand upon this basic concept, or even do it differently. Like the whole foundation of this website, I’m only offering to you what I have learned over the years. This is the formula I used to create my own home studio that I’ve comfortably worked out of for quite some time. If you’re having any problems with your studio, or have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, good luck, and happy editing.

Tags: Audio, Home Studio, Hooking Things Up, Signal Flow

Having worked in radio for most of my professional life, and having a formal education in audio production, I am quite familiar with recording studios, both of the commercial and production house variety. It was only a matter of time before I set myself up with a studio to get some work done at home. Not only was I able to move some of my work to home, but I was able to set up a situation in which the majority of my work was done from home, including a fair amount of freelance work. The studio I have set up is best for production, particularly for radio, voice work or podcasts. If you want to record a whole band, this may not be what you want, but the theories are still the same, you just need to make it bigger.

Where Are You Setting Up?

The first thing you need to do before setting up your studio is to figure out what you have and what you need, including space. If you are planning on working in your studio more than occasionally, you may want to think about devoting a whole room to your studio. If you have a spare bedroom and can make that your studio, that is always recommended. But if you have to share your space, that’s plenty fine, as long as you have a work space that is suitable to your needs. If you are going to be doing any recording, like voice work, you don’t want to be right next to the air conditioning unit. If your neighbor is always working in the garage with power tools, you might want to situate your studio as far from that as possible.

Your Equipment

After you’ve mapped out a location, you need to figure out what you’re going to need to get your studio running. Every basic studio needs a mixer, a microphone, a computer and lots of cables. You can build a suitable studio with only those main ingredients nowadays. I’ll let you in on a little secret as well, you don’t need the world’s best soundcard for all of your audio to be top quality. I managed to survive for a half a dozen years doing radio production from my home studio by using only the factory sound card and the default 1/8 inch audio input and outputs. Don’t tell the people I worked for that, but I never once found a pair of ears that heard the difference. If you can get the better soundcard, financially speaking, it’s not a bad idea though. If you plan on recording multiple tracks simultaneously, you’ll need to buy a sound card for that.

You’ll need a decent computer, preferably with a bunch of RAM and you’ll need lots of hard drive space. I always recommend external hard drives. They can be moved from computer to computer when necessary and when they fill up, you can just get a new one. Generally speaking, your computer is only as good as the software you’re running. Depending on your budget, there are a lot of different options here. You can start with the basics, like Audacity or Cakewalk, or you can step up to Adobe Audition or ProTools, the latter being the industry standard. I personally have used both Audition and ProTools, and find them each to be very good. You have many more advanced options with ProTools, but I find Audition to be an easier to use product. Currently, I use Adobe Audition for all of my production.

There are benefits to using analog equipment, from reel-to-reel recorders to 4-track or 8-track analog recorders, but in today’s world, if you’re on a budget, digital is just so much more convenient. You may lose some of the warmth that an analog recording provides, but for the price and convenience, you can’t beat digital editing.

As for the hardware, you’ll need to get yourself a mixer, and this will be the base of your studio. Everything you use will run in or out of the mixer, so this is where you want to get something decent. By decent, I mean get something from a brand that specializes in pro audio. Something from Behringer, Mackie, or Yamaha is always a good place to start. I currently use a Behringer 2222, which gives me eight mono channels and 4 stereo channels. I have found this to be sufficient for the last few years for the type of production I do. I’ve also used plenty of Mackies, and can recommend them without reservations.

As far as microphones go,I have used many. If you can afford a good mic, and you do a significant amount of voice work, spend the money. There are a few good budget microphones, such as the Marshall MXL 990. For under $60, this microphone is very, very good. It’s far better than several mics I’ve used that cost two or three times as much.

If you can spend a bit more, for radio or voice work there are some solid options. The Shure SM7B is a staple of many radio stations, and delivers a great “boom” for your voice. I’m also a big fan of the Electro-Voice RE-20, another industry standard in the world of radio and voice work. As your budget gets higher, there are some great microphones out there that may be more of what you’re looking for. If the microphone is a major component in your work, you may want to look into brands like Neumann and some of the upper level Sennheisers.

These are the basic ingredients for your studio. Now, all you have to do is hook it all up and customize it.

So, on to the recipe for these ingredients.

–How to Hook Your Studio Up–

Tags: Audio, Home Studio, Hooking Things Up

Everybody in the modern world has come across the task of hooking something up. New television, DVD player, surround sound, TiVo — all of the luxuries necessities of today’s digital age. All of these products work hand in hand together. Understanding signal flow will put you in a position to hook up any new piece of equipment that you get.

Signal flow is a term used to describe the flow of the audio signal in a recording studio. That’s where I learned it, but the understanding I got working with recording studio signal flow can be transferred to any signal type of media. While the term technically describes the flow of audio in a studio, the same concepts can be used to get your consumer electronics hooked up and working together.

In a recording studio, a basic signal flow chain would take the signal from the microphone to the preamp to the console to the speakers. When you start inserting outboard gear like compressors, equalizers, and effects processors, you become more reliant on signal flow. Understanding signal flow is essential for troubleshooting, as you can interrupt the flow at any point and measure the signal. This lets you pinpoint the exact location of the trouble, and fix it.

With consumer electronics, you are really mixing multiple signals, but the main idea crosses over quite well. In order to make your entertainment system work, you need to take the signal from it’s root, and get it to it’s final destination. This may be as simple as taking your cable signal from the wall and making it show up on your television.

Before we get into how to connect everything, let’s go over the common wires and terms you’ll need to know.

Cables

There are many options and varieties of cables out there, and knowing which ones go with what is important. Some of them are also interchangeable, information you may want when shopping on a budget.

Coaxial Cables

• Coaxial cables are the most simple cable out there. This is the cable that comes out of the wall and goes into your cable box or satellite receiver. It carries both audio and video on one cable, and screws into the only place that it fits. There will be both and IN and OUT on most devices, but the most simple setup runs from the wall to the IN on the cable or satellite box. Most setups will start with coaxial, then move into the rest of our cables.

RCA Cables

• Probably the most common of the cables, this is your simple cable with a red, a white, and a yellow plug. This cable carries both audio and video. Video is the yellow cable, and the red and white are audio cables.

  RCA Cables can be used in a large variety of ways. Using certain connectors, you can use an RCA audio cable to go right into your computer or any other interface through the 1/8 (or mini) or 1/4 inch slot. For instance, if you wanted to dub something off of your television into a personal audio recorder, you could take the RCA audio OUT to a RCA to mini adapter, then use a mini to mini cable into your audio recorder. Or, a more simple way is to just get yourself an RCA-to-mini cable. This will all be explained in more detail later, but just know that when using RCA cables, you have tons and tons of options.

  Most basic setups that have more than just a television involve only RCA cables. If the absolute best quality isn’t you top priority, you’ll be fine just dealing with RCA cables.

S-Video

• An S-Video cable is a digital cable that transfers only video. There is no audio on an S-Video cable. It is the equivalent of just the yellow cable on an RCA cable. It provides a better quality picture than an RCA cable, however, but you’ll need a separate cable to transfer the audio.

  Some S-Video cables come coupled with two audio cables (red and white RCA cables), allowing you easy hookups if you’re not using any other equipment.If using S-Video, quality probably matters to you, and I’d suggest stepping up to the gold plated cables for better connectivity.

  If you are using a surround sound type of set up, this won’t be a problem, since your audio is going to a different place anyway.An S-Video cable only fits into S-Video INs and OUTs. You will not confuse this cable with any others, since it has a unique look of four metal prongs with one plastic prong. It will only fit in one place.

Component Video

• Component video cables are very similar to RCA cables in look and size, but act differently. Instead of sending the video signal on one wire, they send the video on three wires, separated by color for better quality. Component cables are a step up from RCA cables.

  If you want the best quality possible when using component cables, spring for the Monster component cables. They are a bit more costly, but you’ll see the difference.

Connectivity

Many of the cables mentioned above can work very well hand-in-hand with each other. Your setup can have every cable I’ve mentioned, and they would all be fine together. Remember, the key is to follow the signal from where it comes in, to where you want it to end. If you have satellite or cable, it comes in from the wall, and ends up on your screen. All you have to do is figure out what stops it’s going to make along the way. You may have a TiVo, DVD, VCR, DIRECTV, and surround sound all ready to be hooked up in one room. If you have a plan, it will be no problem getting it all hooked up.

Since these cables all work together, you can often combine the technologies. If you have a DVD player with only S-Video OUTs, and a TV with only RCA INs, we can take care of this. The easiest solution is to get yourself an S-Video-to-RCA adaptor. Then you just need an S-Video cable, right into the adaptor, and then an RCA-Video cable right into your TV. If you don’t have an adaptor, then we’ll have to get more creative, but trust me, we can make it work.

When it comes to connectivity, the first thing to remember is very simple. Audio-to-audio, and video-to-video. While that sounds very simple, you’d be surprised how often people hook things up wrong by crossing audio and video cables.

Hooking up entertainment systems is like hooking up Christmas lights. Really, you’re just making a chain. The signal starts at one end of the chain, and travels to the end, making the necessary stops along the way.

The Hook-Up

Now that you are familiar with your cables, it’s time to hook up your system. The goal is to take the signal from the wall, and run it through whatever pieces of equipment you have to get your desired goal.

First things first, get yourself powered up. That means all of the things you are going to hook up need a place to be plugged in. Get yourself a quality power strip“>power strip or if your budget allows, a good power center. If you’re spending a decent amount of money on all of your equipment, you might as well spend a little more to protect it. So step one is to arrange everything approximately where you want it to go, then run your power lines and plug everything in. (If you prefer to wait until all is hooked up to plug in, feel free, but at least run the cables to make sure they are long enough, etc.)

After you are plugged in, it’s time to get everything working together. The first thing you need to do is take your signal from the wall and get it to it’s receiver. This could be satellite television or cable, but you need to plug the coaxial cable in from the wall to the IN on it’s respective receiver. Once that signal is in the receiver, it’s time to spread it out.

For the sake of this exercise, let’s assume you have satellite TV, a TiVo (or VCR), a DVD player and a surround sound system. You want the signal to go from the satellite to the TiVo to the TV, the DVD to the TV, and the satellite and DVD to the surround sound.

Step One - Satellite to TiVo

• Simple enough, you take the cables of your choice (I’ll say we’re using RCA) and go from the satellite receiver OUT, to the TiVo IN. (To set up the TiVo, you’re on your own. Just follow the instructions on the screen)

Step Two - TiVo to TV

• After running an RCA cable from the satellite to the TiVo, the signal is now in the TiVo. To get that on your screen, you need to run another cable from the TiVo out to one of the INs on your television. The new televisions have room for up to about 10 inputs, so pick the one you’d like this to be. Since it’s probably your most commonly watched input, I’d plug this into INPUT 1. Now if you turn your TV and TiVo on, you should see the picture. If you plan on using your sound system for all of your sound when watching television, you only need to hook up the yellow cable in this step. Leave the red and white empty — we’ll get to them on step four.

Step Three - DVD (or VCR) to TV

• Just like the previous step, all you need to do is run a cable from the DVD OUT to the TV IN. Since DVD’s are all digital, you may want to use an S-Video or component cable here. Every little bit helps the overall quality. If you’re using RCA cables, remember that the yellow is video and the red and white are audio. If you’re using S-Video or component cables, you’ll need to run a separate line for the audio.

Step Four - Audio

• After you have the picture from your TiVo and DVD player hooked up into the TV, it’s time to get your sound going. If you plan on listening to things through the TV’s built in speakers, just hook up the red and white audio cables right along side of the video cables you’ve already plugged in. If you want the sound going through the surround sound speakers, then you’ll need to plug them in now.In the same spot that your video cable is, run an audio cable (red and white) from the TiVo OUT to one of the INs on your surround sound. There should be an input labeled TV INPUT or something similar. Plug it in there.Same thing for the DVD player. Run an audio cable from the DVD’s OUT to an IN on the surround sound (should be labeled as DVD INPUT or something similar).

  If you have speakers but are not an audiophile, and still like to have the sound come from the TV sometimes, you can plug things in a bit differently. This way may be easier for some people. Instead of running separate cables for the TiVo and DVD audio, just plug in the cables along side of the video cables. Just run all three (yellow, red, white) from the TiVo and DVD OUTs to the TV INs. Then, what you can do is run one audio cable from the TV’s OUT to the surround sound IN. This means that anything you plug into the TV will be able to be played out of the surround sound speakers.

Summary

While this may seem like a lot of words and look a bit confusing, it’s not. Remember that the goal of getting your system hooked up is to send the signal from it’s origin to it’s final destination. Following the signal flow of any signal is the best way to do it right and understand how everything works. You could make your system five times more complicated than the example I gave you, and it won’t matter. It’ll be the same theory with the same hook ups, just a few more of them. Just follow the signal flow and you’ll always know how to hook up that new piece of equipment.

Tags: Audio, Cables, Hooking Things Up, Signal Flow, Teach Yourself