TL Audio 5052 - Manual (Page 14)

microphones picking up the same signal at the same time. An example of this problem
is when recording a snare drum with one microphone on the top snare skin and a
second microphone on the underside skin of the snare drum. Because the two
microphones are picking up the same signal at the same time, phase cancellation can
occur. By inverting the phase of one of the microphones this problem can be
rectified. A phase mis-match will probably manifest itself as an apparent loss of bass
content when two microphone signals are mixed together or fed to a stereo pair of
loudspeakers. If an error is suspected, it is a simple operation to check by phase
reversing each channel in turn. The phase reverse is active on mic, line and instrument
inputs.
4.8 Drive and Peak LEDs.
The yellow Drive LED provides a visual indication of the signal level through the valve
stages, and therefore the extent of “warming” or valve character being introduced.
The drive LED will gradually illuminate as the input level or gain is increased, over the
range +6dB to +16dB.
The red Peak LED operates as a conventional warning that clipping is about to
occur. The operating level of the entire signal chain is monitored, and the LED
illuminates when an internal level of around 19dB is reached. Normal operation would
be to set the input gain so that the drive LED is regularly illuminating, with occasional
lighting of the red Peak LED on transients.
If the input and output gain controls are set to their centre (0dB) positions, the
Peak LED will illuminate some 3dB after the Drive LED has reached its full intensity.
However, it is possible to add gain further down the chain (i.e. output level gain),
which will cause the Peak LED to illuminate at a lower level of Drive. This situation
implies that a high level of “clean” signal is present, without driving the valves hard.
4.9 Output Gain.
This controls the level at the 5052 outputs. The nominal level is 0dB at the centre
detented position. This control effectively acts like an output fader, and is very
useful when recording direct to tape or hard disc through the 5052. You may find
that some digital recorders require a good deal of input level in order to register a
0dB reading on their meters (+18dBu analogue usually matches 0dBFS in the digital
scale). This is normal, since many digital recorders are designed to preserve
headroom and keep the signal well below the 0dB clip point - thus preventing the
recorder distorting. The 5052 provides a further 15dB of gain at the output fader to