DIY Recording Guys · Vadim Kharaz and Benjamin Hull

56: The Zen of Troubleshooting (Our Favorite Tips and Tricks)

February 9, 2021·1 hr 1 min·5 clips

How an old external hard drive can unexpectedly slow down your entire computer system during recording.

Morning voices set the pace. Ben and Vadim start slightly sideways, with an intro mix-up, a clipped level, and the weird feel of recording earlier than usual. It works for the topic. That small gain fix in the opening proves the point without making a speech: problems are easier when you catch them right away. Vadim is traveling near a frozen lake, which gives the check-in that familiar control-room looseness before the recording advice takes over. Cable labeling comes first. Ben points out the trap of naming XLRs after instruments, because the cable marked for kick drum might end up on snare later. Neutral labels are cleaner. Numbers or plain labels keep the session from turning into a memory test when the setup changes. From there, they move into tracking. The big habit is listening back early, especially in solo, before a pile of takes hides a bad raw signal. Clicks and pops are the giveaway. They may mean buffer size trouble, or a clock mismatch between digital devices running at different sample rates. Vadim ties that to his own rig, since he uses a microphone preamp with digital converters. The advice stays grounded: know the weak spots in the chain, check them before the session gets rolling, and do not turn preventable technical problems into mix problems. The closing keeps the door open too, pointing listeners toward their studios, email, Instagram, and Facebook group as part of the same working-engineer conversation.

As heard by us

A practical, lightly funny guide to catching DIY recording problems before they derail a session.

DIY Recording Guys turns troubleshooting into a recording habit rather than a panic move. Benjamin Hall and Vadim Karaz open loose, with morning voices, a little gain-setting wobble, and Vadim calling in from a lake house, but the episode quickly settles into practical studio…

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Why you'd press play

When your recording session starts glitching, this gives you the checklist you need.

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