Alesis ADAT-XT manual REL 0H 01M 29S, Making a Recording, Track Selection and Setting Levels

Your First Session With The ADAT XT: Chapter 2

MAKING A RECORDING

Recording on the XT is very similar to most multitrack tape machines. The process involves formatting a tape (see previous tutorial), putting one or more tracks into record-ready, adjusting record levels on your mixer, setting the input monitor mode, locating to the start tape address and engaging record. In this tutorial, we will be recording from the analog audio inputs at the start of the audio portion of the tape (0:00:00.00). For more information on this and recording from the digital bus, see pages 37 through 41 of chapter 4.

TRACK SELECTION AND SETTING LEVELS

You’ll find the RECORD ENABLE buttons ([1]–[8]) for all eight tracks on the left side of the front panel, beneath the display. A track is considered “safe” when its [REC] LED is off, in “record-ready” when its [REC] LED is flashing, and in record when its [REC] LED is lit solid.

To record-enable a track:

¿Choose a track to record on, and press the track’s associated RECORD ENABLE button [1]–[8]. The selected track’s [REC] LED will flash to indicate it is in record- ready.

¡Send an audio signal to the track(s) you have placed into record-ready. Adjust the levels on your mixer so that the “average” level is at -15 dB on the peak meters of the XT and the loudest section never goes beyond 0 dB. Digital audio recording is different from analog recording, and therefore requires a different method when setting levels. For more information, see Setting Levels on page 41 of chapter 4.

¬To take a track out of record-ready (safe), press its associated RECORD ENABLE button again. The selected track’s [REC] LED will turn off to indicate it is safe.

TIME COUNTER

Before recording, you should familiarize yourself with the transport buttons, and the 7-segment TIME counter in the top left corner of the display. Ordinarily, the TIME counter will show Absolute (ABS) time, which is the exact time reference being read directly off of the formatted tape. The tape position is displayed as hours:minutes: seconds.hundredths-of-a-second. (This counter may be changed to show 30 frames per second, see page 45 for more information.)

ABS 0H 15M 48S 21

Pressing the [ABS/REL] button will toggle the display between ABS Time and Relative Time. The display will either indicate ABS or REL to the left of the TIME counter.

REL 0H 01M 29S 03

	Relative Time reflects the current tape position relative to where you set the Relative
	0:00:00.00 position. This is similar to resetting the tape counter on a cassette deck.
	However, the XT gives you the option of reading the actual tape position (ABS Time)
	or the tape position relative to the location you marked as 0:00:00.00 (Relative Time).
J	Before you start recording, for the first time be sure the TIME counter is set to ABS
	Time to avoid confusion. For more information, see page 35.

ADAT XT Reference Manual 15