Re: sel-sync

Being a musician who has made several recordings (and who has taken
several recording engineering courses), I really should have caught
that, myself. I'll send it off to Chip ASAP.

--Kevin

--- In [email protected], zvi@... wrote:
>
> Hey Kevin,
> 
> Here's the other erratum we discovered when working with Maurizio that
> didn't appear on your list: this one from Tim Walters. If you could
> forward this one to Chip as well, that would be great (assuming it still
> appears in the 3rd vintage printing):
> 
> ===
> Re: [delany-list] Questions about Dhalgren. 11
> Maurizio Nati said:
> >p. 519
> >Lanya is describing the tape recorder. "It's two free and reversible
> >four-track recorders on one chassis, with built in cell-sink."
Cell-sink is
> >something like "incorporated batteries"?
> >And then I find often the term "tab". What is, in this case?
> 
> For once, a question I can answer that no one beat me to (although
> Ron came close).
> 
> The correct spelling is "sel-sync" (short for "select
> synchronization"). Whether Delany's spelling is his own error, or
> meant to represent the way that Kid hears it, I don't know.
> 
> To understand how it works, imagine a multi-track analog tape
> recorder. There are three heads on the machine, in this order: erase,
> record, playback. If you want to overdub one part while listening to
> another, you have a problem: the physical distance between the record
> and playback heads causes a time delay, which in turn will result in
> your part being desynchronized. The solution is to have an option to
> playback from the record head. This gives you lower quality, but
> correct timing, and since it's only for monitoring while recording,
> the lower quality doesn't matter.
> 
> "Sel-sync" allows you to select, on a track-by-track basis, which
> head to use for playback. This allows both for synchronization, as
> described above, and deliberate desynchronization, using the tape
> machine as an echo unit (cf. the scene in HEAVENLY BREAKFAST). This
> feature was and is only found on recorders intended for professional
> use.
> 
> That's probably way more than you need to know!
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> Tim Walters : The Doubtful Palace : http://www.doubtfulpalace.com
> ===
> 
> --Zvi
> 
> > It's the same in the 3rd Vintage printing, so I've forwarded your
> > message to Chip. We'll see what transpires!
> > --Kevin
>




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