ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the general interfacing problems. The analogue audio interfacing of a large studio can be an expensive and complex process. In the early days of recording, valve equipment demanded a strict code of interface. Valves could not easily drive long lines directly, so transformer matching was used. The Cannon XL connector was widely used in the 1950s as a professional audio connector, but it was found that there could be problems of poor contacts after many insertions. The AES (Audio Engineering Society) recommended standard is now for pin 2 hot, which would keep the microphone polarity-standard throughout the audio chain, but its adoption has not been universal. It would seem to be a fundamental requirement of any studio which considered itself to be professional that the equipment should be wired to a central jackfield, and that this jackfield should be of a three conductors, tip, ring and sleeve type.
