Electronics Classes.

[trodden]

I'm really clueless when it comes to electronic engineering, modding gear, fixing gear, etc... I pretty much only use my soldering iron for making cables and patchbays.

My console and tape machine as been at a tech's place for almost two months now. I've lost at least 2 sessions because of this. One session I made happen because they had already scheduled a week of work off, so i borrowed a bunch of outboard pres to fill up all 16 ins on my DAW. Can't mix though until I get my board back.

I've got two clients who want to work exclusively on tape, so that's not going to happen until whenever my machine comes back.

I'm tired the run around I get whenever a piece of gear has to get sent out for repair. It seems that everytime I need some work done, I try someone new and get the same thing... my crap sits there for way too long AND/OR it comes back to me still broken.

Has anyone gotten so fed up that they enrolled in some classes to learn a few things? I figure if I knew some basics, so when looking at schems and such, it wouldn't seem SO alien to me.. and maybe start making sense. If so, what classes did you take, and was it worth the time? I taught myself how to record, I don't know if its such a good idea to start ripping gear apart to teach myself how to fix/buid it.

I've grown my own food and drugs. Brewed my own beer. I should fix and build my own gear....

[tdbajus]

+1.

Been trying to get my head around it for a long time. I'll spend hours trying to figure something out, and when I get a handle on it, I can't help but think someone could have just explained it to me in 30 minutes.

[JGriffin]

Has anyone gotten so fed up that they enrolled in some classes to learn a few things?

I've gotten close but not pulled the trigger yet.

[Scodiddly]

I haven't gone to school for electronics yet (well, I was going to do that for college, but got too interested in computers in my first year and switched majors), but I still try to learn stuff. Mainly just because it's interesting, and because I do make some money off the repair business.

Most recent acquisition was an old 2-volume electronics course from the US Navy. Only problem is that I should really be doing some of that stuff as if I was in a classroom instead of bedtime reading, so I'm bogged down at the moment.

I do remember one time back in high school when I spent 2-3 hours staring at a tube amp schematic trying to figure out what the problem could be (turned out to be a big resistor disguised as a capacitor!?!), but at some point all of a sudden I saw the pattern of how the signal tubes were hooked up and finally understood how the amp worked.

[Gregg Juke]

I took electronics in Boy Scouts, in high school (several classes0, and there was quite a bit of it in my college recording class...

I remember almost none of it.

What I _do_ remember is not resistor codes, but the time I touched something called a pulse generator (?), and was transported across the room against my will in the blink of an eye...

GJ

[AndyHutchinson]

Let us know if you find anything interesting/useful. I'm in the same place; not only am I tired of paying someone else do something I should be able to do myself, but I'm really getting into the DIY life. I've been looking around for classes here, (Long Island,) but haven't found anything great yet. Hope everything works out

[kslight]

I'm not an expert by any means but though I've taken a one semester electronics course, most of what I've learned has come instead from just doing it. I learn more hands on...can't just sit and read a book and then be able to do it. Build some guitar pedals, buy a learn electronics kit (seriously like $60 at Rat shack with a couple Forrest Mims books, a powered breadboard, a bunch of components, and various projects to build and their schematics), et cetera.. And meet a local tech who will let you watch them and explain what they are doing for repair work you are not comfortable with doing yourself. I have a tech that will do this for me...sometimes it's nice to have someone I can dump repairs on because I simply don't have time/put it off too long.

[The Scum]

I don't know of anyone that teaches a suitably deep, studio-oriented class, that stands by itself. They're either trivially shallow (like stuff in the one-year recording programs), or built into a more substantial program.

You can look into what your local community college or tech school offers...many of them have associate's programs in EE tech. I don't really know how well suited they'll be to studio stuff. They'll probably focus more on getting people trained to go into manufacturing industry. I'd hope they teach how to use test equipment, read schematics, and solder like a master.

A litmus test: any program that doesn't expect it's students to know some math is going to be pretty watered down. You'll need to be conversant with a handful of algebra & a little trig.

The best way to get into it from a studio perspective is to jump in and get your hands dirty. Build something simple...like a fuzzbox. Learn how to translate the schematic into components, then get it working, and learn how the test equipment works. Then try something more ambitious. Lather, rinse, repeat. Accumulate more & better knowledge & tools as you go...just like running a studio.

There are a couple of books threads around here that might give you a start. If you're really at square one, Craig Anderton's Electronics Projects for Musicians has a good introduction. If you're up the chain a bit, Bob Pease's Troublehooting Analog Circuits is full of wisdom. I also flip through relevant magazines all the time...Nuts & Volts, Elektor, Circuit Cellar, Make, ECN, EDN, EE Times, etc.

Learning at the feet of a guru never hurts, either. Thankfully some of the gurus share their knowledge on the net...I'm fond of Nelson Pass and Douglas Self.

[strdsk]

I took audio electronics classes specifically and got less out of that than I did tinkering around on my own...

[Jeff White]

Build guitar pedals. Then grab a good electronics book and learn to read schematics (what I am now doing). Then DIY some simple preamps using the internet as a guide. Learn by doing. When you run aground and are completely confused, make a logical list of questions and seek out the answers.

I'm in the middle of this right now. After fixing my sytek on my own, modding some simple stuff and building some pedals, I have the bug.

Jeff

[sonocide6]

+1 on the learning by doing.

I have a master's degree in physics and have been through several electronics classes in school (I was even a TA for digital electronics lab!) but I have learned the most about electronics from my personal projects.

Find a project that interests you that you will ACTUALLY USE in the studio and dive in! Make plenty of mistakes (be safe though!) and learn from them. There's a great community here and elsewhere on the web willing to offer insight when you hit a wall.

Now I know there are 1001 opinions on reference materials but here is one of my favorites:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-P ... 976&sr=8-1
It's and oldie but a goodie. It's more of an encyclopedia-style reference than a textbook but it's full of great explanations and examples of good and BAD circuit design.

[Andy Peters]

Now I know there are 1001 opinions on reference materials but here is one of my favorites:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Electronics-P ... 976&sr=8-1
It's and oldie but a goodie. It's more of an encyclopedia-style reference than a textbook but it's full of great explanations and examples of good and BAD circuit design.

The Third Edition of AoE has been rumored since, well, the second edition was published. It's the Duke Nukem Forever of electronics textbooks!

But ... see here (June 30, 2010???) and here, which promises Oct 2010, and here, which indicates publication Jan 2012. And here we are told December 2011!

-a

[Scodiddly]

I've learned a huge amount doing stuff on my own, but various important things could really only have come from textbooks or similar.

All that current flow stuff to help analyze a circuit... that sort of thing. There are a few "everybody knows this rule" but almost nobody will have thought it up on their own.

[ricercar.record]

+1 on The Art of Electronics. Another great book for starting to learn and to keep around for reference is Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz. Also Self on Audio by Douglas Self is cool too.

I would definitely agree with just sort of diving into it for yourself as opposed to taking classes. Our country's education system sucks anyway. Lurk around on here for cheaper projects, hopefully stuff that you will actually use like maybe the shure m67 mod RodC posted or perhaps racking a pm1000 channel strip or similar cheap vintage console channel strip. Hell, you can even build your own microphones fairly cheaply that can sound great and be useful for certain tasks. A lot of those electronics projects for musicians books and kits you can buy at Fry's or online are pieces of shit and useless after you complete them. I guess they're good for learning, but better to learn while having something of better quality and use.

[Gregg Juke]

Not exactly an "electronics " project, but if you want to build an inexpensive mic, Google the "Austin Ribbon Mic."

GJ