ORAM T Series User manual

T Series
OWNER’S MANUAL

T Series Recording Console
Operator's Manual
Manual copy by Rob Dewar.
Manual Contents Copyright 2007 Rob Dewar and Oram Prefessional, Old Forge
Barn, Hook Green, Meopham, Kent, England.
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Table of Contents
Section Page
1) General Advisory 5
2) Introduction 6
3) Design Insights 6
4) Channel and Master Section Overview 7
5) The Channel Connections 9
6) The Channel Input Controls 10
7) The Auxiliary Sends 12
8) The Tape Monitor Return 14
9) The Classic EQ 16
10) The Channel Fader, Pan And Buss Assignments 18
11) The Master Section 20
12) The Master Section Connectors 20
13) The Track Buss Connectors 21
14) The Stereo Returns Connectors 22
15) The AUX Send Master Connectors 22
16) The Track Buss Insert Connectors 23
17) The Main L/R Buss and Insert Connectors 24
18) The Control Room Monitor Connectors 25
19) The Talk Back and Phones Connectors 25
20) The Master Section Features 26
21) The VU Meters 26
22) The Track Buss Masters 27
23) The AUX Send Masters 29
24) The Stereo Master Faders 30
25) The Stereo Returns Masters 31
26) The Control Room/Monitor Masters 32
27) The Solo/Phones Level Masters 33
28) The Talk Back Master Controls 34
29) The T Series Meterbridge 35
30) Setting Up The Basic Connections/QUICK START GUIDE 37
31) Connect The Power 37
32) Connect Your Recorder's Inputs 38
33) Connect Your Monitor Returns 38
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34) Connect Your Control Room Monitors 39
35) Power Up 39
36) Connect Your Sources 39
37) Set Your Input Levels 40
38) Arm Your Recorder 41
39) Route Your Input Channel and Set Your Recording Levels 42
40) Setup Your Monitor Buss 43
41) Create Your Monitor Mix 44
42) Record A Take 44
43) Headphone Monitoring For Performers 44
44) Recording An Overdub 46
45) Setting Up To Mix Down Your Tracks 47
46) Inserted Processing 47
47) Using AUX Sends For Effects 48
48) Using The Stereo Returns and Line Inputs For Returns 49
49) Setting Up A Second Stereo Mix Buss 49
50) Troubleshooting Guide 52
51) T Series Technical Specifications 53
52) T Series Signal Flow Diagrams 54
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General Advisory
Here are a few general tips on the care and maintenance of your Oram Professional Audio
product, and safety in its use.
–This product runs on mains voltage, and may have significantly higher levels of voltage
available at certain internal contact points. Contact with these voltages can be LETHAL.
NEVER open the case of your Oram product. Refer all servicing to a qualified
technician.
–Do not expose your Oram product to water, moisture, rain, or significant levels of
humidity. Take care to avoid liquid or food spills onto the unit, and keep away
excessive dust buildup.
–Your Oram product is built for years of demanding commercial service, but
nonetheless, it is made from many delicate components. Take care to avoid jarring or
dropping the unit, or placing it in areas of strong vibration for long periods.
–Do not apply a speaker level signal, amplifier output, or any other high-voltage signal
to ANY connection point on the unit. Doing so will almost certainly damage internal
electronic components, and will almost certainly void your warranty, if you do so.
–The line levels produced by this unit, when applied to a powerful speaker system, can
produce audio levels easily capable of doing permanent damage to your hearing.
Headphone levels, likewise, are potentially high enough to cause hearing damage,
especially with long-term exposure. Always take care of your ears – you only have one
set. Oram recommends careful monitoring at all times, and regular break periods,
during long work sessions, to allow the ears to re-settle themselves. Not only will your
work sound better, for your having less fatigued ears during the process, but the impact
of your listening sessions on your hearing ability will be minimised.
–Clean your Oram product on the outside with a soft, dry cloth, or a duster. Use only
sparing amounts of mild cleaning aids in spot areas, as necessary, and avoid spraying
or dripping furniture cleaner into the jacks and controls. Do not use alcohol, solvents or
thinners, as these may damage the finish on your unit. Compressed air can be used to
remove debris from tight spots in the control field. Take care when cleaning, not to
force or catch controls, or scratch the surfaces.
–If fader cleaning becomes necessary, a high-quality contact cleaner can be carefully
sprayed into the fader paths. Take care not to use too much. Run the fader up and down
a few times after spraying in the cleaner, and test it. If further service is required, or if
the affected control is not a linear fader, refer servicing to a qualified technician, or
contact your Oram representative for further assistance.
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Oram Audio T Series Operator's Manual
Introduction
Congratulations on your decision to own the Oram Audio T Series recording console. We
would like to thank you for putting your confidence in our audio products. The 8T
represents the best concepts in John Oram's pure analogue audio circuit design, handed
down from a long and prestigious line of world-class recording consoles which, back in
1974, became the cornerstone of one of the world's most sought-after sounds, a sound that
was used to make an incredible number of top hit
recordings, from the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and The Who, on down. Your T Series
is no ordinary piece of audio equipment, and, as such, familiarising yourself with its many
features and design enhancements will ensure that you get the most value and longevity
from your investment. Reading this manual in its entirety, while sitting in front of the
console, is the best way to do that.
Design Insights
The T Series is built in the format of what is known as a classic “inline monitoring”
design. This is an extremely efficient and flexible design, used on the highest-end
professional recording consoles for decades. Inline monitoring allows a literal doubling of
the console's functions, by allowing a single channel strip to carry either the mic or line
input's signal through the channel path to the recorder, and then, take the recorder's
returned signal into another discrete input in the same channel for monitoring, so that both
the recording and monitoring functions occur simultaneously, inline, using only the space
of the one channel, and thus greatly increasing the density of the console's routing. This
also means, then, that a 16 channel inline-monitoring console, for example, can operate as a
16 channel tracking console, with full downstream monitoring capabilities, and can also
operate as a 32 channel mixer, during the mixdown phase of the project, all in one small,
but powerful unit. The T Series takes this a step further, by also allowing input mixing
into the main channel path from two signal inputs, effectively tripling the console's
channel count,

in the same compact frame. Combined with Oram's legendary heritage, and the attention
to sonic quality built into every detail throughout, the result is a formidable and
distinguished small-format console, clearly a breed apart from, and above, the crowd, in its
modest price range.
Channel and Master Section Overview
Let's have a look at the individual controls and connections, so you can see the many
control and routing possibilities that are available to you. On the following pages are three
overview diagrams of the T Series console surface, channel strips and Master Section.
Dimensional information is also included, as a quick reference.
On the left-hand side of the console are the channel strips and their connectors, and on the
right-hand side, is the Master Section, and its connector panel.
On the following page, are individual diagrams of a channel strip and the Master Section.
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Channel Input Connections
Page 9
Channel Input Controls
Page 10
AUX Send Controls
Page 12
Tape Monitor Return Controls
Page 14
Classic EQ
Page 16
Channel Fader, Pan and Buss
Assignments
Page 18
VU Meters
Page 26
Master Output Connections
Page 20-25
AUX Send Masters
Page 29
Track Buss Masters
Page 27
Stereo Returns Masters
Page 31
Stereo Master Faders
Page 30
Control Room/Monitor Masters
Page 32
Solo/Phones Level Masters
Page 33
Talk Back Master Controls
Page 34

The Channel Connections
Note that the channel INS jacks are “normalled” connections, and inserting a TRS-M plug
into the jack will break the channel's signal path and mute the channel, until the two
“ends” of the chain are both connected together again, through a signal processor, etc.
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