A power failure and you are recording !!!

It just happened in India, it could happen to you too !

Grids supplying electricity to half of India's 1.2 billion people collapsed, trapping coal miners, stranding train travelers and plunging hospitals into darkness in the second major blackout in as many days.

A blackout could happen anywhere, anytime and it could be devasting for your business as a voiceover talent. Imagine you are in your booth recording this long script that absorbs all your concentration and the power fails? Your time and effort is wasted and it could also damage your reputation as you might not be able to meet your deadline to your client. A power failure could be temporary nuisance or as in India last for too many hours, but sooner or later the power would arrive at the mains and then cross your fingers !  The power could come with undesired peaks that could ruin your recording equipment.

But there is a solution for this problem as any sound studio knows.
Here is our CHECKLIST of things to do to protect your home studio in case of power failure

1. Buy a Uninterrupted Power Supply or UPS at any computer store. You can buy it at around $ 70 or € 50. It's basically a battery that stores DC electricity and transforms into into AC at the normal current you use 110 or 220 V.  
2. The UPS should be connected to the computer on which you are recording the audio, so when power fails you have still 5 to 10 minutes (depending on UPS battery capacity) to save your precious recordings and shut down.
3. Make sure that the battery is standard and you can buy the replacement anywhere (even a do it your self stores). The UPS battery has a capacity of up to 1000 charges and could last for 3 years.
4. Or consider buying a more powerful UPS in the first place if you want to go on recording no matter the power failure. It could cost you from $ 500 or 600 €. You will need it for your preamp that also use electricity and feeds your mic with phantom power. We stress that the UPS should be of much better quality, because a standard, cheap UPS will introduce unwanted noise into your recording, since the alternative power is not streamlined.
5. A stronger UPS unit should be connected to computer, preamp and screens and can provide filtered good quality electricity for 15 minutes with some luck.  You can then finish the part of the script you were reading and then save everything.

Another reason to have a UPS interconnected is that you will protect your equipment from power surges when electricity goes on and off after a storm for example. Also your valuable telephone lines or ISDN. This unit below has 8 outlets.