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Mix Blog Live: Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur, Episode 4
Has it really been three months since we last visited the Ampex 351 Audio Dinosaur? I estimate that I’ve logged 200,000 miles since the...
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Mix Blog Live: Newberry Opera House
Eighteen eighty-one, United States. President James Garfield is assassinated. Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell form the Oriental Telephone Company. Billy the Kid escapes...
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Mix Blog Live: Back to the Future
Most audio engineers are familiar with the term snapshot memory, a method by which all (or at least most) of the settings of a...
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Mix Blog Live: Is It Live, Or Is It???
A few nights ago, some of my coworkers were discussing the song “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, the video for which has collected more...
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Mix Blog Live: Best Show Ever
I’m lucky to have a close-knit family and we often find excuses to get together, whether it be for a holiday, a birthday or...
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Mix Blog Live: The Expensive Seats Aren’t Always the Best
One of the issues that I deal with on a constant basis is making a P.A. sound good for the front rows of a...
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Mix Blog Live: No Excuses
I almost never have the luxury of touring with production, so on any given show there are a ton of variables in the P.A....
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Mix Blog Live: Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur, Part 3
When last we left my Ampex 351 Audio Dinosaur, I had installed a newly rebuilt power supply, ensuring that all sections of the 351...
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Mix Blog Live: The Power of Chicken Nuggets
July 5, 2019, 11:30 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time I return to my hotel room after a gig at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson, Ariz....
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Mix Blog Live: Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur, Part 2
At the close of the first episode of “Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur,” my lovely Ampex 351 tape machine channel was alive and working—though I...
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Mix Blog Live: Resurrecting an Audio Dinosaur
You’re looking at the electronics for a single channel of an Ampex 351 tape machine that was built in the early 1950s. Ampex manufactured...
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Mix Blog Live: Victor Jay Solotoff, 1945 – 2019
Brooklyn, N.Y., 1979 My friend John is a year ahead of me in the same school: John Dewey High School in Brooklyn. At the...
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Mix Blog Live: O Ware, O Where
The wheels of progress never stop grinding, especially when it comes to digital audio, so it’s no surprise when manufacturers of digital gear introduce...
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Mix Blog Live: Formation, Transformation and Deformation
On April 17, 2019, one of my classes had the opportunity to participate in a very special event. Held in the Rotunda, Mercy Hall...
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Mix Blog Live: Sonic Limitations
I don’t like surprises, at least not while I’m working. I think a lot of engineers feel that way, and that’s part of the...
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Mix Blog Live: A Tale of Two P.A.s (In the Same Room)
February 27, 2019: Tonight I’m working the O2 Institute in Birmingham, England. Originally constructed in the early 1900s as a Methodist congregational chapel, the...
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Mix Blog Live: Follow That Plow!
Friday, January 18, 2019, 2:00 PM I hate touring in the winter. A projected Snowpocalypse has the media in a frenzy. I’m worried about...
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Mix Blog Live: AES@NAMM Goes Big
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a NAMM Show, though throughout that time I’ve consistently attended annual AES Conventions. What I...
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Mix Blog Live: New Year, New Gear
Test driving new gear is always fun, so I was excited to be returning to the Suffolk Theater in Riverhead, N.Y., this past weekend....
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Mix Blog Live: The Real Deal
Diva: dē-və (noun) 1. An exceptionally talented and famous female singer, usually in the realm of opera music. 2. A famous female singer of...
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Mix Blog Live: Of Microphones and Models
The other day a friend of mine asked me about a microphone modeling system that he recently saw online. The basic idea is that...
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Mix Blog Live: Life Through the Lens
I’ve never mixed a Blue Oyster Cult show where the band didn’t perform “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” If I recall correctly, about 10 years...
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Mix Blog Live: A Peek at The Peak
This past Friday I worked a show in Jim Thorpe, Penn., at a venue called Penn’s Peak. Established in 2003, Penn’s Peak kicked off...
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Mix Blog Live: Power Steering
The idea of “steering” a P.A. is nothing new. Renkus-Heinz and EAW have been producing steerable loudspeaker arrays since the early 2000s (the ICONYX...
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Mix Blog Live: AES—Where Inquiring Minds Go
One of the things I like best about going to an AES Convention is connecting with friends and colleagues in the industry, and as...
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Mix Blog Live: Put a Toll Booth in It
I’ve lived in New York City for my entire life and I’m noticing an alarming trend. My friend Richie puts it this way: “Take...
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Mix Blog Live: Just A Little Bit…
When my guys headline a show and there’s a support act, we make every effort to make them feel welcome. We do however have...
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Mix Blog Live: Don’t Cut Off Your Nose…
Any gear nut can tell you that one of the issues in dealing with vintage gear is the availability of parts. You may be...
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Mix Blog Live: The Yamaha NS10 Reborn
Just when you thought that Yamaha NS10Ms were going the way of the dinosaur, Avantone has introduced what appears to be a redux. Engineers...