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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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...
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...
Most audio engineers are familiar with the term snapshot memory, a method by which all (or at least most) of the settings of a...
A few nights ago, some of my coworkers were discussing the song “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, the video for which has collected more...
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...
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...
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....
When last we left my Ampex 351 Audio Dinosaur, I had installed a newly rebuilt power supply, ensuring that all sections of the 351...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
On April 17, 2019, one of my classes had the opportunity to participate in a very special event. Held in the Rotunda, Mercy Hall...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
The other day a friend of mine asked me about a microphone modeling system that he recently saw online. The basic idea is that...
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...
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...
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...
One of the things I like best about going to an AES Convention is connecting with friends and colleagues in the industry, and as...
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...
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...
Any gear nut can tell you that one of the issues in dealing with vintage gear is the availability of parts. You may be...
Just when you thought that Yamaha NS10Ms were going the way of the dinosaur, Avantone has introduced what appears to be a redux. Engineers...