I was talking with one of my teachers today about gold in ICs. All the gold is in the wires of big chips…
so I looked around and found another video about the PCB plating
THEN, blessings to youtube, there is a guy smelting it
The day Google unplugs, is the day the worlds knowledge disappear
As a part of my school program, I’ve decided to take a shot at re-designing 2 WBS components.
First the 4-110 mic pre-amp for the M460 – M461. In the 90s WBS redesigned the card using 5534 but I’m looking at something even more modern.
Second the 109 cards. While at Revolution Recording, Joe D redesigned his version of the 109 card and it was a HUGE improvement. He described it as “taking the cheese cloth off the audio” and he was right.
The idea is to have a plug and play module available for users with a few new features not incorporated in past designs.
Once they’re done I hope to have them for sale on www.AudioAholics.com
I wanted to add some components to my home listening system, so a switcher was needed. I’ve decided to use a POD 2 switcher…
the POD-2 is a (6) Stereo input – stereo switcher that has the ability to sum all inputs. The output of the switcher feeds a Stereo Penny and Giles fader then directly to the Mackie HR824 speakers.
I’ve got to find a panel… but as far as home friendly user interface goes this is as simple as it gets.
1 Turn Table
2 Radio
3 Mac Mini
4 Cassette
5
6 Airport Express out
I did a house call this weekend on a sick A80. Track 2 was being glitchy so it was replaced with track 15s chassis and pulled for bench service. It’s really nice to see these machines still kicking like it’s 1974! Making great records still!
A sign i saw on the way to the service: “sorry we’re sorry”
Really like the build so far, but Black PCBs suck. VERY hard to see the traces. 
had a brief test fit this evening…
I have a project coming up where I needed a special face plate. I came up with the idea of engraving with a spirograph, so I ordered one on eBay and it showed up today! 
The setup was a little roughed in
But the results will be spectacular
Here are some before shots of the Neumann cutting lathe acceleration limiter BSB-74
It’s a really work of art in there, had to share.
Continue reading
While visiting a friends studio (The Avenue Recording Company) I was happy to notice an old microphone cart I’d built for Tanda Recording. The cart was designed to keep clutter down and be able to slide between the room partitions. It was extremely well then and keeps working today. There are two side compartments that remove and a bottom one for larger items.
Compartments taken out. The compartments were great for keeping the mic clips and stere bars etc etc
The bottom case was great to stash round basses and goose necks
A word of advice if you want to build a cart like this: The real trick to this cart is its depth. We had a similar cart at a theatre I worked for; we were always breaking off adjustment knobs on the bottom of the stands. If the depth of the holes is too much putting the stands in can snap the adjustment screws right off.
When in doubt: fuck it, paint it black.
The Linear Traveling Potentiometer presented at AES Toronto meeting Sept 24, 2013
The Math Project that inspired the FivePointNone
Dave got his hands a little dirty in the cleaning of a clients T1202A. Very good little task out of the way. While it was in I snapped a few pics for the archive :-) I would have named it a T1202C as it has C revision Modules…
Here is a link to the Ward-Beck Systems T1202A
There has been talks of 12 channel consoles being made so designs are moving from paper to cad… I’ve been dreaming up a new design of side panel that can lay flay or be stood upright using a support. The idea is to put them on an island in either upright or flat positions. The faders would be flat in the mix position, and angled in the upright position. The back interconnect would be all edacs.
A few years ago I made another Sub-Kick. I used all Yamaha Parts… so I guess it’s a Yamaha Sub Kick
Drilling the XLR into the side:
Pulling the driver from its box:
I built some Brackets and drilled the holes to line up with the existing lug hardware:
Mesh head:
Filled the lining of the shell with acoustic foam and put another mesh head on the back:
Finished:
Making a 12 channel breakout snake. I think it turned out great! The new labels are looking good, and are very nicely visible / functional
Very happy how this turned out.
I recently acquired a new computer and have begun the “Migration” from old to new. I know it’s not a quick process (600+ Gb from machine to machine) but by my math this estimation, using FW800, was WAY OUT. The problem turns out that the computer was going to sleep during this migration!! Why the HELL would it do such a stupid thing? There were no options for sleeping as it’s a fresh install. Shame on Apple.
After three failed attempts, I had to find a solution to me sitting at two idle computers for 8 hours.
AND HERE IT IS!
(standby for video)
I needed to be able to leave it also… so in an audio Macgyver moment of desperation I turn to my biggest fan. The cable for the Trackball is moved by an oscillating fan. The headphones are on top of an upside down trackball, this and the duct tape give the trackball some weight to push on the keyboard (for computer 1) the movement also pushes a button on a Magic Trackpad (computer 1)
so far attempt number four is going smoothly (knock on wood)
