soundmanjohn

In the UK, under the Sale Of Goods Act 1979, the onus is always on the retailer, not the manufacturer, to replace or effect a repair to, an item that was faulty on delivery. The retailer then deals with the manufacturer: it's his problem, not yours. However, it appears that consumer protection law isn't quite as simple in your country: see here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/ That said, in my opinion, if the unit was faulty on delivery and you can prove it, the retailer should replace it and take the matter up with the manufacturer, no questions asked. John

Simon, If it's running, Audium is an interesting hour or so on a Friday night: http://www.audium.org/ P.S., I scored a used (although you wouldn't know it) Neumann DMI-2 portable from, of all places a Guitar Center store in Colorado. A friend brought it back to the UK for me. I paid £410 including tax and shipping. Very versatile little unit.

Hugh, A UK field recordist called Jez Riley French modifies standard telephone pick-up coils which work pretty well, by all accounts. Recently, he's been in a fairly bad car accident and is scaling back his operations, but he may still have some in stock that he can send out. His web-page with examples is here: http://hydrophones.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/induction-coil-pick-up-now-available.html

Yes, understood, but what I still don't get is the reference to a Blumlein pair that doesn't use figure-of-eight mics. Is it just a 90 degree crossed pair of anything? I'm not taking a poke at his skills, just at the terminology. Confused of London.

Got mine: thanks for the heads-up John

"I'll use cardioid or omni mics for the Blumlein pairs — omnis work great — but bi-directional mics make it a little difficult." Slightly odd that he refers to a Blumlein pair and then says he uses mostly omnis or cardioids, rather than figure-of-eights. To me, a Blumlein pair is crossed figure-of-eights. Does it mean something different in the US? Regards, John

There's a slip-on version of the Rycote Cyclone in development for the MKH50 in the works, I believe. I saw a demo version at their London event earlier in the year and it's going to be a very useful piece of kit, I suspect. John

Found this company in Australia who are an outlet for most of the Deltron boxes, although they appear to ship from the UK: here's a link to the grey version of the blue one I have, which it seems isn't available from this stockist: http://au.element14.com/deltron-enclosures/461-0010/box-diecast-p-c-grey-a/dp/9165649 Hope that helps. John

I've been using the BlueSky MediaDesk 5.1 system for quite a while now and like it a lot. Mixes translate well to bigger systems, bass management is nicely implemented and the system is well designed for small studio surround work. Not too expensive, either. John

Thanks for the kind words, folks. Hugh, the die-cast box is by a company called Deltron and is from their 462 series. In the UK they're distributed by RS Components and Farnell, and I would suspect that you have an equivalent in Australia. If not, or if you can't find one, drop me a line and a few bucks in PayPal to cover postage and I'll send you one over. I have a USB attachment in the pipeline, but I cheated and just bought a motorcycle-mount weatherproof unit with a flying lead that I'm just going to solder a Hirose connector to. I'm hopeless at cutting square holes, so it seemed the simplest solution. All the best, John

Tuesday was the 75th anniversary of what was known as The Hardest Day of the Battle Of Britain. when the RAF and the Luftwaffe lost many planes and pilots. To mark the anniversary, eighteen Spitfires, four Hurricanes and a Mustang assembled at Biggin Hill Airfield, south of London and flew formations over the south-east coastal areas. Here are a few of them and the link will take you to SoundCloud, where you can hear them all start up and taxy to the dispersal point. I've added some sounds of Spitfires and Hurricanes in flight as well: sorry about the hideous SoundCloud picture: that's me in a Tiger Moth (passenger, not flying) a couple of years ago. Play them loud!

It's also usual in some theatre shows, especially for the lead performers who can't necessarily get off stage for a mic change in the event of a failure, usually caused by ingress of sweat or a cable fault. I've just done a show with Jim Dale, who's worn two complete wireless systems for musicals ever since he was in Barnum, where it was impossible for him to get off stage and mic failure was pretty common because of the acrobatic nature of his performance. I can confirm that even at 80, he's still a very athletic performer. We used two DPA4061s in a double mic mount, but never had a failure, as far as I know. Regards, John

First outing yesterday for my little remote switch and battery distribution system that I cobbled together from bits I've had lying around for a year or two. The remote switch and voltage display clips neatly into a Petrol pouch and the wiring runs into the bag to my Tracer LiPo 10Ah battery and a simple, fused four-way Hirose distribution box. (I found the blue Deltron box on Ebay as part of a set of five for £10 - I'm keeping a couple of the others, but in anyone in the UK wants one or both of the remaining two for a couple of quid, let me know.) Battery input to the remote switch is via a 4 pin XLR and from the switch to the distribution box, a locking DC barrel connector. The main switch is on the side of the box and is recessed when in the on position, so it can't be accidentally knocked, and the voltage display is checked via a momentary switch. I'm going to add a strip of ND to the side of the box with voltage display, just to make it look a bit neater as the box got a bit beaten up when I was making the rectangular cut-out, which was the most difficult part, even with a Dremel. The whole thing works very nicely and the battery gives me over six hours powering a 744T and my Soundfield ST450. A very satisfying little project that kept me occupied during a week of theatre producer nonsense. All the best, John

Persevered and succeeded; however, I'd add one - probably blindingly obvious - extra step, which is to remove the ear-cups first, so that you're not trying to overcome the pressure of the headband along with everything else! Thanks, John

Thanks to all for this: I did seriously consider a tea-spoon, a throwback to the days of fitting a new tyre to my bike and not having tyre levers. My mother soon put a stop to that one. I shall persevere with the detailed instructions and let you know how I get on. Regards, John

OK, having now received my HN7506 headphones (thanks to Jeff Cannon for getting these to me) I need to fit the new gel-filled earpads. So, before I burst them in frustration, I suspect that there has to be a trick to it. Anyone care to share? Thanks, John

Regardless of what Honda's doing, researchers at Cardiff University have also proved that it's possible to build a carbon-positive house at an affordable price: they proved it by building it. This is not some PR stunt, but a genuine attempt to move forward in reducing the amount of power we consume. And it's in Wales, not noted for the huge amounts of sunshine it enjoys during the year. http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2015/jul/carbon-positive-house-story.cfm You could also look at two projects developed by a friend of mine, Jürgen Huber. http://passivehouseplus.ie/blogs/the-bauhaus-barge-an-energy-efficient-canal-boat.html and http://www.superhomes.org.uk/superhomes/london-du-cane-road/ Again, please note, not in sunny California, or Arizona, but in London, where we're in the middle of a grey and rainy summer. Regards, John

And very interesting it was, too. The new smaller Cyclones are neat and effective ( easily tested as the room was upstairs in a pub next to the River Thames with a strong wind blowing in through the balcony windows) and there are new smaller softie models coming for SDCs like Schoeps and Neumann mics with a very secure rubber seal to the mic body. Also on show was a prototype of a version for the Sennheiser MKH 40/50 and similar mics, with a quickly detachable basket using magnetic clips. I spent a fair amount of time with both Simon and Helmut discussing surround systems, got a very nice Rycote baseball hat that also fits my wife who immediately appropriated it (I'll need another one, Simon...) and a smart Schoeps Nextel Grey polo shirt, along with some excellent snacks and a refreshing drink or two. A great bunch of people, keen to demonstrate their products and just to chat generally. I wish more trade events were organised on such a relaxed social basis. Thanks to Simon and Helmut and the rest of the crew for a very pleasant couple of hours. Regards, John

Some significant differences in display: I'm going to have to RTFM... John

Nuendo 7 available for download today: reasonable upgrade price (£109 from 6.5 here in the UK) and big - 10 GB download. I'll be interested to see how well it performs. Regards, John

And finally, I hooked up the cable and all AES42 inputs work fine. So, for those who might have wanted to buy a pair of mine, I'm hanging on to them until after I've done some testing in the real world later in the year. After that I'll make a decision and if I decide to sell a pair, you'll hear about it here first. Thanks to all for the help and encouragement and to Nelson and all at Sound Devices for astonishingly good service. All the best, John

Just to add that the cable arrived first thing this morning, via a UPS courier. Given that I confirmed my address last Friday and I'm in the UK, this is really excellent service. Many thanks to all at SD. John

That's what I call service. I'll be in touch later today when I'm back in the studio. Thanks, John

Hold your horses - not made up my mind yet... John

Call Spike Shaw at Stage Electrics in Bristol. As far as I can tell, they bought a bunch for an install by mistake and they may have a pair left. Simon Bishop was after a pair and he may well have had the last ones. Direct line number is +44 117 937 9564. If you don't have any luck, call me: I may part with a pair to help fund a DMI-2P John