soundmanjohn

This seems to have backfired spectacularly on Rycote, with a huge number of posts on their social media sites condemning this action. There's a horrible non-apology on their Facebook page, all about protecting their identity, which is just obvious nonsense. It's a shame that such an old-established brand name has been tainted by some faceless corporate hack who thought it would be a really smart plan to try and hijack a tiny start-up operation like Radius. Simon Davies has re-hired many of the original Rycote staff who were effectively sacked by Videndum in a "restructuring" move that involved closing down the factory in the small town in which it had been based all its life, and moving to a new facility many miles away. They did this in the time-honored way of big companies, just before Christmas. There's a local audio show in London coming up at which Rycote has booked space: I wouldn't want to be a representative on their stand; sound people here are pretty angry. John

A few years ago, I made contact with a sound recordist called Dmitry Chernov, who was developing a series of sound effects libraries that were rather different in their content and his approach. I bought two of his Northern Europe libraries and when, for another show, I needed some very specific wolf sounds, Dmitry came up trumps again. We've corresponded regularly, usually when he needs to find English equivalents for Russian terms, and our latest exchange was in regard to Guinea Pigs and the sounds they make. He's written a very interesting and enjoyable blog about that session which you can find here: https://larxaudio.com/blog/guinea-pigs/ Give it a read, if you like, and I can highly recommend his other libraries. Also, regardless of what you might think about the current situation in Ukraine, he's one of the Russian good guys and a thoroughly nice chap.

I just got the double CD and for me, it's an interesting listen: it was the album that first got me really interested with what you could do with sound (I spent ages trying to work out ADT, for example) and Tomorrow Never Knows was just extraordinary. Many, many years later, I discovered that my father-in-law was one of the violinists on Eleanor Rigby, so that was an added bonus. My wife remembers him coming back from the session being somewhat grumpy. Oh, and Emerick's detailing of the session in his book is basically bullshit, by the way. One of the things that the remix does is bring out much more details in the drumming, which is great in some tracks, such as She Said, She Said, when Starr is just nailing the fills, and Here, There and Everywhere where the tom-tom sound is perfect and the finger snaps actually sound like finger snaps. The remix of Rain is also excellent. I wore out my vinyl copy years ago, but am sorely tempted to buy the new version just to see how it compares with the CD. (Oh, and you can see my father-in-law in the A Day In The Life video, if you don't blink: he's the one wearing white-framed sunglasses and smoking a cigar.)

I'm also having fun with 3D printing: these days, I'll often design and print a little accessory so that it does what I want, rather than what some manufacturer decides I might want. The Smart Battery safety covers are a case in point, but I've also made a mini-stereo bar with 20mm mic clips that fits in a small case with my Zoom H3-VR and F3.

Do you want the battery cover? That's free. I'll post a link shortly. If you want the Marconi AXBT files, that's a different matter, and a great deal more work... All the best, John Here you go. Enjoy John 499750239_SmartBatteryCover.stl

They run at about $5 here in the UK, with tax and shipping. I can knock these out for about $1.00, so not too bad. Plus mine have fancy writing on the side and are a lovely subtle yellow colour.

Oh yes, great minds obviously think alike... Should have done more research! And, yes, Alan, you're almost certainly right. The printer is waiting for me to do a whole bunch of modifications at the moment, including direct filament drive and auto-levelling, but space is at a premium here. I shall progress. And just for fun, here's another little 3D-printed project (excluding the base.)

Mostly as an exercise, and to please overzealous TSA people who sometimes insist on terminals being taped, I designed and 3D printed safety covers for my Remote Audio Hi-Q batteries for a recent trip. The cup has small bumps inside that keep it in place on the battery. Picture attached with one cover at each end, just for show. Comments? John

It's non-polarized.

Very nice and simple, I like the design a lot. Mine were originally intended for theatre people, who tend to be a bit heavy-handed sometimes, so needed something robust. The latest version was designed for someone who uses an angled equipment rack, so has an articulated joint.

And now with Mod-U-Lox™ connectivity... (Possible patent violation? Interesting to make, though.) John

Here's a link to all the .stl files for the plain, fancy and extending versions of the headphone hangers. Let me know if anyone needs any more information. Happy headphone-hanging. John https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zhpnssrj1v0zybs/AAAPZm2FbR2OYWFJYiksMaTma?dl=0

Probably not what you had in mind, but I had fun making it. 2525252_XLRMountHeadphoneHanger-HD720p.mov

Different length versions here: https://we.tl/t-TSeFXBBBv3 Includes one that I did for fun. Got an empty XLR socket? Need a headphone hanger? Plug one in: Doug, I have an idea that's not quite thought through yet, that may work for you, or the new 30mm version may well suit. What's the clearance on the SKB lid? As far as distribution goes, unless I get hundreds of these made, the economics don't make sense. I've made the files freely available to anyone who wants to use them: you might someone who has a 3D printer who could print one of these out for you for a few bucks, or there are various on-line services that should be able to do it. Or you could take up Allen's offer; he'd do an excellent job. All the best, John

Versions in different widths for the fancy model coming up later today. Current version is approx 55mm and suits MDR-7506. Other versions will be 45mm which should suit Beyer DT-770s and 30mm for smaller headbands like Sennheiser HD25s.

For anyone interested, I've designed a couple of rack-mountable headphone hangers, one plain, one fancy. They have a 1U base and you can hang your headphones on them. You'll need a 3D printer, or a friend with a 3D printer who knows what they're doing, and these .stl files. https://we.tl/t-95Kz8xNDvA All the best, John

Sad to report that Howie passed away on Friday last week, surrounded by his family. There's a memorial service on March 15th, details are on his son Alex's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/events/533617077284009/

I was one of the people who crowdfunded this film, so got a sneak preview late last week. It's worth watching... John

Actually, I mis-remembered a bit. ian Jones was the band's manager, rather than being in the group, but Half-Human Band it was. John

I bought my first DAT (also the D-10) from Tony Faulkner, who'd been trying it out for Sony. Discussing it with a colleague from BBC Radio who also had one, he told me that he'd had difficulties getting the people in the BBC archive to accept the tapes because they didn't take 'Dictaphone' cassettes. He got round the problem by fastening the cassette in an appropriately labelled 7" tape box and handing that over. Never a single complaint after that. Oh, and Jeff, maybe you'd have been a bit more wary if you'd have known how HHB got its name: the founding directors used to be in a band; its name? The Half-Human Band. All the best, John

Audio weighting networks, telephone network improvements, moving coil disc cutting stylus, stereo recording, high definition (comparatively) television in the 1930s, 45 degree lateral stereo groove for disc reproduction, H2S airborne radar: these are just a few of the things that went through Alan Dower Blumlein's mind, before his untimely death in a plane crash in 1942, whilst working on the radar.

In my time as a stand-in projectionist, before Xenon lamps became common, arcs were the only light source. I first met them as hand-adjusted versions in the follow-spots in the big theatre in my home town and then again in the projection room of the first arts centre I worked in as a jack of all trades. Those projectors used a system called auto-arc, where an opto switch supposedly checked that the gap was correct and fed the carbon in when it got too large. They never really worked properly, so one had to keep a constant lookout for the picture colour balance. Too blue or too yellow and the arc needed adjusting by hand. Mind you, the early Xenon lamps chucked Ozone out at an alarming rate and were a bit of a pain to change when they failed, with protective gloves and eye-protection needed.

Sometime though, it can work to your advantage: I was working on a charity gig and the compere, a brilliant U.K comedian and writer by the name of Barry Cryer, left the theatre at the end of the show still wearing his transmitter. As soon as I realised he'd gone, I monitored his mic channel and was relieved to find that he was in the pub next door, ordering a pint of liquid refreshment. Actually, with his well-known reputation for liking a drink, I could probably have gone there directly, without checking his mic. John

I have a pair of KM184D mics, the DMI-2 portable unit and a KK120 Fig.8 capsule. Simon also has a pair of the KM184Ds as we bought them from the same company, who'd bought a load from Sennheiser under the mistaken impression that they could connect them directly to a digital mixing desk, and consequently sold them off cheap. I bought two sets to do IRT cross surround recordings and found a couple of DMI-2s in stores where no-one knew what they were, so sold them to me for very little money. Following the IRT cross experiment, which was impressive, but impractical for outdoor work, I sold on one pair and the DMI and bought the KK120 so I could do fully digital M/S recording. For me, the most useful part of the system is the programming software which allows you to configure the microphone for different sample rates, (happy to reconfigure our Swiss friend's Sennheiser if he wants to send it over), LF roll-off, limiter, etc. The M/S set-up works very nicely and is pretty much noise free, so very happy with that. If I could afford it, I'd buy a couple of the KK133 capsules for purist music recording, but at their current price, I think I'll stick with my Schoeps. I did initially have a problem with the direct connection to my 788T with the breakout cable that came with it and, thanks to information here, was able to determine that the breakout cable I had was an early version and didn't provide the necessary power to the mics. Sound Devices sent over a new cable to me in the UK on a Friday, which arrived from the USA the following Monday - no charge. Superb service. All the best, John P.S. Neumann updated software and firmware for all ther digital microphone systems earlier this year.

Well, there's a free chat program made by my friend Scott George at Autograph Sound here in the UK, which gets used for comms between a wireless rack and the FOH mix position. I don't think it can be pre-programmed, though. Might be worth a look anyway. Just noticed that is has a Macro facility: that might help. It's here: http://www.signatureseries.biz/products/asrchat.html John