Jim Feeley

That's business. But still sad. Rycote: Small factory behind big TV shows closes down A small factory in Gloucestershire that pioneered sound recording technology for the film and TV industry has been closed, with the loss of 22 jobs. For over 50 years, Rycote in Stroud made windshields for microphones used all over the world. But its parent company said the factory was "no longer fit for purpose". Production has been moved to Leicestershire. Rest of the story, with a few pictures here: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-65687450

Thanks for the replies. One reason I'm asking: Kester no longer offers the low-cost/short-length pocket paks. For wire, just 1lb/450g (and up) spools; those cost about $50USD each. Same with MG and some other brands. NTE sells a few types of pocket paks with Kester solder, but only one type (and diameter) of lead free. I don't want to buy a few 1lb spools only to find out I don't like a certain type or brand. (And most of my experience is with Kester, so that's my first choice brand). Anyway, Kester has some good informational documents on hand soldering (as well as wave and SMT, but that's not for me). Here's the hand soldering collection: https://www.kester.com/knowledge-base/knowledge-base#4508-hand-soldering Two I found helpful: Lead-Free Hand Soldering – Ending the Nightmares Hand soldering with lead-free solders can be challenging but not if the points in this article are understood. Case Study on the Validation of SAC305 and SnCu-based Solders in SMT Wave and Hand Soldering This paper describes the work done at a contract assembler who implemented a successful process to build over 500,000 assemblies using both Kester K100LD and SAC305 solders. I had to supply name and email address to get the link to the PDFs, but the docs are pretty good. If anyone else wants to chime in, great. And I'll let you all know what I find out.

I spent enough years using lead solder in my youth. And now, even with a small fume extractor, I just don't want to use lead solder anymore. Alas, the lead-free ones I've tried are a bit trickier to use. Perhaps I need to improve and/or tweak my technique. Or perhaps I'd prefer a different lead-free solder. I'm up for trying flux-core or solid if that'll help... I'm most familiar with Kester, but have no brand loyalty on this. I'm mainly making cables, soldering basic components to PCBs, and doing some fun point-to-point stuff. (So ya, cables for work. Guitar pedals and amps for fun (and I may try a couple synth modules, too) Kester 275 No-Clean Flux with K100LD alloy is looking like a leading (ha!) candidate: https://www.kester.com/products/product/275-flux-cored-wire Have any of you used that? And more broadly, what lead-free solder have you found that you like?

I do have a line. But I'm married and my spouse's job is honorable...and provides partially-subsidized health insurance (perhaps the later is less of an issue in the Netherlands). In a few instances my turning down certain big-bucks projects caused some financial distress and personal tension. And we had kids in the house (they're all adults now). I think a factor for us was, the financial distress wasn't going to cause us to lose our house or not feed our kids. If it was such a situation, I may have made different decisions about a couple projects (though it probably wouldn't have changed my declining a couple others). But even still, the lost money was painful. So perhaps my line could move. And frankly, it's the areas just above and below the line that are trickier. In the end, I'm glad I turned down those jobs. I have to live with myself. And I don't want to make the world a worse place. Geez. Sorry I don't have more insight. Good luck, Bouke.

Thanks Phil. Anyone else have recommendations for 1200 USD/EUR per pair NFMs?

Since Patrick is all sorted, and since there's already some good information in this thread, I hope it's OK if I redirect it a little. I have some Event NFMs that I'd like to replace. So I'm starting to look around at monitors. Hoping to not spend more than 1200 USD/EUR. Just a pair, perhaps a sub. I've listened to various models and in my price range I really like the Neumann KH 80; same model that Douglas @tourtelot has (or at least had). But of course I haven't listened to everything. My needs are limited, though different from what many people on gearspace do (ie- I'm looking for basic audio post lower-end corp and doc, along with some music). So... What monitors do you think I should audition that are priced under or near 1200 USD/EUR for a pair (or 2.1)?

Nice! And bonus that PSI is (fairly) local to you.

Don't really know what they're doing. From Amazon's blog post about Dialog Boost: =========== While Dialogue Boost was built with the needs of customers who are hard of hearing in mind, anyone can use the feature to suit their personal listening preferences. ... Dialogue Boost analyzes the original audio in a movie or series and intelligently identifies points where dialogue may be hard to hear above background music and effects. Then, speech patterns are isolated and audio is enhanced to make the dialogue clearer. This AI-based approach delivers a targeted enhancement to portions of spoken dialogue, instead of a general amplification at the center channel in a home theater system. As a result, Dialogue Boost can be enjoyed anywhere the Prime Video experience is available. =========== So maybe they're doing some DialNorm-like stuff. Or maybe they integrated ChatGPT into Alexa. "Alexa, what the f...are they saying?" Maybe they really are doing some machine-learning thing (and using Christopher Nolan films as the training set). Or maybe they mentioned AI only to meet the MAISBDFU metric (Mention AI So Bezos Doesn't Fire Us). An old friend and colleague works on compression for Amazon Prime. I'll drop him a note, but no idea if he'll respond...

@Patrick Tresch, what monitors did you end up demoing and then selecting?

Ya, I've never used one of their hardware streaming devices, but my read is that this is something (that is/will be) embedded into Amazon Prime streams and not dependent on what you use to view the stream. So it's like a SAP or something. From their blog post: "Dialogue Boost is available across all devices that support the Prime Video experience." But I could be wrong.

Amazon introduces new feature to make dialogue in its TV shows intelligible It's an accessibility feature, sure, but muddled audio is a problem for everyone. SAMUEL AXON - 4/20/2023, 2:54 PM Amazon has introduced a new feature to Prime Video called Dialogue Boost. It's intended to isolate dialogue and make it louder relative to other sounds in streaming videos on the service. Rest of the article here: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/amazon-introduces-new-feature-to-make-dialogue-in-its-tv-shows-intelligible/

An announcement. No ship date or price available yet (anyone, correct me if I'm wrong, or fill in other details). I have only a hazy idea/guess where these slot into the market. More info here: https://deitymic.com/products/theos-digital-wireless/ Top-level features copied from that page: Dual Channel Reciever Wideband Digital UHF spectrum; 550-960 MHz* Built-in 32-bit float recorder in the transmitter Recordings are saved to a Micro SD card; up to 128Gb Can wirelessly sync timecode from the Deity TC-1 timecode generator Both the transmitter and receiver can be remotely controlled via the Sidus Audio™ app Upto 14hrs of battery life with lithium batteries Full-color LCD screen CNC-milled aluminum chassis SMA antenna ports

Hopefully discussions are well under way. Remember last year the controversy around the documentary “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain”? Here's a brief and non-paywalled news story from The Guardian: Anthony Bourdain documentary sparks backlash for using AI to fake voice And here's a longer article that includes comments from the director and others from The New Yorker: The Ethics of a Deepfake Anthony Bourdain Voice Here's a short news story with some faked audio from the film:

Not what you're asking for, but it looks like the RX can be stacked as in this picture from Sennheiser:

Dan, have you reached out to Sound Devices? In my experience, they respond quickly and helpfully. Note I've only sent something in once, but that went well (this was before the apparent cost increase): support@sounddevices.com 1-800-505-0625 Or use the web form here: https://service.sounddevices.com/contact-support/ Perhaps they can direct you to an authorized repair person near you. Good luck!