Forum Rollcall... Who's here?

Posted: Sun Jan 16, 2005 10:40 am

I got started in audio in Junior High in 1957. This was after my Mom and Dad bought me a used tape recorder for my birthday when I was in 7th grade.

I have been doing Audio related work ever since.

I graduated from Ohio University (no not that one- the one in Athens. Ohio) with a BFA in Radio TV Producing and Directing. (I was hoping to get a degree in audio but at that time (mid 60's) there were no audio recording degrees being given out in this country). I majored in R-TV since I was bored with my first choice which was EE and since I was already building all my own audio equipment I though it a bit much when the EE professor started off with Ohm's law and Hole Theory which I had learned in my High School Electronics and Physics class three years earlier. While at OU I started the first dormitory radio station that used AM carrier current broadcasting to reach all the radios within the dorm.

I spent two years in the Army as a Broadcast Specialist doing a five minute radio show and home town interviews. While in the Army, in my "spare time", I redid the local hospital's bedside radio network (actually a multichannel headphone network) that had been off the air for 15 years. I also set up the station so we could send and receive audio over the phone lines. The tape decks we used were a Magnecord PT6 Mono machine and a Uher 4000L Reporter for on location recordings. I was the weekend news director for a local radio station where I earned my spending money. I also learned to fly fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft thanks to a really nice Warrant Officer who I worked with and did all the photography for the Information Office. I never had to go to the "jolly green jungle (Viet Nam).

My next job was doing audio for a PBS station in Cleveland. I learned a lot about TV audio and remote recordings. Everything was still in Mono at the time (early 70's)

A year later I got a job at Oberlin College as Director of Audio Services and Concert Sound, (working with World Class faculty, students and guest performers was a real ear opening experience). which I kept until 1995 when I started my own mastering and restoration business.

Most of the work we do at Acoustik Musik, Ltd. is for local clients and we are active in mastering, restoration, reclamation (taking fire and water damaged tapes and other media and cleaning them and transferring them to contemporary media) live on location recording and video/film transfers and small run CD production.

I have one part time intern working for me at the present time but have had as many as three working part time in the past.

When I am not behind the mastering console I enjoy sailing, hiking, biking and photography. I also enjoy reading and traveling.

This is my life until now but who knows what is in the offing in the future.

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2005 1:04 pm

Hi I'm ptr,

I've been on and of the foras of recording.org for a few years, mostly just enjoying the posibility of snapping up intersting information, learning and confirming stuff I tought I knew. I seem to be the second Swede on AM, I'm located in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden.

My history, is that I've always been keen on music, not one of my family, prior to me, have shown any what so ever talent for it, music that is. In third grade i got two classes of guitar lessons and concluded that I did not have the patience to learn an instrument in a classroom with ten others. Subsequently I tought myself and has been playing ever since.

I was pop and rock untill my late teens when my best friend said that because I was working class I'd never understand classical music. Stubborn as I am, I decided to prove him wrong! So I started to read stuff, bough loads of record and emerged myself in this culture. A long time passed whilst I got educated in the second passion of my life; Cabinet making. In 1990 the cabinet making business I had established failed miserably forcing me to sit down to reconsider my life.

Having done that, I took the local equivalent to the S.A.T's, two years of Adult High School and headed for University. Majoring in Musicology, whilst at University I befriended lot of students at the music department (not least becuse Music and Musicology departments at that time chared the same building). Showing my Masters degree in Musicology to my teenage best friend was a real triumph!

In the begining of my university tenure, almost as by chance, someone needed a recordist for a concert on short notice and I was asked, the day before I read what little books there where at the local libraries covering this subject. Somehow, unbeknownst to me, the recording made with mostly borrowed tools (a Pearl TL-44 Stereo mic and two MBHO MBP 648/KA 100 DK omnis, a Mackie mixer and my trusty old B77) sounded good enough to impress the brass band that where involved. five years on, the year was 2004, and the keen hobby had turned in to a more or less full time self owning business.

I'll record just about anything in an acoustic enviroment, my attitude to recording is that I always let my ears decide, but I will always start with "less is more."

I'm still building up a basic stock of equipment, wich is one of the main reasons to indulge in a forum like this. My english is probably quite inventive, but that's only because I see life as an endless journey of learning! Hence, I expect to ask more questions then I will generate answers, mostly tho, I'll be sitting here at the back of the class room listening in.

btw : I'm about to turn 40

Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:58 pm

Hey all,

Another newbie here, and was really glad to find this forum!

My name is Michael Hughes. By day, I am a statistician and consultant at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, but my true love is and has always been serious music. I was a symphonic/marching percussionist for about 20 years and recently put that to bed, but have fed a passion for pipe organs since I was a college freshman about, oh, a hundred years ago (1981 to be exact).

I have collected thousands of classical recordings over the years and got started doing my own stuff in a very small way about 10 years ago with Core Sound binaurals and a Sony D7. About 4 years ago, I started up a small side business called TTL Audio Productions to satisfy my desires to capture the sounds of real musicians in real spaces, investing in good Neumann and Earthworks mics and preamps and a couple of Alesis Masterlinks. (My next purchase is likely to be a serious A/D upgrade.) I have gotten several gigs and am gaining some local contacts, and my clients have been happy with the stuff I've done to date.

I live near the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and have done several jobs with advanced students there, and have recorded local orchestras and choruses. But, my real passion is recording the pipe organ: I really get around doing that, and my wife has a DMA in organ perf from Indiana, so I get lots of opportunities to experiment.

Glad to be a part of this forum. As others have said, it's long overdue.

Cheers,
Mike

Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2005 12:27 am

Set out to be a USAF fighter pilot but discovered at age 6 that i was near-sighted-- end of that story, but then discovered that an organ console looked as much fun.

My family was musical, so I began piano at age 7 and organ at 13. I was an organ major for the first two years of college, then jumped to bass trombone-- it looked like much more fun! Practiced like a madman and landed my first professional orchestra job a year out of college. Proceeded to play in three orchestras on a fulltime basis, most recently 11 years in the Nasvhille Symphony, where I also played many sessions. In there somewhere I spent 4 years studying and freelancing in Chicago where I met my wife, was a member of Civic Orchestra of Chicago (the training orchestra of the CSO) and got to play some with the CSO and work for WFMT in the "glory days" doing the Milwaukee Symphony. I also had many small church organist-choir director jobs along the way. Finally realized (a bit late) that church work was more rewarding than the music factory that is a major orchestra. Quit 6 years ago to take a fulltime organist/choirmaster position here in Savannah.

What, you wonder, does all this have to do with recording?

Started recording things in high school thanks to my Dad's background in broadcast. In my first orchestra job I bought a Revox and a pair of AKG 451s which I quickly learned to hate and then got KM-84s (which I STUPIDLY sold later for very little before they became "classics" in the minds of some). Things began to snowball with Dolby SR, Studer, Schoeps, etc. In Nashville it occurred to me that 1) i could rent any recording gear ever made from several places that operate 24/7 and 2) we needed a down payment for a house. No one there understands classical recording anyway-- you're not serious with less than 48 tracks!

Sold it all but later got a pair of SM80 omnis (real sleepers) and a little portable DAT.

When coming to Savannah I fell into the job of recording the now-deceased but musically superb Savannah Symphony--- thus began a gradually escalating gear addiction. Along the way parted company with the fulltime church gig and now do recording fulltime while maintaining the musical side as an assistant organist/choirmaster. I describe myself as a "recovering bass trombonist" but still beat the face into shape a few times a year.

I have figured out that recording is mainly low-key sales calls and client relations interspersed with projects. The work is out there but lucky is the man who doesn't need to look for it!

Rich

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:53 am

Oh my... this is such a classy crowd. It's great to find so many like-minded souls. Thanks for all the fine stories. Here's mine:

In the early 1950's my first experience recording was watching my father, a college physics professor, operate a reel-to-reel deck with a magic eye level indicator. He would coax us to talk and sing songs into the microphone (ceramic) while we watched the magic eye wink. I'm still looking for and intend to restore that tape, hopefully before it's dust.

Early musical training included a few years of piano (gave it up too soon), and then many years of performing in choral groups starting in Middle School.

High School included membership in group of nerds who were responsible for PA sound and recording services for events including pep rallies, concerts, musicals, and football games. We used mostly EV gear (664, 55S, 641 etc) but always had to scrounge to get enough stuff to do big concerts/shows.

In college I did sound reinforcement and recording for a number of summer musicals, however my BA degree is in TV/Film production. No recording program in the early 1970's.

Beyond school there were years of freelance video production and post production, then burn-out and a shift to programming computers. This was the early 1980s; the IBM had just been introduced. During this time I spent a few years building graphics software (before PC's really did graphics), including a one-of-a-kind TV Graphics and Character Generator System for the Korean Broadcasting System (it did Roman, Korean & Chinese Char had a 1Kx1K 24 bits-RGB display)

More years working for a large Japanese Electronics Co. doing a variety of projects, including designing video production rooms for large screen video display systems (Diamond Vision).

For the past 10 years, I've worked as an Broadcast TV and Media Engineering Consultant. My resume includes many large-scale projects for the likes of Fox, DirecTV, ABC, WB, Optus Vision, etc. Up until recently, video people tended to ignore the audio, so it's been interesting watching things change as the industry gets a handle on 5.1.

In 1999 I re-kindled my passion for choral music and recording. Presently I produce concert and studio recordings for the Angel City Chorale: www.angelcitychorale.com. The group of 120 performs an eclectic mix, often with a band and multiple soloists (gospel, doo-wap, classical, etc). The latest CD was released in Nov 2004. In the near future, I'm looking to do more choral work and "retire" from the broadcast game.

With no wife or kids, I've become a bit of a gearslut, which is OK. The mic locker has grown to include numerous Schoeps, Neumann, Sankan (CU41x3), Josephson, AKG, Shure, EV, AEA, and soon to be a Royer Mics. (In the past I found rental gear was deficient, so I decided to own what I use). Generally we record direct to PC (Samplitude 24-ch) from an O2R96, monitor and mix on Genelec, and have a great time in the process experimenting and solving sonic puzzles. And when it all comes together: performance, acoustic, technology.... what a thrill.

Thanks for listening. I look forward to more interesting conversations.

Posted: Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:22 pm

Greetings Felllow "Freaks of the Indushtry!"
My name is Hudson Fair and I'm in Chicago.

I've been giving people "da bidniz" for 24 years in the classical recording field as an engineer and producer. I run my own small recording company here in Chicago comprised of a tight cadre of other engineers and agreeable working companions.

We record records, programs for radio and also work for music publishing companies who require a lot of recording.
We are fortunate to have a heavy schedule of high quality recording with something different almost every day.

We are a house of Neve, Nagra and Schoeps--meat and potatos.

My most recent project, other than orchestra recording, was as a
"psychedelic guitar effects" engineer for a Robert Cray record recently completed at a Rolling Stones affiliated mix room in the Hell-A area.
This venture, a little off the path for me, was a total turn on. I love trashy Hollywood! (Actually I hate it)

I'm a firm believer that the music must be served and although I like good equipment, I would never say that it is the key ingredient in acoustic recording. The players and the arrangement, the room and the preparation are the key ingredients. Still, experience in recording does add to make a better result.

In former days, while getting started in recording and building a client base, I worked for Stellavox S.A. as their US importer and later worked for Nagra Magnetic Recorders, Inc. in NYC.

I still carry a fondness for analog recording and will often run a 1/4" Stellavox or 1/2" 4-track Studer along with a hi-res digital recorder. Although I'm a vigorous proponent of good sound, I have no love for SACD or DSD or its variants. In fact I think it's a joke and have worked against adoption of these new flavors.

I'm pleased to join in discussion on this forum and I'm glad I have found you all.

Best from Chicago,

HR Fair

Mr. Green

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2005 2:39 am

Great to see you here Hudson, and you're another Nagra V user as well.

Quote:

Although I'm a vigorous proponent of good sound, I have no love for SACD or DSD or its variants. In fact I think it's a joke and have worked against adoption of these new flavors.

We are going to get on well. Twisted Evil

Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 8:19 pm

I started playing classical violin at age 7 and gave up 7 years later. Played oboe for a couple of years after that and bassoon for a couple of weeks. Haven't played anything since (well, a tiny bit of cajon) and can't even remember how to read music any more--but I can still follow a score, sort of.

I started buying old tube gear at garage sales in the '70s and built my own speakers, amps and mixer in high school. Worked in theatre sound during high school and college, started in radio during college. (UCSB, EE.) Worked in Hollywood building edit bays and other industrial/broadcast stuff during the mid-'80s, rewired and/or built several studios during that period. Taught video editing for awhile, helped USC spend the money Spielberg & Lucas gave them in '84. Spent several years in TV production sound, mostly news & sports--building and running Olympics stuff for NBC, ABC Radio Networks, several years of work on the Grammy and Emmy awards, anything for money as long as I didn't have to build bombs.

After the '88 Olympics I made enough to get out of LA and move back to Santa Barbara, where I bought a high end audio retail store (Audio Research, Thiel, Magnepan, McIntosh, Linn, etc.) Lost my shirt on that one bigtime.

About this time (mid-'90s), the whole Internet thing started to blossom and my skills (early Arpanet experience, communications networks, etc.) suddenly became valuable, and I noticed I didn't have a dime in the bank while my friends had condos, retirement plans, etc. So I took a job with a telephone company and worked a few startups on the side. Income and benefits--what a concept!

Fast forward a few years and I'm in Reno, NV running the engineering operations for a small telephone company. Over the past few years, I've returned to recording as an avocation and I have to say it's a lot more fun when I don't have to work for people I don't like. Getting ready to move to a little town in New Mexico where my wife & I have just bought an old hotel, which will consume all our time & money for the next five years or so. It has a nice ballroom where I plan to host all manner of music.

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 3:07 pm

Some may remember me...

I'm Ken Morgan, aslo know as MidlandMorgan or Wireline, depending on how long I've been hanging at the sites...I was a regular here, but left about a year ago due to some ... stressful... events and issues here (which look to be cleared up)...

Anyway, full time engineer/musician...running both a small inhouse studio and a couple of portable rigs, all based on Samplitude.

Happily married, 2 bigass dogs, 1 very petite wife, homeowner, active in local city government....

I dabble with ideas on how to make my job easier, with the usual result that any attempts to act on the idea results in some sort of disaster, whether its financial (break it), medical (the local emergency room is on a 1st name basis with me...) or emotional (things I can't make work seem to devastate me...and yes, I take pills for that Smile

)

Ben, looks like you're holding down the fort pretty good here, amigo.

Posted: Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:50 pm

Welcome (back?) Ken! (I DO indeed remember Wireline.)

Good to see you posting again.

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:35 am

Hey!
Thanx for a great forum!

My name is Øivind Solberg (28 years of age) and Im one of the few guys in here from Norway. I have a small studio in Oslo, Norway's Capitol, were I mostly record acoustic guitars, brass and vocals. Im in the folk, singer songwriter biz, but Im also a big fan of classical music, espessially the high quality sound produced is this recording tradition....

Im in here to learn more about mic, compress and eq tech for acoustic music!... and hopefully give some good advise!

Setup; Pc, Cubase SX2, KRK and Alesis monitors, MOTU828MK2, Focusrite Voicemaster pro, Røde K2, SM MC02, Shure 57/58, AKG Emotion 500 etc. Wish I could say Avalon, but I can't..... yet Embarassed

See you around!

Sunhill

Producer
Sunhill Productions
Norway

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 2:56 pm

Hi All,

I joined the forum yesterday, got advices within hours. Very nice,
many thanks. Since I think to stick around, I'll give my info too.

My day job is a scientist, known to colleagues as Dr. K. Lukashin,
PhD (Physics). I'm a NASA contractor, work for Earth Observing
System project. Before that I was in academic research, High
Energy (or Particle) physics. Because of the job, I moved around
some (Russia, France, Italy, USA), currently live in Newport News,
Virginia.
I like scientific work, but I also liked music as long as remember
myself. Here I'll skip very exciting (but musically not productive)
childhood and college years. On music scene these days I'm known
as Costy L, an indie musician of sorts. I do the writing, playing,
recording, producing ecc. Until recently I was working only my own
projects, now have some recording gigs. Here're my releases:
Three Ravens (1996), The Iron Mask (2002), Dirty Sky (2003),
Pagan Tales (2004). The music style is so-called roots-rock. It has
world music influences, lots of acoustic instruments: guitars, Irish
bouzouki, various percussion. Good or bad ? Judge yourselves,
the samples are on my web, iTunes, downloads on the Amazon,
the CDs are there too.
My production style, in a manner of speaking, is maximizing the
quality/cost ratio: preproduction in my home studio, production
and post production in some A-rated studio. I love to work with
SSL, but the last project I moved over to the ProTools for editing
and mixing. Now I have Mac G5 and ProTools gear at home as well.
Ultimately, the best music gear-pieces I have are the head and
ears (not sure which one goes first).
Peace,

Costy.

Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 8:30 pm

Weclome to all the new viewers/visitors; it's great reading about everyone's history, careers, and locations.

And after reading Costy's history, I guess there won't be any wise cracks that start with: "it doesn't take a rocket scientist to...." Twisted Evil

Good to see everyone, indeed!

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 3:57 pm

Hi all,

Pete North, age 33, British, joined the forums about an hour ago, and here I am with my life story....
actually I'm too shy for a life story so a brief summary is as follows:

Make my living as a Big Band/session Bass Trombonist (+ £income), studying Audio engineering/production 3 days a week (£0 income) , and have recently started a jazz record label (- £income).

I live in London with my wife and mini-dachsund (the two are separate beings), but intend to move to 'the country' in 2 years time to run B&B/residential studio specialising in classical/jazz/voice recording and mastering.

Currently on a fast upward leaning curve, trying to avoid a tumble!

Loving the forums; what are the chances of 3 bass trombonists in the same group!? How about a Sub-group, Gunnar & Rich?

Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:06 pm

divingduck wrote:

Loving the forums; what are the chances of 3 bass trombonists in the same group!? How about a Sub-group, Gunnar & Rich?

As Ben the clarinetist goes running for cover... Heck, one bass-bone is usually plenty enough, but three?!!! Confused

Seriously, though, welcome to all the new folks that have taken the time to post!

--Ben

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