Small Change = Big Difference

[KuruPrionz]

What little thing did you do in your studio that made things much easier? Let's collect those ideas here!

 

I'll start, I've got one done and another pending...

 

I have a converted storage tub I am using for an microphone isolation box. Typically, I'll cut "guide tracks with vocals and guitar simultaneously. I put a hanger on the left side of the box for a set of headphones. Nice to have them handy but it was the wrong side, inconvenient for a guitarist to run the headphone cord towards the left side.

 

So, I put it on the right side. MUCH better, two small holes (pegboard hook) and it's done. Ahhh....

 

Pending, I've got 1/4" round white labels coming soon. I have 2 Presonus Quantum channel strips and find them very useful BUT... the markings on the knobs are very difficult for me to see. In fact, I pretty much can't see them at all.

I don't like that!!!! Plan is to put a white label on the front of each knob and draw a black line with a fine tip Sharpie where the "invisible" line is on the knob now.

 

To further complicate, the labeling for the knobs is very small and underneath the knobs, where you cannot read them. So a white dot on the panel above each knob with an initial to indicate function will make things much easier as well.

I expect it will take 30-40 minutes to get the labels put on and labelled. I also expect it will spare me considerable frustration AND time. So worth the effort!!!!!

 

What are your timely tricks?

[Mike Rivers]

 

. . . the labeling for the knobs is very small and underneath the knobs, where you cannot read them. So a white dot on the panel above each knob with an initial to indicate function will make things much easier as well.

 

What are your timely tricks?

 

I have a bunch of those little $1 (or giveaway) LED flashlights all over the place so I can put a little light on the subject. There's a lot of hard-to-read panel labels for us old guys to struggle with. Gray lettering on a black panel doesn't make it any easier. I don't know why they do that!

 

One advantage of using old gear is that they didn't try to (or just plain couldn't) squeeze the unit into a 1-rack space so they had a larger panel, with, sensibly, proportionally sized lettering. And most panels were silver with black lettering or black with white lettering.

[KuruPrionz]

 

. . . the labeling for the knobs is very small and underneath the knobs, where you cannot read them. So a white dot on the panel above each knob with an initial to indicate function will make things much easier as well.

 

What are your timely tricks?

 

I have a bunch of those little $1 (or giveaway) LED flashlights all over the place so I can put a little light on the subject. There's a lot of hard-to-read panel labels for us old guys to struggle with. Gray lettering on a black panel doesn't make it any easier. I don't know why they do that!

 

One advantage of using old gear is that they didn't try to (or just plain couldn't) squeeze the unit into a 1-rack space so they had a larger panel, with, sensibly, proportionally sized lettering. And most panels were silver with black lettering or black with white lettering.

 

I've got a good flashlight handy. It makes it possible to see the knobs if I get close enough. There simply isn't much contrast between the front surface of the knob and the marking. To make things worse, the knobs are shiny and often there will be a linear reflection that looks like it would be the mark but when you turn the knob the reflection does not move. Lighting doesn't help much.

 

Black line on white dot will be visible under all my lighting conditions and from much farther away. The text underneath the knobs is probably 6 point Arial - all caps. Poor placement and unreadably tiny. Instead of "RELEASE" in tiny letters underneath, an "R" above and larger would work fine for me. If I ever decide to sell either one of them it will be super easy to peel off the labels, clean up the surfaces and it should look like it did when they made it.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

I just realized that I have seven flashlights in a room that is barely over 120 square feet. Dang!

 

My big convenience thing is loose bookshelves from a home supply store; the ones that are finished on all sides and designed to slot into cabinets. I keep a bunch of them in all sizes in the closet, and throw them onto keyboard stands whenever I need table space.

 

I came across the issue of wanting to use only one keyboard, mouse, and set of two monitors for two computers... after a lot of fussing around and research, I did what I should have started with, which was to say "what sort of solution does Apple provide built in, if any, and will it do the job for me?" Turns out the answer was, yep. My Mac mini is hooked up to my wired network, and when I need it, I can wake it up from my Mac Pro and screenshare to pop up a picture-in-picture separate desktop. Super easy.

[Mike Rivers]

I came across the issue of wanting to use only one keyboard, mouse, and set of two monitors for two computers... after a lot of fussing around and research, I did what I should have started with, which was to say "what sort of solution does Apple provide built in, if any, and will it do the job for me?" Turns out the answer was, yep. My Mac mini is hooked up to my wired network, and when I need it, I can wake it up from my Mac Pro and screenshare to pop up a picture-in-picture separate desktop. Super easy.

 

Not being in the Appleverse, when I wanted to share a keyboard, mouse, and monitor with the Mackie HDR24/96, I went to the local Micro Center store and bought a two-port KVM switch for about $20. When the pile grew to four computers, the recorder, and an occasional visitor, I picked up an 8-port KVM switch at a hamfest for $5 and that's what I'm using now. Fortunately, the hamfest switch came with a bundle of cables (A D-sub on the switch end, with keyboard, mouse, and VGA connectors on the other end. It limits me to VGA resolution, but then I don't have any computers with HDMI or some other fancy digital output. For computers that substitute USB for the PC keyboard and mouse ports, I've found that adapters work fine.

 

There are plenty of solutions, some requiring less networking brain power than others. I have less networking brain power than I should have and need to catch up. Like, gee, people are using that for AUDIO now.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

I came across the issue of wanting to use only one keyboard, mouse, and set of two monitors for two computers... after a lot of fussing around and research, I did what I should have started with, which was to say "what sort of solution does Apple provide built in, if any, and will it do the job for me?" Turns out the answer was, yep. My Mac mini is hooked up to my wired network, and when I need it, I can wake it up from my Mac Pro and screenshare to pop up a picture-in-picture separate desktop. Super easy.

 

Not being in the Appleverse, when I wanted to share a keyboard, mouse, and monitor with the Mackie HDR24/96, I went to the local Micro Center store and bought a two-port KVM switch for about $20. When the pile grew to four computers, the recorder, and an occasional visitor, I picked up an 8-port KVM switch at a hamfest for $5 and that's what I'm using now. Fortunately, the hamfest switch came with a bundle of cables (A D-sub on the switch end, with keyboard, mouse, and VGA connectors on the other end. It limits me to VGA resolution, but then I don't have any computers with HDMI or some other fancy digital output. For computers that substitute USB for the PC keyboard and mouse ports, I've found that adapters work fine.

 

There are plenty of solutions, some requiring less networking brain power than others. I have less networking brain power than I should have and need to catch up. Like, gee, people are using that for AUDIO now.

KVM switches work just fine on Macs, Mike... but I didn't need one, this involved zero wiring and zero cost. And for external machines, well, having a wired Gigabit local network in the studio makes a lot of things easy that were formerly impossible.

 

You quickly get spoiled by this stuff. I live in (possibly) the very first city in the USA that offered affordable Gigabit fiber directly to users, and I don't think twice about downloading half a Terabyte of data over lunch.