Greg Mein
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Posts posted by Greg Mein
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the steel plate introduces significant mass to the structure, stabilizing the speaker.
Yes this is the part I'm having trouble with. A "significant mass" metal plate on top of the speaker would certainly help stabilize the speaker with the assistance of gravity but what in the heck can it do from underneath?
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But I don't think it's just the isolation aspect/transmitting vibrations that matters here. It may even be the least of it. I think what makes the Recoil Stabilizers unusual is the steel plate, covered with the non-skid neoprene pad, that prevents the speakers themselves from moving.
It's fascinating to ponder the physics of sound/pressure waves and transference of energy. The purpose of the neoprene is clear but how does the metal plate factor in? Is the idea is to pre-compress the underlying foam somewhat?
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I'm rather upset with the 16" MBP I bought back in July. The left rear thunderbolt port quits working intermittently. Fortunately it's still under warranty, I'll monitor how it behaves and take it to the Mac store, has to be fixed!
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The Recoil Stabilizer is a loudspeaker platform that combines three basic components: a high-density urethane foam base to isolate the speaker from the shelf, monitor-bridge or stand; a heavy ¼' laser-cut steel plate; and a thin neoprene top surface.
Yes I believe the physics add up to a large extent and who doesn't remember having speakers vibrate off shelves?
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Here's one other thing that I was sure was going to be snake oil, but wasn't - Primacoustic Recoil Stabilizers. these have a machined metal plate on top of the isolation pad
"Machined"? Does that mean milled? Perhaps finished on a surface grinder for some type of thickness spec?
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If you haven't used Sonarworks, it's well worth the $99 for the headphone edition.
I'm interested but it looks like I need to learn more. The version from your review is apparently discontinued and perhaps has been replaced by "Sonarworks SoundID Reference for Speakers & Headphones"? And that leads to another question; why can I get it here for $89 but at Sweetwater the price is $249?
ETA: Oops, the first is an upgrade from Reference 4 price.
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For starters, keep the speakers away from the walls - like 3 feet or so, if at all possible.
Great suggestion, I'll keep them away from the wall but 2' would likely be pushing it for the max practical. I have M-Audio BX-5 if I remember correctly (they're in a box here somewhere). Far from high end equipment but clearly I'm just a hobbyist at recording and this is just a bedroom.
Then consider stuffing RealTraps or something similar between the speakers and the walls if you cannot get that much separation. And keep the volume relatively low so you don't "over-excite" the room.
I have several boxes of various Auralex panels and traps I've been storing for several years in anticipation of putting together my "permanent space" and I'll certainly be using it now. Nothing causes more problems than excessive volume and I'm going to try not to abuse compression either. Actually I often prefer to use headphones when mixing or listening back.
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For starters, keep the speakers away from the walls - like 3 feet or so, if at all possible.
Great suggestion, I'll keep them away from the wall but 2' would likely be pushing it for the max practical. I have M-Audio BX-5 if I remember correctly (they're in a box here somewhere). Far from high end equipment but clearly I'm just a hobbyist at recording and this is just a bedroom.
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As I've indicated in various posts over the last few months we were in the process of moving halfway across the country. We're finally getting settled in but with a great deal of unpacking, organizing, personalizing etc. left to do. Moving forward one of my priorities is getting my recording setup put together.
I have a 12'x12' room to use however, I'll be sharing it with my wife. She continues to work on a very part time basis and now conducts appointments exclusively via video and so has a desk in there for that (fits nicely in between the windows). My main things are a desk/workstation, keyboard stand(s) and my tall rack case with mixer/processors. There is adequate closet space where half is for storing guitars and other instruments and the other half with shelves for cables/accessories. I'll wall mount a 46" TV/monitor I have for second monitor and various video use.
It's a great chance to start from scratch and I've been giving it a lot of thought. There are other considerations, without getting into detail we'll do our gig practicing out in the front room with the dedicated setup for that and I'm also anxious to record the Steinway out there too. My wife is excited to get back into practicing and looking for live gigs again while I'm currently more interested in working on my backlog of originals.
One of the things I'm most certainly going to do is install a cable duct/tray/trough along the wall just above desk height. I'm really tired of cable hassles where they lay around the floor and are hard to reach and change out. I believe I've found a good solution for that at Monoprice.
I'm wondering what others might put as a priority given a chance to put together a home recording setup anew.
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Two venues that hire 2 of my bands has just asked me if we're read/available to play. But they have both said that it would be at a "discount" because money is tight. At Venue A a $600 gig has now become a $400 gig so with two 5-piece bands our earnings would drop from $120 a night to $80. At Venue B we were paid $500 and they want to reduce it to $350, reducing our earnings from $100 to $70.
I haven't run it past the band members yet but expect that the response will be lukewarm.
I would express understanding and sympathy but suggest they contact me later when things become more stabilized. I completely understand that things have been tough but, for me anyway, I'm retired and the thought of getting off my couch for anything less than $100 hasn't occurred to me in years.
On another note, we saw Barenaked Ladies on the 3rd St. Stage free concert at Fremont Street in Vegas last Saturday night. It was a great show with many in attendance.
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These interfaces don't let you run UA plugins.
Thanks, that's good to know! If I can't use it for a dongle there's no point in any further investigation.
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This might almost be enough to ditch the old 2010 17" MBP I have around somewhere just because of the UA expresscard thing and be able to use my UA plugins on one of my new MBP's.
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My all time favorite is a Peterson VS-II, a "virtual" strobe tuner.
The Peterson StroboStomp HD Pedal Tuner is the best tuner I've ever had for live gigs. It's got the Peterson accuracy and I have it wired into my Line 6 G90 so that the signal through is bypassed when tuning or switching guitars. Anything that makes live performing easier is a blessing, particularly with the complex setup I've put together!
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I just googled it and the building and collection "for sale" price has been reduced to $399K.
looking for a retirement project.
That's significantly less than the home we just bought but that would likely be less of a "retirement project" and more of a full time job!
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The worst name band for me was Crazy Delicious, I believe the name came from some rap song lyrics. At the same time though it was the most popular and lucrative band I'd ever performed with.
My favorite name bands were the two I started and lead; Freq Loop and Ohm's Law. Those names derived from my long career at the big aerospace company.
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Interesting topic and one that hits sort of close to home for me. I just recently retired in July from Collins Aerospace where I worked as an electronic technician for 30 years. I spent all that time testing, troubleshooting and servicing avionics and aerospace equipment. So my interest and experience generally made servicing my own (and sometimes others) music equipment a no-brainer......when possible.
Old tube amps are second semester electronics school stuff but synthesizers, interfaces and effect units can be a whole different can of worms. When working in the industry you have ready access to schematics, parts layouts and other resources but for Joe working in his garage manufacturers are not always so quick to give up those resources. Over the years it's become even more difficult as devices are more software reliant. Circuits often revolve around a programmed FPGA ball grid array part.
Anyway, a few years ago as I got closer to retiring and moving away I had the thought that perhaps I could be a sort of Roland or Korg tech, working part time from home doing repairs on their equipment. seemed like a good idea and I attempted to contact Roland to see if that was a possibility but I never got a response. As I recall it appeared to me as though you either needed to be a full on Roland employee or nothing at all. I honestly didn't didn't spend any further time pursuing it.
I still like the idea and may get back to looking into that but I'm way too busy right now, we just moved halfway across the country and closed on a new house today. Perhaps someone else here has looked into doing that sort of thing and has more insight?
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Back to the monthly gig, with a few outdoor gigs upcoming. I'm definitely more 'at ease' with the outdoor settings than indoor but, knowing our 'crowd' as well as we do, it's more than likely everyone is vaccinated unless deferred for medical reasons. They're a sensible lot with great taste, except in bands.
Just commenting because I know your area. I had a very close brother (a biker thing), went by the street name "Johnny Booster" who lived there but we lost lost him about 15 years ago, RIP my dear friend.
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We may hear more from 2/3rds of ZZ Top
The "Dustyless" version of ZZ Top will be downtown here on Wednesday night but it's also the close date on our house here and we'll already be halfway across the country. It's quite possible that I've seen ZZ Top more times than any other group already.
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Great topic and yes I'm really surprised Ben didn't receive far more attention. Not only was he arguably the best singer in the group, he was clearly the most attractive.
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I'm hoping the US opens the border to Canadians this month.
A couple of our friends that attended our going away party last night just returned from Canada where they'd spent about a week. They did some type of saliva test I hadn't heard about before and apparently had some sort of tracking app on their phones. They crossed over up by Sarnia (north of Detroit) and were there because she has family she hasn't seen in a couple of years.
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I love that it lets me stay in touch with people and know what's going on with them that I wouldn't have been able to do so easily in the olden times.
That's all it really amounts to for me anymore. I long ago quit engaging in discussions with folks I don't know, care anything about or deem worthy and it's very easy to snooze, unfollow, block or unfriend any that annoy or distract me. It's also been a great place for our ABATE (and other) motorcyclist rights group networks as well as for band scheduling, booking and promotion. So I pop on it for a few minutes here and there and then move on to other things.
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I recently watched the Brian Jones movie and found it very interesting, he was quite talented and unique but it's weird how he got "left behind" because of his lack of confidence in his song writing and, of course, his apparent over indulgences. I've also seen the Keith Richards film but it's been several years and I don't remember being overly impressed with it. The Bill Wyman movie has been on my list for a while but it still costs $5 or thereabouts so I've held off. I recently watched a series on the Stones for a second time, one that breaks down their career in several parts separated by decades.
I've read Bill's book as well as Keith's biography along with a number of other books covering the Stones career so all that information often gets intertwined to where I don't recall exactly where I saw or read any particular bits of info.
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I believe he's captured the essence of the covid generation.
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I found some fantastic record bags on amazon, they zip closed/sealed, have handles and hold about 36 records apiece. Having them all in crates was just too heavy. They"ll be moving along to the new house but it may be quite a while yet before I get a turntable and dig them out.
Putting Together the New Home Studio
in Craig Anderton's Sound, Studio, and Stage
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Well, priorities have changed a little, we have a gig booked now for Nov 20th at a local place we've been frequenting. We've befriended the former mayor of Winslow, AZ and he was instrumental in helping us get the gig! How about that huh? So we're all set up and practicing in the front room and boy do we need it! Our last gig was at the end of July and with all that's happened for us since then we've barely touched a musical instrument, in fact, some of the gear we'll need is still in our storage unit. Our live rig is intact though and working great although I'll want to get my studio room organized and setup for any future additions and tweaks to our DP backing tracks.
On a more mundane note in regards to my room, I'd really like to remove the carpet and perhaps put in a faux wood type tile if for no other reason than it's easier to roll around on a chair. Anyone have any thoughts about flooring? What is in your space?