Frugal Audio

RIP

admin — Wed, 01 May 2024 02:03:22 +0000

https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/bruce-knight-veteran-foh-engineer-passes

Another one lost. Just hearing of this a week or so late.

RIP Don Davis

admin — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 19:37:46 +0000

There are a few names that loom large among old school audio engineers. Long before commodity, off the shelf gear and systems, there were folks who applied basic principals; science, math, engineering, and a fair dose of gut instinct. Don wasn’t just one of them, he was their teacher. Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord. Let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace.

In Memoriam: SynAudCon Founder Don Davis

Nefarious and despicable…

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 16:02:25 +0000

I’m too busy (and maybe lazy) to keep this site as up to date as I’d like. But, there’s another reason as well. There is a constant barrage of attacks on the site (along with other wordpress sites imagine). So much so that at one point my site was overwhelmed with malicious code and was taken down by bluehost. The site is pretty well firewalled now. But it’s disheartening to see the attack reports. 143 attacks today alone, and for the first time since the firewalls were added, one suspiciuously modified wordpress file. I have some less than kind thoughts regarding people who do this sort of thing. Sigh…

A little bit of WNY Audio History

frugalaudio — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 18:15:31 +0000

Some familiar names and places in this one:

How We Got Loud – Silverfish Audio

Nashvegas

admin — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 03:34:36 +0000

Remember when the man sang “….it’s kinda like Nashville, with a tan”? I’ve had a few chances to move to Nashville. It never seemed like a good fit to me. Couldn’t walk down the street without stepping on an out of work sound guy or out of work musician. I’ve got a whole bunch of friends and coworkers who’ve moved there and made a success of it. Yet, I resist it. Too many egos. Too many production companies that are more marketing than substance. Today I discovered that someone else I know has moved there and made a career. That should be something to applaud, to congratulate. But understand: this person defined incompetence for me. I never worked with anybody who was less a team player and less suited for the job of doing live production. Perhaps they’ve learned something. I hope so. I wish them well. But, don’t let the bright lights and gold records fool ya. The hubs of the industry are as likely filled with charlatans as genuine artisans and craftsman.

Hoarding & The SMEM

admin — Mon, 06 Jan 2020 16:22:18 +0000

Here’s what happens when you horde long enough, someone someone comes along and makes a museum out of your stuff!

The Swiss Museum of Electronic Music

See a video tour here.

The synth stuff is all interesting. What you barely see in the video is all the vintage organs, and a lot of vintage audio gear too.

Thoughts on streaming and net distribution…

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 16:41:09 +0000

In my own work, in booth live event production, and general purpose audio engineering/recording I am increasingly required to provide either a live feed for streaming, or a recorded file for later upload to stream on demand. Sometimes this is an audio only stream, often part of a video stream. Unfortunately the people providing the stream or maintaining the website for uploads are often not aware of the finer points of the process. Ideally, we could just provide an AES/EBU feed from the house console, or even an analog feed for a live stream. Or, a recorded .wav file and leave it for someone else to deal with getting it out to the world. As a practical matter, if someone else screws up the stream, the powers that be will look to the source to complain. The following link is targeted at radio world, but all of the issues regarding streaming, CODECs etc are relevant for the rest of us too. It’s worth brushing up on and developing your own strategy.
How to Process Audio for Streaming, Properly

100 years…

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 03:48:26 +0000

may seem like a long time to some. But, it’s really just a drop in the ocean of history. Yet that’s just how long this business we’re in has existed. 100 years since the very first use of electrical sound reinforcement gave us the name “Magnavox”.

100 YEARS & COUNTING

Pomplamoose, making a living by the numbers

admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 23:14:32 +0000

Pomplamoose Tour Profit & Loss

From filmstrips to the future…

admin — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 23:26:41 +0000

This was originally a filmstrip, probably shown in middle schools. Those familiar “beeps”, indicating when to advance the projector, have been removed. The kid who got to run the projector in class, undoubtedly wanted to be the guy in the filmstrip. Ask me how I know.