Soundwave Research

The Making Of The Making Of

2012-01-05T19:27:00.002-05:00

Recording: Shure Microphones Utilized Extensively In Recording New Aerosmith Album - Pro Sound Web

2011-12-17T11:50:00.000-05:00

Recording: Shure Microphones Utilized Extensively In Recording New Aerosmith Album - Pro Sound Web

Comments on several carbon nanotube patents used for energy, communications, antennas and as sensors

2011-11-29T10:29:00.002-05:00

TinyTechIP is an interesting blog with a lot of commentary about the patents that have issued over the last several years in the nanotech field.

My carbon nanotube patents are mentioned and discussed briefly, here. There is a lot more to them as well, including the first nanotube diode, amplifier, mixer, demodulator, and frequency converter.

Massachusetts motorcycle sound level measurements

2011-11-27T21:12:00.004-05:00

Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc. will perform sound level measurements on motorcycles at its Ashland MA location using standard acoustic measurement techniques and tools used to measure audio spectrum devices such as microphones and other sound products. Calibrated microphones will be used and measurements traceable to NIST (not required unless measurement is under dispute) are available at extra cost. The measurements will be made to these standards:

Maximum allowable A-weighted sound levels as measured from 50 feet (Chapter 90, Sec. 7T): 82dBA at 45mph or less; 86dBA over 45mph. Stationary noise levels: Motorcycles required to be registered for operation on the ways of the commonwealth shall not exceed the following noise levels when operated at 1/2 redline speed--99dBA manufactured after 1/1/86--102dBA manufactured before 1/1/86 (540 CMR 3:00)

For measurements over 45 mph, offsite measurements are made at extra cost, however, the high speed measurement can be done after the low speed and stationary baseline measurements are made, and these can be highly predictive of the high speed measurement outcome. The standard charge for the under 45 mph and stationary measurement is $150 per test which documented with a written report. Soundwave Research Laboratories Inc. is offering the test service to augment its own base of research measurements and statistics. The measurements may be used by motorcycle owners and law by enforcement to assist in assessing practical aspects of the sound field generated by the running motorcycle. Contact Bob Crowley at 508 231 4515 for more information.

Carbon Nanotube Amplifier

2011-11-27T08:42:00.003-05:00

A while back I invented this carbon nanotube amplifier scheme that I think is quite practical and valuable. The invention allows the fabrication and practical use of linear conductors as antennas with lengths that correspond to light wavelengths and therefore allows the application of radiowave antenna, transmission and radiation practices, including harmonic generation and mixing, detection and frequency multiplication, to the lightwave regime. It uses the nanotube as part of a mixer in which a second signal is provided or injected, and the sum or product of the two mixed signals represent a gain in signal strength. It can be used over a wide bandwidth, from the visible light into the RF regimes. Armstrong's superheterodyne radio invention from the early part of the 20th Century could never have anticipated this, but it does provide the heterodyne principle, which is a crucial part of virtually all wireless communications, radios, cell phones and many other important electronic and photonic devices.

Here is a link to a patent that covers the carbon nanotube amplifier invention.

Because it is the first of its kind, I was awarded broad claims. Here is one

A method of amplifying a signal with a carbon nanotube device, comprising: applying a first signal to said carbon nanotube device; applying a second signal to said carbon nanotube device; and outputting a sum or product of said first signal and said second signal from said carbon nanotube device.

Press release about my work and patents covering enhanced solar PV with nanotubes from 2006

2011-11-26T18:58:00.004-05:00

Abstract:

Nanotube enhanced Solar Energy at top of Massachusetts firm’s investment plan

AMBIT Corporation announces Solar Energy Initiative

Ashland, MA | Posted on April 26, 2006

AMBIT Corporation announced today that it will form a new business group to oversee accelerated investment in its Carbon Nanotube Solar Energy Technology. Carbon nanotubes are tiny cylinders of carbon that can be used as lightwave antennas to boost the performance of silicon solar cells.

AMBIT Corporation, a technology development firm founded by inventors Robert J. Crowley and Donald N. Halgren, has already been awarded three U.S. patents and has additional patents pending for its novel nanotube array technology that can be used for light harvesting, optical detectors, nanotube memory, and other applications. "The climate for investments in advanced solar energy is favorable for further development of AMBIT's patented nanotube-on-silicon technology, which can boost the efficiency of solar cells that convert sunlight into electricity" said AMBIT Co-founder Robert J Crowley, who formed AMBIT with Halgren in 1993.

A view of AMBIT Corporation's carbon nanotube array of over a billion carbon nanotubes on a silicon solar cell measuring less than 8mm long. The company claims its invention may boost solar cell efficiencies by up to 18%. The bright colors are caused by the interaction of light with the nanotubes, which act like antennas.

Copyright © AMBIT Corporation

Click on image for larger version.

Crowley, who previously served as director of R&D at Boston Scientific's Imaging and Sensing Lab, where his group developed intravascular ultrasound and optical biopsy platforms for visualizing diseases, says that AMBIT's mission is focused on the nearest commercial applications of carbon-nanotube-on- silicon technology demonstrated at their Massachusetts laboratory. "We are currently observing phenomena that could mean a significant improvement in the ability of solar cells to use the entire solar spectrum. These cells are presently most sensitive to the blue portion of the spectrum, and by adding nanotubes we might also generate more electricity from the red and infrared spectrum" said Crowley, who describes the invention as "commercially important to energy applications involving solar array technology on silicon and also on various substrates, such as sol-gel, and others."

Crowley, along with Halgren and New Business VP Robert Arcangeli, are working to accelerate the investment in this area through private sources and through corporate investments from manufacturers of existing solar cell technology. "We'd like to move the development effort to a major lab" remarked Arcangeli, "where the necessary resources and associated silicon processing technology already exist. Our current laboratory is involved in sensor applications and developing other manufacturable products, such as actuators for switching and memory applications." Despite AMBIT Corporation's modest size, the firm is serious about making and selling what it invents. Remarked Crowley: "We are already manufacturing and selling products that use our proprietary process capabilities, and working with sister company Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc (www.soundwaveresearch.com) to commercialize sensors used in medical ultrasound and music recording. In addition, we have successfully licensed antenna-related technology to other manufacturers and developers such as Natural Nano (www.naturalnano.com) and Nokia, a builder of cellular handsets."

Rice researchers confirm operation of nanoantennas and junctions

2011-11-25T11:03:00.004-05:00

It is nice when another group confirms your own work even if you are not in the references. Academics are notoriously blind to patents and many regard patents as unworthy references, but that should not be, since patents are at least as well reviewed as any peer reviewed articles in Science and other journals, and to a stricter standard of novelty, usefulness, and non-obviousness.

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/332/6030/702.abstract

Discussed in 2011 how nanoantennas inject a charge into a semiconducting junction which makes them very useful as light detectors, and how they can be tuned to specific wavelengths.

Here's my idea on how to accomplish the above, written and published in the 1997-2001 ranges.

Here are the claims that were awarded to me

1. A method of manufacturing a lightwave electromagnetic antenna device comprising the steps of;

providing a substrate material,

depositing a metal oxide region on said substrate material, said metal oxide region having an electrical length shorter than a light wavelength, and,

growing an elongated linear structure having an electrical length corresponding to a light wavelength upon said metal oxide region.

2. The method of manufacturing a lightwave electromagnetic antenna device as recited in claim 1, wherein said elongated linear structure has a first end and a second end, said first end having an attachment point to said metal oxide region, said second end extending into free space.

3. The method of manufacturing a lightwave electromagnetic antenna device as recited in claim 1, wherein said elongated linear structure is a carbon nanotube.

4. The method of manufacturing a lightwave electromagnetic antenna device as recited in claim 1, wherein said metal oxide region is a nanoparticle.

5. The method of manufacturing a lightwave electromagnetic antenna device as recited in claim 3, wherein said nanoparticle is an iron oxide nanoparticle of less than 100 nanometers in diameter.

6. A method of manufacturing a wavelength of selective light responsive array of conductive linear elements comprising the steps of;

providing a substrate material,

depositing a metal oxide region on said substrate material, said metal oxide region having an electrical length shorter than a light wavelength, and,

growing a first group of conductive linear elements having an electrical length corresponding to a first light wavelength,

growing a second group of conductive linear elements having an electrical length corresponding to a second light wavelength.

7. The method of manufacturing a wavelength selective light responsive array of conductive linear elements as recited in claim 6, wherein said substrate material is provided with an electrical terminal.

8. A method of modifying a light wave comprising the steps of;

providing a substrate material,

depositing a metal oxide region on said substrate material, said metal oxide region having an electrical length shorter than a light wave length, and

growing an elongated linear structure having an electrical length corresponding to a light wavelength upon said metal oxide region,

providing an electrical signal to said substrate material, and

collecting, modifying and emitting energy at a light wavelength at said linear structure and said metal oxide region.

9. The method of modifying a light wave as recited in claim 8, wherein application of a current to said substrate material is effective to modulate said light wave.

10. The method of modifying a light wave as recited in claim 8, wherein application of a current to said substrate is effective to switch said light wave.

UBA - the Ultra Black Absorber - the blackest substance known

2011-11-25T07:29:00.014-05:00

The recent work being done today by NASA in ultrablack surfaces sounds like work first done by us in 2000 that has a priority date of January 1997. One of the properties of the carbon nanotube antenna is the ability to absorb RF and lightwave energy over a very wide range of wavelengths, and this produces a very dense black that can be used to make solar thermal absorbers work better, and for optical systems that can't have any internal reflections.

Here is a link to one of several patents in the collection that covers this invention.

Sample Claim:

1. An electromagnetic energy absorbing structure device comprising: a substrate for supporting an aligned array of electromagnetic energy modifying nanotubes thereon; an array of nanotubes on said substrate arranged for the receipt of electromagnetic energy, wherein the electromagnetic energy received by the nanotubes arranged on the substrate is selected from the group consisting of: electromagnetic energy in the visible range, electromagnetic energy in the ultraviolet range or electromagnetic energy in the infrared range.

See CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION in the above patent to view the January 16, 1997 priority date.

UBA tm is a trademark of Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc. Ultra Black Absorbers is a trademark of Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

World's Smallest Radio and More: Carbon nanotube radio, detector, modulator, demodulator, mixer, diode, antenna, amplifier, actuator, resonator, and multiplier invented in 1997

2011-11-24T20:59:00.004-05:00

Here are links to my patents from the mid and late 90s when I invented the carbon nanotube antenna array and in doing do discovered that we could make mixers, diodes, amplifiers, resonators, demodulators, modulators, mixers and all kinds of functional components on silicon with nanotubes grown from specific points on the silicon.

Two of these patents were rated in the "Top Ten Nanotech Patents for 2006" by ex patent examiner and publisher Blaise Moutett, and several have been cited by Harvard, MIT, IBM, NEC, Samsung and others who all came later to the nanotube RF and optical device field. Moutett talks about the importance of the invention here.

Who owns carbon nanotube patents, and which ones are "the good ones"? I believe this collection, with its clear and original thinking, provides the basis for an important field of use in nanotechnology, namely the arrangement of long thin and small elements near or on semiconducting or other energy absorbing or radiating substrates. That means that super efficient solar thermal systems to warm houses, antennas for light that create seeing surfaces, lenseless cameras, and more could be practical realities, not to mention faster computing, all optical computers, and electronic components with much desired "DC to light" bandwidth.

The earliest one that issued is at the bottom of the column, as the USPTO does things that way and this brings you to the patent office, where a new law "America Invents" has raised the fees individual inventors must pay for patents. As usual, the large corporations benefit from many of these rule changes.

This is the fundamental set of patents with claims that cover many basic and important uses of nanotubes on silicon and on sol-gel, on semiconducting junctions, and for RF and optical operation. No other patents in that field predate the original filings and the work is quite original, useful, practical, and not at all obvious at the time - in fact it was thought to be impossible. But I did not think so, and when I wrote the patents I foresaw a new class of nanoelectronics that is just emerging, more than a dozen years later. I would like to further develop this for photonic and possibly communications applications and welcome any inquiries.

			PAT. NO.	Title
1	7,899,301	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
2	7,535,627	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
3	7,486,434	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
4	7,330,299	Optical amplifying arrangement using carbon nanotubes
5	7,259,903	Optical switching arrangement using carbon nanotubes
6	7,205,021	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
7	7,132,994	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
8	7,099,071	Method of moving a carbon nanotube
9	6,700,550	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
10	6,258,401	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification
11	6,038,060	Optical antenna array for harmonic generation, mixing and signal amplification

DSPdoctor is the place for gear and more

2011-11-22T19:32:00.002-05:00

Where can you go for 24 hour on call supply of expertise and the finest selected recording gear, software and systems, staffed by persons known-to-me as having years, maybe decades, of steering customers to the good stuff? Call DSP Doctor, the only doctor I know who still wears steampunk goggles to hide his eyes, with his bemusing hairstyle and enigmatic smile, telling, but never letting on just how clever he really is.

"Pro Gear and Advice for the Modern Recording Studio" he says, and rightly so, because signal processing is everything, or at least some of it, anyway it's important! Wait, what am I saying?? Analog backlash notwithstanding, we have to be smart about combining the likes of say, a Bock Microphone, an NPNG preamp, and all that digital horsepower under the hood of a Macbook and make it all work to crank out some real music (while avoiding Indie Dirge, the Thomas Kinkade effect on sound, but rockin, and kickass). Anyway go here. Buy something and then relax because you got the right thing on the way, not some unknown whatever.

Shakuhachi: The Japanese End-Blown Flute is both simple and complex

2011-11-22T14:04:00.001-05:00

It's just a couple of pieces of bamboo with some holes, but the Japanese end-blown flute, or shakuhachi (means "foot" in Japanese) is an incredibly complex and versatile instrument, capable of over four octaves and hundreds of "microtones" which consist of pitch and timbre variations.

The one shown here was made in Japan by shakuhachi guru Tom Deaver. Tom died last year and left behind hundreds of fine instruments used throughout the world.

There is a lot to the blowing end. The sharp edge, or "utaguchi" is designed so that the airflow from the player's lips creates a vortex, and sets up conditions for resonance. Because there is no fipple, like the blowing end of a recorder, the shape and angle of embrochure affects the sound very much. A relatively soft even airflow produces the rich, harmonic filled fundamental note, and a faster, more concentrated airflow tends to reduce the fundamental and favor one or more harmonics.

The airflow gets the energy going, and the fingering controls the length of the resonant column, while the angle of the shakuhachi to the face plays an important role in producing sharps and flats, or more.

All the explanations of how it works do not describe how it sounds, or why the shakuhachi has such a natural sound, even earning the term "the sound of nature". Our ears, tuned to hear complex things, interpret the wind and the trees together, and apparently recognize this instrument as an organic part of that scene.

I play the shakuhachi, not very well, but when I am by myself I play brilliantly enough. I found that looking out over a vista or some distant field makes it much easier, but I don't know why, exactly.

True Margrit

2011-11-08T19:26:00.000-05:00

John Cate and the van Gogh Brothers - California

2011-08-26T22:07:00.003-04:00

Great new video by John and VGBs. Check out JohnCate.com too!

New55Project

2011-07-04T11:44:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to what is going on these days at the lab. Photonic materials, imaging, artists, even some music still, but in the context of performance, and adverts.

New55 has another "epic blog" going, with hundreds of posts, same as we did with microphonium.

Quickbooks disables their software three years after you buy it

2011-06-10T14:05:00.001-04:00

Chat InformationPlease wait for an agent to respond. Your wait time will be approximately 0 minute(s) and 3 second(s).
Chat InformationYou are now chatting with Jeffrey. In order to better serve you, may I have your name?
you: Robert Crowley Soundwave Research Labs
Jeffrey: Hi, this is Jeff from QuickBooks Online Sales. Thank you for choosing to chat with me today. How may I assist you?
Jeffrey: Pleased to meet you online Robert!
you: Our email send function on the manufacturing version has been disabled by Quickbooks. Can you please restore it?
Jeffrey: Just to set your expectation, this chat option is for QuickBooks Online pre-sales and sales chat queue. May I ask what year version of QuickBooks are you currently using?
you: 2008
Jeffrey: Okay. Is it Pro or Premier?
you: This will also affect future purchase decisions too
you: Pro
Jeffrey: Oh I see. I do apologize but you've reached QuickBooks Online pre-sales and sales chat queue. I am trained for product specifics and sales, and I am afraid that regarding your question, I may not be able to assist you with your technical issue. I recommend that you call our QuickBooks Technical Support Department to better assist you with your concern.
you: Does the new version allow me to remotely access via the web?
Jeffrey: I do apologize, you need to have a Remote Access Service even in the latest version if you want to access QuickBooks from different locations.
Jeffrey: Do you have the number of the Support Department?
you: Also will Intuit maintain all functions on new products? The reason I ask is that I am considering an upgrade, which is very costly internally, and want to know if I will lose functions such as email, and when. This is a sales features issue, not a support call.
Jeffrey: Yes, they maintain the old features even in the latest version of QuickBooks.
you: OK so why has email function been shut off my present version? Is that legal?
Jeffrey: To give you more details about the new feature of QuickBooks Pro, I will send you a link.
you: Actually Jeffrey, I'd like to get an answer from Intuit.
Jeffrey: QuickBooks Pro 2011 - click here
you: Please answer my question
Jeffrey: I do apologize but you've reached QuickBooks Online pre-sales and sales chat queue. We do not have the resource or tool to give you the information you need. I recommend that you call our QuickBooks Customer Service Department at 888-246-8848.
you: This is a basic question about a feature. You should be able to find the answer
Jeffrey: We have a service discontinuation every 3 years, that is why I strongly recommend an upgrade in order to use the e-mail service function.
you: Ok tell me about this "service discontinuation". Does that mean the software is disabled in three years from purchase date?
Jeffrey: Okay. Let me give you a link about the service discontinuation and the upgrade
you:

Karyadi takes a break

2011-05-22T19:44:00.000-04:00

Studio Bopnique engineer Karyadi Sutejda taking a break from the action at the recording studio in Chelmsford, MA.

Philip Lampe cast a fill light on Kary so that deep shadows wouldn't hide his studious demeanor, but project instead upon the brick wall of the old mill building. Seated adjacent to an ancient radio upon an even older one, Kary seemed ready to get back to what he was doing before we invaded.

Check out the nice website done in Drupal by Philip. Anthony J Resta has succeeded in updating this site with lots of new and active content all by himself for the past year, which was the idea in the first place.

google showing cracks in foundation

2011-04-18T20:58:00.001-04:00

Search engine giant google has recently announced that it is getting out of the google branded video server business - surrendering in name to its more powerful and popular YouTube search engine - at the same time that the number one internet search engine and website is exhibiting a marked decrease in search results quality, and a large increase in search spam.

Other search engines such as Alta Vista and Yahoo are expected to benefit by user frustration as google tries to find its way back, even as its own news items in its popular news pages languish with stale news pieces that are weeks old.

Something is wrong at google. The darling of the internet revolution, google owns blogger, which this blog is part of. Google is nice to blogger, and gives it a high search ranking, something this author is grateful for. But google may have too many irons in the fire and could lose its touch as more of its searches produce junk, spam, and aggregator sites designed to dupe google into directing users to click on impressions put there by advertisers - revenue google does not enjoy.

Let's hope that google figures out the magic it once was, and doesn't end up like other great companies that have come and gone except in name, such as Polaroid, AIG, and Blockbuster.

WinRadio WR-G33WSM

2011-03-26T18:08:00.000-04:00

The WInRadio WR-G33WSM has to be the most versatile and economical software-based receiver for the "wireless mic" ranges ever.

This is a full-featured receiver with a superhet architecture that easily interfaces with any PC, even a cheap "netbook" that you can get at BestBuy for $200.

We sell these! Why? Because they are a great tool, we make antennas (that work with these receivers, by the way) and thought some of our RFvenue customers might like to have it in their kit of interference-fighting tools that are very much needed in today's crowded performance spectrum domain.

Read much more about the WR-G33WSM here.

We have these IN STOCK, and ready to ship. Call us at 508 231 4515. Next day delivery available, discounts and packages available, too.

Brand-New, in box, fresh stock, full USA Warranty NOT GRAY LABEL!!!

We take care of our customers, eh? You get the antenna, the receiver, cables, software, and you can even call us up on the phone and a real person will answer. Our hours are 9am to 4pm, Eastern Time.

Each WinRadio has been checked by us for correct operation before putting it in our customer-ready inventory. $999. CALL FOR PRICE and DISCOUNTS on other items.

Tony's magic remix of Naked Eye

2011-02-17T18:57:00.003-05:00

Shure KSM-313 Ribbon Microphone

2011-01-25T17:21:00.003-05:00

I'm selling the Harmony Rocket

2011-01-14T09:24:00.001-05:00

I've had this 60s era Harmony Rocket for years and have never touched it. This vintage guitar hung on the conference room wall at Crowley and Tripp Microphones until it was replaced with the Hofner. The pick guard and tuners are original, and so are the pickups, and knobs. The bridge is an aftermarket bridge and has not been set up.

There is a scratch on the neck and the body that you can see in photo number 2.

The surface finish is quite nice overall, glossy, and relatively clean.

The neck looks like it is set well and the frets have no visible wear. This guitar has not been played much, if at all.

Look at the chrome on those pickups. Nice.

Click on any of the images for a closer view.

If you want to call, look at Soundwave Research, and call me during business hours.

FP3000B45 now available

2011-01-04T19:07:00.001-05:00

Interesting news for users of this super high speed black and white instant pack film: The 4x5 version of it has finally reached North America and should show up online any moment.

This uses the PA-45 holder, or the Polaroid 550 large packfilm holder.

Thanks to Brandon Remler of Fujifilm USA for giving us notice that it is on its way. I certainly will get a case of it and go wild in low light with my Speed Graphics and maybe a Byron. Aaron Muderick has been a big fan of this material in the smaller size, and has produced good looking images from the scanned negative, which has a decent tonal range.

FP3000B and FP3000B45 are descendants of my original favorite Type 47 film that I think revolutionized instant photography when it came out. Fuji has refined it to use a minuscule amount of silver in a highly amplified DTR intensification process onto an improved receiver (though perhaps not as archival) that has a little better mid grays than the Old Pol 667.

Acoustic Imaging uses Tiny Microphones in the Heart

2011-01-02T09:15:00.006-05:00

IVUS, or Intravascular Ultrasound, is a catheter-delivered imaging mode that can be inserted into the body and into organs, such as the heart, or peripheral arteries, to get a cross-section view. The images are produced by a method known as pulse-echo, where a transducer, like a very small microphone, is excited with one short tick. That produces a soundwave that propagates out, comes in contact with anything in the direction it is going, and some, often very little, of the energy is then reflected back to the same transducer which by this time has been switched over to a very sensitive preamp to listen for the incoming signal.

This process is repeated many times in a circle, like radar, and over the course of a fraction of a second, an image is built up. The image of course is not something you could actually see with your eyes - it is more like an echo map.

Shown on this series of six are some IVUS images of a beating heart. The two center images are the most interesting, as they show the heart squeezing and opening to pump blood.

Jeff Barnard KA1OGM SK 73 OM

2010-11-28T20:49:00.003-05:00

The Curtain Society recieves Good Song Award

2010-11-19T17:54:00.006-05:00

Ashland MA, Nov 19, 2010: Worcester Massachusetts-based The Curtain Society has been named for the "Good Song" award by Soundwave Research, makers of RFvenue gear, and supporters of local arts and culture.

The Good Song chosen for the prize - an undisclosed, but desirable, musical device, instrument, or secretly-stashed item - is "Marigold Girl" from The Curtain Society CD "Every Corner of the Room".

Criteria for the Good Song award is 1. Song kicks ass, 2. Has great tone, 3. Well recorded, 4.Well written, and 5. Sounds Really Good. We first heard Marigold Girl in April 2009 and it is still a favorite.

The Curtain Society appears tonight, November 19, at Lucky Dog Music Hall in Worcester, MA. For further details, visit The Curtain Society website.

Antenna Parts

2010-11-03T21:32:00.000-04:00

Barely visible within the stream of thick, creamy coolant, this RFvenue antenna part is one of many being CNC fabricated these days.

Now that the FCC has changed the rules about how, and who has access to the finite airwaves, there are many new opportunities and problems, too, like interference and crowding.

Check out RFvenue here.

Wireless Microphone Antennas for White Spaces

2010-10-24T10:29:00.001-04:00

Excellent diversity reception from just one antenna is now a reality

You know how we have dispelled many myths in the past - Antennas are no different: There are plenty of myths surround antennas for wireless microphones that are preventing users from getting the most out of their wireless equipment.

We think we have the best and easiest to use wireless microphone antenna, and its virtues come from the fact that it completely overcomes the myth of dual antenna orientation. Sparing the boring details, the myth says that the antennas should be spaced parallel to each to each other. Not so, in fact doing so assures that in some instances a deep null will result.

Here's more

http://blog.rfvenue.com

RFvenue's Diversity Fin tm antenna connects to BOTH ports on any diversity receiver, eliminating the need to mount and position a second antenna. Not only that, the Diversity Fin tm antenna maintains strict polarization and space diversity at all times, at any orientation. That means you never will have a dreaded cross polarized null that produces a pfft in the audio.

Everyone will thank you - or at least they won't have anything to complain about!

See one here

http://rfvenue.com

Cross polarized nulls occur when the plane of the RF signal is exactly at right angles - 90 degrees - from the antenna. That doesn't happen often and if it does, usually not for long, but when it does, it produces a loss of 20 decibels. That's bad.

But, it can be prevented, entirely, by using a fixed diversity antenna with cross plane polariztion, such as the patent pending Diversity Fin tm antenna from RFvenue. At $299, it's cheap insurance against pfft! or worse.

Singing on a Rainy Day

2010-10-04T20:36:00.001-04:00

Today it was raining and kind of cold, now that Summer is over here in Massachusetts. Not so where Larry Killip is. I've been waiting to post this one, which shows a Naked Eye. Lovely song from Larry

RFvenue launches Diversity Fin tm Antenna

2010-09-10T09:54:00.000-04:00

Soundwave Research Laboratories' Diversity Fin Antenna is quite a handy piece of gear if you want a simple, easy to use and very effective one antenna solution to go with your existing wireless mic receiver.

More about that here.

Myths: Shure experts explode popular myths about microphones

2010-09-04T09:36:00.001-04:00

Shure has been convening their impressive group of engineers and applications experts, challenging conventional thought and worn-out sayings, myths and misconceptions.

One of the things not mentioned is that Shure KSM 313 and KSM 353 microphones have at least 20db more dynamic range than any other ribbon microphones by any maker, and they do that across the entire audio spectrum.

Here is a link to their page.

Minding your Ps and Cues

2010-08-25T19:33:00.003-04:00

Even if you already have an interest in music for TV and film, or have a couple of songs that you think might be used someday in an episode of "Days of Our Lives", you might not be aware of how the music director, director and others use the cue sheets to help shape the production. Now it's easy to "do the paperwork" and produce cue sheets you can quickly print out and send to the production staff with any level of detail you need, and look good in the process, like you really have your act together, which you will with this software that you can download here. Very valuable - thanks!

Speaking of cues, count the number of cues in this score segment and win a prize of some sort, probably consisting of an artifact, maybe even a good one.

Hidden Orchestra

2010-08-17T09:11:00.002-04:00

Sneak Preview! RFvenue's Diversity Fin tm Antenna

2010-08-13T11:06:00.001-04:00

Check out the new RFvenue blog here

Most people are unaware that RF and antenna design and testing that has been conducted at Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc over the last several years, under the soon-to-be-launched RFvenue product line. True to RFvenue’s goal to make wireless performance setups and clarity easier to use, with better signal quality, and with improved reliability under all conditions, the Diversity Fin tm antennas are now in field trials.

Unlike ordinary “fin” type antennas, the Diversity Fin tm antenna incorporates polarization and space-diversity reception, and does it without noise-generating amplifiers, bias tees, and the usual maze of wires that crews have to deal with. Two feedlines from the Diversity Fin tm antenna easily attach “under the hood” and can be routed to any diversity receiver, or a combiner.

The advantage of the Diversity Fin tm antenna is clear: Only one antenna module is needed for dropout reduced reception at many smaller events, indoors or out. And rain won’t bother it – the hood is actually a working part of the antenna, creating a dielectric airspace in the event of rain or snow, and makes sure you won’t have to unpack it or pack it up in a separate case when the gig is over. All those separate and easily lost pieces are a thing of the past!

Note the neat protruding whip antennas, and the secure pole attachment, designed to fit all 1/4-20, 3/8-16 or 5/8-16 pole or mic stand mounts. Are there any others on the planet? I don’t think so!

It’s Your Spectrum and Lose the Static, Not Your Audience are service and trade marks of Soundwave Research Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.

KSM-313s used on King/Taylor tour for guitar amp

2010-08-12T17:15:00.000-04:00

Shure's KSM-313 Dual Voiced Ribbon microphones are being used prominently in sound reinforcement duty in the ongoing Carole King/James Taylor tour.

Here is a link to the story.

What is it?

2010-08-07T17:05:00.003-04:00

A subwoofer? Some kind of cooling fan? A jet engine cowling? Maybe an ice cream cone mold, or some new exercise equipment.

Chances are, something that operates in the RF spectrum, or manipulates electromagnetic waves. Important stuff these days.

It's Your Spectrum (TM)

Wendywaves

2010-08-07T16:28:00.006-04:00

Action shot of Wendy Mittelstadt sawing away on her fiddle, comparing her custom prototype that she got years ago, with a later production model. This was during a visit to the lab sometime in 2008.

Visit Wendywaves.com to see her extensive discography.

2010-07-28T21:07:00.000-04:00

No blog or website about Hugh Tripp of Crowley and Tripp would be complete without this previously photographed image of Hugh Tripp.

Hugh and Bob's mics in Germany

2010-07-18T18:24:00.005-04:00

McFly's day - the future is now past

2010-07-07T21:02:00.001-04:00

A hoax, the real date is 2015

Another five years to wait for the future...alas

Happy Chladni Day - June 29

2010-06-29T14:26:00.001-04:00

Amazing how fast the year goes by, and now our favorite holiday to commemorate Ernst Chladni observed in Massachusetts, Maine and Puerto Rico,

Here is a link to all about Chladni!

Marco Granados

2010-06-18T14:56:00.002-04:00

Return Loss, SWR, and Antennas

2010-06-15T13:48:00.002-04:00

A lot of people talk about antennas in terms of "SWR" or Standing Wave Ratio. Hams do it primarily, and so do CBers and others. SWR is sacred to hams, who have developed a belief or myth that if their SWR is low, everything is fine. Well, that's partly true to their transmitters that have automatic high SWR foldback circuits, and to their feedlines that can arc over if the voltages get out of hand, which they can in a high SWR condition.

But a more modern term for describing how efficiently power is transferred to an antenna or other device is referred to as Return Loss.

Return Loss does not tell you how well an antenna receives signals! There are plenty of other characteristics that are important, but Return Loss does give you a very good idea of the impedance mismatch of the line into the antenna when power is applied.

Here is a link to a paper on Return Loss, more than you probably want to know. But we will be referring to it in the future because Return Loss is one measurement of antenna quality that is starting to show up in spec sheets, and you know how that goes: Some people buy on the specs, others buy for a variety of reasons and not necessarily the published specs. In the microphone world, we found ample evidence, which we have no intention of providing, of "spec inflation". I will let you figure out what that means. We also used a term to describe people who only considered the specs in microphones to be "curvemeisters". Pretty funny, unless you are one of them.

In antennas it's different. In case you want to read a good basic paper on Return Loss, below is a link to one. There are a lot of websites that get it wrong, but I think this one is right, so I'm going with it. I'm getting this minutiae done early, so we don't have to repeat it later. Yes I know this is a boring topic, but Return Loss measurement is one of the more important measurements, right up there with gain. All you will need to know about our products is that they work, but we won't make you take it at face value - we'll actually measure them like we did with microphones, and report actual results when they mean something.

Here is the link.

Nice Picture of Cubby and KSM313

2010-06-15T09:51:00.001-04:00

Link to an article in PSW about the use of this mic here.

Low cost spectrum analyzer from RFvenue

2010-05-25T15:21:00.001-04:00

Here's a good low cost spectrum analyzer useful for determining the RF landscape in your venue. And we can help you get it up and running, and can advise on how to interpret it too.

Link to RFvenue store

Frequency response of microphones now extends into UHF and beyond

2010-05-25T08:12:00.004-04:00

Our notion of the audio passband being something like 20-20,000 isn't really accurate. Most people, even younger ones, have little to no hearing above 15K. Yes, I know, YOU can hear something up there, or think you can. Actually just about everyone who visited the microphone lab in years past got a secret hearing test, and I found out that some very good ears could hear nothing above 10K, but that's another story.

Fast forward to the present, or near future, when everything is wireless - wireless is a quaint old term that was used from about 1920 to 1990 to describe ancient radios with sparks, code keys, and old men with beards. The term was "radio". The term "wireless" has had a revival and now is part of the every day lexicon. Wireless everything means lots of traffic on the airwaves, which are finite, and crowding, interference, and noise. Eventually, the so-called recording studio will be wireless, or, possibly, wires will make a comeback, like vinyl.

Wireless performance has become the norm. You hardly ever see wires on stage any more, so ubiquitous are wireless body packs, mics and monitoring systems. It's great for the performers and the audience, but also a challenge for the growing number of live audio companies who are charged with the now ever daunting task of interference-free music via radio waves.

Above you see a thing called a Spectrum Analyzer. This tool charts radiofrequency energy, including that kind of "RF" that goes out over the air, and into a sound system. It has become a necessary tool for those who must arrive, set up, and operate complex wireless audio systems in various venues.

If you look closely, you will see the familiar spectrum displayed from left to right, lower frequencies, just like in audio, at the left, and going higher. Except, these are ultra high frequencies in the 800 MHz range, in this picture, which are used by cellphones. Soon cellphones will be in the "microphone" bands in between TV stations. It's a mess and manufacturers are worried that their customers are going to get interference from new cellular and other wireless services that compete for the precious, limited, and finite radio spectrum.

All wireless systems depend upon the use of at least one antenna. Antennas are a type of sensor, and the way an antenna behaves can be tailored to favor a specific job, frequency, location, or battle competing RF signals, thereby reducing interference.

The antenna art is mostly old, with a lot of old notions, myths, and obsolete practices. Those of you who followed the development of Crowley and Tripp Microphones might guess what comes next.

Here is a link to a java applet spectrum analyzer you can play with.

Seen on the Set of Leno

2010-04-30T07:06:00.002-04:00

This actually looks like part of the Recordist Ensemble Stereo pair, which was built to have perfect symmetry and a deep null centered between the lobes.

Noise Awareness Day - April 28

2010-04-28T17:17:00.003-04:00

In case you haven't heard, today is Noise Awareness Day. The health, enjoyment and safety aspects of noise are the focus of Noise Awareness rather than such things as The Art of Noise, which are arguably something good.

I dislike noise in any form: RF noise, acoustic noise, visual noise and even social noise are things I avoid if I can.

Speaking of the noise - the problem kind - we have Herb Singleton's Cross-Spectrum Labs to thank for noise measurements at traffic intersections and other public and industrial places that help municipalities, infrastructure and others be good neighbors. Here is a shot of Herb Singleton, just out of the Speed Graphic camera done today at Soundwave Research.

Longest winded interview in microphone history

2010-04-26T19:36:00.001-04:00

Somehow of interest to a protools blog called Protoolersblog, this interview was done at Tape Op Con in Tucson, which was an excellent event and one of the most fun and memorable things I did relating to the mic biz.

Musikmesse 2010

2010-04-14T10:12:00.005-04:00

The Story of Roswellite

2010-04-02T19:17:00.003-04:00

Here is the updated Shure "story of roswellite" for you to enjoy.

Link here.

Link to the old Roswellite FAQ

Floods in Boston area result in excess levels of dihydrogen monoxide

2010-04-01T15:19:00.002-04:00

The levels of the chemical di-hydrogen monoxide have increased at an alarming rate in the Boston area over the last two days, mainly caused by flooding of roadways, storm drains, and other surfaces. Several nearby reservoirs are apparently affected.

Reports of this situation, which appears to affect the entire Massachusetts water system, have been broadcast on nearly all local radio and TV channels.

Please be aware of this and take the necessary precautions if you plan to visit our area.

Link to a Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for DHMO.

The Wild Wild West (East)

2010-03-28T09:48:00.003-04:00

I am amazed and appalled when I see such obvious attempts at ripping off trademarks and trade dress. This fools no one, but it is still unacceptable.

Someone went to a lot of trouble to make the artwork, packaging etc. - they took the existing product and said to the factory, change any R to a Z. Instzuctions foz use: Position youz Wizeless miczophone neaz pezfozmer.

Sounds like a sneeze coming, or maybe a little nap. Intellectual property disputes, counterfeiting, and back door gray market selling are on the rise, and some US companies are quite concerned.

Crazy Aaron's Thinking Putty - Strange Attractor

2010-03-14T10:48:00.002-04:00

Perhaps one of the most unusual and thought-provoking product lines that I have seen in years. Aaron has developed dozens of putty variations with interesting photonic, magnetic, viscous and thermally responsive properties. It is almost a new class of matter.

Be sure to check it out here.

The field of magnetorheology is an important one. Aaron has made a nanomagnetorheological viscous semifluid or thixotropic fluid, for us to play with.

Cinderella's Ashes - Bopnique Film

2010-03-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

More at Bopnique.com

Power Gig Controller from 745 Studios

2010-03-09T16:45:00.008-05:00

Here's an interesting guitar/controller combo from 745 Studios in Boston. Not only will it control a game, such as Guitar Hero, but it also has the ability to be properly tuned and played like a real guitar, and may help develop playing skills for new users.

The manufacturer comments:

"Instead of the standard Guitar Hero and Rock Band "highways," the music is represented in a vertical DNA-strand string of streaming colored orbs. Placement of orbs and color prompts give players a heads-up to upcoming notes."

The game is called Power Gig and linked here.

The merging of games, toys, instruments, and consumer electronics with "serious" equipment in medical devices, for instance, has been going on at a furious pace these past few years, as manufacturers and military systems designers realize the vast enabling powers of intuitive gaming console interfaces, and how they work with the human mind, and body. One such game console became the basis for a new ultrasound imaging system.

Haddon Sundblom Painting of Farmer with Grapes

2010-02-27T20:53:00.001-05:00

Here is further information about this painting
This oil on board, measuring approximately 22 X 16, is in excellent condition. Not signed, but highly recognizable as Sundblom's work. Please contact me if you have a specific interest in this painting.

New Release from Anthony J Resta at Bopnique with Coby Grant

2010-02-27T08:40:00.001-05:00

Nice to see your friends in the news, so here is a recent piece that we flung out into the cybersphere to see who and where it would go to. It seems to be propagating along and showing up in a lot of sites over time, which is to be expected. Coby Grant is starting a national tour now that her new release is out. Coby traveled all the way from Australia to Bopnique in Chelmsford Massachusetts to record Fanfare for Love, her new EP.

Last Post of this blog? #663 (at least for a while)

2010-02-21T10:38:00.006-05:00

663 posts! That's a lot. On to http://new55project.blogspot.com

New Terms: Winter Clench, Still Actor, Pettered

2010-02-14T10:55:00.002-05:00

Along the way our wonderful English language provides us with many creative opportunities to express ourselves in new ways. And as the internet allows us to see more writings of people we also can become aware of cliches more easily. So there is a good reason to continue to try new things and even make up new words or names, such as we did with Naked Eye, Roswellite, and New55.

Here are the latest:

Pettered

Ruined, in a bad way

This term comes from the last name of Petters, who ruined Polaroid, its stockholders, and pensioners in a particularly bad way.

"After I changed the tire on the New Jersey Turnpike, my suit was completely pettered"

Still Actor

An actor who is seen in the production of still images.

This term fills the gap between conventional stage, TV or screen actors, and "models" to describe significant and intentional artistic participation in the creation process.

Winter clench

A condition where people who are subjected to cold Winter weather start to become tense, tight, and introverted. A term to describe the holding of a coat closed in a cold, bitter wind, often with a grimace.

Rock is Dead/ R.I.P.

2010-02-14T10:18:00.000-05:00

Rock is Dead. Go here to see it nearing its ultimate, moribund state, which is quite enjoyable!

Pete's KSM-313

2010-02-12T21:14:00.001-05:00

Here is a link to the accompanying press release about the mics used during the halftime show.

Monocle Mount at Halftime

2010-02-10T12:15:00.003-05:00

More Analog to Digital Imagery Analogies

2010-02-07T17:01:00.002-05:00

Panavision, a company that I admire for its innovation, persistence of focus on customer needs, and pure technical genius, has this interesting video with comments by cinematographer Allen Daviau. The control of dynamic range, resolution, and also what is out of focus, the effect that has on the overall image, are in ways analogous to audio recording, I believe.

Listen to Allen's comments about "beauty light" in the context of the "recording".

Lombardo, Clapton, Now

2010-02-04T20:04:00.003-05:00

Captive members of The Baby Boom know we must exit planet earth before pop culture time distortions in the media can effectively dissipate.

In simpler terms, there is this iPhone ad with Eric Clapton on TV. Apple makes it, and pushes it effectively.

Guy Lombardo (look him up) peaked in 1947. Clapton peaked two decades after that in 1967. Let's see...77,87, 97, 07 +3 - that's 43 years til now, more than twice the Lombardo-Clapton scale.

Just sayin.

Can you tell an Analog from a Digital recording?

2010-02-02T19:04:00.004-05:00

You know we spent a lot of time and many paragraphs about analog recording vs digital, and how ribbon microphones are able to put "a dose of analog" back into digital recordings.

Well the exact same thing seems to be true about images! If you use an instant film like this Fuji color print film, you will regain that film-nearness that we had for so many years, even when scanned in and posted on the internet as a jpeg.

There are millions of old Polaroid cameras out there that this film fits in. If you have one, I suggest you pick up a pack on Amazon and give analog imaging another look.

Can you tell the difference between analog and digital? See here and figure out which ones are analog, and which are not.

Not enough? How about this!

Cate's Newest "The Wonder Show" Produced, Recorded at Bopnique in Chelmsford

2010-01-30T20:41:00.002-05:00

John Cate has written more than 300 songs and recorded 7 albums. His songs have been featured in many films and TV shows. He created and hosted the Americana Showcase at the House of Blues in Cambridge which ran for 8 years. The new CD release from John Cate and The Van Gogh Brothers is entitled "The Wonder Show", and contains new songs said to tell stories about side shows and religion at the Turn-of-the-Century. Cate's troop returned to Studio Bopnique in Chelmsford, MA to work with producer Anthony Resta and engineer Karyadi Sutedja recently, and critical previews have considered this latest release, which debuts on February 6 at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, to be his best yet.

The Wonder Show is available on iTunes and on CD at the release event, where Cate will perform selections from the new album.

New 55 Project Commences!

2010-01-26T15:04:00.001-05:00

Here is the link to the New 55 Project, with its own blog and images, with reports on progress to come soon. The goal of the project is to produce a new, very high quality instant 4X5 and 8X10 negative material to replace the no-longer-in-production Polaroid Type 55 instant P/N film. Learning to be done first on fuji instant B&W film fp100b. Not very good is it?

Click here, and please join in the project.

What is a "Still Actor" ?

2010-01-12T08:39:00.000-05:00

"Still Actor" is the term used as the name suggests, for an actor for the making of still images. The implication is that Still Actor relies upon more skill, when done well, than "just a model". Though there are wonderful models who are also actors, and therefore Still Actors by definition, Still Actors may favor non-moving, silent forms of acting for artistic reasons. Still Acting may have its own methods and meanings, requiring additional skills beyond striking a pose, and holding it. Still Acting is primarily used in conjunction with some form of optical image, such as photography. The intersection of portraiture and Still Acting might involve the interpretation of the person through single or serial still images, and various motives, themes, emotions, intentions and complex meanings can be developed by skilled Still Actors.

In commerce and advertising, Still Acting in photographs may attempt to convey meanings that motivate potential customers to favor a specific product, or service. Still Actors have been involved in certain street and gallery performances where the contrast between the normal movement of persons in a place stands out against the motionless Still Actor.

New Bopnique Site Launches - Massachusetts based home of Anthony Resta

2010-01-11T13:45:00.000-05:00

Just a referral to the new Bopnique website that has some dynamic content as well as a player with new music on it. Anthony Resta and Karyadi Sutejda's lair, now a very busy place for the post-indie making of new music.

There's nothing like doing new things with old parts, and that's what makes Bopnique so productive - Anthony's ability to recreate and collaborate often leads to the unexpected. Serial Thrillers, Shawn Mullins, and New Collisions are regulars.

Check it out here.

Hofner Verithin Galore

2010-01-09T19:05:00.001-05:00

A shot of my 60s Hofner Verithin with the Scholz X-ray inserts. This was the Hofner that I bought from Tom Allman in 1980 for $200 and used in many banners and ads.

I recently spotted this good website on Verithins that I hadn't seen before. Look at them all!

Combustion Age Economics Dominate Present

2010-01-08T07:27:00.007-05:00

Link to posts on Combustion

Jim Koger explains the origin of IVUS transducers

2010-01-06T18:43:00.005-05:00

Here's Jim Koger test probing early IVUS transducers that worked at the then unbelievable fequency of 30 MHz with fractional bandwidths of 50% or greater. Not only that, but these particular transducers, which Jim developed, iterated and built over and over many times, had nearly zero ringdown. That meant that close-up imaging, where the transducer is very close to the wall of a heart artery, for instance, could become a reality.

It did. Today, so-called Direct View IVUS (intravascular ultrasound) is the gold standard for measuring coronary lesions and directing the implantation of arterial stents. IVUS is about a 600 million dollar business today. The stent business is many times that, but probably would never had developed were it not for the images provided by IVUS, which were key to the clinical trials and device approvals. Stent trials drove much of the sales of IVUS in the beginning, but eventually clinicians realized they could do a better job putting stents in if they used IVUS in their daily practice, so many hospitals use IVUS in most coronary interventions involving stents.

All this costs money though, and ultimately lengthens lives, so somebody has to pay for it. Same with new drugs, the cost of development is very high. But IVUS was done more cheaply, using Ham Radio flea market equipment in this example!

Image: TMAX 6X4.5cm negative processed in pyro. Shot around 1989 or 1990 and scanned in today using a neato epson 750 pro scanner.

The equipment is interesting and very similar to the way Crowley and Tripp ribbon microphones were developed. Once exception is the Panametrics 5052UA Ultrasonic Analyzer that I bought at Hosstrader's Hamfest and used at Boston Scientific for many years. That same analyzer still does the job at Soundwave Research today and is a very valuable, rare piece of gear, combining a short pulse transmitter, stepless gate, and a high gain broadband receiver.

Gibson Strings and Bokeh

2010-01-01T22:03:00.005-05:00

Mona-Steel strings suggest perhaps the inclusion of some monel - a naturally occurring stainless steel sort of alloy comprised of nickel and iron, found, I believe, in the city of Sudbury, Ontario. This old orange box showed up one day and has been propped against the Lafayette PA42 microphone and in front of one of the several remaining RCA 77DXs that still clutter up shelves here at the lab.

But this shot was my first test of a new old lens that I became interested in - a Kodak Aero Ektar, F2.5, able to cover 5X5" film and originally designed for WWII aerial reconnaissance. It is a big lens and had to be specially mounted on a Pacemaker Speed Graphic camera.

The lens can be thought of as sort of an analog of a transducer, or at least the first part of a transducer. This wide aperture lens is regarded by aficionados to have "good bokeh" which is an awkward term used by photogs to describe a nice out of focus effect rather than a blur with spikes, circles or pentagrams in it. When it all goes right, there is a subtle but noticeable "3D" effect in the image where the subject stands out nicely. The field of a microphone is sometimes thought of having an aperture and a focus.

Bob Crowley explains how to hook up an Argonne AR-57 to a Zenith Clock Radio

2009-12-28T11:14:00.005-05:00

Something about that AR-57 dual crystal micro phone caught my eye early, and the $3.89 price tag at Lafayette Radio Electronics helped too. Here I am explaining to cousins Cathy and Bobbie how you can get a regular tube-type clock radio to act like a PA system.

If you look closely, you can see the perforated back of the transformerless, hot chassis radio placed loosely so that the interlock cord still connected power with most of the back open. The ability to electrocute oneself at a young age is a right we have apparently lost with the advent and widespread use of wall warts to power everything. Existential risks aside, coupling the high impedance of the Argonne AR-57 dual crystal element to various points in the radio - would give interesting and sometimes loud, feedback generating results, which were fine since "Paperback Writer" was playing on WBZ's Nightline Show with Dick Summer at the time, along with much other pyschedelia like The Beacon Street Union, and The Ultimate Spinach.

The way to do it, if you must, is to connect two series caps of 600V to each microphone lead, one to the chassis, the other to a stick as a probe. Turn the radio on and find the detector, and that will work. Listen for your own voice, or loud feedback.

It was Winter, but the window was cracked open enough to let various antenna feedlines through the opening and over to a shortwave radio - a Hallicrafters S-38, which I still have. Actually a lot of that junk you see in the background is still in place at my mother's house, another time capsule.

Location: Newton Centre MA, off Langley Rd, near the Hammond Pond Woods. Date: Late 1966.

Waterworks Steam Engine - predating Steampunk by over a century

2009-12-25T08:10:00.005-05:00

Unlike an interior shot of the engine room of Captain Nemo's Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, this seemingly Jules Verne inspired four story high, triple expansion Levitt Steam engine is absolutely real.

The story is that my friends Jim and Jamie knew the engineer, Bruce, who was in charge of this out-of-commission pumping station that still is located in Chestnut Hill, MA, very close to Boston College.

We made several visits to this amazing time capsule of gages and valves, and an incredible array of German silver fittings, and huge flywheels that went through the floor to the decks below, with cast iron spiral staircases leading to service decks covered with more gages and oilers.

At that time I was the proud owner of a Nikon F with a 50mm F2 lens (the F1.4 was much desired, but costly) and a small supply of Kodak Ektachrome T transparency film with an ASA of 100, process E4. Film and processing were expensive and I had other things to do with the $10 it would have cost to process this cassette, so I put it aside, in 1972, only to find again in 2005.

So I sent it to a lab called Rocky Mountain Film Services or something, and they promised to process it properly, and if I was lucky, there would be some image remaining. After a long wait, I was surprised to see a pile of underexposed prints show up at my door - disappointed and angry I was - because they had processed the E4 film as a color negative! Aghast I put the film away. What a loss.

Then, last month, I bought an Epson 750 pro film scanner. This is the same scanner that produced the good scan of Hemlock Gorge that is shown elsewhere on this blog. So last week I finally pulled out "The Waterworks Negatives" and got to work, using the Epson scan utility, some patience, and a dose of Photoshop, and here is the result.

Click on the image for a larger view. I think I will do this again, and at even higher resolution.

The Boston or Metropolitan Water Works fell under the Metropolitan District Commission which was eventually folded into the State Police. A few years ago, the roof of this building had holes in it from neglect, and the brass, steel and wood were badly corroded. Now it is a partially restored museum, and some of the space has been converted into extremely expensive condominiums.

Zones of Diffraction

2009-12-17T21:30:00.003-05:00

Speed Graphic Chop Job Gets Weird

2009-12-11T11:03:00.003-05:00

It all started out innocently enough, I thought. Shortening an Anniversary Speed Graphic, first stripping off the leather, sanding, filling and cleaning up the brass. Then out came the red Dykem, a marking dye used for scribing metal surfaces and other machining tasks, and for coloring and staining, but here applied directly to the mahogany in a cavalier way. Chopping a Speed Graphic so that the lens to film distance is shorter should allow the use of a wide angle 65mm Angulon with a 6cm X 12cm rollfilm back.

All of this is related to transducers and the rest of the material in this blog, but that's not apparent yet.

A large, high dynamic range file - Polaroid Type 55 Negative

2009-11-25T17:15:00.010-05:00

Video, audio and photographic imaging share many things in common, including the need for lots of data to deliver and present detailed information over a large area, or time frame. In the case of music, compression schemes lighten the data load while degrading the original file. Images suffer the same degradation in jpeg compression.

Blogger is set up to give you a clickable thumbnail image, like the one you see on the left derived from a 4X5" Polaroid Type 55 black and white instant negative shot with a view camera. The scene is Hemlock Gorge in Newton, MA, where the Charles River spills over several dams built before the turn of the last century.

Click on the image, wait for it to load (a fraction of a second if you have broadband) and thank google.Or click here and get the full size file.

WSCA - FM Portsmouth Community Radio 106.1 FM and streaming

2009-10-26T16:00:00.000-04:00

My friend and WSCA on-air jazz docent Gary Lowe sent me a link to Portsmouth New Hampshire's WSCA FM. WSCA has a live stream and I am now listening to an Orbital remix at 4pm local. Great stuff. Check out WSCA - they need your help! Send money, PCs, equipment etc.

New CD "The Juggler's Progress" from True Margrit

2009-10-22T19:37:00.002-04:00

I met Margrit Eichler at the 2006 AES in San Francisco and have subscribed to her mailing list ever since. Just got her band's new CD today, (which has not left the changer since it arrived here last week!) and it reminds me a little of Zamcheck, from the 70s, and Stormin Norman and Suzy, but not really. Here's an entertaining clip of True Margrit from Youtube.

The Stylophone

2009-10-20T21:39:00.004-04:00

World's first vacuum tube ribbon mic - pre WWII

2009-10-20T07:57:00.002-04:00

I've scanned in and posted an excerpt from Electronics Magazine of this fascinating article about early ribbon microphones using phantom power and with tube amps on board. Julius Weinberger was a well known writer in various hi tech magazines of the day, and this particular gem caught my eye recently.

This article is 75 years old! It is amazing that nearly all of the advancements in ribbon microphone technology were demonstrated that far back. The only fundamental aspect that has changed is the ribbon - and the elimination of "foils". And that occurred in 2007.

Here is the link

Bopnique.com

2009-10-19T21:57:00.000-04:00

The current front page artwork of Anthony Resta's Studio Bopnique home page, with enough contrast so you can see the music lessons in progress. It's amazing how photoshop can bring an image out of the fog, making details visible, restoring tonal gradients enough to delineate shape and form.

Old movies have this high contrast look after many years of reprinting. Each successive print loses dynamic range, and eventually the images are all black and white, with no greys. The Three Stooges sometimes look that way, same with The Little Rascals, if you can find
them.Visit the liquid centre of the rhythm factory,
the heart of the sci-fi mambo lab

2009-10-17T15:05:00.002-04:00

did i turn you on final - dave caira and ajax

2009-10-15T21:39:00.001-04:00

WZBC 90.300 MHz FM Newton/Boston

2009-10-15T21:02:00.004-04:00

As I type this entry I am listening to the program "Rare Frequency" on my favorite radio station WZBC in Newton, at Boston College.

Ambient, progressive, experimental, unclassifiable. This is where I discovered Heiner Goebbel's Eislermaterial, P5, Demos of Saturn, and numerous other heady favorites.

From their own website:

"...in 1979 when our broadcast signal became stereo. However, arguably the most important change in WZBC history occurred later that year, or perhaps the following one (depending on whom you ask), when the station changed its format to something called modern rock. The frequency formerly home to James Taylor and his ilk became inundated with innovative new bands which commercial radio would not touch. At approximately the same time, WZBC also began broadcasting more experimental music under the moniker, No Commercial Potential, thus changing the future of WZBC irrevocably. Since the initial format change, WZBC has grown to become one of the most influential and respected college stations in the country"

Indeed! Tune in on iTunes to Alexandra or Phader at 8am Eastern time on "Melody du Jour" for a selection of gems sure to make your music exploration explode, and stimulate your hunger once again for the new, the innovative, and the ear-opening sounds.

iTunes 9 is an artless disappointment

2009-10-15T08:05:00.003-04:00

If you are thinking of upgrading to iTunes 9 and you don't have an iPhone, you might want to wait. The problem is that Apple has changed the color scheme in such a way that viewing iTunes 9 on the glossy screen of the Macbook Pro is nearly impossible unless you turn off all the room lights. I made this mistake and now find I can't go back to the previous version. To all those (including me) who have griped about Microsoft, I can tell you I feel no better about Apple, and find them to be at least as draconian, and more simple-minded than MS. For instance, there are no controls that you can access to change simple items like screen colors and backgrounds. Amazingly thoughtless, and artless. from a company that depends on those who speak, think and live aesthetics. Or at least used to.

Tim Spencer's New Preamp and Very Cool Shades

2009-10-14T21:31:00.001-04:00

True Systems PT2 500 Series Pre-Amp : AES 2009 from On The Mark Media on Vimeo.

FUJICHIA

2009-10-12T18:59:00.002-04:00

KSM 313 and KSM 353 at the Shure Booth - AES 2009

2009-10-12T12:37:00.000-04:00

Hands fondling a KSM313 (previously Naked Eye Roswellite) and next to a KSM353 (el Diablo Stainless) at the Shure booth.

Nice to see these mics go into a big channel like Shure!

Neumann and Sennheiser Booth

2009-10-12T12:33:00.001-04:00

A lot smaller than previous years, especially the Neumman section, which was literally a corner of the larger, but very modestly-sized Sennheiser booth at this year's AES show in New York.

AES Antennas

2009-10-12T12:31:00.000-04:00

Bunch of antennas at the Shure booth. L-R Helical circularly polarized, above that some little antenna or something, two shark fins, AKA "paddles" and some wireless mics and gadgets.

Wireless is in a state of flux these days, with TV Band Devices (TVBDs) that are going to occupy the so-called White Spaces, and other band changes from the FCC expected, including a possible future rule or order from FCC for wireless mics to vacate the 700 MHz band, maybe within a couple of years.

The performance wireless space is peopled by a lot of ham radio types, already familiar with the vagaries of coax, RF connectors, antenna patterns and other things not generally well known or appreciated by the audio crowd.

Roger Hooper - Composer

2009-10-09T20:40:00.002-04:00

I just now happened to see a tweet from Roger Hooper, who I remembered from his brilliant VOA themes that had caught my attention before. Roger must be at AES right now and was attending some of the sessions today.

What I like about theme songs, news bulletins,film scores and incidental music for film and TV, is that it is Art with a Purpose. Art with a purpose is sometimes spoken of as mere craft, but it is not so. Well-directed, clear musical concepts that work in their specific context are rare in "art" music today. Sometimes it takes the limitations and to-the-point requirements of commercials to distill the essence into concise, strong and satisfying minute-long segments.

Here is a link to Roger's website.

FUBAR III Headphone Amplifier

2009-10-08T19:49:00.002-04:00

Apparently just in time for the Holiday Season is this nicely knobbed FUBAR III headphone amplifier.

I assume that FUBAR had a FUBAR 1 and 2 that preceded the III, but I never spotted it before today. Companies sometimes spend a lot of effort on naming their products, or, like us, let the customers make suggestions. If that was the case with the FUBAR III, then you should know what FUBAR has stood for since at least World War II.

FUBAR - acronym

Army definition -- Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition

FUBAR is a close cousin to SNAFU. Hopefully, new owners of the FUBAR III won't have one. FUBARITE, the mineral is also interesting.

2009-10-08T10:42:00.000-04:00

The Naming of Roswellite - Advanced Acoustic Nanomaterial

2009-10-08T06:58:00.006-04:00

Quite a few people have asked recently how Roswellite got its name. Since I will be at AES this year and might run into you, here is a piece written before Shure Inc. purchased the rights to Roswellite for use in their KSM313 and KSM353 Ribbon Microphones. If you haven't heard, Shure Inc. manufactures the mics in Illinois, using the same methods, materials and tooling that we used at Crowley and Tripp.

ONLY Shure has this material. No other ribbon microphone manufacturers have it.

Here is a link to that article in which the naming of Roswellite is mentioned. It happened at Tape Op Con 2007, and was helped by some of the attendees who were at the booth who had a hard time with "acoustic nanofilm", which meant nothing to them, but a world to us!

Birds are Missing in New England

2009-10-07T13:54:00.000-04:00

Where have all the birds gone? A month ago I noticed a sharp drop off of goldfinches at the feeder. The local bird seed supplier has seen his sales of birdseed go to almost nothing, as there are so few takers at the feeders.

Time for a ride

2009-10-04T10:35:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year, cool, crisp days and long shadows in the afternoons, the most comfortable time for a bike ride through the multicolored Fall foliage New England is famous for. This year looks like a good one for the leaf peepers, with brilliant maple reds and other intense and vibrant colors in evidence on the higher hillsides and frostier valleys.

Reviewed Proposal Paper - a new form of patent publication in scientific literature

2009-10-04T09:32:00.007-04:00

I am developing, and proposing, a new subclass of scientific paper called a "Reviewed Proposal Paper" (RPP) that allows an author or group to propose new scientific inquiry, thought, research, technology development or other advances, while supporting the rights and proprietary nature of the work, which is often funded by private investors. Today, patent applications are usually ignored in the academic literature, yet patent applicants must consider academic publications as a matter of law. This inconsistency has led to a knowledge disparity and unproductive conflict in the industrial sciences, in particular, which slows progress, and wastes or misdirects funding from both private and public sectors.

In addition to peer review, an RPP will track the disclosure format necessary to satisfy an improved, more well-vetted patenting process geared toward higher quality and valid patents. Additionally, the RPP, if adopted, will open the vetting process for patents earlier than presently supported by the United State Patent Office publication rules, allow public, scientific, academic and industrial comment on patent applications, and provide a process for the supply of pertinent so-called "prior art", which would be collected in a database, and other public disclosures and publications made at a date earlier than the date of the RPP or its attendant patent filing.

The first RPP hasn't been written. The review process hasn't been ascertained, nor have the potentially varied paths to publication, which could include academic journals, online publishing, and perhaps even multimedia been given enough consideration yet to propose. These are the minimum requirements: A system, possibly one put in place on a for-profit or not-for-profit basis, could supply a framework to regulate the accumulation of qualified comments and contributions in the idea vetting process. The barest essentials might consist of the following:

1. The RPP, available online on or after the date of first filing at the USPTO or other patent office working within the rules of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

2. A references list of all references supplied initially (if any) by the author(s) of the RPP.

3. A submitted references file in which any interested party may submit qualified references that are pertinent to the novelty, teaching and realization of the matter disclosed in the RPP, before the first date(s) of disclosure.

4. The commenting section, in which submissions are either accepted or rejected, based upon relevance, date and other criteria, populated by at least one peer.

5. The summary section, containing all the accumulated references-to-date, in a form that can be readily used and accessed by academia, industry, patent examiners, attorneys and others interested in the prosecution course.
6. The response section, in which the author(s) of the RPP can further explain the matter in the RPP, and make amendments based upon newly uncovered prior art and other preceding publications and verifiable knowledge.

The system would run in stages paralleling the traditional patent process , such as the filing stage, the prosecution stage, the post-grant stage (where the standards for introducing new matter might require a higher materiality criteria), and even the reexamination stage, which this system would possibly reduce the need for. Reexamination is a process of challenging a patent at the patent office, sometimes well after it has been granted. It is sometimes used by well-funded entities to "clear a path" through patents they would otherwise have to pay royalties to use, and it avoidably wastes greater resources, time, money, and opportunity than if a more open system was in place.

The most fundamental concept of such a system, if adopted, would be to continue and make better the important deal between inventors and innovators, and the rights-granting bodies: In return for bringing forth the idea for the benefit of the public, the inventor receives a short period of exclusivity so that he or she may benefit from the value of the invention, and after that time, the invention becomes available to all. Today that short period is approximately 20 years.

Motorola Dome

2009-10-01T11:26:00.001-04:00

I have quite a few old radios lying about, and some of them have interesting details such as this Motorola table radio from the 1950s, complete with an atomic domed tuning window against a greenish plastic cold war motif. If you look closely, you can see the mandatory Conelrad marking on the dial, put there in US radios as part of an early warning system in the event of incoming Russian ICBMs. Remnants of Conelrad, which is a contraction of "Control of Electromagnetic Radiation", can be heard in the occasional Emergency Broadcast System alert. For many years, we also had a weekly warning siren that could be heard across America, usually at noon, on Fridays. We called it "the twelve o'clock whistle".