Aaron Rigg

 The process of building a microphone pre was nevertheless an educational experience that I will certainly value post-graduation. I had done some soldering before, and wanted to try my hand at soldering a piece of my own and what no better thing to try than a 500 series module, since I spend a handful of time around 500 series every day.

At times I felt the project relaxing, almost therapeutic in a way. I thoroughly loved coming home to work on it a little every week. Looking back on the project now, I wish I would’ve chosen a different kit in general. The Rupert Neve schematic is cool and is a great piece of gear, It just may have been a little hard.

I wish I would’ve gotten one of the Kits from Audio Maintenance Limited. For one, they were so much cheaper. They sold absolutely all of the parts in one kit, faceplate knobs and all for around 300 bucks. My build in the end cost me around 650 American Dollars. One advantage would have also been not having to resort to 4 different part retailers, as I despise managing more than what is necessary.

Building one of those Kits would have also been a lot easier as well due to the fact that there was less parts to stuff in the end. The Carnhill Transformers, the foundation of the sound in general, would have been the same. Just a slightly different schematic requiring less parts.

Another confusing concept to work around was the fact that this kit was meant for 51XX and 500 series rails, The main difference being the power draw. 500 series drawing +16v versus the 51XX using the +24v rail. There were parts that didn’t need to be added in the end for the 24v rail, and the details between configuring it for the two were vague.

Moving forward, as this doesn’t work properly, signal cuts in and out and needs calibrated with a 1k tone etc, is to work on this to get it to work. I spent a considerable amount of money on this kit, and when it works it will prompt me to get the EQ addon module for it.

I had the opportunity to Record and Mix this project, give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Soundcloud is a sound sharing platform in which anyone can create a sound, and upload the sample within seconds instantly to the internet for everyone to easily access from their Computer, Phone and Tablet. Alex Ljung started Soundcloud about 10 years ago, and continues to still be a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.

I have been using Soundcloud now for nearly 6 years for my own personal use. I release music under the moniker “Dalla Ri”. I personally chose to primarily use Soundcloud simply because of how simple the process of releasing music on the platform is. 

Before Soundcloud, their never existed a primary website dedicated to hosting independent music and remixes, besides Youtube which doesn’t necessarily count due to the fact that Youtube hosts videos, while soundcloud strictly hosts audio files such as .mp3, .wav, .aiff etc.

While Soundcloud may not be an ideal streaming service for the avid music listener, it certainly is for the dj/producer area of musicians, or independent musicians in general. www.soundcloud.com. Check it out!

I am pleased to announce that R. Joseph Group has added a new line to their list of Represented Manufacturers: Audionamix

Audionamix is an Audio-Software company that manufactures standalone software and plugins that enable their users to separate elements from a mix into their own stems. 

This mean you can create instrumentals, Accapellas, as well as Karaoke versions of any song using just the master mix. I would recommend this tool for literally everyone, including Mastering engineers and anyone who specializes in recovering audio.

Vice Media LLC. is a media and broadcasting company based in North America. Originating as a magazine out of Montreal, Vice was co-founded by Suroosh Alvi, Shane Smith, and Gavin McInnes.

I personally enjoy reading Vice, and many of the sub-media outlets under the Vice LLC umbrella. The different “channels” all cater to specific topics. Munchies = Cooking. Waypoint = Video Games. Etc.

I personally resonate with Munchies and Waypoint. They are perfect platforms for anyone interested in those topics to go and absorb information from like-minded individuals. Vice’s channels also all have discussion boards as well, thus promoting the community to engage with one another.

Return Merchandise Authorization. Return Authorization. RMA. RA. All some of the technical names. Bottom line, this is what we call a broken unit that has been returned to the Manufacturer. The kicker in this scenario is that the Manufacturer is not located in the United States. DUN DUN DUN. So this is where I come into play...

With Music Max Distribution being the only U.S. distributor for Fredenstein or Wes Audio... Every single return will come back to our office for testing and confirmation the units are defective. 

I am the one who will be forwarded the information from one of our Dealers (For example: Elliott VanHorn at Sweetwaer). Once I get the information or request, I fill out our standard MMD RMA request form and than assign it a number. Once an RA# has been assigned to the faulty unit, the dealer can than send it back in in reference to that RA#. 

Once I’ve tested and confirmed the unit is defective, I will work to send an advanced replacement or make sure a credit is issued to the end user. 

Information sure is beautiful. Especially in the form of fancy charts with numbers with neon colors on a sleek-black background.

This particular chart reflected the various Music streaming platforms and the amount of respective royalties paid out by each platform. Strange enough, Napster and Tidal both pay the highest amount of Royalties, even though they have the least amount of users in general. Youtube ultimately payed the least amount of royalties per play, while having the highest number of users.

This chart also reflected percentage-wise how many of their users were free users. Apple Music as well as Napster did not have free counter parts. I find a weird correlation between the two, as Apple Music pays the average of every platform put together’s average in royalties per play. Apple Music also has the medium number of users too. It’s literally a straight line on the chart if you look. Napster however, if the complete opposite.

Maybe Napster could learn a thing or two from Apple Music’s model? Let me know what you think.

 It has been a hot minute, and with the recent spring break and work, I was able to receive in all of the parts from mouser. I can also say I’ve resolved the issue obtaining transformers, I also have those. Exciting stuff! 

With it being spring break, I didn’t quite take a break from soldering… So I soldered some gadgets to pass the time waiting for the parts.

For example: A Resistance Learning Board

I found this little exercise to be fun, as I was able to learn something about resistors I fully did not understand before. As you can see in the picture above, each resistor band has a different color pattern that represents a number resistance.

It took me roughly 45 minutes to figure out which piece went where. Once everything was all put in place, and the LED’s, Power Barrel, and switch were soldered on, I got the following results. 

So the highest resistance resulted in the dimmest LED. I can also say I was able to obtain some fun little DIY kits for 6 bucks a piece on amazon for some fun. (little stereo ear amplifier kit with an FM Receiver and Transmitter)

Having brushed up on my soldering, and having fun while at it, I can also say that I have the resistors now in place on the PCB of my actual MicPre. I plan to put the iron to it this weekend, while working on it throughout the week with placing capacitors and potentially the transformers. Stay tuned!

Tim and I had the pleasure of shooting a short Demonstration film over the new Wes Audio _Hyperion! This was shot and edited over the course of 6 hours or so, in order to pitch the concept to the principal, Mr. Joseph himself. 

Needless to say, he loved the video, but hated the audio. (We had a hunch that’d be the case). 

Going forward, we plan to film short videos like these to highlight some of our brand’s newest innovative projects, as well as any specific features that sets them apart from other pieces of gear sold today.

Enjoy this pilot, while it lasts!