EARS presents Wes Dooley
At the Audio Technology Center of Columbia College
33 East Congress, Chicago, IL
Tuesday, November 27th 7:00pm

Hey Hey!

Well, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I’m just so pleased to tell you that this month’s meeting is a presentation by the one and only Wes Dooley. Quoting his own website: “Wes Dooley’s longtime passion for audio has infused his company, Audio Engineering Associates (AEA), with a well balanced blend of creativity and technical expertise for forty years. At the core of AEA is a genuine interest in the art and science of audio”. Wes has been on our mailing list and after EARdrums have gone out he’s dropped me a line or two that he was just missing the date by a day and had always wanted to make it to one of our meetings. What an encouraging thing to hear! Well, after a few near misses we decided to just book him. My simple request: “Talk to us about Ribbons. Talk to us about your new Ribbon Pre. Talk to us about Audio and Music. Talk to us about whatever keeps your ribbon stored upright, but come on out and talk to us”. This is sure to be a memorable night. I’ve been drooling over gear lately and have come close a couple of times to putting in an order for a pair of his R84s. Former EARS VP, Mark Rubel said to me, “The AEA R84 has the kind of magical personality that I seek in a mic, just about the only modern mic that has that quality for me. I can't believe I don't own one or two! I think I'm going to sell a bunch of mics I don't use, and get some.” Needless to say I immediately started fishing for what mics he might want to sell!

Special thanks go out to Gary and Mary Mazurek-Khan for securing the ATC at Columbia for us. It’s on the Lower Level and the entrance is on Wabash near the SW corner. Once inside, just follow the signs. The CTA is very near as is the Eisenhower Expressway & Lake Shore Drive. If driving, there’s a $6 lot just South of the building. Another lot across the street is slightly more. (Prices subject to change. My info very well might be outdated.)

Please note that the meeting time is a half hour earlier than usual as we really need to be out of the facility by 10:00. It would also be helpful to get an idea of the numbers we’re expecting so please RSVP to me.

Also note that due to the logistics, there won’t be any of the usual food and beverage offered, so grab something beforehand. - KJH



Recap/Appreciation File

Well, last month at planet10studios was another great night for EARS. I’d heard the results and seen a photo or two, but getting to finally see the place in person was a real treat. Jimmy’s done a lot of great things with his space and collected some cool and eclectic gear. It’s one of those places that just feels like you could make music there, clearly the result of a true love of the craft. Of course, there was a great spread laid out for us and all this made for a great night of shared stories, interesting ideas, and just general fun that only we could understand.

As our secretary wasn’t able to join us that night, we don’t have the usual astounding amount of detail to report, but I can tell you my favorite little items were the creative acoustic treatments and the Vac Rac pres. Quite a bit of my time was spent after the meeting looking further into those hard to come by pieces of temptation.

On a fun little note, our hometown DIY mic guru, Scott Helmke, turned up with a 6 pack of DIY beer. Is there anything he can’t make from scratch?

Actually, there was quite a nice turnout, especially for a meeting out in the burbs. Thanks to everyone for making the drive out as it’s the people that make EARS the fun time it always is.

Jimmy asked me to include this note to y’all:

“I personally want to thank all the members that participated in the October meeting. I enjoyed the event greatly and was honored to have so many members see planet10. I promise that next year we’ll welcome more members for another meeting of fun, food, drink and tech talk.
Thanks again to you all,
Jim Johnson”

Thanks Jimmy – KJH



EARS Holiday Party

Next month we’ll have our annual Jeff Hamilton Memorial Holiday Party. The last Tuesday of December falls on Christmas Day this year, so at this point the plan is for our annual Holiday Party to be on the prior Tuesday, the 18th. Details will be forthcoming in the December EARdrum, of course, but try to keep the date open. On the other hand, the date isn’t quite set in stone, so let me know if it’s not going to work and if I get enough negative response we’ll look at other options.



Suggestions Welcome!

There are endless good reasons to band together here as EARS. It can be whatever we want it to be. If you have any ideas for the EARdrum, our website, or future meetings, please email me. We still have a lot of great meeting plans lining up for next year, some website plans, and a lot of good fresh energy and hopes for a more vibrant, participatory EARS, so of course we're very interested in your input on everything EARS. Please. :) - KJH



Dues!

Thanks to all who support EARS through paying their dues. Just as a reminder, they're due yearly by the October meeting and this is a prerequisite for voting and joining us for the Holiday Party. Dues checks can be made out to EARS and given to me or our treasurer, Eric Roth, or sent to the following address:
Engineering and Recording Society of Chicago, C/O Eric Roth, Treasurer, PO Box 98, Highland Park, IL 60035-0098 - KJH



“Election Time” or “To Haps or Not To Haps”

It’s also time again for the election. At this point I’m the only candidate. (How boring, uh? I don’t even get a single debate!) According to the bylaws, nominations for president of EARS were held at the September meeting. Our V.P., Michael Kolar, nominated me to serve another year. I accepted and no one has challenged. As I said last month, in many ways, it feels like we’ve only just begun (good luck getting Karen Carpenter out of your head now) so of course I’d be happy to continue for another year, hoping to continue the current trend that seems to have EARS on the upswing with our numbers growing, interest swelling, and from what I can tell, our general vibe improving. The next step, according to the bylaws, of sending a ballot with the October EARdrum to be counted at the November meeting became a moot point with only one candidate. At the October meeting, nominees could be given the opportunity to address the EARS membership. Let the record show that I gave a “Mission Accomplished” speech standing on the console at planet10studios. The bottom line, as always, is a simple majority vote at the November meeting. In this case, and not too uncharacteristically of EARS’ history, this appears to be a mere formality. If this actually amounts to a vote of confidence, I thank you. If however, this is actually just a lack of concern, then I challenge you to wake up and think about what your EARS could be and put some pressure on us! For those dues-paid members who would like to exercise their right to vote, but cannot be at the meeting, feel free to email your vote to me or one of the other officers, from the email address you receive the EARdrum at, with your vote (either “EARS To Haps” or “EARS Not to Haps”) as the subject line with your name, physical contact info, and last dues payment date and method as the body of the email. That’ll give us a way of confirming the legitimacy of the election if it’s contested for any reason. - KJH



A (few) (more) word(s) from the Prez...
or “The Horizontal Canal”

Well, this turns out to be a relatively short EARdrum by recent standards and I’m in no way inclined to stretch it just to fill space, so I’ll close with very little more to add.

Please do let me know of any Grammy nominations of your own work or any of our other members or local colleagues so I can mention it next month.

Though I’m not quite sure why, my little personal spin on things in these little end-of-the-EARdrum pieces seems to be popular. I really don’t understand it, as I always feel a little guilty as though I’m using this as my personal blog. Hmmm… Maybe I’ll take to calling this section the Inner EAR, or maybe even the Vestibule or one of the Canals. Perhaps the Horizontal Canal as I usually end up writing this when I really should be sleeping. In any case, this month’s news in my personal recording world is a new matched pair of Chameleon Labs TS-1s. They’re small diaphragm tube condensers and they’re pretty sweet. I’ve used them as a stereo pair out front of a big band jazz concert but been so busy that I haven’t even listened back to the results. They sounded pretty nice on site, though, so I’m not expecting to differ with Mark Rubel’s review or George Massenburg’s endorsement. I’ll be using them on an album project I’m starting work on the first of the month and I just can’t wait.

By the way, I’m quite surprised that my little “I’m in the market for…” mention last month didn’t result in more response. Come on people, I’ve got some serious gear lust going! I mean, I’ve got to assume there are a lot of people out there who would love to sell me some of their used gear, right? I’m still very much in purchasing mode. Of course, while I am interested in a few things, I’d also like to gauge how much interest there might be in an EARS resource for info on gear and/or services for sale, rent, etc.

So have a great Thanksgiving, everyone, and we’ll see you next week. Remember the 3 to 1 rule: 3 portions of tryptophan is worth at least 1 drink if you’re driving. :)

At your service,
Kerry J Haps