Hey Hey!
EARS meets this year for our annual Jeff Hamilton Memorial Holiday Party at Sabatinos Restaurant, 4441 W. Irving Park Rd., Chicago, IL. Check out their website at www.sabatinoschicago.com. There's free valet parking (but don't forget to tip!), an open bar from 7:00 to 8:00 and then a nice dinner, with soup, salad, an appetizer, choice of entrees, desert, and wine at the table(s). It's all on EARS with a little help from RMG International "The Masters of Analog Audio Tape". Special thanks to member Don Morris for his generous donation. This is Members Only. We don't do this often, but this is one of those occasions. Current, dues paying EARS members are covered, and they can bring a guest for an additional $15.00. RSVP, ASAP, please, to me by email so I can get a count. It's very important in this case that I have a number to give them or it could cost us significantly more, so let me know. Let's call it a deadline of Monday night. Capisce? If you're not up to date on your dues, RSVP and bring a check or cash to the party. Special thanks to our V.P., Michael Kolar for finding Sabatinos and setting it up. - KJH
Recap/Appreciation File
Last month's meeting with Wes Dooley of Audio Engineering Associates (AEA) was just a blast. What a dynamic, enthusiastic character! He shared his personal story and a lot of info about his passion, ribbon mics in the RCA tradition. There's just too much to tell and I don't know how we would sum it up. Special thanks go out to Gary and Mary Mazurek-Khan for securing the Audio Technology Center at Columbia for us and for bringing an array of examples of AEA mics. Renee at AEA was also very helpful in setting this up. Wes, his Sales Manager Steve Trunnell (another great guy), Sam Rodgers of Sweetwater, Our VP, Michael Kolar, a few others and myself went for a drink afterward, and the fun stories and interesting insights just kept rolling. Wes and Steve, it was just such a pleasure. - KJH
The Dooley's EARS Deal
Wes had such a great time with us he wanted to extend a little special offer. Basically, EARS members who buy any AEA mic through this month of December get a free flight case thrown in. The case is setup to accommodate either 2 R84s or 2 R92s, The Ribbon Pre, and some accessories. Sam Rodgers at Sweetwater is the contact for this, so you'll need to buy through him. Give him a call at 800-222-4700 x1910 or email him at sam_rodgers@sweetwater.com and he'll hook you up. Sam's a great guy, an EARS member, and great to deal with if you have the chance. I went ahead and bought a full case, with a matched pair of R84s and The Ribbon Pre. I couldn't resist. I'd been eyeing these for awhile and decided there was no time like the present. I did a weekend of rhythm tracking with them as overheads, did some testing of various pres and mics for the lead vocal, and a live broadcast of a percussion ensemble and I've been very pleased so far. - KJH
Elections
Well, it's one more year. We went through the motions of our prescribed election process and no one was sucker enough to try and take this 'honor' away from me. As I said before. If it's a vote of confidence, then thank you very much. Do me a favor, though, next time, can someone at least pretend to run against me? I mean, just give me some hope! I've asked Michael Kolar to remain as V.P.. He's been a great support and I can't imagine doing it without him. Likewise, I've asked Chris Cwiak to remain as secretary and Eric Roth as treasurer. I owe them all a lot of thanks. Thanks also to the Steering Committee for their occasional help, advice, and concern for EARS. It's good to have folks around who've known EARS since back to the beginning and still care. I look forward to further opportunity to steer this ship, herd these cats, and do whatever I can to push us forward, in my spare time, of course. :) But I can't miss an opportunity to remind you that we can't do it without your input. In the coming weeks we'll be taking a good look at what we've done over the last year and considering how best to proceed. Here's to the future of EARS! -KJH
Next Month
Well, let's start the year off right, shall we? I've been trying to line up something in our tradition of classically oriented January meetings, but nothing's come together yet. We'll have to come back to that idea, because just now I got an email, quickly responded, and ended up on the phone, all between 3:00 and 4:00 AM to line up next month's meeting. I'll have to hold off until the details are straight to be more specific, but let's just say that next month we get to see a great facility and a piece of gear with only 5 siblings in existence. I for one am really looking forward to it. Stay tuned. - KJH
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 (maybe not so much as a year ago, but...) and hopes for a more vibrant, participatory EARS, so of course we're very interested in your input on everything EARS. Please. :) - KJH
Archives
Our Archives are again up to date. Check out the website for that and more EARS info. - KJH
A note about our Website
I've noticed that it doesn't automatically update in some web browsers. If you're looking for something and it looks like old info, try reloading the page. I'll see what I can do about it, but I think it would take a full redo to get it in a format that did this automatically for us.
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 for $25.00 (or cash, but no credit cards) 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
A (few) (more) word(s) from the Prez...
or “The Auditory Ossicles”
Well, it's late and I need to get this out so you can get me your RSVPs for the Holiday Party, so I'll be brief.
Please 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.
Our own Gary Tanin's work was reviewed very favorably in the December issue of Mix "The Sonics Are Amazing!" for his work with Roger Powell, Greg Koch, and himself on the album, Fossil Poets.
On a personal note. I started an album project recently (Producing, Engineering, etc.) with a big weekend-long rhythm tracking session that employed a bunch of new gear (Christmas came early), went extremely well, wore me out, and charged me up all at the same time. I was listening to playback while tearing down and caught myself realizing that I haven't been this excited about something I've recorded in at least a dozen years. I think we're on to something. Not that it's indicative of the album as a whole, but there's a song we're working on that I'm convinced will be the next Christmas classic. It's not even a Christmas song, more of a winter theme, but man, it's going to fit right in there as one of those tunes that just feels right for this time of year. I'm so looking forward to finishing this project up and seeing where it'll go.
Speaking of good music, and we should always be speaking of good music... Here's my holiday music recommendation for you... A little gift, you can consider it, if you're not already familiar. Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite, off the Three Suites Disc. Man oh man does this stuff swing. Sir Duke and his right hand man, Billy Strayhorn really outdid themselves on this one, if you ask me. I listen to it all year, but more so around the holidays to make up for the barrage of... barking dogs.
Also personally, I have a Presonus Digimax (the original with the beefy power supply) and a pair of Mackie HR824s I'd like to offload. Let me know if you're interested.
Oh, that reminds me. I picked up a pair of those Primacoustic RX-7 Recoil Stabilizers that I heard demonstrated at AES. It was impractical to really setup a proper A/B test and besides, I'd heard that at AES, but let me tell you, it's like listening with new ears. These are Monitor Isolation Pads on steroids. Trust me on this one. They're worth every penny.
So Hey! Happy Christmahanahkwanzakus, and C Novum Godum, everyone. Whatever you celebrate, be it Christmas with me, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus (also with me), and of course, New Years Eve, celebrate it safe. And whether it's Santa, Hanukkah Harry, (forgive me for not knowing enough about Kwanzaa to joke about it), or the Festivus Pole that visits your home, may you be surrounded by family, friends, and loved ones, and peace, health, and happiness. What the heck, we'll throw in prosperity and good music too.
And Santa, if you're reading this, I know I've been a little naughty at times, but I want a matched pair of U47s (with NOS VF 14s), a matched pair of U67s (with NOS EF86s), a matched pair of Ela-M 251s, a matched pair of C12s, a matched pair of 44s, a matched pair of 77s, a Binaural Head, a Focusrite console (or 2), a pair of great big ATCs, a medium pair of B&Ws, a pair of... whatever I'm forgetting... and a puppy.
At your service,
Kerry J Haps
