Hey Hey!
EARS meets this month at Deaf Dog Music. John Ovnik is back in his original River North facility at 325 West Huron, Suite 708. That's just across the street from where he's been for a dozen years since going out on his own after parting ways with his Chicago Music Works partners. (Note that the pics on the website are still from the previous location) John emailed me, offering to host a meeting sometime. I took about a second to recall the fact that he's got a Focusrite console, one of only a handful in existence, and then another second to get him on the phone and nail it down. Other than checking out his amazing centerpiece, I'm sure we're in for quite a night of interesting stories and info about all the commercial work and music recording of Deaf Dog Music. Public transportation is easy, with the nearby Brown Line stop at Chicago and Franklin, which is also a bus stop. Parking is available with pay lots, meters, and valet at National 27 in the same building. As usual we'll have food and drink available so don't be late! (BTW... Our secretary will not be able to make the meeting Tuesday, so if you'd like to help out by taking some notes, it would be much appreciated. Drop me a line.) - KJH
Recap/Appreciation File
Well, of course last month's 'meeting' was the annual Jeff Hamilton Memorial Holiday Party, this time at Sabatinos. Even if I hadn't had such a good time, the emails I received after the fact confirm that it was a great night for all. A little food, a little drink, a crowd of our favorite Chicago engineers, producers, and studio owners... What's not to like? It's been a tougher than usual choice to keep the EARdrum lo-fi (text only) as I have just the best possible picture of our very own Harry Brotman in his natural environment! We had a good turnout and it just felt like such a wonderful capstone to the year. Special thanks to Don Morris of RMGI and Greg Groeper of Wavnet for helping with the costs. Interestingly, on the night of January 3rd there was an electrical fire in the kitchen which has put them temporarily out of business. Check their website for details and, if you know of any temporary work that could help out Arthur, our excellent waiter for the night, let us know. For those who like to inquire repeatedly as to whether the EARS leadership is on top of the situation with regard to planning these important events (the ones centered on food and drink), rest assured that we are already auditioning locations for this year's party. - KJH
Next Month
Things are lining up but I can't quite announce it yet. You'll want to keep the usual last Tuesday open. It should be quite a night. - KJH
AES
I'm told that this month's AES meeting will feature Mike Stoica, President of Sytek/Neotek, discussing the validity of analog signal paths alongside today's DSP equivalents. Sounds like a "can't miss" to me. It's at the usual Skokie Holiday Inn at 7:30 on January 31st (this Thursday). As usual, their meetings are open to all interested. I highly recommend, if EARS isn't enough for you or if you just need a little more of a dosage of the extremely technical side of things, to check out our Chicago AES chapter meetings. We keep a pretty high caliber of events happening thanks to the great leadership right here in Chicago. In this particular case, while I got word directly from Gary Khan about it, I haven't seen the AES meeting announcement come out yet, so it might be wise to double check the AES Chicago Chapter website before heading there. -KJH
Grammys!
Once again, EARS members (plus a guest) are invited to join the Recording Academy Chicago Chapter's Grammy Awards Telecast Viewing Party at the Hard Rock Café. It's at 6:00 PM on Sunday, February 10, of course. It includes hors d' oeuvres, an open bar, an official Grammy Awards program book and more. "Dress to Impress", the invite says. It also says "18 years and older, ID required". Capacity is limited and RSVP is required by 5:00 Thursday night, February 7th to me at this address so I can check that you're a current, dues paid member of EARS and get your info over to our friends at NARAS. - 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. Also, I'd like to complete our files with the pre-2001 EARdrums. By my calculations we're missing the first 16 years! I know Timothy Powell has a year or so on his Metro-Mobile website but that still leaves a lot missing. If you happen to have your old paper copies or files you could get to me, I would love to get them online for posterity. Let me know. - 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 and BBQ in August (and the upcoming Grammy 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 “All Bits Are On”
Well, sincere apologies for this coming out so late. Don't tell me you won't make the meeting because you didn't know about it... we're very good about sticking to the last Tuesday and we always have something good planned... Just put it in your schedule already! Still, I do wish this could have come out sooner. Please keep in mind that it's a volunteer position. :)
Sadly, I haven't heard any reports as to who's up for Grammys this year. I'm sure it's just lack of communication. Surely at least Timothy Powell has something! Let me know so I can root for you. Maybe I'll even make a few calls for you. :)
Here we are in Volume 23 of the EARdrum. Could this thing really have been going steadily for 23 years? Wow. It's as old as my stepson. As I mentioned earlier, do let me know if you've got any old EARdrums to share. It's truly an honor to be in charge of keeping this long-standing tradition.
In a perfect world, I'd have the time to prepare some sort of annual report for you. In reality, I don't. But I couldn't help but notice that we hit the double mark on our membership recently. Yes, it looks like our dues paid membership has doubled in the past year. I'm not going to be so arrogant as to take credit for that, not even for the cabinet as a group, but I will say that I hope some of our efforts have been at least partly responsible for this trend. EARS is a great thing to belong to. EARS is how we hears. EARS often provides beers. And as there's safety in numbers, EARS today has only half the fears.
(Ok... is there anything I won't do to get someone to start thinking of running against me?)
Of course, the most cursory review of the last year begins also with looking at the meetings we put together (and enjoyed together!). I actually feel pretty darn good about it. I remember each one of them fondly and if the coming year is in any way at least similar, I'm really looking forward to it. The best part, of course, is hanging out with all of you, so if you haven't been to as many meetings as you'd like, it's not too late for a New Year's Resolution.
And what about the personal notes I usually like to add here? What do I mean by "All Bits Are On"? Well, again I can report listening with new ears in my little home studio. Last month it was thanks to my new Primacoustic RX-7s. Have you tried 'em yet? What are you waiting for? This time, it's an Apogee Rosetta 800. No, I'm not new to hearing audio through good converters with a good clock, but at home, yes, I was a little too adjusted to my Digi 002Rs level of "quality". I work with much better systems, but you know, it's so funny how we are able to settle for what we have to work with in certain situations. Again, a straight up A/B comparison is hard to achieve with equipment on hand, but wow, what a joy to hear these converters and clock in action. I have a few extra hoops to jump through, remembering to switch my sample rate back to 44.1 when I leave ProTools so that I can listen from iTunes while working on other things, like this EARdrum, but it's clearly worth the extra hassle.
One last note... to Santa. Come on. I know you got my note. What gives? Did I ask too much? More than a lot? You gave me nothing, now it's all I got... Ok... so I did that just to segue to the latest U2 news. Bono in 3D. Yes... Just when you thought it was safe to go to the IMAX, Bono and the boys have released "U2 3D: The First Live-Action 3D Concert Movie: Featuring U2" (Yes... They say U2 at the front and end of that phrase... Did I mention it's U2?) Well, I have to admit I'm going to have to see it. I mean... They're making a point that this isn't about gimmicks or little tricks like in that Friday the 13th movie when they had the yo-yo coming at the camera. Come on. This is Bono. If there is a camera within reach he'll grab it and press his face against it. If there's a spotlight within reach he'll grab it and point it up his nose (or down his pants). Don't get me wrong. I love him and I've worked with him (shameless name drop!) but like I'm going to believe this movie will be gimmick free! I'm expecting a giggle fest as I watch this one. Ok... and speaking of name drops. I'm in New York about 4 years ago for AES with my coworker, Brian Porick (one of the top Classical engineers in Chicago, I would assert). We're walking around, soaking in Manhattan, and we walk by the Ed Sullivan theater while they're taping Letterman. We turn down the side street and as we're walking along I notice a guy having a smoke with in-ear monitors dangling from his neck. I ask him if he's with the show. He gives me a "what's it to you?" response to which I answer that I'm also an audio engineer, in town for the convention. He gives me the "Oh yeh? Who've you worked with?" line. I don't normally like to do it, but I cop the same attitude and just say, "How about Bono? Is that good enough?". Well I guess it was. Suddenly he was our friend. It seems he's Paul Shaffer's guy and for whatever reason. He believed me and strangely, that was enough to treat me like a human. Whatever.
Well, that's it for now.
Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the Clip Lights Bite
At your service,
Kerry J Haps
