Hey Hey!
Back in the day, before it became expected to see a new studio or get a presentation on some topic, EARS was a group of engineers meeting over drinks to enjoy a little camaraderie and talk shop. This month we're bringing it back to basics. Let's drink a toast to the late Mike Rasfeld and all those who started this organization back in the late 80s. Join us at Twisted Spoke (at Ogden & Grand) right off the Ogden Ave. exit of the Kennedy. Make your way up the stairs (just inside the Ogden entrance) to their rooftop patio where we'll have some tables set aside. The first round and some appetizers is on EARS so be there at 7:30 if you'd like to take advantage. I'm told parking is easy as can be. Thanks much to Sean Nunan for setting this up for us! -KJH
Recap/Appreciation File
EARS MEETING AT WXRT-FM 3-25-08
This month's meeting was at the Chicago radio institution, 93.1 WXRT-FM at 4949 W. Belmont. This was likely one final look at this facility as it will be turned into storage for CBS Radio in the coming months as the station is moved to rejoin sister station 670 The Score (the two stations shared 4949 W. Belmont up until 2001) at NBC Tower and then after about a year and a half at that location, both stations will join the other five CBS Radio stations at 2 Prudential Plaza. At any rate, ‘XRT will move out of the only home its ever known, a home that it came to back before the station began broadcasting full-time in 1974. The original owners of the station at the 93.1 MHz frequency on the FM band, the Lee family, had studio space on the near west side of Chicago. When the 1968 riots broke out, the station found itself right smack-dab in the middle of a war zone. This prompted the move out beyond Cicero on Belmont Ave. In 1972, WXRT signed on as an experimental, progressive rock-oriented format during the night-time hours only. During the day, foreign language programming took place. Over the course of two years, WXRT grew a huge following and the Lee family decided to allow the format to go full-time. From there, the Lee family sold the station to Westinghouse, which then sold to Infinity Radio which in turn became CBS Radio. The building will be kept not only as storage, but also to continue to serve as a backup transmitter site for the five CBS Radio FM's here in Chicago. The huge generator behind the building can put out enough power with diesel fuel for all five backup transmitters on the 500 foot tower atop the building. WXRT's main transmitter site is about half way up the east mast of the Hancock and was originally purchased as a television transmitter so that it could have its own site on the tower.
Chief engineer Mark Nielsen hosted our visit & shared some interesting things about the signature sound of 'XRT. He explained his view on the typical trend of radio stations and many music producers to over-compress. WXRT is one of the quieter signals on the dial. If a part of a song gets quiet, it gets quiet on your radio if it's on 93.1. This is not the case on any other rock or pop station in town. Mark related a saying the founder of Orban, a maker of broadcast equalizers and compressors told to him once, "If people want their radio louder, they have a volume knob they can turn up. If you squash your signal and make it sound like hell, there's no de-crapify knob the listener can play with, it's just going to sound like hell." WXRT's processing thus stands in stark contrast to that of its peers who annoyingly clamor for the attention of those not willing to give it more than a few minutes anyway. Even if 'XRT wanted to over-process its signal, it still wouldn't be as loud as its competitors. There are two sub-carrier channels leased to Muzak that take up 20% of WXRT's FCC allotted bandwidth. Each station is allowed by the FCC to over-modulate by 5% per channel, which would be a total of 110% for 'XRT, but because of these sub-carriers, 'XRT is only allowed to broadcast at a maximum 90%. Mark's stated goal is to have the station's processing remain as transparent as possible. To that end, he explained the station's file storage system, AudioVAULT. This is home to all of the station's spots, promos, pre-recorded shows and the vast majority of 'XRT's gigantic music library. The server is approximately 1.4 terabytes, linear files with absolutely no file compression whatsoever, second in size only to the music library of former EARS president Mary Mazurek-Khan's very own WFMT-FM.
On a personal note, I was glad to set up this month's EARS meeting. I feel that I've really lucked out that my career started at WXRT and I was almost simultaneously appointed secretary of EARS as well. I feel that I owe so much to both of these fine institutions that have taught me so much. It's with much gratitude that I thank our host for the evening, Mark Nielsen. He's not only the chief engineer responsible for every sound-related application at Chicago's Finest Rock, he's also basically a de facto building engineer there, too. I've seen him do everything from change out bathroom lighting fixtures to hang fire extinguishers. Many of our members wear numerous different hats during their work day as well. This is one of the most important lessons I've learned from both: be diverse. Be a master of all trades. Be indispensable. But most importantly, love what you do. I consider myself very lucky to be able to do so.
-Chris Cwiak, EARS Secretary
Mike Rasfeld Website
Well, what a nice and perfectly timed surprise our own Mike Konopka passed along to me earlier this month. Jim Rasfeld, our own co-founder Mike's brother, has put together a very nice site dedicated to his brother. Please take a moment to peruse www.mikerasfeld.com. Jim's put a lot of care into this and I know you'll enjoy it. -KJH
The EARS Report
Jim was also kind enough to pass along this, possibly the first mention of EARS in print. What a treasure! The famous elevator scene where EARS was conceived was at the AES Conference in New York in October of 1985. The first EARS meeting was June 30 of 1986 and the following report in the December 1986 edition of the Gramophone (the Chicago Naras magazine) details a lot of what happened in those first few months...
The EARS Report
For those who are not already familiar with the Engineering and Recording Society of the Chicago Chapter of NARAS: the purpose of this group is to provide a format for recording engineers and studio owners to #1) communicate on any issues regarding the Chicago area recording scene, #2) exchange practical information of direct benefit to individual enterprises, #3) discuss guidelines and standards among all recording businesses in Chicagoland and, last but not least, #4) to rap, to socialize, to really get to know everyone who's part of the local recording community.
Also for those not already familiar with EARS; the Society meets the last Tuesday of every month, 7:30 pm, at Gaspar's, 3159 N. Southport.
June 30 of this year, the very first meeting of the Engineering and Recording Society saw a turn-out of roughly 40 interested parties. Chairman of the Society, Mike Rasfeld, allowed everyone ample time to sip a few beers and bloody marys to get comfortable with the feel of Gaspar's as "a hang", before calling to order the first gathering in the back room of the establishment. At that time Mr. Rasfeld set forth the general goals of the new Society, invited everyone who was qualified to join, encouraged all those present to get the word out, and then opened up the floor to general discussion. Chapter Pres Marty Feldmon was on hand to provide both professional comment and positive catalyst, and the overall consensus was one of optimism.
July 29, the second meeting of the Engineering and Recording Society set forth four definite areas of information to be approached: #l) technical data exchange, #2) economic insight and policy, #3) client history cross-reference, and #4) publicity and promotion.
Serious conversation engaged the topic of increasing the national profile of the local recording scene, including the garnering of the attentions of major labels.
August 26, the third meeting marked the first big discussion about credit, getting bills paid, establishing policies out front that prevent, to quote Paul Serrono, "the engineer's natural tendency to give it away."
Steering committees were set up under the following categories: Business, Technical, and Public Relations. There was also a committee set up to oversee the entire organization. The Business committee will focus on such problems as collecting bad debts, raising studio rates -rather than outrageous discounting- and establishing a uniform credit application (that all studios and freelance engineers can use). The Technical committee will bring in products old and new for demonstration and set standards for new engineers entering the business, among other things. The Public Relations committee will work on bringing more attention to the Chicago music community.
September 30, consolidation of the three subcommittees took place, with the following EARS members in each--P.R.: Mike Konopka, Tim Powell, Jerry Soto; Business: Reid Hyams, Benj Kanters, Tom Habon, Ed Zem; Technical: Tim Powell, Joe Tortorici, Mark Harder, and Chairman Mike Rasfeld.
An important topic of discussion centered around the use of freelance versus in-house engineers, as well as the situation where artists bring their own engineers.
October 28, EARS pursued various lines of discussion on both the business and technical sides.
In the works is a Credit and Customer Information Form, prepared by the Business Sub-committee, which will provide background information and relevant financial histories on new and old clientele. This information form will be a valuable cross-referencing tool, inhibiting the potential for misinformation in interstudio relations.
Technically speaking, standards were set for the interchange of tapes between studios, and were set as well for test tones to be used for tape duplication and record making. It was agreed that studios would stop using paper leader tape, that everyone would switch to the higher plastic leader variety. There was also discussion of digital formats, and of formatting for TV and film transfer.
A "Reverb Off" was scheduled, and has since been held at Studio Media. The Reverb Off evaluated 10 different digital reverb devices under $1500 list price, along with four much more expensive units. They were judged according to ease of use, sonic quality, and overall dollar value.
Plans for the future include an "Edit Off", a shoot-out to determine who are the fastest editors in town, and an EARS "Roast", tentatively scheduled for April Fool's Day.
Special Edition
Interesting, no? Email me if you can name anyone from the pic. -KJH
Upcoming Meetings
Nothing to announce yet for May, but keep that last Tuesday open! - 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 occasionally things like the Grammy Party), but they're always welcome. Dues checks for $25.00 (or cash, but no credit cards) can be made out to EARS and given to any of our officers 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 “60 distinct, highly predictable hit clusters.”
Well, what an interesting month it's been since last we talked. XRT was a treat and so I'm very glad we had a good turnout for it. Chris is wise to recognize his good fortune having started out there. I received some positive feedback on the EARdrum. Actually, I'm often surprised at how much positive encouragement I get doing this. It really does help and I appreciate it immensely. Constructive criticism is always welcome too. If we're missing something or doing something you think is a waste we want to know.
One member said this in an email and I think it's worth making a point of... "I think you deserve a lot of credit for leading EARS and the recording community into a new era. I'm kind of bummed that I can't make all the meetings. It is developing into a nice group, and I actually feel that I'm adding some value as I meet new people and am able to offer some recommendations from time to time." The point I'd like to make here is not, like Sally Field famously said, that "You like me, you really like me!" but that this member was absolutely right that he's adding something by his participation. That's really what it's all about. I can write until I'm blue in the face, and we can arrange interesting meetings, but it's nothing if no one shows up. There was a meeting recently with a very low turnout, probably attributable to bad weather, and while it was a bummer that more people didn't get to check out this awesome facility and those responsible for it, to me it was ten times more disappointing just to see a month go by where the momentum that's been building lagged. How much further along would we be had things not stalled that month?
I'm reminded of an issue that keeps coming up among those interested in getting involved in EARS... New people keep asking if they can come to check out a meeting. YES! We only rarely make these meetings members-only, and that's only because a couple of these events each year have significant costs that are basically paid out of our dues. Even for those meetings, $25.00 is all it takes to join. So if you talk to anyone about checking EARS out, be sure to make it clear that we'd love to see them at a meeting. There's no prerequisite qualifications but your interest.
Getting in touch with Jim Rasfeld and then this copy of "The EARS Report" is such a treat. I really hope it inspires some more talk about where we began and where we're going. I also hope it brings someone to step forward with some more old EARdrums.
Here's a little something that Mark Rubel, former EARS V.P. and -slightly- notable even without his EARS connection, turned me on to. Very interesting stuff about the ability to analyze and predict the success of movies AND records and a story very well told, I must say... http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/2006/10/09/predictable
If you like a good story about audio (or even acoustics) getting the short end of the stick, ask me some time (maybe Tuesday night) about my experience at the Auditorium Theatre for the Georgian National Ballet.
Ask Hudson Fair about his recent turkey dinner, shot wild in his back yard... We all have turkeys to shoot down, but we don't often get to eat 'em.
Some things are just plain bragging, but who can blame me? I recently picked up, thanks to a friend in AES, a Brick Audio plate verb. All I had to do was pick it up. What a cool thing to have in my toolbox! And while it's got a thing or two wrong with its electronics, I'm not too concerned, having William Beith, it's creator, as one of our members. He's been very helpful. He's looking at the possibility, by the way, of making a production run of a new design.
Oh, and one last thing... We've had some occasional comments about some of our meetings being hard to find and as we meet at a different place every month, we really struggled to find a good solution until one dropped in our laps. For only $5000.00 we were able to purchase a used 12 foot tall, custom, lighted sign that looks like a giant RCA 77 that we can place outside of meeting locations. We'll be having it relabeled with "EARS" and our Jolly Roger (with cans) logo and have arranged to store it in Gary (and Mary Mazurek-) Khan's garage along with all the old EARdrums he's hording. All we need now is a donation of a good truck to transport it to each meeting. Please email us if you can help.
At your service,
Kerry J Haps
