Hey Hey!
If you've been keeping the last Tuesday night open, turning down gigs or telling your family that they'll have to wait on that dream trip to Euro Disney because you just know that EARS is going to have something really great for you this month, we're very sorry to let you down. In fact, I'll even go so far as to say it hurts me more than it hurts you. :)
We had a good plan this month, to check out the new digs of a member's studio, but it don't rain, it pours, as they say, and now he's getting a hot new (well... vintage, actually) desk and it would just be silly not to wait until that's actually in and ready to show off. He's also just swamped with all the moving and resetting.
Of course upon hearing about this we set about coming up with a good Plan B, but nothing seems to be working out. People seem busy, which is a good thing, actually. Some are traveling, some are gigging, some are booked.
By the way, we considered just meeting at a wine bar or beer garden, which would surely be fun, but we did that a few months back and next month is our BBQ so it seems better to just call it a break in the schedule.
One member happened to email me suggesting that if nothing else was planned, The Blues Brothers is showing in Grant Park's Butler Field on Tuesday night. Not a bad thought actually, but we're going to leave it unorganized. If you're planning to go (there or elsewhere) with a few EARS friends, drop me an email and if I hear of two separate groups going the same place unbeknownst, I'll make the connection.
Rest assured we're working on good things for upcoming months' meetings, including next month's BBQ. We've had some good momentum going, and EARS has been a lot of fun lately, so I really hope this doesn't disappoint too much.
Thanks and please stay tuned. -KJH
Recap/Appreciation File
EARS MEETING AT PHASE RECORDING STUDIOS 6-24-08
The halfway point in the year found us at Phase Recording Studios in Highland Park. Our gracious host for the evening was Matt Feddermann. Matt’s four and a half year old facility is as all-purpose as it gets: not only does it serve as a standard recording studio, there is also an edit suite with a v.o. iso booth and ISDN lines for remote recording work that enables Matt to perform his other job of production director for an XM satellite radio station. Directly behind the main control room is a larger vocal iso room with a view directly through the control room into the live room.
Feddermann uses ProTools at 48k, 24 bit via a Control 24 surface with Genelec and Event 20/20 near-fields. Phase’s outboard gear includes an Ashly SC-66 parametric; UA LA 610, LA-2A, and 1176 compressors; an API Lunchbox and Joe Meek VC 1Q’s.
As president Kerry J Haps stated in the meeting announcement, this was no ‘look at my place and how great my staff and I are!’ kind of meeting. Matt and crew were very accommodating and allowed us to get a sneak-preview of Upstate Audio’s Sonic Lens SL 20/20-2 mic pre, courtesy of Upstate Audio president Matt Lesko. We were able to listen to it with Kerry’s stereo pair of AEA ribbon mics as overheads in Blumlein configuration on drums that were played by fellow EARS member Dave Moss. The Sonic Lens had a very defined high-end that was brighter overall, which opened up the sound of the kit a bunch. For more information on the Sonic Lens, visit www.upstateaudio.com.
A huge thanks to Matt Feddermann for allowing us to stay late and run rough-shod all over his fine facility. Thanks are also in order to Matt Lesko for demoing his fine mic pre for us as well as Kerry Haps for bringing in those fine Wes Dooley AEA ribbons with a prototype Blumlein bar.
-Chris Cwiak
Secretary, EARS
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 the 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
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! (Now minus that first one.) 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 (such as the latest EARdrum) and it looks like old info, try reloading the page. I'll see what I can do about it, but it seems 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 (or cash, but no credit cards) for $25.00 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 “Thanks again for your patience!”
Again, I'm writing this in September, catching up after a crazy busy time. Thank you for your patience.
What a great time we had at Phase. Matt and crew were amazing and their facility is just totally setup to make you want to hang out and record.
Well, I've got to move on to August and September. See ya 'round,
At your service,
Kerry J Haps
