Knuckledragger

Thanks for the kind words, folks. I hadn't seen Heidi since I was on the Vineyard at New Year's. When I said goodbye I remarked that it was probably the last time I'd see her. I didn't expect it all to end quite so soon, however. Now comes the question of another pet. I'm not sure. A friend of mine has been insisting that I consider adopting a Siamese. I lived next door to one as a child. Beautiful blue eyes. LOUDEST MEOW I HAVE EVER HEARD. Out of a six pound cat. I dunno.

I took a listen to the webcast signal when I got home. Man, that whine is horrendous. Furthermore, the hum is present when most of the station equipment is powered off, so clearly the source is not in the main studio, but something in the production studio where the webcast encoding computer is located. I sent off an email to the general manager of the station, but I haven't heard back yet. Hopefully we can sort this situation out before next Friday.

I really want Late Nite Tuff Guy to remix this.

Huh. I'm not sure. There is certainly a fair bit of aging analogue equipment in between the DAC I use and the webcast encoding computer. That coupled with the construction that's gone on around here means the culprit could be a bunch of different things. Supposedly, as recompense for losing 3/4 of our office space, WAMH is due for some increased funding to bring up out broadcast equipment into the current century. Supposedly.

And now for another installment of Unnecessarily Large GIF Theatre:

32GB is nice if one is regularly editing HD videos. A I guy I know has an active YouTube channel where he regularly makes 1080p videos that are 30-40min long. He says that 32GB is "usually" enough for the task. IIRC, he has a 4-core i7. Of course, the above is an exception and not the rule.

This isn't so much what I did today, but what I dealt with today. Heidi the cat, 1994-2013.

This is hilarious. Playing to the crowd, I know.

Grawk N Roll!

Sup, Heads? My radio show is ffffffinally on the air, in Case you wanted to listen.

traceroute to 216.81.59.173 Go ahead, I'll wait.

BOS after the blizzard.

Clearly it's the font.

Painted with coffee.

This cat has xkcd written all over it.

Dr. Wood!

There are few sentences in the English language as as those based around the idea of "woulda, coulda, shoulda." With that said, last night I ended up doing an impromptu live set on my friends's Aspect Radio webcast feed and I forgot to post a link in here. This is a ca. 2005 Urei 1620LE. It's more-or-less an exact remake of the classic Urei 1620 DJ mixer from the 1970s and 80s. It has the same phono pres, the same channel pots, and basically the same output transformer. It was a "statement" product for the re-launch of the Urei name, which Soundcraft had bought the rights to use. The 1620LE was around $2000 new and only had two phono pres. Two more could be installed at a cost of $400 each, IIRC. I suspect Soundcraft sold the mixer at a near loss. They discontinued it less than year after first releasing it, and continued the Urei name with a series of uninteresting linear-fader DJ mixers. Other than the 5000GBP tube-powered Allen & Heath V6 and its solid state cousin the S6, as well as some handmade super exotics like the E&S DJR 400, the 1620LE is the best sound DJ mixer in the world. Upgrading from a fairly high end A&H Xone 92 to the Urei, Daniel said it was like having "a couple mattresses removed from in front of the speakers." Flash forward to 2013, and I'm trolling various for sale sites looking for Urei 1620s, as I have for a decade now. Up until last month, all I have ever seen for sale is the original Urei 1620, in two basic states: #1, completely beat to crap and in "as is" condition, usually with an asking price of $1200-1500. #2, painstakingly restored by a professional and possibly modded as well, with an asking price of many thousands. I saw a custom unit with a $5000 price tag once. In January of this year, I saw this 1620LE for sale for a grand at a Guitar Center of all places. I sent the link to my friend Daniel, who more or less bought it immediately. Last night I got to spin with it for the first time. As I said before, I forgot to post the link in here. I'd been up since Saturday, and was just a little bit spacey. I worked a gig on Saturday night, and then went to an after party where a friend of mine spun a 6 hour house set, from 7AM until 3PM(!) After an all too brief cat nap on a friend's couch, I went by the Aspect Radio studio, and got a chance to try out the Urei. Fortunately, Daniel says my set was recorded. When I get my hands on it, I'm most likely going to post it. The sets ends rather abruptly after two hours or so, as the cops showed up(!) and demanded that we stop the music immediately. Ya rly. Stay tuned....