Archive for the ‘general’ Category
Quack, Quack
Feb.10.2010
If you need better sound from your system, apparently the best place to look is the fuse in the signal chain. Change the fuse and look at what might happen to the sound:
AHPII Gold : fun but constrained frequencies, flat soundstage not as detailed as Padis
AHPII Copper : less constrained than gold but not relaxing and has a very “in head sound”
default silver wire fuse : less dynamic, sounds thin as if it’s underpowered
Padis 3A fuse with quicksilver connection (preferred direction) : Easily the best – wide open sound, chocolate black background, superb.
Padis 3A fuse with quicksilver connection (disliked direction) : compared to the other direction – very pinched with restricted bass and treble, much less separation of instruments.
Padis 3A fuse without quicksilver connection : compared to the non-Padis fuses listed it presents far more frequencies with far less constraint, without quicksilver it sounds better than the other fuses but with quicksilver (once it’s been burned in) it gives music
Here and here are some forums where audiophiles debate the merits of using one fuse over the other.
One area that I think is still overlooked in terms of improving sound is the remote control that drives the receiver.
I noticed that I was able to get better sound by changing the type of remote control. I have a Pioneer Elite receiver and the stock remote control unit was quite flat sounding and definitely not transparent. When I replaced the remote control with a Logitech Harmony, there was some improvement in the upper midrange response. However, taking things a step further, I removed the battery of the stock remote control unit, and then used the Logitech Harmony remote. The soundstage just opened up fully. Rich, satisfying lows and soaring transparent highs.
Twitter Event
Jan.18.2010
Interesting story carried in the Globe today:
A British man was arrested for making a terror threat after he joked on Twitter that he would blow up an airport, police said Monday.
Police arrested 26-year-old Paul Chambers on Jan. 13 after he posted a message on the popular micro-blogging site saying he would blow northern England’s Robin Hood Airport sky high if his flight was delayed. Police said he has since been bailed pending further investigation.
“I would never have thought, in a thousand years, that any of this would have happened because of a Twitter post,” the Daily Mail newspaper quoted Mr. Chambers as saying.
Police said they take misuse of Web sites like Twitter seriously, and will take action to deal with users who cause “unnecessary alarm and distress” to the public.
“Any inappropriate use could cause unnecessary concern and lead to comments being reported to police,” a police statement said.
Robin Hood Airport said it fully endorsed the police action. “Comments made threatening airport safety are taken extremely seriously at all times,” it said in a statement.
Be careful what you say out there.
Hello there
Jan.13.2010
I went down to the lobby just before 7pm. I am in a hotel in Manhattan. Waiting for some colleagues.
I hear some voices and one of them sounds very familiar. Thinking that it was one of my colleagues, I stand up and walk towards the sound. And who do I bump into around the corner of the lobby?
George Clooney.
How cool is that?
Update: Here is a photo that was taken just as he was leaving the hotel. Via.
Digging Out Of The Hole
Jan.06.2010
Last October, I posted about the water break in the line from the well to our home. It took three days for the water company to find and then repair the break. It was a big dig.
The invoice for the big dig arrived today.
The clamps to reconnect the break: $10.80.
The total bill to fix the water line: $2,758.14.
Ouch.
Delayed Gratification
Jan.05.2010
A few of my Christmas gifts were ordered online and there were shipping delays: the Embody office chair and a hard drive.
The hard drive made it to our house today. However, the process ran into a little snag. A snag which will have some implications for when the new chair arrives.
The hard drive is an external 1 Terabyte G-Drive. A fanless, aluminum enclosed hard drive. Quiet and reliable. I currently have three external G-Drives on my main computer. One RAID drive for backups. One drive dedicated to Time Machine backups. And one drive dedicated to photography. The computer drive contains Mac OS X, several virtual machines for Windows 7, Vista, Linux and all my documents, family snapshots, music and other related files.
The new hard drive will take over the heavy lifting on the photography side. I take a lot of photos. I use a lot of storage.
The little snag relates to delivery of said hard drive.
The unit shipping weight is a little over 6 pounds. The box about the size of a shoebox. When UPS came to deliver the package, they took one look at our rural driveway and freaked out. No way were they going to try and drive up the hill to our house. Too dangerous.
They called to tell us that we would have to come down to their depot to pick up the package. No big deal. I drove up to the warehouse, claimed my package, and went on my way. No issues navigating the driveway in my 4WD car — with all season radials no less.
I could appreciate how the appearance of snow on a long driveway in the country would be frightening to the UPS delivery team. Fedex, on the other hand, seems to have no issue whatsoever in making the hike up the hill.
But what about the chair? It is much heavier and much larger than the hard drive. Too large to fit in either one of our cars. If it comes via UPS, I am going to have to find an alternate way of transporting the chair from the warehouse to our home. And I will need to find some friends capable of helping me lift the fully boxed chair. The chair weighs about 65 pounds without the shipping container.
Here is hoping that the chair comes via Fedex.
A Look Back on 2009
Jan.01.2010
Looking back, 2009 was an amazing year.
Family
The big news in our household was the announcement of my daughter’s engagement. She is my pride and joy and I am so happy for her. Her fiance is a wonderful, talented and very bright young man. The wedding is planned for July of this year.
Another significant milestone in our family was the celebration of 30 years of marriage between Lorraine and myself. Our journey together in life has been nothing short of awesome.
My oldest son began his final year at university. For me, the most difficult part of being a parent is seeing my children leave home. And yet, helping them to become men and women of character is one of the most important objectives of parenting. My two oldest children are definitely men and women of character. But it is still hard to see them leave home.
Health and Fitness
On January 25 of last year, I decided to take control of my weight. That day, I was sitting at 215 pounds. Today, I am sitting at 161 pounds. Total weight loss: 54 pounds. It was not easy but by April of 2009 I had lost 29 pounds. And I had some fun with numbers to show the dramatic impact of exercise to a weight loss program.
Part of what made my weight loss program successful was spinning and riding. On February 28 I became the proud owner of an S-Works Specialized SL SRAM road bike. I have logged over 500 hours on this machine since then.
The outcome of my new year’s resolution was significant weight loss, a dramatic drop in blood pressure and resting heart rate and an overall improvement in well being.
Personal Development
Music plays a major part in my life and there were several highlights from 2009.
On April 6, 2009 I received a letter which read, in part:
Dear Richard,
On behalf of the CARAS Board of Directors and all the Canadian artists who benefit from your input, our sincere thanks for serving as a judge for the 38th annual Juno Awards.
It was an honour to serve as a judge.
I spent several hundred hours working on a recording project with my favourite Canadian artist and we had the privilege to track and master the project at Phase One Studios in Toronto. It was an amazing experience.
There were numerous opportunities for me to serve and contribute to the community in 2009 although I do remember two concerts in particular. One in August and another in December. Very special times.
I read 57 books in 2009. The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra made the most impact. Memorable quote from Leonardo Da Vinci:
First I shall do some experiments before I proceed farther, because my intention is to cite experience first and then with reasoning show why such experience is bound to operate in such a way. And this is the true rule by which those who speculate about the effects of nature must proceed.
He was truly the father of modern science and an impressive model for the renaissance man.
Finances
After rising roughly 10% in the first six months of 2008, the S&P/TSX composite index recorded a peak-to-trough decline of more than 48% in 2008. Beginning the year at 13,833 and rising above 15,000 in June, Canada’s benchmark index dipped as low as 7,724 on November 20.
I was told by one very senior investment officer that we had entered a time of financial armageddon. All was lost. The economy was doomed.
My investment portfolio took a savage beating. I re-read The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. And I re-read A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel. I fired one of my investment advisors and moved those managed assets to self-directed accounts.
After the dust settled, I took advantage of some fire sales on some great company stocks. And I kept my discipline of reinvesting my dividends and putting money aside for the future.
From a household perspective, we did not let the economic tides unduly influence our lives. And, at the end of 2009, the portfolio has done just fine and we are still on track in terms of our longer range financial plans.
Faith
There seems to be a struggle with the search for meaning in life. To be a person of faith in North America has become decidedly unique in our current world. Is the church dying in North America? Sadly, yes.
I learned at a very young age that life on earth is brief and that life without purpose or meaning is a wasted life.
Lorraine and I have settled in well at our new church in 2009 and our faith continues to be an important and vibrant part of our lives. We are thankful for the hope that lives within us.
Work
Although I do not blog about my career, I am absolutely delighted with work. 2009 was a terrific year for the team and I was pleased to serve my company to the best of my ability.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all who drop by this blog. Since I started the blog in March of 2004, the site broke a million page views in 2009. That is far more traffic than I would have ever expected. And, if you are a regular reader, thank you. I appreciate your time with me on this journey of life.
Merry Christmas
Dec.25.2009
Christmas Shopping
Dec.24.2009
At 4:57pm, on Christmas eve, I finished purchasing the last Christmas gift on my list.
Last minute Christmas shopping keeps me highly motivated, year after year.
Getting Things Done
Dec.10.2009
Since November:
- 250 hours on career
- 120 hours on mixing activities
- 78 hours on concert production activities
Roughly 12 hours a day, every day, for the past 5 weeks. Crazy pace and I am looking forward to a bit of a break over Christmas.
Lots on the go at work and although I don’t blog much about my career, I am really enjoying working with the team and working through all of the many challenges and opportunities.
The recording project that I started back in August is now complete. Mastering will take place at the end of this week. Pleased that George Seara is mastering the project. He is a highly accomplished engineer.
I went through about three hundred edits before I released the mix to the team. They were able to find another hundred or so changes and after the third release candidate mix we pretty much had the final mix. A few more minor tweaks and I was prepping the files for mastering this past Monday night.
The mastering engineer will prepare the mix for commercial release by converting the high resolution audio files to CD quality, dealing with heads and tails (the openings and endings of songs including fades), normalization (consistent level between songs) and any required equalization, limiting or compression before the product goes to duplication. Quite proud of the project and I am looking forward to hearing the final result. This one took about four hundred hours.
The concert is taking place this coming Sunday and I think we have everything ready to go. I finished off the multimedia earlier this week and I was able to get some time in on the songs to ensure that I can play them well for the event. Rehearsals last week went well and the team is excited and ready to play.
This latest round of activities left me wondering whether I would be able to get all of the work done. And, being a bit of a perfectionist, whether I would be able to get things done to standard. Looks like things did get done and hopefully pretty well.
I have collected pictures of some of the most stunning recording studios in the world and you can travel through the set by clicking 
