The official Head Case broadcast thread

[Knuckledragger]

'Bout that time, gents.   My radio show is on the air right now, in Case you wanted to listen.

[Fitz]

Listening now.

[Knuckledragger]

Sup, Heads?

 

Just got the word that I'll be on two hours early tonight, from 8-10PM Eastern.

[Knuckledragger]

Sup, Heads? My radio show is on the air a couple hours early (right now), in Case you wanted to listen.

 

Also, AmhCol's IT dept occupies both side of Hanlon's Razor.

[Torpedo]

Listening! Finally...

[Dusty Chalk]

So when are you back on the air?  Winter break's over, innit?

[Knuckledragger]

Sssort-of.  The Campus Center is open later hours now, but things are in considerable disruption right now.  Long story short. Amherst College has had just a wee bit of a PR problem due to some nasty incidents of rape and the resulting coverup.  The ramifications of this kerfuffle had been enormous, and one of them has been WAMH losing its office space so that a woman's center can be built.  I haven't been in the CC since this process began in late December but it is my understanding that things are pretty torn up at the moment. 

 

My main concern is that the workers doing the renovations don't know anything about radio equipment or the wiring of the station.  I can only imagine what the studio will look like when I see it next.

[Knuckledragger]

I just visited AmhCol and took a stroll around the campus center.  WAMH has been sawn in half and glued back together.  Most of the equipment is covered in plastic sheeting, ostensibly to protect it from the dust.  I noted that two different computers were still on and covered by the plastic.  I wonder if that will lead to any heat issues.  I also noted that the phone in the MCR (Master Control Room ) no longer works.  I toyed with the idea of doing a test broadcast this evening, but the state of the station combined with the weather has lead me to conclude that it would be a bad idea.  Next week I'm going to go back and see if the transmitter and associated equipment still works.  

[Dusty Chalk]

Those contractors have insurance, don't they?

 

And you turned off those computers, right?  Even the air flow will suck that dust into their systems.

[Knuckledragger]

I did a little walkaround WAMH's former and current space.

 

[Knuckledragger]

Sup, Heads? My radio show is ffffffinally on the air a couple hours early (right now), in Case you wanted to listen.

[Dusty Chalk]

Lollers @ current selection Sent frum mah phone-blet using Tapatalk.

[Dusty Chalk]

What was the beatboxing one before Tosca? Sent frum mah phone-blet using Tapatalk.

[Knuckledragger]

This:

[Dusty Chalk]

Yeah, that was superb, I might just have to buy Future Loops.

 

What was the Michael McDonald one?  I actually enjoyed all the yacht rock (and era) remixes.

[Salt Peanuts]

Damnit, I either forgot or didn't know that you'd made a separate, dedicated thread for this. Dan, is your broadcast usually on Fridays?

[MexicanDragon]

This:

Sorry I missed the broadcast this time, but I LOVE that track.  I think the first time I saw it, I wound up watching it 2-3 times, as the kids heard it and wanted to watch/listen.

 

**BRENT**

[Dusty Chalk]

Damnit, I either forgot or didn't know that you'd made a separate, dedicated thread for this. Dan, is your broadcast usually on Fridays?

Yeah he is.  He's usually on at midnight EST, but he's been on earlier several times now.  It's 'fluid'

[Knuckledragger]

What was the Michael McDonald one?  I actually enjoyed all the yacht rock (and era) remixes.

 

The answer for all of those is Late Nite Tuff Guy. LNTG is the new alias for .au DJ HMC, who has been at it since 1991 or so. He made some killer acid tracks int he 90s, and then kind of disappeared. In the last few years, he's resurfaced as LNTG and has been producing absolutely stellar deep house reworks of 70s and 80s classics.

 

 

Damnit, I either forgot or didn't know that you'd made a separate, dedicated thread for this. Dan, is your broadcast usually on Fridays?

 

Yeah, I'm now on 10PM-midnight. Last night was the first show of the semester. We got off to a slow start this year because of AmhCol bureaucracy.

[Knuckledragger]

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....

[Knuckledragger]

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

[grawk]

listening

[mikeymad]

listening

 

this

[Dusty Chalk]

Where is that high-pitched whine coming from? I can usually ignore it, but it is really obvious when you play stuff with a lot of quiet, as you are now. Sent frum mah phone-blet using Tapatalk.

[Knuckledragger]

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.