McNally Smith AES Student Section Blog

A couple of years ago, Dan Kennedy (Great River Electronics) presented a great talk about how he goes about designing a high end microphone preamplifier. Dan made the generous offer of developing a "kit" for our student organization that would give students the opportunity to learn about circuit design and operation and electronic assembly. This fall, Dan delivered the preamp PCBs and parts and our students have been dilligently working on this project for most of the semester. This coming spring, we should be in the testing phase.

As of today, 9/28/2012, the Great River MSCM Microphone Preamplifier Project is go. I picked up a prototype, discussed the final project costs, and have a schematic for the project. At the first meeting of October, we talked about kit costs and our assembly and documentation process. This is going to be a great recruiting project for our group.

The preamp is, essentially, the microphone circuitry and power supply from the Great River Electronics Mixmaster 20 (http://www.greweb.com/product.cfm?ID=32&type=0 ), a great product with a strong reputation for audio quality and value. Dan has custom designed this half-rack preamp kit using the components used in his products, including the ME-1NV chassis, transformers, and other components for educational use. The preamp is expected to have 70dB of variable gain, a polarity switch, phantom power, and a 20dB pad. It has XLR and 1/4" TRS inputs and outputs, a line-in circuit, and an instrument input.

 AES will meet in the auditorium for a special live recording of the Full Circle Ensemble.  They will be recording a few tunes this Tuesday at 6:00 pm.  This will be a great opportunity to learn about live tracking techniques and see a great band in action!

 AES WILL meet next week: Tuesday, Feb 21, at 6 pm.

We will finish building our guitar pedals, and will spend some time testing them out!

It will be interesting to observe the differences in tonal characteristics from one pedal to the next,...plus we can all jam out.

Dont forget our AES Chapter meeting on Tuesday, Jan 24.

Meetings will occur each Tuesday at 6:00 pm in room 261.

 Hey Guys,

Cool Stuff:

FEB 9, 2012   6:30-8:30 pm

Ableton certified trainer Thomas Faulds hosts a FREE workshop on production, beat-making, editing, and live performance techniques using Ableton Live 8.  This is an absolute must for all aspiring producers, electronic musicians, engineers, and anyone else interested in learning more about the Live 8 revolution.

Thomas's presentation will cover his twist on Ableton basics, as well as his unique advanced techniques.

This event will take place on Feb. 9th from 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

Location:
Minneapolis Media Institute
4100 West 76th Street
Edina, MN 55435

Please RSVP to Paul Peterson ([email protected]), or Tom Day ([email protected]) so they have an idea of expected turnout.

11/15/2001 Sean Erspamer, owner of Lotus Pedal Designs (http://www.lotuspedaldesigns.com/about.html), will be at our weekly meeting to describe how he got into the guitar pedal building business and to present a pedal-building opportunity for our group.

Sean's presentation will begin with a short intro, around 10 minutes maybe followed by a demo of my pedal line, and finishing with a DIY schematic project: a basic one transistor/one knob design that could range anywhere from a clean boost to an overdrive, to a fuzz pedal depending on the components that each individual student used.  The total cost for the build would be roughly $25 each.