Picture of the event and contest winner.
For the last event of the year at Cras, we were blessed to have a representative from Mojave Audio make an appearance to speak to all the students. Dusty Wakeman from Mojave started by giving a brief history of Mojave which began in the 1980s by David Royer. All of their microphones are based off of German tube microphones. They began by selling microphone kits for the consumer to build but after hours of troubleshooting phone calls they decided to construct the microphones themselves to sell. Dusty then went on to introduce Mojave's new microphones, the signature series MA-1000. Mojave is neighbors with LAFX, a studio and audio rental service, where they compare their products with LAFX equipment to produce the best products possible. continuing on he went to present a couple of their other microphones including the MA-100, MA-100SP, and MA-300.
He presented a couple videos of artists, like Kenny Aronoff, complementing Mojave microphones and their ability to perform. According to Dusty, the three main microphone designs are circuit design, transformers, and capsules. He also showed one way to test microphones is "the key test," which just like it sounds, you take your keys and jingle them in front of the microphone. If it's a good mic then it will sound like keys, if not it will should very harsh because of the transients and complex waves created by the keys. It was made very clear that one of the most important things to Mojave and their microphones was that good transformers are critical. Dusty stated that they use steel transformers. With him, he brought along multiple videos of Mojave's owner, David, explaining some of the more complex definitions involving microphones. Following those he presented sounds recorded by their microphones, such as a real NASA rocket launch and Harley motorcycles, and also some music.
To wrap up the night Dusty and Cras' own David Kohr announced the winner of our in house recording/mixing competition, which students had the opportunity to record with a Mojave MA-301fet, to Joey Albanesi. As the winner of the competition, Joey received a Mojave Ma-301fet, courtesy of Mojave.
Cras is very thankful for Dusty to take the time to visit and display Mojave's microphones and his knowledge. It was a wonderful way for Cras' AES to end the year.
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