Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Professional sound production

Ampex ATR-100

Hi, I was the engineering project manager for the ATR-100 at Ampex in the Audio-Video Division, working on multi-track audio recorders and tape duplication systems. I wrote the Product Plan for the ATR-100 in 1972, and still have that original plan, code-named "GNAT (great new audio transport).

The small-format mainstay of the company was the AG 440, with one to eight track versions. It was old, using normal pinch-roller and AC reel motors, and tired. Motors were controlled with large resistors under the tape deck, which could actually get so hot the deck would cook eggs. I designed a new capstan servo for the AG 440, the last improvement to the machine.

GNAT became the AT-100 series machines, and the design team was Alistair Heaslett (signal system); bob Harshberger (reel servos); Roger Sleger (all mechanicals), Bill Pottberg (heads) and myself (control system, capstan servo, project management). It was radical at the time, with dynamic brakes, no pinch-roller, and fully servoed reels. The deck was amazingly fast and gentle on tape (though in the first months it routinely turned half-inch tape into quarter-inch tape). In my view, the most brilliant part of the machine was the signal system by Alistair. He was crazy and a genius, and the system was incredibly quiet and flexible--but expensive.

The idea of a removable control panel was new, and required small high quality buttons which did not exist. We used micro-switches on a PCB with small buttons to operate them--Roger cast them by hand with epoxy.

Because of the cost, it was not a particularly profitable recorder for Ampex, and with reorganizations the audio group was closed during a recession.

One funny story: I was an active sailor, and Alistair as my best friend and ever-ready first mate we sailed often on San Francisco Bay. One stormy day Alistair, Roger and I were slated to sail, and with the bad weather Roger wanted to cancel, as did his wife. Alistair shamed us into going anyway, and four hours later we capsized in the Bay, miles from shore. We watched the last boats disappear, and after four hours in the freezing water, were sure it was the end.

Roger was in the worst shape, and we got him into the awash boat, and I began to swim for shore, holding onto the mast.  A few hours later a fishing boat found them, and another went looking for me.  We all survived, but wives never forgave us, and our boss (Michael Felix was the engineering manager) reprimanded us and told us never to sail together again.  The boat was a 17-foot open boat called "Over Easy".  Roger soon left for HP and Alistair to a startup, and I went on to videotape recorders at Ampex, ultimately becoming the GM of  the Audio-Video Systems Division.  Alistair, a non-stop smoker, died a few years later at a young age.

Msandhill (talk) 19:50, 21 April 2019 (UTC)

Request for information on WP1.0 web tool

Hello and greetings from the maintainers of the WP 1.0 Bot! As you may or may not know, we are currently involved in an overhaul of the bot, in order to make it more modern and maintainable. As part of this process, we will be rewriting the web tool that is part of the project. You might have noticed this tool if you click through the links on the project assessment summary tables.

We'd like to collect information on how the current tool is used by....you! How do you yourself and the other maintainers of your project use the web tool? Which of its features do you need? How frequently do you use these features? And what features is the tool missing that would be useful to you? We have collected all of these questions at this Google form where you can leave your response. Walkerma (talk) 04:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

Talk:Synthesizer#Module section

Is anyone available to help us get consensus regarding Popcornduff's removal of uncited sections from Synthesizer? ~Kvng (talk) 13:52, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

One of your project's articles has been selected for improvement!

Hello, Please note that Concert, which is within this project's scope, has been selected as one of Today's articles for improvement. The article was scheduled to appear on Wikipedia's Community portal in the "Today's articles for improvement" section for one week, beginning today. Everyone is encouraged to collaborate to improve the article. Thanks, and happy editing! Delivered by — MusikBot talk 00:05, 4 November 2019 (UTC) on behalf of the TAFI team

Talk:Disc_jockey#Photo(s)_for_article_lead_(Arbitrary_break)

Discussion taking place with regard to selection of a lead image or images for Disc jockey article, here - LuckyLouie (talk) 22:39, 9 November 2019 (UTC)

Zoom product amalgamation

I recently started the Zoom H6 Handy Recorder article, but shorty after, it was nominated for deletion. I've since added more information about awards and better references, however after talking with Lopifalko (talk · contribs) over at User talk:Lopifalko/Archive_3#Thanks for the edits to Zoom H6 Handy Recorder it seems as though the best course of action may be to fold all of the individual product articles into the main Zoom Corporation article. The articles in question are:

• Zoom H6 Handy Recorder
• Zoom H5 Handy Recorder
• Zoom H2n Handy Recorder
• Zoom H4n Handy Recorder
• Zoom H4 Handy Recorder
• Zoom H2 Handy Recorder
• Zoom HD8 and HD16

I've started to 'backup' the data into Wikidata (list of Zoom product entities), for example - Zoom H6 Handy Recorder (Q81525088), just in case anyone goes on a WP:SPEEDY rampage. There's still loads to do before I even attempt to write something that covers all of the recorders but before I went too far, I just wanted to put out a call to see if anyone is interested in helping out with the individual articles, or to see if the general consensus is that they should be merged. Cheers in advance! --Aluxosm (talk) 16:17, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

I worry about an WP:UNDUE issue at Zoom Corporation if you attempt to merge all this stuff in there. It might work if you made the information about each product collapsable by enclosing in {{hidden begin}}, {{hidden begin}}. Perhaps better would be to create Zoom Handy Recorder to cover the whole product line. You can also leave the more notable products as stand-alone articles so long as you can find and cite at least two reliable sources for each article. For this subject, these would normally take the form of a professional and independent product review. ~Kvng (talk) 13:23, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Perhaps there could be an article for each series (such as the F Series, or H Series) from Zoom, that could definitely have enough content for its own article, which if left in the main Zoom page itself would make it too bulky and long. Mathmo ^Talk 02:03, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Sorting categories:Noise control and noise reduction

Category:Noise reduction has Noise reduction as its main article, on the topic "the process of removing noise from a signal" but it contains many articles on the topic of Noise control, on the topic "strategies to reduce noise pollution or to reduce the impact of that noise". I'm creating Category:Noise control with Noise control as the main article, and moving applicable articles over there. Please take a look or comment as needed. Thanks! --Dennis Bratland (talk) 20:33, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Studio parameter of the album's infobox (Template:Infobox album#studio)

Is the studio parameter of the album's infobox Wikipedia definition only for recording studios where a record was recorded, and not where it was overdubbed and/or mixed? "If the album was recorded in a recording studio, enter the name and location." (Template:Infobox album#studio). It does not say to include anything other than a studio in which the album was recorded. The Wikipdia page Audio mixing (recorded music) states "Before the introduction of multitrack recording, all sounds and effects that were to be part of a record were mixed at one time during a live performance. If the recorded mix wasn't satisfactory, or if one musician made a mistake, the selection had to be performed over until the desired balance and performance was obtained. With the introduction of multi-track recording, the production of a modern recording changed into one that generally involves three stages: recording, overdubbing, and mixing." Since the 1970's, record albums have been recorded in three stages: recording, overdubbing, and mixing. It was common practice to record an album in one studio, overdub in another studio and mixed in another. I would argue for the listing of every recording studio that was used in the making of the song or album. Please weigh in here.Joanne.nathan (talk) 13:59, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

Please add your comments at WT:ALBUMS#Studio parameter of the album's infobox (Template:Infobox album#studio). —Ojorojo (talk) 14:05, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

(Extra-)low-voltage wiring, from more than a technical perspective

FYI – Pointer to relevant discussion elsewhere.

Please see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Electrical engineering#Missing section or article: (extra-)low-voltage wiring, from more than a technical perspective.

Mentioning it here since it involves things like hi-fi and home theater cabling information (and where to put it), and would also encompass some high-precision (studio, concert) cabling.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  03:48, 4 August 2020 (UTC)

Room acoustics needs help

This article is rather short and cryptic, and suffers from some long-ago COI editing by Oscar Juan Bonello (his work looks OK, and is fairly widely cited, but it's not presented here with any sensible context). Could someone who is into this take a look at how to improve it? Dicklyon (talk) 18:48, 13 March 2021 (UTC)

Navigation template overlap

{{AVconn}} and {{Audio and video interfaces and connectors}} have overlapping scope. Please post your thoughts at Template talk:Audio and video interfaces and connectors#Merge proposal. ~Kvng (talk) 13:15, 25 March 2021 (UTC)