KMAD Pirate Radio Reverberates!

Hard to believe it’s been 14 years since the FCC shut down KMAD, the pirate FM radio station built and run by myself and a handful of intrepid Media Arts students. Hard to believe because it feels more like 28 years. ; )

Here’s a link to the full Jersey Journal story.

And a follow up in the Gothic Times.

One of the station’s staff members, Jerry Recco, currently of WFAN fame, was a music DJ on our little pirate enterprise. Jerry will be speaking to my Radio Production class April 30, and we intend to do a field trip to his station.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/personality/jerry-recco/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Recco

Homebrew stacked colinear array

The old Media Arts Building on West Side Avenue was razed shortly after we vacated to Fries Hall… but I have preserved one of KMAD’s on-air consoles (look in the dub room), some of the transmitter and a portion of the antenna (both home-brew.)

On the day of the “shut down,” an FCC agent from the Manhattan office easily homed-in on KMAD’s stereo FM signal. We had been incrementally improving our signal quality and strength. A big part of the station’s generous coverage pattern came from the antenna, a stacked co-linear array (see pic, above left) which was designed and built by airstaff-member Sue Boehning and myself, and erected by the entire station staff. Following that, we never looked back.

On the infamous day of reckoning, Chris Halverson, General Manager of KMAD, called me at my home shortly after the FCC agent arrived. Though we knew our illegal station would have a limited life and were fully prepared for a “site-visit” by the Federales, it was nonetheless an emotional day.

The concept of KMAD is alive today as we pursue live streaming. 

Check out some pics of the staff/station below. There’s also a scan of an actual log sheet and posted rules. Good times.

KMADLog.

KMADGround rules.

Stars of citizen-owned air. See log in background.

Some of the staff.

We had 2 Control Rooms available for air.
This was used for "bigger" shows.

Christian Morelli worked in a record store,
and he used it as his music library.

Prof. and Sue B., the antenna builders.

In storage, some of the transmitting gear I made.

  

KMAD GM Chris Halverson
at the top secret transmitter location.

The Day the Music Died.

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List Your Services

Try listing your sound services, or search for your needs on The PSS Sound Professionals Listings here:
http://www.pro-sound.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SUBSCRIBE&Store_Code=PSS

From their page:
Professional Sound Services receives hundreds of calls each month from Industry Professionals looking for Sound Mixers, Boom Operators and Sound Utilities Professionals. We would like to pass on your name and information to them. 

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WFAN’s Jerry Recco Returns to NJCU 4/30/12

Jerry Recco, of WFAN will guest speak in Radio Production class on 4/30. This is confirmed, so get your questions ready and arrive on time!

Jerry started in my Radio Production class and was on the air-staff of the legendary Media Arts pirate radio station, KMAD, which was shut down by the FCC. Good times….hahaha!

I will post more details when I have time. The field trip is in the works, and I will announce those details soon.
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Dan Group 4/18/12 Session Announcement

EDIT:
This session is now full blown with acoustic drums. But here is what we will do, The complete setup will be tonight. We will leave everything in place and actually make the recording on Sat. This is for several reasons, one being Open House. You will be the shining examples of NJCU sound prowess.

Tours start at 11 on Sat. I hope you can all make it by 10AM. Please confirm.

Also, please come tonight as early as possible so we don't have to stay too late.

I won't be able to put together a chain. Please make it and show me in person.




Dan reported tech info about the session and here’s what I surmise from that:

Protothief
Dan, bass
Marsha, guitar
Nyesha, electronic percussion
Jamie, vox and keys

-Bass: DI: VTC 473 1->FTSO (1176)
-E GT DI: VTC 473 2->mult->reamper->amp
                                              ->PT
-E GT Amp: SM57->VTC 1->DSR (opto)
                         414->VTC 2->DSR (opto)     
-Drum pad synth L/R: VTC 473 3&4
-Keyboard synth L/R: Dak 1&2
-Vox: L-47->Joemeek VC1Q

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Multi-Track Mix Day

This is an open thread for you to ask questions about mixing sessions.

Please bring completed mixes next week on CD.

Mix-day next class.

Tinnitus

I recently heard William Shatner interviewed, the Leonard Lopate Show, I think it was, and he spoke about his tinnitus. I found this Youtube video of him talking about it.

Here's a short clip: Pete Townshend of The Who stating the obvious.

And following that, The Who playing “We Won’t Get Fooled Again.” When I watch this, I always think about Keith Moon, the drummer, who passed away shortly after this shoot, and how deaf he would be today if he survived. He’s wearing headphones so he can stay in sync with the sequenced organ track which defines the song’s tempo.  He’s flanked by tremendously loud bass and guitar amplifiers, stage left and right.

My "favorite" part of this film (The Kids Are Alright) is seeing Pete Townsend continually crank up his volume pots throughout the song. He’s running 3 (!!!) Hiwatt amps driving 3 double 4x12 cabinets. All those are in use and running. Today, bands put up dummy cabinets for the look, but only use maybe one. That’s smart actually.

One of Jane Lee Hooker’s guitarists used a Hiwatt head. Pete Townesend, IIRC, ironically owned some part of Hiwatt.This would be a good point to read this Wikipedia article about Townshend's hearing loss.

This last video shows The Who in the studio, doing a basic and some overdubs. 

FYI: Jim Marshall of Marshall Amplifiers passed away today:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17625335

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John Blevins 4/4/12 Session Announcement

It hasn’t been easy, but I finally managed to snag John Blevins to come in for the VO (voice-over) session cancelled early in the semester.

John will bring his own material to voice, and will probably provide various beds on CD.

He will bring his own mic, a ShinyBox 46MXC.

Although you may think this session will be easy, it actually requires a lot of setup and care. After all, a naked voice reveals faults in the recording chain or technique instantly. The voice has no cover, so to speak. So it has to be perfect.

It also has to be perfect because John is a perfectionist. He is also very demanding. Let me stress that for this session to go smoothly, we must have everything set up and the basic sound worked-out before he arrives at 7:30.  I have seen John walk out on sessions, and I don’t want that to happen again.

Chain:

·      John’s ShinyBox 46MXC RIBBON->Cloud->VTC->DSR (opto)

·      Vin’s Nady RIBBON->Cloud->VTC->DSR (opto)

·      EV RE-20-> Cloud->Daking

Here’s the concept: Both ribbons are the main pickup. We will use only one, but record both. We can’t combine those because of phase cancellation.  Remember, the ribbons need a significant cut in the 360Hz band.  And a bit of HF boost. Do that at the Vintecs.

The RE 20 is a chest cage mic. We will point it at his back, kind of between the shoulder blades, close proximity, to get chest low frequency sound. Think of it as a Subkick for the voice. In PT, we will probably insert a low pass filter and a Waves “Maxxbass” plug-in on that channel.

There will be a stereo track to record CD elements.

Another thing, John makes various demands for accommodations at sessions. When I find out what they are, I will do my best to fulfill them. At this point I do not know what they are.

I would like Osato to Engineer this. But we need to start no later than 5. Seriously. Please check in here with a roll call so I know what the personnel will be and when. Volunteers for Second please.   

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Jane Lee Hooker Session Notes

La Jeca of JLH

Thanks to Will for putting together a great, short video depicting the Multi Track class, Jane Lee Hooker and Producer Noel Ford in action. The sound is via the camera mic, but I think it conveys the energy in the room, if not the brute-force-decibels. Check it out below.

Although the video’s just about 3 minutes, we were in MARS 10 hours. 

Editing is a wonderful thing.

No, not an easy session. But I think the recording came out well. Attaboys to Engineer Mauricio and Second, Dan, who hung in there throughout the technical adversities and long hours.

Thanks, too, to Jane Lee Hooker and Noel Ford for providing inspirational music and impeccable taste, respectively. And for being so damn patient. Superb band. Masterful Producer.

I want to clarify a technical problem we had getting an analog insert to work on GT 2 DI. If you remember, during the basic, we needed distortion on GT2 DI, because that guitar did not have the Reamper/amp rig in the ISO. Guitarists hate that clean, DI sound. Therefore we planned to insert the Tube Pac compressor and overdrive it to get distortion harmonics while tracking the basic so the musician could have an acceptable tone and feel appropriate for the style of music. (The insert would then be discarded after the basic and the DI used as a Reamp source.)

However, we never got the insert to function and abandoned it.

To understand why, look at your patch bay charts. You will see that though we have two 192 interfaces, there are 32 inputs (16 per interface) and 16 outputs (8 per interface.) Since an insert requires both an input and a corresponding output, we can only have a total of 8 feasible inserts per 192, a total of 16. That’s 1-8 on 192 #1 and 1-8 on 192 #2. To add confusion, the patch bay legends show both 192s having consecutive numbers, 1-16, for outs. However, you should mentally note that they are really 192 #1 1-8, and 192 #2, 1-8. Still a total of sixteen.

In PT, the inserts are shown as A 1,2,/B 1,2 …etc..

I hope that clears things up.

I have placed student versions of The Break Evens/Quan Group and Jane Lee Hooker in the “Student Sessions For Mixing” folder on the desktop. Do not go into my folder and or open the original sessions. Open the session you wish from the “Student Sessions For Mixing” folder and immediately make a SAVE AS into your own folder. Your folder is (or will be) located in the Sound Drive, Spring 2012 folder. If you are confused about this, clarify on Weds.

More lovely pics: 

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