DaviSound News Updates

DaviSound ©™
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Welcome to the DaviSound "NEWS UPDATES" Page!

ARCHIVED CHRONOLIGICAL NEWS ENTRIES FOR 2015
In reverse order with the first entry at the bottom of the page and the last at the top as each new entry is added at the top of each prior entry.

NEWS UPDATE ... ~~November 28th, 2015~~ ... December 28th, 2015

"DaviSember" ...

Well, here we are again ... at the end of yet another year.
I will "DaviSpare" you all the typical reflections of "what a year this has been" etc. etc.
I have also spared all the typical "Happy Holidays" routines that you have all, no doubt, already heard to the ilk since Halloween (although I truly do hope yours have been and will be!).
This last entry of 2015 will be the most brief yet ... but, I will tell you that I am honestly excited about the coming new year for DaviSound and the clulmination of many more long awaited pro audio projects. I expect the first quarter of this coming year to be the most productive period, in terms of outgoing shipments, that we have experienced in one stretch in several years.
So, until my first entry in a new series of News Updates sometime next month, I will just thank you all for "tuning in" for these updates throughout 2015, which are about to be relegated to the "News Archives" section, and I look forward to beginning the 2016 series with many new entries regarding DaviSound, esoteric, hand-made pro audio gear in the coming months.
Thank you all ... and may we all enjoy a safe, happy and exciting 2016 ahead!
Hayne

November 28th, 2015
"DaviShrunk" ...

Well it has been a LONG time (TOO long!) since a DaviSound News Update focused entirely on our excellent pro audio creations instead of the many, not-so-excellent, circumstances surrounding us on the personal front these past many months.
This update is that long awaited excpetion!
We have had several projects in the "near completion stage" in recent months, a stage which can take some time in itself due to our meticulous "fine tweaking", testing and documentation that we go through before the final closure and shipment of each piece.
This month finally brings the completion of one such project ... our latest TB-3 bound for Ireland soon.

I am ALWAYS excited when I get the chance to build a TB-3 since it is my all time favorite DaviSound Tool Box. Every time I do the final proofs on one, I am just as awed by the audio performance as are our many users in the field. This latest was no exception.
If you would like to see more photos of this latest edition, you can see them HERE .
This was also the first ever unit to utilize the newly developed, MPTB3 MasterPiece module which combines all of the active, solid state circuitry for each channel into a single MasterPiece module per channel. This reduced cabinet interior clutter because now only two modules are required instead of the four required for past units since the "Mic-All" amp and "DaviSmart" compressor sections are now both inside the same module.

The solid state circuitry for the TB-3 now "DaviShrunk" into a single new MP-TB3 circuit module.

In addition to shrinking the interior clutter of the TB-3, we are also gradually "DaviShrinking" our order backlog having just moved this new piece into the packing area and moved up the next awaiting unit to the final completion table.
So, hopefullly, this will serve to offer encouragement to the remainder of all of you still waiting on your unit to move up and out (and those of you who are still awaiting our new order "freeze" to be lifted so you can get your order into our chronology).
The next Tool Box to move up to the smaller completion table, along side the large custom, "Mixer O'Tube" project underway on the big workroom table, is a custom portable TB-7 designed for remote/field recording. Then, after that, we have the announced 40th anniversary edition Tool Box, a special new "TB-40" and a dual TB-7 following that. And, yes, there are still a couple of other special projects already in line behind those. But, most importantly, we are closing in and we ARE "DaviShrinking" the remaining waiting periods dramatically over what they have been in the past.
I was not able to lift the order freeze to accept new orders by the beginning of this fall like I had hoped but I anticipate that we are only a few months behind that projection. Look for much more progress on "DaviShrinking" the waiting list in the coming months and, especially, during the first quarter of 2016!
Thank you all for your continued visits here and for your continued patience ...

Hayne
October 14th, 2015
ADDENDUM- October 14th-"DaviSoaked" again ...

Well, as the continual irony in my life would have it ...
I had almost no sooner posted the update below which boasted about how "light" the South Carolina flooding had been in my immediate area when, the next day in fact, the bottom fell out here (quite literally!).
I guess it is my fault for bragging on our conditions in Newberry County compared to much of our lower lying neighbors to the southeast. In any event, the following day, this past weekend, the torrents came again dumping yet another couple of inches of rain, steadily for two days, upon our already drenched soils; and, this time, it was ONLY Newberry County that was under the flash flood warning and, indeed, which exclusivelty suffered the additional consequences.
As a result, over three dozen county roads and bridges had serious enough wash-outs to force closings that will remain in effect for some time until repairs can be made. And, for me personally, my pickup truck is still bogged to the axles in my side yard where it had been (stupidly by yours truly) parked off the concrete driveway in anticipation of hitching a trailer the nexy day.
In addition, the floor of my main outdoor storage shed/makeshift workshop was flooded under several inches of water so, along with the other distractions, I also have that mess, with some resulting damage, to negotiate.
So, now I have to report that, yes, we WERE quite a bit more affected by the flooding than had first been thought when I posted this month's earlier update just below. But, at least, unlike neighboring Richland and Lexington counties, which had many businesses and residences completely submerged, many over the rooftops, and most of the populace still under unsafe drinking water advisories with the flood waters just now finally starting to recede back to normal, we still had had it pretty good here, just 35 miles away, by comparison.
So, while here it was still nowhere near like the sensational news footage that many of you saw about S.C. on TV, I just thought I should update again with this ironic twist since, as it turned out, there WERE quite a few added, distracting, issues tossed in (washed-in/out) for us to have to deal with here after all (debris, uprooted trees, broken limbs, "tons" of MUD/MESS, some minor property damage and multiple driving issues/detours to contend with, etc etc)
But, now the really good news for all concerned is ...
THE SUN IS SHINING FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK (At least that is the forecast) AND WE ARE SLOWLY DRYING OUT!
In closing ...
Perhaps the most serious potential long-term consequence of the historic flood for me, personally, is the damage to my all-time favorite pizza parlor located near Fort Jackson in Columbia, LaBrasca's Pizza, which was damaged so badly that the owner has said that it may not be able to reopen.

Photo courtesy of Huffington Post .
Apparently though, so mutually alarming was this news to many Columbians that an "army" of volunteers was quickly organized to help with restoration and there just may be hope for a future reopening after all.
I assure you that a loaded LaBrasca's pizza is unlike any other on the planet and one of our greatest area treasures.
So, while I may no longer be able to sit in the same cozy booth alongside the beloved candle smoked, stucco walls that we occasionally frequented for 45 years, hopefully we will be able to enjoy that delicious one-of-a-kind LaBrasca's pizza again at some point in the not-too-far future!
Thank you again for your indulgence,
Hayne

"DaviSubmerged?"

I had not intended to post an update yet since the plan was, as documented last time, to "DaviStretch" September another week or two toward the end of October. By then I expected to have some REAL NEWS about current pro audio projects now well underway here.
However, the nationwide (and apparently worldwide) news of the devasting flood situaiton here in South Carolina last week and this week, has created a "deluge" of another kind- a "wash" of email almost equal to our incessant month long rainfall in these parts this past 30 days!
So, I am no longer "all wet" in the literal sense but, now, I am "submerged" in a flood of email that I am spending much time replying to. While it is likely that I am too late with this update to head off most of the unexpected, and GREATLY APPRECIATED, inquiries from well wishers, since I believe I must have already heard from just about every past client we have ever worked for over the years, I thought I should go ahead and address the recent flooding here now.
First, let me say, sincerely, just how much I do appreciate hearing from all of you personally through your emails. Secondly, I must admit I am also surprised that so many would hear this news about our state's "disaaster" situation, then associate it with their experiences with DaviSound, and then make the thoughtful effort to send an email to inquire as to how we were doing. This is truly a special gesture, from special people, for sure and I do THANK ALL OF YOU for your concern!
Let me assure you that all is relatively well in my neck of the woods and, while I am as sick of the dreary weather and the tragic news all around us as most of my fellow South Carolinians, we are pretty much "high and dry" now in my location (although after only just a couple of days of seeing the sunshine once again for the first time in a month, the forecast for tomorrow is for another inch of rain!).
The irony here is, my home location is typically one of the wettest in the state. I often note that whenever it rains in one spot in the state it will typically be OUR spot! No kidding, I cannot count the number of times during the summers when surveying the weather radar for pending "isolated thundershowers", it has been OUR particular location where they were "isolated" to! It is not uncommon to find the creek that borders our property overflooding its banks to our perpetually soggy, lower backyard with one flash flood after another during the spring rains and summer downpours. Yet, during this recent diastrous period of rainfall causing all of the major streams and rivers in our state to overflow, our particular area has been one of the least affected! My backyard is not much more nasty and muddy than usual and the back creek is, and has been, well within its banks (so far!).
So, while we have been affected to some small degree (not able to get into Columbia for any reason including my wife's medical treatments and keeping a watchful eye on rising, near flood stage lake levels on Lake Murray), we have not had to endure the tragedies of many of our lower lying neighboring locations.
Had I realized that so many of you who have inquired were watching this page for some news about the situation here from my perspective, I would have posted this update sooner. However, I do thank all of you, here now, for your many emails! It really has been a hurried, busy month here yet I apologize for not addressing this issue here a week or two earlier.
Hopefully I can get another update in toward the end of the month with some news of Tool Box completions that are on the near horizon. Meanwhile, I hope that YOUR fall is/remains safe and dry!
Once more, in closing, my heartfelt thanks to all of you who dashed off an email asking if we were okay down here. It was most inspiring to see these emails from all of you. I remind you that you do not have to wait until the next flood to drop me a personal note as it is ALWAYS good to hear from every one of you at any time!
DaviSincerely,
Hayne

September 8th, 2015
"DaviSparing ... DaviSeptember 2015?"

I first thought I might "spare" all of you the same old routine this year ...
You know ... the one that goes something like this every year ...
"Thirty days hath September ... unless you are here at DaviSound where it has 45 ...
because we always need the extra time to get where we need to be by month's end!"
Something like that.
Well, obviously, I did NOT spare you because if there ever was a year that I need the "extended month" this would be it! Even working the lengthy 12 and 14 hour days of old .... even laboring through "Labor Day" as I typically do ... I still have not come close to being where I will want/need to be by the official end of summer later this month.
BUT PROGRESS IS BEING MADE!
Work here continues on two new Tool Boxes as they are both working through their final stages of completion/proofing/closure (along with the fabrication of MasterPiece circuit modules at an all-time record pace while also beginning the elements for other Tool Boxes still in the current order chronology) and I am also working on my FINAL two, major mixing consoles. I know, "never say never" but I have vowed that these will be the last two large custom projects that I will take on, at least of the magnitude of these two remaining "monsters".
One of the several reasons for that, and the "biggest" reason has to do with just that ... the "BIG" factor! I no longer have the work space available that is required to set up and fabricate large mixing consoles. Even with my planned, future mobile workshop, there will not be room to sustain projects of this type (only about 128 square feet of work space planned for that).
The second biggest reason is TIME. Custom mixers are just TOO time consuming to build using my tedious, hand assembly techniques.
Ironically, that seems to be just what everybody wants now that I have decided to restrict all my future attention to our Tool Boxes and some possible custom variations thereof. I have had five inquries for custom mixers just this summer alone and have been turning down all such commissions for over a year now. It NEVER gets any easier to have to say "no" to any client or any new inquiror. My old motto throughout my business career was to ALWAYS say YES to any project, no matter how "impossible" it might seem, and then worry about the details of acheiving the "impossible" after the committment. This always seemed to work over the years but it took its toll along the way also with more "DaviStress" included with some of those projects than anyone should have to deal with in an entire lifetime.
So, while I have no plans to "retire" ... I do want to be able to ENJOY each project as well as enjoy a little more leisure time along with it all in the years ahead. You see, that old TIME factor suddenly becomes very, very important to you as you become acutely aware of your seventh decade looming ahead on the near horizon!
So, that's the current "DaviStory" ...
I want to be able to start winding up all the "DaviSeptembers" in the years ahead in the normal 30 days WITHOUT the extended 45 or whatever!
But for THIS year ...
It is the "DaviSameOld" ... "DaviSituation".
SOooo ...
Please tune in again here around mid October for my next update with some of the results of yet another "DaviSeptember" to be presented here along with a glimpse of some long awaited "DaviSnapshots" of those current Tool Box projects now in the final stages!
Thank you all!
Hayne

July 31st / August 5th 2015
"DaviSqueezing" through DaviSummer 2015 ...

If you are wondeirng about the TWO dates for this brief update ...
It is because I actually finished the little write-up below on the 31st of last month but got interrupted before I could get it posted. I am just now getting around to it (DaviSqueezing it in!) on August 5th.
"DaviSqueezing" is the theme for this month and an appropriate one it is. This is because, not only have my twelve hour workdays of old returned with a vengence (and often even longer), but I am now "squeezing in" more activities, errands, distractions/diversions, correspondence, household duties, etc. etc. etc. than I ever have to date. It does seem that the older I get, the MORE I do in all directions while most of my friends and aquaintances my age and older are slowing down. The good news is ... I seem to be THRIVING on it!
Right now on my home work tables (had planned a photo or two but could not "squeeze in" the time for editing/uploading at the moment), I have two Tool Boxes in the completion priority stages while my two remaining, current (and the LAST of the large, custom commisions I will ever likely accept) mixer projects are also setup for ongoing work. Needless to say, it is difficult to turn around in there let alone get to something on either side of the room.
I also continue to "squeeze in" the ongoing setup of my temporary outside work shed (an old car shed conversion) housing the band saw, drill press and related larger tools but the heat, (along with the assorted work load just mentioned) has slowed this effort considerably. There is still MUCH to sort through and organize that was moved while vacating the old facility back in June.
NEXT UPDATE ...
I will try to "Squeeze in" some photos of some of our current projects including a long awaited, first ever PORTABLE Tool Box, a custom TB-7, and a new TB-3 both in their final finishing stages on the tables.
As always, thanks for "tuning in" ("squeezing in" a visit to our news page!) stay cool, and may we all squeeze through the sultry, "dog days" of August!
Hayne

June 26th 2015
DaviStrippings ...

As we fully close that "final chapter" of the old DaviSound facility as described in my last update (below) ...
I thought I might share some of the very last cell phone snapshots of the place during the final "STRIPDOWN" early this month (yes, I did make it out by the midnight, June 5th deadline .... turning the keys over to the new owner at exactly 10:39 PM!).
If you are a newcomer to our site and curious about "before and after", you can compare some of these views with those on our old, DaviScenes web page.
DaviSurreal ...

One of my longtime client friends in California, who "inherited" our old Ludwig studio drumset, commented that he bet it was a "surreal" experience that last night on the premises. I can think of no better way to put it.
"NIGHT MOVES" ... ... ...

"Like thieves in the night ..."

Months of hauling continues right up until the last minute ...

"DaviSanford" ... "DaviStorage"

The final load at home the next day ... and it still had to be unloaded and carried to the storage sheds.
Annette would hum the "Sanford And Son" theme each time she saw me drive into the yard!
(One of my all-time favorite TV shows, by the way!)

The last trailer load included one of two top panel sections of the very first custom console that I ever built ...
It was used in the conrtrol room circa 1972-1979 and had been stored in the attic all these years ...
I just could not bring myself to throw it away (and, yes, there were far TOO MANY pieces accumulating like that!).

The studio drums removed from the booth for the first time in 44 years ...
packed and ready to ride to their new California home.
Despite the hurried, ugly packing job ... they arrived fine.

The old drum booth stripped of it's outer wall and it's interior contents.

And ... the he old vocal booth also stripped of it's outer wall and it's interior contents.

A longer shot of the entire "live wall" stripped down ... ... ...
regular readers will recall that the beautiful, original rough sewn, inch thick, pine paneling outer wall
was removed last year, piece by piece, by Annette to be stored and eventually used for her planned, outdoor patio kitchen.

The old radio production room in the process of being "DaviStripped".

The stripped control room ...
The hardest one for me to look at like this for some reason.

The adjoining control room mini-lounge during the "stripping" process ...
after the fridge and microwave had been removed.

The microphone input panel and one of the headphone amp distribution boxes kept for souvenirs.

Partial view of the few old master tapes still left on premises during the last hours of "DaviStripping" ...
We had been hauling away plastic tubs of tapes from four storage rooms for months ...
most of which went to my Daughter, Lee for safe storage in her climate controlled upstairs spare room ...
until I can get the time to go through them all one by one and archive them to digital files.
And yes, of course, some of them will be saved in their original analog state for posterity.
As hard as it is to imagine for us old timers ...
some of the new generation reading this will never have even seen an analog recording tape before!
Many of the masters had also been passed along to the original musicians and clients who participated in them.
For example, former studio bass player, "Pickle" Eaves "inherited" most of his old tapes ...
along with our old Tascam 8-track recorder.

I couldn't close without a shot of a fixture in the original office since it was built ...
The old client wall map.
In the early days .... LONG before digital personal computers! ... this map was our "analog files system" for broadcast clients.
In order to keep up with client locations and the services they used ...
Color coded, flagged, straight pins were inserted in the city of location on the map of U.S. and Canadian clients ...
(overseas designators were placed in the nearest ocean!).
By the late seventies when this process was replaced ... the map looked like a virtual pin cushion ...
especially on the east of the Mississippi side ...
with hardly room for ANY more pins to be placed in many areas
(especially Pennsylvania and surrounding areas for just one recollection)!
As we gradually moved more and more into the engineering side of the business ...
in addition to our traditional metal file boxes with index cards and file folders ...
client and inquiror info was also kept on mini-computer files.

And, so, as I close out this illustrated entry into our "news updates" ... I also close, for good, my "DaviSentimental" journey that has been chronichled here off and on for the past two years as we went through the lengthy, laborious process of closing down our lifelong facility.
Many of you have written and asked WHY the studio facility was not passed along and maintained as a studio. Well, it was not because I did not make the effort over the last few years. This would have, most definitely, been my preferance! In fact, I guess it is the real reason I prolonged the final studio and control rooms disassembly until the very last. I had long put the word out that I would like to see someone take it over and keep it going as a studio, or media facility, in some fashion but there was never any serious interest.
Personally, I simply could not afford to maintain the large facility and give it the daily attention it needed any longer and, since I was now doing more and more work from home with plans for a future, much desired, mobile workshop, it simply did not make any sense to try and keep it sitting there unused, just accumulating dust and taxes!
No family member, or close aquaintance, had any interest and neither did any of the area musicians or media types that I approached have the desire (or the means) to keep it going. I guess this will always be my biggest regret as I would have loved to have seen it "carry on" in some way. We must realize, though, that for the most part, studios of this type and magnitude are, unfortunately, a thing of the past ... a bygone era.
However, the nice, industrious young man who purchased the facility and the remaining adjoining property is already remodeling it and, although I am not really sure of his intended final plans for it, it will definitely NOT be a recording studio or media workshop. But I take solace that it IS in good hands and will be put to good use for some future purpose.
I am still working on sorting through the "big haul" and setting up a temporary "workshop" of sorts for the larger items (band saw, table saw, drill presses etc.) in one of our home storage sheds until I can get around to that eventual mobile workshop. Of course, I continue to assemble "Tool Boxes" and the smaller DaviSound projects from my home work room just as I have mainly done for the past several years.
So, yes, while this chapter of DaviSound, that is simply the OLD facility, is now closed ... I assure you that DaviSound is "alive and well" with a new chapter full of plans and ideas ahead for the future! Along with all the busy work just described, I am also increasingly thinning out the infamous "BACKLOG" of projects here and hope to be able to lift that new order "freeze" somewhere around summer's end!
I have had to turn down two new mixer projects this month alone and, I assure you, nothing HURTS like having to turn away a new client! While I may not be accepting any more large mixer projects in the future, I assure that the small custom projects and, of course, all of the Tool Boxes, will continue to be "labors of love" for me for many years to come!
Thank you all for your continued support through all of this incredible transition and I look forward to continuing my work for all of you, with renewed, dedicated effort in the months and years ahead!
Hayne

May 31st 2015
DaviSentimental Journey ...

I mentioned last time that I was frantically continuing to MOVE a lifelong supply of ... well JUNK mostly I guess by most standards ... by the end of the month since the deadline for turning over the keys is .... THE END OF THE MONTH! Well, actually, I have until the 5th of June according to the contract but I had promised myself and all concerned that it would be tomorrow if possible. Turns out it is not. Naturally, "last minute me" will be needing those "few more days" although I now foresee only about two more days of double haulings to take care of it.
I will be leaving lots of old furnishings ...sofas, file cabinets, desks and the like ... even the old studio spinet piano and the infamous "lower plate" custom reverb unit (mounted in the attic over the studio!). The new owner says he can use most of these and, believe me, I am SICK of loading/hauling/unloading- this has been going on periodically for almost two years now and regularly (at least two or three days per week) since April 5th.
It is amazing what you decide to just leave, or toss, in these final moments of vacating a lifelong facility for the last time. It is also interesting what you decide to keep ... the little, "worthless", insignificant things are what now seem to mean the most. Things like a, now antique, old telephone that was the original first phone installed in the building by "Ma Bell" back in 1970, the custom wood carved desk paperweight made for me by a former assistant, certain letters and memorabilia from "famous" clients over the years etc. etc.
I think what I find most gratifying is the fact that, since I announced the plans to leave the facility over two years ago, I have received numerous requests from old clients and friends for assorted "pieces" of the place. So.now, we have little items (and some NOT so little) scattered, literally, over a lot of the country and a lot of the globe (much like all of our work over the years).
I am glad to know that our old mic stands, booms, drums and assorted other gear will LIVE ON and still be put to use in other studios in the years ahead.
And, many of the items have simply been requested by collectors (such as any of our old house label records that turned up in the closets and attics).
Even a few close friends and relatives have wanted to drop by the place one last time (some who have only ever seen it once or twice before in the very early days) and take home some small "piece" as a souvenier.
One such old friend (David B.) visited recently and walked away with a few items for his "Camp David" (a large memorabilia room in his basement where he stores and displays relics and treasures from by-gone years which, in some way or other, pertain to his life or otherwise have some significance for him).
The corner display he created honoring "Mother Cleo Productions Recording Studios" is pictured below.

"DaviShrine!"
David chose an old "model de caricature" of yours truly playing bass as the centerpiece ...
(which was creatively fashioned from a Pabst Blue Ribbon can and a few other items ...
by the wife of a former band member in the seventies).
It is surrounded by a couple of old Mother Cleo records and percussion instruments...
a mini conga drum and cowbell which were used on actual sessions over the years...
And, of all things, a small model boomerang once left on the percussion table by an Australian client!

It has definitely been a "sentimental journey" going through EVERYHTHING and removing it, either to the dumpster, to these new appreciative owners, or to my limited home storage areas. This is why it has taken so long .... I would go out to make a "big haul" and find myself pouring over "long lost" memorabilia files and tapes ... such as the irony (or, perhaps, serendipity is the more appropriate term here) of boxing up a tape of rough, ref mixes sent to me long ago by an engineer at Magnagraphics Studio in New York of a Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band session in the same souvenir box as a copy of an old purchase order from Apple Records for a custom built direct box signed by John Lennon himself!
There were many days like this over the past three months where I found myself slipping back through all those years as I sifted through the stacks and stacks of files, papers, letters etc, in what was supposed to be a "quick" trip that turned into a complete afternoon of getting little accomplished besides getting lost in all the memories.
But, that jouney will be coming to an abrubt END sometime this coming week ..."D-Day Eve" you might say!
So with that thought I will leave you until next update opportunity when, FINALLY, we can forever turn our attention toward the FUTURE of DaviSound and leave the past behind ... where it really belongs.
As always, thank you for reading!
Hayne

April 30th 2015
DaviSearching ...

It seems this last day of the month thing is getting to be a habit ...
Here I am, barely making it with the update on the last day once again.
And, to make it worse, this will be a rather QUICK one ...
just to let all of my many viewers of this area (both of you!) know that I am still here ...alive and well (after last month's weirdest of weird ordeals) ... and still working almost round the clock in all directions. I do hope to have another update this month, if at all possible, reporting on some progress for assorted DaviSound projects underway

One of those varied directions I am working in is the FINAL move-out of the old DaviSound facility - I am spending several hours on it almost daily now as I absolutely HAVE to be finished with it all by the end of next month. I am trying to beat that by a week or two if possible (meanwhile my home workroom and outside storage shed runneth over!). LOTS of nostalgia involved with all of this but I will save any comments in that regard to some other time.
Just a few closing comments in this edition regarding SEARCH engines ... you know who I mean ... the "BIG-DOUGH-MAINS".
Since DaviSound is pronounced the same as Davis Sound ... and since many who would be searching for DaviSound may very well enter Davis Sound into the search window ... years ago I registered DavisSound.com along with DaviSound.com (I used to own both in .net as well but eventually gave the latter up). If you enter DavisSound.com into your browser you will be redirected to DaviSound.com.
However, if you go to Google, and many of the others who now just copy their data base in some fashion, and enter Davis Sound in your search window, you will find hundreds, or thousands, of pages containing the words Davis and Sound but you will NEVER see anything related to DaviSound! Keep in mind that I not only own and maintain DavisSound.com along with DaviSound.com, but we also have the phrase - "Davis Sound ... A Natural Combination" on our welcome page directly beneath DaviSound.
Out of frustration over this negligence, I posted a special welcome page for DavisSound.com explaining all of this and why I was posting a page that would refer to Davis Sound about a trillion times - hopefully to attract the attention of the search crawlers. Of course the old "robot-crawler" technique is not really used any more having been replaced by a kind of "selective weighting" so I understand ... in other words, you are listed at the discretion of the "powers that be at BIG G".
My padding efforts worked against me of course and, apparently, this page was somehow even actually deleted by my host server! It, now, just redirects directly to DaviSound.com! Can the all powerful Google do something like this- by-pass, or cause removal of, a page on someone else's server? Apparently so ... I did not remove the page and my host claims they did not. They (Google) certainly removed DavisSound.com from any search result for Davis Sound referring to me or DaviSound in their data base, that is for certain (either that or relegated us to page 1002 or beyond - I quit looking after reviewing 1001).
What frustrates me here is the fact that I get this called to my attention several times per month by new inquirors who have heard of "Davis Sound" and are trying to search for us. Since we are the MOST well known audio company in the world by that name- acronym though it may be- wouldn't you think that the world's biggest search engine would be obliged to include us in their listings? Maybe I am not speaking the right language when I inquire ... $$$$ ?
If any of you net-tech gurus who may happen to read this have any ideas or suggestions for me on how to overcome the "Giant G" on this issue ... PLEASE pass them along ... I would sure love to ease some of this "DaviSearch" frustration I have had to experience for many years now when I have to explain all of this over and over to new inquirors as I have had to do several times again just this month.
Thank you all who DO manage to find us and who DO come here each month for these humble updates and hoping for some REAL news regarding DaviSound AUDIO (there really are a few more than two of you, of course) !
I hope to have more of that AUDIO news for you here very soon!
Hayne

March 31st 2015
DaviSore ... and ... DaviSick!

I know ...
I vowed to try and stay away from "personal" news in this area this year. But, sometimes, you just really have no choice- especially when it dominates. So here it is. I have just come through one of the most miserable weeks of my life. I just spent almost a full week in total AGONY ... no, let's change that to TORTURE!
It started when I decided to rearrange an old storage shed at home in preparation for the final move of the heavier items that had/have to be moved from our buildings at the old DaviSound facility now sold. After a day of continuous heavy lifting, which at the time did not seem to over-tax my "old" arthritic body too much, I began feeling "quite strange", to say the least, as I crashed in my recliner late that evening for some last minute computer work. Almost as suddenly as the flip of a switch, I noticed I was becoming so stiff and sore all over that I could hardly move.
Well. over the next few hours, I began to experience sensations and pains for which there are simply no descriptions- no way to actually convey the intensity in words- even for me, an old, creative advertising copy writer!
We have all used the old "run over by a truck" phrase to describe our feelings after a day of over exertion at some time or other. In this case, it had to be a freight train! As I say, I won't even try to go into too much detail beyond the fact that EVERYTHING I had in my body hurt (and a few things I never knew I had) but my neck, shoulders, arms and hands, especially the left shoulder/arm, were literally parallyzed by the most severe pain I have ever experienced in my entire life. Then it got worse.
I reached the crescendo on about the third night while struggling to get a thermometer in my mouth to see if the 101 degree fever had dropped any after three days. It had not.
It seems, according to my daughter-in-law who is a local nurse, that some kind of weird viral infection is going around whose primary symptoms are extreme muscle, joint, tendon pain ("Chemtrail" induced maybe?). Naturally, according to the Laws Of Murphy, I would happen to come down with this bug on the very night that I had just pushed all of my poor old mucles/joints/tendons far beyond their 67 year old limits! So, of course, my agony was thus magnified and multiplied many times over.
If you think I have exaggerated any of this, I assure you there is NO WAY to do so. Consider this - I could NOT lift a tissue to my face with my left arm and just barely- after about a fifeen second struggle through hell- with my right!
I have endured a LOT of ailments in my day but, for pure pain and misery, I have NEVER experienced, or even begun to imagine, anything this bad. I was in bed for four days and barely able to move there the whole time. The struggle to get up just to use the "facility" was traumatic. Keep in mind, that as an old guy with severe arthritis and several compressed verterbrae, along with numerous other old "wounds and scars" lived with for years, I really do have a very high pain tolerance so these are not exactly the "whinings of a whimp" here.
Imagine the worst "crick in the neck" you have ever had, multiply it by at least ten, and place it all over your upper torso (and the legs and knees ached also- they were just dwarfed by the upper extremeties!) and you can ALMOST get some kind of vague idea of what I am talking about.
But the GOOD NEWS is ...
tonight I am MUCH better (albeit weak) after feeling most of the symptoms subside all day. I still feel like I just got back from a three mile water ski outing but the fever is now gone and, compared to what I had been feeling, this is pleasant. So, it seems I will survive.

DaviStrides ...
In spite of all of the above, and the fact that I am, for this one last stretch of time, being forced to divert some of my time toward this final move and its required clearance of all the remaining "junk" in the old buildings, progress was also made on the projects described here in last month's update ... that is up until the big "meltdown" which occupied this month's entire last week.
So, I will just save all those updates until next month when I will, hopefully, have some more interesting specifics to post regarding some of them.
To that couple of inquirors asking about my "order freeze" being lifted at the end of the quarter, I have to announce that it will need to be in affect for ONE MORE QUARTER. But, by mid-summer, I plan to have that "freeze" well "thawed out" and ready to get DaviSound rolling at a more normal pace once again!
As always ... THANKS for "tuning" in, and please join me again here next time. And, meanwhile, TAKE CARE of yourselves and may you NEVER ... EVER ... have to endure such "MARCH MADNESS" as I have had to endure all this past week!
Hayne

February 28th 2015 -
DaviSocial? ... and ... DaviSold!

Well, here it is another last day of the month and I make another monthly update just barely before the calendar turns over.
This one will be just a few brief comments to add on to last month's update but we do have some real "news" news to report along with the regular update that work is progressing nicely here on our next projects in line after shipping the long, on-going "MixMaster" mixer project completed last month.
Those projects now include moving another tube mixer ("Mixer O'Tube") to the forefront of the bench as our next major custom project for completion along with several more Tool Boxes to be getting attention in the work rotation according to their chronology (A TB-3, a custom TB-7, a dual TB-7 and the commemorative TB-40- all well overdue!).
I am still not quite ready to begin accepting new orders just yet but hope to be at the point again sometime in the next quarter so, all of you who have been waiting and wanting a new DaviSound Tool Box, please renew those whetted appetites and get ready!
As for the "DaviSocial" reference in the heading ...
I have had a rash of emails lately from some of our friends and clients inviting me to join them on "Facebook" and/or "Linked In" etc. Please know that, while I do appreciate the thoughts and the fact that you would want me to participate in your listings, I am just not into the so-called "social media" trend. Call me an eccentric "old fogie" or anything similar but I just do NOT have the inclination to follow that pied piper.
Now, I am NOT an anti-social person - far from it. I just do not have the desire, or the time if I did, to publish my hobbies and habits and daily routines on the Internet! As most of you know, I have a hard enough time maintaining and updating our DaviSound website these days (still have a backlog of FAQs material and "DaviStories" to add when time/opportunity permits).
As I belabored in one of these updates a couple of years back (you could find it in the News Archives page if you were so inclined) called "Who Gives A Tweet", anything I have to say you will find here, exclusively, on our DaviSound website ... one click is much more efficient than two, I think. It is simple enough to just bookmark and click on this News Updates page if you get curious about me and what is happening with DaviSound in general.
And speaking of happenings ...
That is where the "DaviSold" part of our story comes in this month. Finally, after a couple of years in the making, I finally sold the remaining Sunset Avenue property including the old DaviSound building just this afternoon!
Most of you who follow this section are all too familiar with that long ongoing saga so it will not be rehashed again here. But, suffice it to say we had been preparing for such a sale for quite some time but the actual occurrance today caught me entirely by surprise ... an inquiry and bound deal all in one hour's time this afternoon. So, now, I must once again be dividing my time to take up where we left off last year and clean out all the remaining items in the old building in the allotted 90 day grace period that I have to do so.
Every time I mention something about the old building being closed, or up for sale, someone always misinterprets that it means the demise oif DaviSound ... so, as usual, I must qualify and reiterate that we are NOT, by any stretch, going out of business! The old building has been closed for a couple of years now and I have been working entirely from my home workroom with a new mobile workshop also in the planning stages. So, it is work and "business as usual" in that regard. I just thought some of you "old itmers" would like to know that the long awaited final sale of the old building/studio and adjoining property has finally happened.
Thank you again for your visit to my updates page and I hope to have another one for you at least just a little earlier next month, if possible!
Best in audio,
Hayne

January 31st 2015
DaviShipping! ...

Well it took me a "little" while to get around to wishing you all a "Happy New Year" for real during this first month of 2015 but here it is ...
I finally made it before month's end (with a few hours to spare!).
I was determined not to do another update until I could report that, at long last, our current longest holdover, major custom project, was now ready for shipment. As usual, it is by my "teeth skin" that I made it but I did make it! We ALWAYS come through ... "eventually" (as one patiently waiting client recently phrased it).
I am further determined to make "DaviShipping" our main theme here for 2015! The next projects in line, most of which are already two-thirds or more completed already, will now be moving on up and out in a little more steady fashion now that this long ongoing project is finally wrapped up (and it is being wrapped up tomorrow, literally, for pickup by a custom "air ride" carrier on Tuesday).
I look forward to bringing similar good news ( and great products!) to many of you other clients in waiting as this new year unfolds so please renew your patient waiting with renewed optimism knowing that your wait WILL be over ... "eventually". And the goal is to make most all of these "eventual" shipments happen well before this year is out if possible!

AS FOR THAT PROJECT NOW "WRAPPING UP" FOR DAVISHIPPING ...
Here is a shot of it undergoing "burn-in" in the work room about two weeks ago ...

For those of you wondeirng about "burn-in" ... what it is and why we do it ... it is because we learned long ago that most malfunctions due to a faulty part or component will typically occur within the first 300 to 600 hours of operation. Therefore, most dedicated, custom builders (are there any left besides DaviSound?) allow their projects to stay powered up, under full load, for as long as possible prior to shipment while making both signal and power supply comparative measurements before, during and after.
As one example of the benefit of this process, just after this photo was taken, we found that the filament transformer in the remote power supply was weakening and we replaced it with a new, higher rated, filament supply section.
Once a failure occurs and is replaced, another "burn-in" begins, although typically shorter, since odds against two similar consecutive failures are usually pretty good because we never replace a failed component with a component from the same lot, or even from the same manufacturer/supplier.
Of course, nowadays this is more important than ever since, unlike the "good old days" when most parts came from the USA, Europe or Japan, now most all we have available are cheap, inferior turnouts from China! Those who know me and who correspond with me have to hear me moan about this sad state of affairs almost constantly. If anything would EVER cause me to give up building audio gear prematurely, this unfortunate circumstance would be it! As a "perfectionist" by nature, there is just far too much IMperfection encroaching into today's world, in too many respects, to suit me.
And, please, don't try to lecture me that this or that brand name component comes from this or that European source ... do your homework and you will find in most cases even that exotic European component, or even that popular "German" mixer, is actually originally sourced in China!
No, I don't have anything against the Chinese per se ... I just don't like to have to settle for three out of five working parts (if I am lucky) from every lot I purchase, which has been my experience with Chinese and Taiwanese electronic components in recent years. I also do not like the way our self-serving politicians / major corporations "bedfellows" have sold out our country to the Chinese and given away our American jobs, along with our American manufacturing pride, in the process! I could rant on about all of this for pages but I will just cut it off here instead.

SO, IN CLOSING ...
Most of you who follow this "News" area of our website will recall that I have vowed to keep most of my updates this year related to the specifics surrounding our projects as well as pro audio information in general rather than the "Murphy's Law" details of my personal life which have "reigned over" everything the past year including these news updates entries.
Well, I look forward to keeping that vow for you and I welcome all of you back here for another new beginning for some exciting new endings to be consecutively announced throughout the coming year! Now, do not expect too much, too soon, too often but they WILL be coming as often as possible, much more like the "normal" schedules of our early days, and I hope to have many more "news worthy" comments for you relating to DaviSound and our gear here for you in each of the coming months!
Thank you all for "hangin' in" with me into another new year and I promise you all my best, continued efforts for you in 2015!
Best in audio,
Hayne Davis

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