Welcome to the DaviSound "NEWS UPDATES ARCHIVES" Page!
Copyright 1999-2024 by DaviSound ©™
Last Update January, 2024
The links in this first index section will be for those yearly entries -
2013 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2014 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES
2015 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES
2016 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2017 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2018 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES
2019 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2020 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2021 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES
2022 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2023 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES
''DAVISNIPPETS'' ... ''DAVISELECTED'' ... ''DAVISIGNIFICANT'' ...
''DAVISECTIONS'' FROM PAST NEWS UPDATES
(Some of our most noted, most read, highlights from past years' posts) -
2013 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES 2013 featured some of our most significant events to date almost every month (including our VERY LAST impromptu memorial recording session) so it is included again here, in entirety! I
2020 MONTHLY NEWS UPDATES Likewise, as our 50th anniversary year, 2020 contained MANY significant posts nearly every month. Therefore, rather than go through and ''DaviSnippit'', it is included again in this section in entirety!
JANUARY 2015 ''DaviShipping'' (All about the necessity of ''burn-in'' prior to shipment!) l
APRIL 2015 ''DaviSearching'' (The frustrations of Internet searches for DaviSound!) l
JUNE 2015 ''DaviStripping'' (Last photos of the DaviSound facility stripped down prior to sale!) l
NOVEMBER 2015 ''DaviShrunk'' (Introducing the new MP-TB3 module!) l
JANUARY 2016 ''DaviSturdy'' (Testament to DaviSound reliability!) l
DECEMBER 2016 ''DaviSummarising 2016'' (A little reflective ''philosophication''!) l
MARCH 2019 ''DaviSeconds'' (Vacuum Tubes and what ever happened to the TB-9?) l
In retrospect, should have just included ALL of 2021 as ''DaviSignificant''! But here are the chosen excerpts ...
January 2021- ''DaviSad DaviStation DaviSermon !'' (Thoughts on the January Insurrection and it's broadcast connection. Plus photo of the Dave Rust DaviSound collection!) l
February 2021 ''DaviShortwave'' (A positive turnaround on my broadcast radio outlook inspired by a
client's young daughter- and the ''BarnDoor Receiver'' !) l
MARCH 2021 ''DaviScrapping'' (Old photo discoveries, and their stories, for the scrapbook !) l
APRIL 2021 ''DaviSnakes'' (About the DaviSnake Microphones and the Ampex 351!) l
'' DaviSummer '21 '' (Calm before the ''DaviStorm'' of fall ''DaviSurgery''! Plus an inside look at a TB-4 beginning assembly.) l
October '21- '' DaviSurgery ... DaviScary Halloween! '' (''DaviSevered'' for Halloween - The heart attack / open-heart surgery ordeal!) l
February '22- '' DaviSeventy-Four! '' ( 74th Birthday reflections - an AUDIObiography of sorts! - the post that generated the most ever eMail comments!) l
March '22- '' DaviSpring DaviSentimental Journey! '' ( More reminiscing with a very special, reflective road trip into the past!) l
November '22- '' DaviSearched! '' ( Even more reminiscing about yet ANOTHER, legendary Newberry, SC recording studio of the past!)
BIRTHDAYS l
DAVISIMPLE-TB-8 l
DaviSanta? I
LONGEST MONTH l
30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY-JUNE, 2000 I
40 YEAR ANNIVERSARY-2010 - WHO GIVES A TWEET?
HALLOWEEN TREATS-NEW TB-5 I
MIX I
DaviSteady I
DaviStruck I
DaviStumbled I
ORIGINAL TB-10 I
CONSOLE-ing News I
NaySay
November 26, 2022
'' DaviSearched '' ...
First, let me say Happy Holidays to all ... hope yours are enjoyable so far ! It's in the midst of another Thanksgiving weekend as I write this and lots to be thankful for most definitely ... and I am!
This will be another brief one and another inspired by a recent reader email ... and nice to see after last month's email drought! I will save the work progress details one more time until the year end wrap-up coming next month as this one will be a bit off topic once again (although not another very long ''ramble'' I promise but a worthy and interesting read I believe).
The email I refer to was from an inquiror (not a current or former ''client'' per se but an interested reader) who had stumbled across a post I had made on a music history website blog. The inquiror had been searching for me by name, ran across this particular post in the search engine offering and, with curiosity aroused, sent me an email asking all about it.
Here is a screenshot of the post I had made on this particular website (link provided later) some years back ...
This is the tower site of the radio station, WIXE, that I helped construct in early 1968 which I mentioned in last month's News Update. The studios were originally located downtown on South Main Street, Monroe (the tower site is located, appropriately ironic, just off South Hayne Street extension!). However, this photo shows the station as it is today with the studios added onto our old transmitter building at the tower site. It seems like just yesterday that I was on a tractor plowing in the 120 ground radials located every three degrees and spreading some 180 feet outwards from the tower base. I found it amazing that aside from the new building addition, the site, including the tree line on the hill, hasn't changed much at all in 54 years!
This WIXE tower was constructed by "tower jack" extraordinare, Ross Martin, using the old, time honored, ''gin pole'' method. Ross was something of a showman and, although he had a full leg cast from a prior fall at the time, he performed his traditional "zip line" ride down the lower guy wire with his climbing belt clipped to it after finishing a full inspection climb on completion!
By contrast, this was the construction of our MIX-106 (WNMX-FM) tower in Newberry, S.C. in 1989 utilizing a more modern crane lift technique. The little transmitter shack located beside it was built by my dad and me (he was in the early stages of a lengthy lung cancer battle at the time but could still cat-walk along the king rafter!)
An astute reader called my attention to an old dB Magazine (June, 1980 edition) posted on-line in pdf file form. Located within was one of our little ads which we ran in numerous trade magazines of the day including, aside from dB The Sound Engineering Magazine, also Modern Recording, Recording Engineer Producer, Billboard Magazine and Broadcasting Magazine. This was our ONLY form of advertising from the mid seventies through the mid eighties.
) may recall me mentioning, last year, an email received from a very young inquiror, in his early twenties, who was just launching a new studio endeavor and who was very interested in making as much of his operation ANALOG as possible. This, of course, inspired me to comment on the ''wonder'' of both analog interests surviving the times as well as the fact that I was now beginning to supply equipment to THREE generations in some cases.
) . I purchased the gear from the dad of a young, successful studio owner who had subsequently volunteered for recall duty and lost his life in Vietnam. The gear was all stored in a garage and when I got there to load the old Ampex workhorses into the UHaul trailer, he kept asking me if I didn't want all the other classic gear stored there. I kept declining since I thought he was trying to SELL me the extra gear, for which I didn't have the extra funds, only to realize later that he was trying to just toss it in ... GIVE it to me! What a sad and deflating latter realization this was since there were classic mics, stands, cables, processors, etc. all stored in that garage!
)
'' DaviStarted and DaviSad DaviStation" - 2021 ! ''
Yes, this will be just a bit of a "DaviSermon" but I do promise to keep it VERY "DaviShort"! The last thing I EVER want to do is to turn this platform into a political forum of any sort. But, like most of you, I was sickened by the recent events in Washington and I just can't help but offer some observations here, out front, since it also ties in with another of my lifelong passions and loves - RADIO.
Most of you are already aware of my past, varied, broadcast career and subsequent ties thereto. I also mentioned in a prior update last year (now moved to News Archives ) about my fascination with simple homebrew TRF radio receivers hooked up to a 50' longwire antenna and the shortwave, and medium wave, AM reception they bring in to reward their constructor. I have been entertained on many a long winter night, in days long past, by listening to these homemade receivers while I sat and worked at the soldering table. I say days long past since it is very hard to find that kind of entertaining radio anywhere nowadays.
Where there used to be dozens and dozens of stations across the shortwave broadcast bands providing colorful information from the various countries they emanated from, now many of these stations have disappeared entirely from the airwaves due to the internet and the ones that are left are, you guessed it, primarily propaganda machines just like their mediumwave (AM broadcast band) counterparts. It's all either extreme rightwing, hate propaganda, maniacal conspiracy theorists, or paid religious fanatics! The standard AM broadcast band is no better. I received a new all-band receiver the other night and, while testing it, I manually scanned every broadcast frequency from 520 kHz all the way through 1710 kHz, and I want you to know that on all but four stations I picked up, there was an assortment of ranting, raving Rush Limbaugh "wannabes" spitting their garbage out all across the dial! And of course, they would not be doing it if they did not have an eager, addicted audience for it and sponsors who cater to them. And the sad thing is, it is not just the fanatics who are insprired by it all. It has worked to "mind numb" many, otherwise, good intentioned people who have been megadosed with it day in and day out over too many years.
And, most importantly, I'm not talking about honest political debate here, I'm talking about "brainwashing" based upon outright lies and distortions amplified day after day. I don't know what's worse with these people, whether they actually believe what they're spewing or whether they know they are pandering to their audience ... I'm afraid its a little of both.
This is why I stuggle to maintain a positive hope for a better outcome. I think the cause of much of what we have seen called the "great divide" now among Americans is directly caused by media propaganda. To me it has been an obvious concern for MANY years. As I scanned the shortwave bands a week before the tragic event in Washington, I actually heard some of these maniacal hate-mongers calling for exactly what happened a week later ... EXACTLY what happened! This is being allowed on American sanctioned broadcast stations with no concern by the FCC, or the NAB, or the very sponsors that pay for it all! Yes, to me, it is especially a "DaviSad" turn of events to see my lifelong beloved medium, which once was filled with nothing but positive, uplifting programming governed by a principled fairness doctrine, now entirely nothing more than a forum for negative, narrow mindedness ( to put it mildly). But, unfortunately, such is the current state of our society in the year 2021.
There has been some sign of hope in the days following our recent tragedy since many sponsors, and at least one broadcast conglomerate, have vowed to pull the plug on some of these self-styled, would-be demigods if they do not cease and decist. However, I have my doubts whether this will last.
But, as the, almost eternal, optimist, I do continue to have HOPE for the future and I see the recent election as a step in the right direction. I just hope the other political party can, finally, start thinking with their brains instead of their emotions and open their eyes, ears, hearts and minds to something besides selfish greed and the loathing of their neighbors who don't see things in the same, one-sided manner that they do. Fortunately, a few of them in congress have already stepped up and bravely separated themselves from their, cowardly, self-serving counterparts. Again, just maybe this is a step in the right direction albeit a small, and possibly temporary, one.
Okay...here endeth the "DaviSermon"! Now on to better, and more positive, things!
I mentioned last time ("last year"), that I had a few new additions that I wanted to include in an update to our DaviStories page as soon as I could get the time to collate it all. One such addition is from the current commissioner of our latest Tool Box project, a new TB-4, Dave Rust of Indiana. Dave has sent me some photos of his collection of DaviSound gear which I am pleased to share with you here below.
Well, here we go again! Even though this year has started out even worse as far as the political wake being left behind with the terrible tragedy of events in our nation's capitol, I still feel the hope of the New Year and believe we are headed for better things ... IF we can silence ( or best yet, get everyone, including their sponsors to IGNORE!) those incessant spewers of hate propaganda all over American talk radio.
I want to thank Dave for sharing these photos with us. I can tell that he has taken meticulous care of his collection and I look forward to presenting him with his new DaviSound TB-4 sometime soon in the first quarter of this new year!
I hope all of you are doing well as we head onto a new slate of things to come. I thank all of you for joining me here again for yet another year of DaviSound News Updates. I truly hope that all of them will be GOOD NEWS updates, in all directions, for all of us. I certainly plan to have some interesting audio gear to display for you here in the months to come as I get closer to finishing a couple of our longest ongoing custom mixer projects as well as our other Tool Box projects along the way. And, yes, the rumor is true ... I am thinking of offering a guitar amp, or two, sometime in the not-too-far future!
So, until next time, thanks for "tuning in"! I promise no "propaganda" to be had on THIS "station". There are no long, slow loading scripts, no outside advertisers to distract you, no pop-ups, no "like us on Facebook" and "follow us on Twitter", or none of the aggravating formats now utilized in cookie-cutter fashion all over the web these days...never here! Just good, old fashioned, fast loading html! So please join me again next month, "same station", for more news updates ... from DaviSound!
Happy New Year!
Hayne
'' DaviShort and DaviShortwave ! ''
This will be a short one (at least compared to some of my lengthy "epistles") but, hopefully, an interesting one...albeit certainly a DIFFERENT one!
Although many of our visitors may not consider this at all about AUDIO ...(certainly not "pro audio" in any case)... I beg to differ! Radio is, indeed, audio ... just the first ever WIRELESS audio and it probably did more for the advancement of audio technology early on than anything else ever has. So, while this little February edition focuses on "radio audio", I promise that next month we will turn our full attention back to DaviSound Professional Audio creations- bigtime!
Meanwhile, after reading this update post, I do urge you to follow the link to the recent "radio" web page just added to our site and check it out... this is especially so if you are at all technically inclined and one of our DIY audio followers since you will find some very interesting audio related "DaviSecrets" embedded in our little article about a unique, DIY radio receiver.
The theme of this month's News Update was prompted by an email received not too long after last month's edition which was related
to the effects of today's modern radio "propaganda" programming on the sad state of our current American society. (In case you missed it you can scroll down, right below this month's edition, to find it. As longtime readers are aware, the way this News Updates page works is that I post each new update in succession "on top of" the prior month's update. Or you may use our new included "feature", an ongoing page index located at the top of the page which will link you to the particular month's entry that you may be looking for.)
The email that I refer to was from a very young lady (aged nine to be exact). It was very well written and it took me to task just a bit for my, somewhat, "negativity" regarding the state of today's shortwave radio broadcast bands!
She was, no doubt, encouraged by her father to write after he read last month's post since he is one of our longtime, European clients who has purchased numerous MasterPiece Modules as well as our old "Tech Reports" (eventually to be republished as "DaviSecrets") over the years . Anyway, it turns out that this young lady is an avid shortwave listener and quite an enthusiast. She pointed out to me that there was still plenty of good, positive programming available on shortwave if you just take the time to search and listen for it and she reminded me that the "searching" (tuning around the bands) is the fun part of it .. a "sport" akin to a more "civilized" version of hunting and fishing(NOTE- this ''sport'' is typically referred to as ''DXing'' by shortwave enthusiasts)!
She further went on to say that I should post a web page documenting the construction of that primitive radio receiver, that I had talked about on several occasions in these News Updates, which had given me so much enjoyment over the years (this, no doubt, also prompted by her dad!)
Well, inspired by her email, I took the time to dig through my old backup files and found just such a web page done many years ago as a tribute to that very special, simple, receiver. I had posted the page on my site back in the old AOL days in the late 1990s but had never done anything with it since AOL disbanded. Thus, I am pleased to tell her, and all who may be interested, that this page has now been briefly edited and ammended and posted here on the DaviSound site to be linked from our DaviSides web page (of course there will be a link to it from this update, here below, as well).
It is the story of the "Barndoor Receiver", a finalized version of that very early prototype which I used on my workbench for many years which I eluded to here last month. It is a detailed, construction article which includes schematics, layout, parts lists and even some new diagrams of subsequent, slightly more "sophisticated", TRF receivers (TRF refers to "Tuned Radio Frequency").
To hopefully whet a few appetites, here are just two of those five, newly included circuit additions that you will find in this latest version of the web page-
This was a view of the old MCP/DaviSound studios main control room circa 1975. This was shortly after remodeling. The console was about the third generation of custom boards for that room and the last one used prior to the addition of the "DaviSuperSystem" prototype added in 1982.
This is a photo of the large wall map that hung above/right of the office desk for years. The flagged, push pins were used to deignate the many broadcast stations that were using our "Airtight" production services. We used this method with the map so as to know at a glance where a conflict might be if a new client appeared in a pinned market desiring a similar piece of production. As you can see ... we were VERY busy with radio/TV/Film/Advertising productions in those days. This photo was taken in 1978.
So glad I found this one! This is the only known, surviving photo of one of my most beloved studio vocalists, Brantlee Price. Brantlee worked with us for about seven years and was heard on more of our productions than any other single contributor during the seventies. Aside from being a good friend, she was a superior talent both for singing and voice-overs. Many of our custom radio ID jingle packages featured Brantlee alone being mulitracked numerous times for our signature female "chorus". She was also an accomplished actress, TV personality and former Miss South Carolina, 1969.
Brantlee was always quite a trooper and a real pro. She taught school for several of the years she worked with me and I can recall many afternoon sessions when she would come in tired and "frazzled" from having to endure the classroom all day yet still work long past the dinner hour to get that "perfect" take on a track.
She later married and moved to Texas where she was a devoted wife, mother and community worker. Unfortunately, she succombed to breast cancer in 2015. The last time I saw her was in 1989 when she came and gave a pep talk to my staff just before we launched our new FM station. I think of her often and, of course, anytime I listen to an old MCP demo tape! You can hear some samples of her work (although not necessarily her best! - The jingles presented here on this private YouTube area are actually out-takes for one reason or another and the quality is bad since the only surviving tape was a victim of the "Ampex Tape Plague" - a phenomenon that caused stored tapes' oxide to "grow" and often become unplayable or, at best, full of gritty high end distortions noticed on this copy.) The link takes you to, basically, an ALL MALE vocal jingle package although Brantlee can be heard on the one, "Be My Baby" parody in the package. Her voiceover talent is demonstrated on the promos at the end of the package done by she and I together. She can also be heard doing backup vocals on the "Dream Medley" cut (By "Sugar And Spice") posted in this same location. Once I am finally able to get the Mother Cleo Productions memorial website up and running, many, many more examples of her remarkable talent can be heard there. https://youtu.be/AeAOF5F77qc
If interested, you can find more old black and white brochure photos from the the early 70s here - DaviScrapBook
Aside from all the many varied domestic duties/distractions that continue to pile up on me without let-up, this month I did something rather unusual to further slow the progress on the current ongoing Tool Box projects just a bit (by about one week). I gave in and accepted a new order and "DaviSqueezed" it in amongst the current, already delayed, work in progress.
The order accepted was for a Parisian client who simply made me an offer I could not refuse for a pair of new
DaviSnake microphones . Most of you longtime readers/clients know that I NEVER waver from my policy of placing each client and their orders in chronological order- first in/ first out, no matter who the client or what the situation. In this rare case, I did find the circumstances, which I won't fully go into here, exceptional enough to merit squeezing this order in on priority. Now, I emphasize that I would NOT have done this for another Tool Box project. Again, as most of you know, the only orders that I have ALWAYS worked in amogst the Tool Box projects are those for MasterPiece modules. Since I can usually complete and test a MasterPiece module, sometimes two, in one day, I sometimes accept these orders and work them in with my current project circuit work. I then let them "burn-in" while I get on with my other projects. So, it really does not interfere too much, but rather actually maximizes my time investment when I already have things set up for circuit construction.
Well, it just so happens, this client's request came in at just the absolute perfect time for a DaviSnake "work-in". I was at a point that week where, while I did not have the necessary sustained, daily time block available which would allow for the needed remaining work on the current Tool Box projects, I did have a schedule which would fit perfectly around the construction process for the DaviSnake microphones.
I am now using a "new" mini-electret capsule for the element in these mics having lost my source for the original design. And, I am also supporting it with the original, minimal circuitry that was used in the begiinning before I subsequently "updated it" to conform more to traditional circuitry for phantom powered mics. I have to say that my original, UNIQUE circuit design is unbeatable for transparency and it works just fine with 98% of all the available phantom power sources out there. There may be one or two console mic amps that cause some high frequency loading to this circuit (which was the reason for the upgrade attempt) but the majority of "normal" mic preamps marry with the DaviSnake circuitry just fine. Therefore, I will be sticking with this original design which is like no other phantom powered microphone circuitry available anywhere. It is truly a DaviSound exclusive!
On another note...
I received a rather strange text this month from an unkown/unnamed inquiror. This inquiror wanted to know -
"would you be interested in selling your Ampex 350?"
This was strange for a couple of reasons aside from not including a name or introduction for the sender. In the first place, I never owned a 350 but rather a 351 (they are two slightly different "animals". I did also own a model 300 once). This was back in my earliest strudio days circa 1970 and the ONLY place it is mentioned, that I am aware of, is on our website in the DaviScrapBook section shown in a black and white photo from a very old studio brochure.
I bring this up here to emphasize that, while I now accept and WELCOME text messages along with email (which is why I include the text phone number on our site), I DO NOT respond to anonymous texts that do not introduce and name the sender! So, if the sender of that text happens to be reading this post, please always note this and please let me know who you are the next time you send a text. I need names and locations from all legitimate inquirors whether by text or email. I will follow up an email asking for this information when necessary but I will NOT respond to an unidentified text message.
On the subject of the old Ampex workhorses, you can find a lot of information about them at HistoryOfRecording.com .
Here is a very old snapshot of yours truly ...
(back in the "full figure" days!)
examining the Ampex 351 (identical to my old one)
at Sun Studios in Memphis. This very machine's "slap back"
(playback head) echo contributed to the unique sound of their many hits.
Hayne
Sitting lakeside with our (now ten year old) Maltese, Pretty Penni.
(although this was a fall snapshot from some years back and not summer...
I hope to be exchanging the heavy shirt for a tank top and doing similar ...
along with floating around on our electric pontoon, "Elektra-Cute")
I hope that you and yours have a chance for a similar break this summer.... we certainly ALL need it after the past year and the near quarantine conditions of last summer! I will be back here, hopefully well "recharged", with more pro audio news next month.Early stages of point-to-point interior wiring for the latest TB-4 some months back.
Until then ... Happy Summer Vacation!
Hayne
|
And now on to this month's topic ...
DaviSound vacuum tube audio!
I received an interesting email just after I posted last month's update which prompted me to do a little site reviewing and also to decide to address some of the writer's questions publicly herein. Here below is an excerpt of the email from a reader located in Great Britain -
"I am a long time wannabe DaviSound Tool Box owner and I have followed your web site for a very long time. There is quite a lot of useful information scattered about and it must have involved an awful amount of typing! But I am perplexed why you have never updated your Glass Ear section and, particularly perplexed why you still have not yet introduced the TB-9 valve compressor which I have been waiting to see for years (and hopefully purchase)!I also wanted to compliment you on the write-up about the proposed transformerless valve monitor amplifier. That is one of the best written, informative pieces on the use of valves for audio that I have ever discovered on the web. I appreciated your unique insights about transformers in general that were also presented there."
That is the first inquiry I have gotten about the proposed TB-9 in many years and a very good question that needs to be addressed. So, here it is.
Those of you who have followed DaviSound for a quite awhile know that many of my plans and schedules have been disrupted by various life circumstances during the past decade, not the least of which has been my vacating the lifelong DaviSound facilty to now work entirely from my current home workroom along wih my wife's health disabilities which also had a lot to do with deciding to make that move.
As a result, my work backlogs became even more backlogged and many new planned projects had to be placed on the far, "back burner". The introduction of new Tool Box designs, one of which was to be the TB-9 Vacuum Tube Processor, were among those necessarily placed on hold.
I do have a working prototype, that I hastily mounted in a comparatively crude little "consolette" cabinet for my own personal use. And, use it I have! I do not get called on too often nowadays to do voiceovers or narrations but, on the rare occasion that I do, I invariably use this little unit for my preamp/mixer. Here is an old photo of it below.
This little unit is built around 6sl7 and 6sn7 vacuum tubes and features my unique, original design, transformerless vacuum tube mic preamp. It also features a line level input jack to mix line level signals with this mic input stage.
The three knobs to the right control low/high EQ and Compression, in that order. The compression action is from one triode stage which is in/out switchable. The unit also has a headphone amp and switchable phantom power for the mic input.
With only a few mods from the original design, this little consolette is an amazing performer and provides a lot of satisfaction each time it is pulled out for use. Hopefully, I can still utilize its development toward the TB-9 project in the not-too-distant future. I now know that there are still, at least, one or two potential commissioners out there for it when it is finally ready for introduction!
As for the GLASS EAR vacuum tube discussions page, it, like much of the other website updates, has suffered delays because of the same circumstances that prevented the launching of the TB-9 to date. Hopefully, though, things are now returning more to "normal" (whatever that is 
) and progress will finally be allowed, henceforth, in all the neglected areas.
(2023 EDITOR NOTE! - The long-proposed TB-9 project was, regrettably, given up and removed from the DaviSound lineup in 2023.)
Well here is my "DaviSummary" for the year 2016. This will be my last entry here on the "News Updates" page until the new year, January, 2017 when I will relocate this entire page to the News Archives area and start again here anew.
I have had personal correspondence with many of you lately, particularly most of you "clients in waiting". It is ALWAYS nice exchanging email from all of you and I was pleased to update you personally on the progress of your respective projects in the process.
A couple of you have asked for my thoughts on the recent election. One friend, in particular, from the U.K., knowing of my "old days" as a very vocal, broadcast editorialist, was no doubt "baiting me" with his questioning. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending upon your point of view, I will NOT take the bait this time. Maybe my cynicism has just grown way beyond the point of no return but I have come to realize that, in my case at this stage of the game, when it comes to politics and the world situation, the less said the better.
This does NOT mean that I am not concerned .... far from it! In fact, I have never been more concerned about our country, our world, our planet and our future than I am at this point in time. But, I have come to realize that there is nothing that I can say that is going to have a positive influence or change anything in any regard. The sad thing these days is, unless you are telling people exactly what they want to hear, shallow tidbits that fit into the confines of their own agendas and belief systems, they just won't read/listen to it ... period. It's that same old "don't bother me with the facts, my mind is made up".
What's worse and most alarming, is that some of them, even long time friends and family members, will take offense and turn away from you in hatred if you even SUGGEST that they CONSIDER another viewpoint, or a broader perspective, let alone challenge theirs!
But the REALLY sad thing is, in this day of rampant misinformation, propaganda and exploitation by the powers that be who control the politically slanted media, the average populace can no longer distinguish fact from fiction or discern knowledge from mindless opinion in what they do read or listen to.
As for my own "opinions", mindless or otherwise, they certainly have not changed much from nearly two decades ago when I first jotted down some of my random thoughts, for publishing HERE in our DaviStatements website area, about the ever increasing "dumbing down" of our society (if you read this, keep in mind that it was prophetically written long before the "bottom fell out" in 2007... and PLEASE, read it very CAREFULLY and in ENTIRETY ... NOT taking ANY statement out of context!).
Suffice it to say, in closing out this last edtition of 2016 DaviSound News Updates, as a lifelong advocate of sustainable, renewable energy, a free and open press and non-biased, media fueled by responsible investigative journalism, I am now, at this juncture, more disheartened than ever before by what I see happening all around me based on my concerns in these areas.
I guess one of the old school, senior commentators for CBS summed it up best after the second political debate when he looked at his colleagues with genuine disgust and disbelief and simply said,
"How in the world have we come to this?". That pretty well sums up my feelings.
Let's just hope we all survive what is to come in the years ahead and, as a lifelong eternal optimist I will try and keep the positive perspective as hard as that may be to maintain these days. I am certainly positive about the things to come for the new year with my own activities at DaviSound so the focus will remain on that. I will also try to be encouraged by what I see many others doing to further the noble, logical causes for renewable energy as they maintain the fight against the corrupt and greed motivated agendas of giant utility and big oil conglomerates who have ruled our country for far too long. One thing is certain, they can no longer stop the growth of the solar industry for which I have been a vocal advocate since the '70s ... I doubt they can even slow it very much at this stage. It is just too well established and proven in all areas which now include it's cost effectiveness.
So, in spite of the concerns and anxieties about our world and our environment that some of us may have for the immediate future, we must take heart for the long term and move into the new year with a positive attitude. As always, I THANK those of you who come here to this section of our website monthly to read my humble ramblings! I wish you all a happy holiday season and I look forward to presenting a lot of POSITIVE, EXCITING, PRO AUDIO related news for you in the coming year!
Best wishes,
DaviShipping! ...
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!
" DaviSummarising 2016 "....
Hayne
January 31st 2015
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!).
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
November 28th, 2015
"DaviShrunk" ...
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.
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.
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.
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
DaviStrippings ...
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" ... ... ...
As we fully close that "final chapter" of the old DaviSound facility as described in my last update ...
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!).
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
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
Welcome to DaviSound ... 2016!
With this, my first "edition" of "News Updates" for a new year, I welcome all of you who read these (both of you!) for another new year of monthly (sometimes more, sometimes less) NEWS UPDATES documenting the on-going, going-ons of DaviSound.
This edition begins a completely new "slate" of entries for the year 2016.
In my home bedroom, I have a rack sized, custom cabinet mounted home audio system that was built in 1979. With just a couple of brief exceptions (including one major move), this system had been in operation continuously, 24/7, every year since then! It has never caused a moment's problem or downtime since! This is pretty remarkable in this age of "throwaway" creations in the consumer marketplace designed to last a year or so at best.
All of this is on my mind for a couple of contrasting reasons as I write this since I have been reminded of the durability factor of our gear from several perspectives in recent weeks.
January 28th, 2016
DaviSturdy? ...
If you are curious about, or wish to refer to, our previous year's updates, you can find them chronicled at DaviSound News Archives .
This edition ... as "themed" above ... will focus on the STURDINESS of DaviSound hand crafted pro audio creations and the challenges we face to keep them that way in the modern era.
The little system pictured above, which was patterned after "golden age" console designs, is located in one of our local rural churches and I was called in to see about it being expanded and upgraded a bit to accomodate new some new microphone and satellite component additions.
When I was looking it over the other day, I was startled to be reminded that this unit is over fourteen years old (seems to me like we just put it in a couple of years ago!)! As I put it through its paces and "fine tuned" the settings a little bit, I was amazed to find that everything still performed just as the day it was installed. A subsequent audio proof using my portable test set, further documented what my ears had told me. This system is also one of the QUIETEST (noiseless in terms of self generated noise) sound systems I have ever heard ANYWHERE in any location, let alone for high power PA application.
Having so many systems in use in so many places could easily be a nightmare for us if they were not built for trouble free opration. Just imagine the possibility being called to service installations in three states in one day, for example. Fortunately, this has NEVER happened. The few calls we do get are very rare and are typically due only to new operator error or tampering in some way by unauthorized operators.
As for our hundreds of Tool Boxes, custom mixers, and other custom components working out in the field over the last forty plus years, failures of any kind are so rare as to be "almost never" (we do get an occasional return for replacement of pots/switches and the like).
Then there is the "other side of the coin" ... ... ...
As some of you will recall me thoroughly berating here just this past year in one of these updates, it has also become VERY frustrating for those of us who strive for perfection in our electronics creations nowadays because of the increasingly inferior quality of the parts we must endure from manufacturers and suppliers.
The electronics parts market has become flooded with faulty components in recent years from Taiwan and China where they are all now universally imported.
We have had to increase our pretesting and "burn-in" times dramatically to compensate for this and, still, the occasional failure eludes us. This is especially frustrating to me when I put in hours, days and sometimes weeks of extra effort to try to be sure that our DaviSound LIFETIME WARANTY is never called into effect. Imagine having a power supply fail rendering a unit useless, on another continent, just days after shipping just because of a single faulty resistor even after you had spent weeks of pre-shipment "burn-in" time trying to weed out premature parts failure in order to specifically prevent just such an occurrence!
Ironically, our latest Tool Box, one of my beloved, prized TB-3 creations has undergone a "failure" of sorts after arriving in Ireland. Now, based on the symptoms, this one is not likely because of a faulty component. And, in fairness to us, it DID involve some unusual multi-routing shipping requested by the client as well as, ultimately, having to endure Irish Customs (which we have learned from past experience can cause some rather ROUGH handling and probing at times- we had another unit damaged in handling by Irish Customs several years ago).
This latest TB-3 ... a segment about which is imported below from last month's update ...has apparently encountered a failure in the tube in/out switch which caused no signal to be routed through the right channel tube stage.
Here is that excerpt from our prior news update about this new TB-3 ...
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.
(end of excerpt)
Unfortunately, this new owner's experience with a new DaviSound Tool Box had to be dampened by his discovery of one side of the tube stage not passing signal on initial setup. Normally, any such occurrence would require an immediate return here for correction but since his shipping circumstances are so difficult, we are trying to troublleshoot this, apparently minor, problem by email with instructions being supplied to his in-house technician.
I suspect this may be just a loose wire (although it could possibly be a bad switch) possibly caused by some curious poking through the tube ports by a Customs agent- although this is only one of a few possibilities.
We try to build, and pack, these units to survive anything short of a plane crash during shipping. But, it is always possible that something as seemingly benign as a weak wire connection could have come loose during a shipping trauma (sometimes a ship terminal drop of fifteen feet, or more, is not unusual we have learned).
Whatever the reason, in spite of the initial bad experience and his first email voicing his frustrations ...
Here is what the client had to say about his new TB-3 in an immediate follow-up ...
I tend to record a lot of jazz and contemporary classical music, in the studio I designed and built and I appreciate a well designed piece of equipment. The Tb3 is one of those. In the limited time I have had it, and even with only one valve side operational, I find it a most excellently designed and crafted piece of machinery. The clarity and precision of the image captured by the pre, surpasses ALL of the pre-amps in my collection. The versatility it offers from pristine 'transparent' capture to thickly coloured tube warmth is something I have rarely experienced in one box; and, between the 'active gain' and the 'recover' stage, the total potential output gain is enormous. So far I have used it mainly on Vocals (both male and female). Thickening up female vocals by dialing in the tube. Musically overdriving some male vocals by pushing the tube a bit more. Shaping them both some more by adjusting the tube distortion. The compression is so smooth, and its such a sonic joy to effectively improve my bit depth by getting a better average signal before the analogue waveform hits the digital converter. This afternoon I used both sides (obviously 'Tube Out') on a Blumlein ribbon pair to capture a guitar cab. Everything has been remarkable Hayne- in the truest sense of the word. Clear and precise. Anyhow, in the interest of fairness and balance, I just wanted to send you a less curmudgeonly email to express my admiration for the mind that went into this brilliant design. You have thought of everything! (I'm still blown away by its versatility, and its potential).
I was very glad to get these follow up comments after that first frustrated, email in which he had related the untypical problem he encountered with our Tool Box after waiting so LONG for it to finally arrive! We will eventually publish this and any further, signed comments from this new client at DaviStories .
The point is, no matter HOW hard we try to maintain and live up to an impeccable reputation with all of our audio creations, there will always be the, thankfully rare, occasion when something will go wrong beyond all control. Such is life (as we all know too well from many of our daily experiences).
But, even when it does, we can truthfully say that it always works out well for all in the end! And, on that note, I will close this first edition of NEWS UPDATES for 2016 and invite you back next month for more news on more new "awe inspiring" DaviSound "jewels" being readied for shipment!
Thanks for tuning in,
Hayne
I also want to wish my daughter, Lee, a special Happy Birthday tomorrow, the 21st!
I thought it was time to update our "News Update" page again although the "news" was coming so "fast and furious" at last update, it is still "news" to a lot of our visitors. Therefore, I am carrying over the last update, verbatim, one more time to be sure everyone sees this, most important, "DaviSite" upgrade news!
In fact, there was so much vital, "pivotal" news in the first month of '06 that we will be adding that update of last month to the "News Archives" page as well as continuing it again, herewith, below.
But ...
Before we replay the final of last month's three news entries one more time ...
I do want to add a little more "new news"! Since that last update, we have had a new TB-3 commissioned by a new client and this one will be the first of the new styling for our TB-3, putting it in a "WG" cabinet for the first time ever! It will also be enlarged to a 3RU unit to better accomodate the larger octal based 6SL7/6SN7 tube family we plan to utilize henceforth.
This particular version should be a "beauty" with an Exotic wooden faceplate and Wenge covered Oak cabinet! So, be watching for its photos displayed on the site in the near future!
We also anticipate some slight changes in the TB-6 layout, just a subtle expansion to incorporate some larger, vintage styled, control knobs, (and eventually wooden knob options!) and we are currently in the process of discussing a new commission, from a longtime client, for these new illustrator units to be forthcoming soon!
So, things keep moving at DaviSound and the news keeps coming! We will have more updates on these exciting new entries next time. But, meanwhile, back to that promised replay of our momentous, last edition of last month.
Once again ...
We interrupt this news bulletin to bring you another news bulletin!
As most of you, who frequent this site already know, the Internet, and this website along with related email, now constitutes about 90% of DaviSound's total business activity! We launched our first humble site, and joined the Internet community, back in '98. Since that time, although we still use some written correspondence and an occasional, RARE phone conversation (as most of you know, I DISLIKE telephones!), we have conducted the bulk of our business entirely through eMail and our website!
Having always been a traditional "mailorder" business since our beginnings in 1970, we have, now in these recent years, not mailed out a printed brochure since we began publishing our web pages in 1998!
It is in regard to some long awaited, recent upgrades and additions to our website, that we bring you this THIRD January edition of our News Updates page!
We are, truly, EXCITED ("DaviSited" ) to finally get these new updates up for you to see, early on in '06. If you have not been here for awhile, you will now find a LOT of new material with most of our "Bread and Butter" web areas having been updated this month!
I will try and list most of these new upgrades, with links, herewith and, hopefully, not leave anything out.
We finally got around to launching the beginning of our second photo album page to display some of our more recent, exotic and customized Tool Box packages. This is a "spin off" of our first album page "Wood You Believe", linked from there, and we call it Wood You Two !
This second area focuses on some of our more unique, custom creations and Tool Box housings.
With our, original, innovative "WG" all wooden audio equipment now becoming the talk of much of the industry, we have now given them, yet, something else to talk about! For those who prefer metal faceplates, we have added another, highly unusual, totally original, aesthetic touch with a new faceplate decor option to set off our interior wooden cabinetry. This unusual option was added in January and it's descriptive page ...
DaviStone is linked from the "Wood You Two" page.
We, next, updated our DaviSource Microphones page to display our latest version of the DS-1950 and included another off-link for it in the "exotic" woods section.
Since we had both of our optical compressors, the TB-2 and the TB-3, under construction at the beginning of the year, we took that opportunity to separate and upgrade the existing on-line manual. Instead of a combined manual, they are now separate and distinct with the differences of each well documented at TB-2 On Line Manual and TB-3 On Line Manual
We had earlier, at the end of last year, upgraded our TB-1 On Line Manual page to reflect the changes in the tubes utilized in the TB-1.
Of course, all of these pages are linked from our MASTER site area ... TOOL BOXES ... which was, also, updated to accomodate these new links to the upgraded site areas.
Finally, (I think), a new update to the DaviSound FAQs information page was also included.
We had already announced the update of our price list and terms / policies site area at the very first of the year. Just follow this link to our order instructions page ... PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
So, as you can, no doubt, tell from all of this ...
2006 has already been a BUSY year here at DaviSound and it is only the beginning.
We fully expect this to be our busiest (and, hopefully, BEST in many respects!) year yet!
NOW would be the perfect time to kick off the New Year by getting your new order locked into place ...
into our early 2006 work rotation schedule, with "DaviSpring" on the horizon!
As always, I thank you for reading and for visiting DaviSound.com !
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
BIRTHDAYS and such ...
Today is my daughter, Lee's twenty-second birthday (Happy Birthday, Lee Lee) and yesterday was my fifty-third.
It is also another significant "birthday" of sorts!
Today is also the "birthday" of our latest version of the TB-1 as we just officially completed the first of the newest edition of our original "Inner Tube" Tool Box ... the TB-1 MIcrophone Amp/Instrument Direct Box!
After many weeks of design, testing and redesign, this all new, somewhat smaller (Rack size now 3RU from the original 4RU), ALL wooden beauty is, now at last, ready for it's new owner in California and ready to be photographed from all angles for display on a new web page under development for the website.
Fashioned ENTIRELY from solid Red Oak, this fully two-channel golden beauty features twin, dual-lighted VU meters that are selectable from -10 or +4 levels, front panel AND rear panel XLR mic inputs with front-panel switchable phantom power, individual front panel 1/4" instrument inputs direct to the tube stage and front-panel gain controls! Inside the beautiful cabinet, it houses a FET differential front-end mic preamp stage, a Sovtek 12AX7A triode gain stage and a fully discreet bi-polar transistor buffer/low impedance line driver output stage for each channel.
The final test (after all the tone generators, meters, scopes and analyzers) was to plug up my vintage 1958 Fender Telecaster to the instrument inputs and LISTEN through headphones hooked to the output. The triode really made the strings on that old Fender "sing" in my ears! I was, at last, very happy with this creation and put it to bed!
The plan is to ultimately have ALL of our Tool Boxes displayed in detail, along with their applications manual and full data, much the way the TB-3 is now displayed (though that will also be updated somewhat with more new photos very soon!) on the website. The main Tool Boxes page will link to each individual Tool Box page from the brief description of each on the main page. Then you will be able to see and read about all of them in much greater detail!
Sometimes we are a bit SLOW but SURE. However ...the bottom line is ... the end result is ALWAYS worth the extra efforts and the extra time! I hope that trend will also apply to our ongoing, rather slowly developing, website additions as well! Hopefully we'll have most of these complete before this year is out ... that is our goal, anyway.
We will start with this new addition of the TB-1 feature page which should be completed and up in just a few short weeks!
We are also working on a FAQ page regarding our products which will include your comments and questions from our email collection (annonymous, of course!). This will cover many various audio engineering topics that should be generally helpful to our visitors while, at the same time, provide extra insight into our own products and services as well.
SO ...
Always keep your eye on our website as you never know when we'll have another addition up and running!
The way it has started "out of the chute" this should be another banner growth year for DaviSound and we are truly enjoying it and looking forward to each new challenge!
As always, I thank you for visiting our site and for all of your support. Thanks to those of you regulars who seem to be making DaviSound the new audio "hot topic" on the Internet these days and we look forward to rewarding your faith and confidence throughout the future!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
So, since we have NOT reached all of our goals for September as of this writing and, while it seems some of them will run into the first couple of weeks of October ... we have decided, simply, to just EXTEND September! That should take care of it. So, instead of thirty days this year ... I think we'll allow maybe
thirty-eight this time ... maybe even forty-five!
But ... the new items are COMING SOON!
Please continue to watch this page for the anticipated introduction of another new feature/option that we are excited to be adding to our vintage style Tool Boxes! We recently worked out an arrangement with SiFam (Scroll to bottom of page) in England to incorporate their "retro" styled VU meters on several of our "WG" Tool Boxes. We are now working on the first, custom, "PedOak" unit to use a pair of these meters, an enlarged 3RU "WG" TB-8! We expect to show this new beauty here for our next "News Updates" edition!
We have, now, updated the WOOD YOU and WOOD YOU TWO Photo Album pages to accomodate the new PedOak stylings as well as other new pieces displayed there. Please check them out.
Early this year we brought forth the first one of our new combo processors ... the "DAVISTRIP" TB-7 single channel, multi-stage processor!
Not only is this new, "well stacked" piece feature-packed with three of our most popular processors
on-board one 2 RU "WG" Tool Box package, it is also a superb bargain at the introductory price!
I should continue to call attention here that we have, temporarily, withdrawn our traditional TECH REPORTS for extensive recompilation. This longtime popular material is being rewritten and recompiled with new graphics and new content. It will be resissued, in html eBook form, as soon as possible and will be offered in two separately packaged/priced sections.
Please be advised that we recently added some new user comments to the DaviStories page ...
I hope that all of our email correspondents will take notice of this reminder that email does NOT ALWAYS get through as it should! We were reminded of that recently when we learned that, at least, SOME of our incoming email was either late or did not to us at all. I, therefore, repeat here the notice on our "Prices-Terms-Policies" section that we ALWAYS ... ALWAYS ... answer ALL email! So if you have sent us something and have not gotten a response, that means we did NOT SEE IT for whatever reason. So, PLEASE, always follow-up to any email(s) you may send that we do not respond to! We NEVER IGNORE any inquiry! I, personally, cherish the effort by each and every inquiror always giving my best effort for a timely and detailed reply. So, please continue to send me your thoughts and questions and if you do not get a prompt reply, please resend your email until you do! If any of our "@DaviSound.com" addresses to not seem to work for you at any given time, you can always try our old "DaviSound@hotmail.com" address.
If you are a newcomer to our site, or a returning client now thinking of a unique pro audio equipment purchase of your own, this would be a perfect time to launch your own order any of our "audio as good as it gets" gear inclusive of our new stylings! Please, always remember to anticipate your needs and order early!
There is nothing like having the appropriate tool in hand ( DaviSound Tool Box © ™ ) for the job at hand!
To get your order into our current work rotation schedule, simply follow the order procedure outlined at ...
As always , I thank you for reading and for visiting DaviSound.com and I, personally, welcome all of your inquiries, thoughts and suggestions ...
Sincerely,
NEWS UPDATE ... AUGUST 12, 2007 ... September 21, 2007
"DaviSeptember" ...
"Forty-five days hath September ... all the others don't have enough!"
Fall is now officially creeping in and I can NEVER remember a month flying by quite like this one has ...
The sixteen hour workdays continue here but we are STILL not where we wanted to be with culminating projects. We just shipped a new TB-8, and have another special one (see more below) just about ready, but we are still working to culminate all the other near-ready projects lining our Priority bench while we also squeeze in more required, unanticipated sidetracks for peripheral duties on the homefront.
That just might do it or, at least, get us very close to back on schedule anyway.
AND ... more continuing news ...
We recently introduced a new combination of contrasting wooden cabinetry that we now offer as a standard "WG" option for Tool Boxes! This is an especially attractive combination utilizing my personal favorite exotic wood, Padauk, for the faceplate in conjunction with our traditional Red Oak for the cabinet. We have, affectionately, nicknamed this new cabinet combination style "PedOak" !
It will be available by special request (at a slight additonal charge) according to the availability of the, increasingly rare, fine Padauk.
It's new "On-Line Manual" speaks for itself so please click the link below to check it out! It is soon to be slightly revised due to upgrades to be incorporated form the second, custom unit, now nearing completion, which will be featured there. However, you can still get the general idea of this exciting new Tool Box by reviewing the original version of the manual still on site until we wrap up the completion of the
next edition shortly -
DaviSound TB-7 "DaviStrip" On-Line Manual
and I have included more Q&A inquiry correspondence for the FAQs area.
Creating unique, hand-crafted, lifetime quality, heirloom pieces takes some time and there are no shortcuts!
So, the sooner you place your order and get it into the chronological work rotation, the sooner you can expect to get your hands, eyes and ears around it!
PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
I ESPECIALLY WELCOME YOUR ORDER AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU!
Hayne Davis
"DaviSecrets"?
How about ... "DaviSimple"!
Those who purchase our DaviSound TECH REPORTS are familiar with the Davisound philosophy ...
When it comes to circuit componentry ...LESS is BETTER!
Or to put it another way ... in terms of PURE, CLEAN, TRANSPARENT AUDIO ...
LESS is MORE!
Our audio power amps have evolved, over the years, in much the opposite fashion of many
other company's designs. Some designers seem to be like the government ...
The longer they hang around, the more needlessly complex and superfluous they become!
Not so in our case.
Our audio amps started out a lot more complicated than they are now. In fact, we began deliberately trying to see how many components we could eliminate from the signal path and still maintain superb performance characteristics. The results even surprised me! Instead of any sacrifice in quality, the audio became astonishingly cleaner with each "frill" removed!
I have had the occasion lately to really listen to a couple of our older amps since we have recently sold a couple of custom, esoteric models from our UNIQUE SPECIAL ITEMS section, and I wanted to, personally, go over these and test them prior to shipment.
I have been involved with audio for a long, LONG time now and, still, I am amazed every time I "fire up" one of our monitor power amplifiers and really listen.
Others seem to share my amazement, too.
The most recent compliment to our design efforts came from "left field", so to speak! I was, this week, testing one of these amps in my home, in the den, which I sometimes do if I have brought an item in to my home work bench for a personal going over after hours. I had hooked it to the pair of modest performance Technics 12" cabinet speaker systems in that room and had "cranked it up" just a bit when my thirteen year old son, who is just beginning to develop a real interest in audio, walked in and sat down to listen.
He was used to the speakers, since we utilize them for all home entertainment reproduction but, akin to the old fable of the shoemaker whose kids had no shoes, my home power amp that my son was used to is a very modest, low power integrated circuit amplifier that I "threw together" years ago to test the, new at the time, LM1875 Power IC from National Semicinductor. Now, this is not a slouch system, don't get me wrong. The LM1875 IC does a credible job with all it's built-in thermal shutdown, current limiting, anti-thump, protection circuitry etc. etc. etc.!
But, just as I was marvelling at how well these inexpensive Technics cabinets could sound when powered by one of our Lab Reference Monitor Amp designs in the test, my son noticed it too! After I completed my personal listening test with a few CDs through the amp, he commented that he heard things he had never heard before ... he described subtleties he had heard in the drums and percussion on the Eagles' Hotel California that he had never noticed with the "regular" system amp.
He didn't have to tell me ... I had been listening in amazement for quite sometime, having fogotten, as
I always seem to do until I listen to one, just HOW MUCH BETTER, how much more ACCURATE, our power amps really do sound!
I find it hard to stop when I'm doing one of these tests and, since I had TWO similar amps
at home over the past several days, I REALLY spent some enjoyable time in that den whenever I
could get the time!
Needless to say, I was pleased to get Jason's comments for several reasons. First, I was proud that he had taken an interest and was indeed able to discern the differences in the amps. Secondly, I was very proud of my amplifiers!
I started thinking back to some similar comments from other listeners.
When I built our local FM radio station, back in '89, the control room used the exact same Technics speakers (I had purchased a BUNCH of these in quantity along about that time) powered by the exact same type monitor amp design. I remember walking in one day when one of the "old vet" air personalities was in practicing with the new board a few days just prior to our going on the air. He was sitting there listening intently to the monitors with a strange hypnotic expression on his face. I startled him out of his trance by asking him if there was something wrong. I remember grinnning as he replied, "No, I've just never heard audio quality this good before!".
We've had many similar comments over the years from proud owners of our TB-8 monitor amplifiers. I remember a Florida radio station engineer telling me that he could ... "hear Karen Carpenter's lips parting" before she enunciated her next line. I recall a studio owner telling me that he was "actually startled" by the "lifelike audio that jumped out" in his face the first time he tried our amp!
If this sounds like I'm "bragging" ...so be it. I'm just relating the facts ... and I am proud of this simple little amplifier design. Unlike some of our other proprietary circuitry, it is no big mystery how we do it. We simply employ a very FEW ...that's FEW... SELECT components and use them in a simple, basic, Class A-A/B, push/pull power amplifier design that has evolved that way over the past twenty or so years.
A lot of it has to do with eliminating all the "foolproof" additions that other amps use. Instead, we rely on over-rated components and the professional integrity of the user to make it "fool" proof!
We employ NO current limiting, NO automatic thermal protection circuitry, NO esoteric extra stages for complicated biasing, NO servo circuits, NO automatic shutdown, NO muting, NO this, NO that! I have always maintained that you can "HEAR" all of that clutter and that it casts a veil over your audio! My son's thirteen year old ears reconfirmed this to my satisfaction this week in our den listening to one of my amplifiers!
What's the secret? ...Not MUCH. That's IT!
So, what else is new?
Well, we continue to be busy but we're slowly climbing out of the backlog and moving on along into the fall of 2,000 ... full speed ahead!
Our unique, solid oak, woodgrain rack cabinets continue to draw interest and, while we don't "namedrop" at DaviSound, I almost wish I could this one time and tell you who just inquired about several of these "WG" units for his new home studio currently under construction!
Hopefully we will be able to get the new pictures up on the website of some of these models before too much longer so as to do them justice!
As always, thanks for reading my ramblin's from "downhome" at DaviSound!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US! ... ... ... ... June 1970 ... ... June 2000 !
We've evolved ... but we're still here!
We have been so busy these last few months, especially these past few weeks, that I almost neglected getting a "news update" for our THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY in by the beginning of June! But, here it is ...I made it!
It is amazing that we have, as of this month, officially done business on the same block for THIRTY whole years!
I am proud of the fact that we have lasted this long and are still growing stronger after all of this time!
We still have the same old phone number (803-276-0639) ... so if you "wrote it on the wall" long time ago ... it'll still work!
We still have the same mailing address ... the same old PO BOX 521 that must have seen several tons of mail come through it from all over the world for so long. My favorite "mail story" would have to be the time, back in the mid seventies, when I received a letter from Great Britain with no other address on it than: Hayne Davis, Mother Cleo Productions, USA. I'm still not sure exactly how it was routed and managed to find me but IT DID! Of course that could never happen today but, not so long ago, times were a great deal simpler.
Though we've expanded, we are still located in the original building (which,like it's owner, is starting to show just a little "age" and wear!) although our street address changed as our little old side road off US Hwy 76 was finally given a name ... Sunset Avenue.
In those early days, we were strictly a recording studio/radio production company. I'd like to take this opportunity, on our special anniversary, to invite you to check out our ORIGINS PAGE . Seems it would be a good time to do it if you haven't ever done so and, if you have, maybe a return trip would be in order.
We've received some compliments on our "Mother Cleo Story" page which can be accessed from the Origins page as can the "DaviScenes Archives" area. We hope to have some more updates and additions to these areas as soon as time permits, especially in regard to some of our past recording clients ... including independent label legends ... The J. Teal Band. Their 1976 album, "Cooks" has become a unique worldwide collector's item over the years.
With some luck ... maybe their planned new CD release will happen during our thirtieth year. If so, it will be the first recording project that I have actively been associated with since the mid eighties.
We've seen a lot of trends come and go. When I started years ago, an aquaintance from my Charlotte days gave me some valuable advice during a telephone conversation. Irwin Zucker, who was. at the time, operating Double Shot Records on the West Coast and was enjoying his success from a "mild hit" with the classic "OOGUM BOOGUM SONG" by Brenton Wood, was amazed that I was settling down in my old backyard in my old hometown to try and launch a world class production operation. His advice was..."You might survive but you've got to work like hell and ...DIVERSIFY!"
Well, I don't know specifically what Irwin had in mind but I took his advice to heart in ways he probably couldn't imagine!
During those early years I did everything from record local weddings to travel to Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte trying to make hit records and "hit commercials".
It wasn't too long before our unique radio productions caught on and we were able to fill a gap (price/quality) for small stations who wanted promos and jingles that worked without having to take a second mortgage to pay for the big bucks studios in Dallas and elsewhere.
For some reason, we REALLY caught on in England ...though they had no private, commercial radio, we did productions for Hospital Radio and other industrial in-house operations which were very big in those days and, of course, the notorious "pirates". Ironically, we at one time did work for the BBC at Radio Bristol and competing pirates simultaneously!
Soon, my diversification led to Movie Soundtracks and eventually we got into industrial film-making.
Always the radio programmer and producer ...I continued to do consulting and production in those areas and our Airtight service program was popular with small and medium market stations all across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Missouri as well as other locations.
Sales agent Pat Bestall and Associates helped put our commercials and commercial jingles on stations all over Canada.
Meanwhile, I was finding time to study and experiment with my building my own recording equipment which was to ultimately become my "consuming passion" as far as the recording business was concerned. It wasn't long before we started getting requests to build gear for outside musicians and studios and DaviSound was, thus, begun and the business became MCP/DaviSound.
I'll spare any more details here ...this WAS going to be brief...and let you check out the rest of the story on the aforementioned links only if you are so inclined.
But ... thank you for indulging me a bit here as I wax nostalgic remembering that first summer long ago when old friend, Jimmy P. Coggins and I hitched a UHaul to the rear bumper of the old '68 Cutlass and drove to Amarillo, Texas to bring back the Ampex 350 and 354 tape machines which launched the first MCP recording operation.
I also want to thank all of those who have contributed to our past success and especially our newer clients many of whom have been EXTREMELY patient with our recent growing pains of this unusually hectic year 2,000! We DO appreciate you and we WILL work harder than ever in the weeks and months ahead to continue to earn your support and repeat business!
Thank you all and I want you to know that I fully intend to work for you with continued growth efforts for another thirty years!
As always, I Thank you for reading and for visiting our website!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
As another month winds down ... things here continue to "wind up"!
We are currently putting the finishing touches on two new items we are very proud of including a new, standard TB-6 for a client in West Virginia and a beautiful, custom "WG" - 3 RU, 8 channel, full stereo mixer for a client in Pennsylvania. These should be ready for shipment sometime around the end of the month or thereabout.
Then there are six other items progressing at various stages in our work rotation schedule at the moment including a brand new Tool Box edition which we have just launched, in the design/layout stages, this past week!
Now, we are always very excited about ALL of our ongoing projects but it is always an extra special occasion, since it is very rare, when we happen to modify our Tool Box line-up!
For some time now, we have been anticipating a new multi-featured unit named the "DaviSystem" to fill the vacant TB-5 slot in our "Tool Box Top Ten" Line-Up. Well, we are now announcing a new TB-5 but it is NOT the pending DaviSystem as described. That will still be in the works as a separate project for the future.
We have now decided, instead, to introduce another design as the TB-5, now being described
on our Tool Boxes website area.
This new TB-5 is the result of a custom order from a new client in New York who just happened to be wanting something very similar to what we had been thinking about introducing for quite awhile now. Thus ... the new "DaviSumIt" TB-5 ... a TB-6 modified to include Low-Cut Filters added to each channel and a mixed, stereo output! Please read all about the new TB-5, 4 channel mic mixer on the Tool Boxes page linked above! Of course there will be no "On-Line Manual" modification for it, or photographs of it, for awhile but those will be forthcoming.
If you have been a longtime friend and follower of DaviSound over the years, you know that we do NOT drop names boasting about our elite clients nor do we ever belittle, or make comparisons to, so-called "competitors" (actually, we are so unique that we don't really feel we have any competitors, per se!). However, at the moment, this is one time I kind of wish we could do a little of both! This is because, we currently have so MANY wonderful clients saying so MANY wonderful things about our products, particularly our "Mic-All" amplifier as found in the TB-3, TB-6, TB-10 (and the new TB-5)!
We have had at LEAST a half dozen of these special persons tell us these past few weeks that they are replacing their high-priced industry "big names" with our "humble but hearty" TB-6 and its relatives! Naturally, we are quite pleased to hear over and over and over how our "Mic-All" preamps simply "blow-away" (and other similarly "colorful" language!) all of these other units by comparison!
Now, these clients are not selling/trading their big name/big buck pieces because they need the money! They are doing so because they no longer WANT these items in their signal chains after hearing/using the various DaviSound Tool Boxes housing the "Mic-All", MP-2 circuit modules!
As I told one of them the other day, this is "music to my ears" that I never get tired of hearing since I am most proud of this very special, original circuit design! I should also mention here, in this regard, that while we will NOT publish your comments unless you specifically give us your permission to do so. If you would like for us to add your own descriptions of your personal experiences with our products to our DaviStories site area, simply tell us that specifically when you send us a comment and include your name and location etc. as you'd like us to list it. We'd be most proud to include you there if you specifically request it.
As we have been mentioning here on our NEWS UPDATES page ... we have worked this spring/summer on overhauling, remodeling and expanding our workrooms in order to better organize our workspaces and materials in an effort to try and further improve our fabrication efficiency. As a result, we have shortened our fabrication timeframe somewhat but turnaround time on orders is still fairly lengthy at the moment simply because of the current, all-time unprecedented demand for our products!
We thank all of you for your orders, your support, your recommendations and, above all, for your understanding and patience through our "growing pains" while we continue to do everything it takes to create your truly unique, DaviSound Tool Boxes and custom gear!
We are working as rapidly as possible in all directions but some aspects of our procedure simply cannot be rushed or "streamlined" and we thank you for not only understanding this fact, but also for APPRECIATING it! I have had three emails from some of our special clients this past week telling us that while they are anxious to get their new gear ... each one has said "take your time" (to do what it takes)! This is the kind of support that keeps us working harder than ever to please such SPECIAL clients with SPECIAL audio creations that perform superbly for lifetimes!
I wanted to talk a bit about our TB-3 and how versatile it can be ... this also inspired by some recent comments (an email called "In Our TB-3 We Trust") from a long-time, special client and TB-3 user in California ... but, we'll save that for another time!
I suppose we've presented enough "Tricks and Treats" for this edition!
As always, I thank you again for your support and for coming to our website and reading these news updates! I look forward to personally corresponding with any of you at any time in regard to DaviSound audio products and services and I look forward to hearing from you whenever you're ready to send us an email!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
"Still In The Mix" ...
and "On The Road Again" ...
Well the 4th of July is now past but, we decided to leave the fireworks up one more time anyway ...
If you remember last time boys and girls ...
Our News Update Page Theme was "Fixed In The MIx" since were announcing our entry back into large scale custom ANALOG console design and fabrication, with a new 48 channel "monster" under way.
We explained how we had deliberately been absent from these LARGE SCALE endeavors for some time while concentrating on the development of our Tool Boxes and smaller scale custom work.
Well, ironically, in addition to a new order this month for a new TB-6 "MIC-ALL" Tool Box, we also received orders for two more custom mixers. These are, however, each simply 8 channel stereo sound reinforcement mixers and NOT full scale studio mixing consoles like the one mentioned previously ... just ONE of those BIGGIES at a time if you don't mind!
But, the mention of this entry back into console fabrication did spur a flurry of interest so, I suppose, we may just remain "out-of-retirement on major consoles" for many years to come ... we'll see!
Meanwhile, we continue to be excited about the ever growing popularity of our Tool Boxes!
The TB-6 "MIC-ALL" Microphone Preamp Tool Box is fast catching up with the TB-3 "INNER TUBE" Compressor Amplifier as our most popular Tool Box!
This pleases me for many reasons. One primary reason is because this simple but unsurpassed preamplifier circuit has long been a personal favorite of mine and I am, therefore, pleased to see it catching on more and more! It continues to be the most transparent, accurate microphone amplifier my ears have ever "tried on" and more and more of you are discovering that fact as well.
In fact, one regular client recently reported that he finds himself by-passing the tube stage more and more often with his TB-3, and sometimes even the compressor section as well, just to be able to take advantage of the "squeaky clean" TB-6 MIC-ALL amplifier in the TB-3 front-end!
I just don't think analog microphone preamps can ever get much better than those featured in our TB-6 (MIC-ALL) and our other processors that use them. And it is SO gratifying to see others learning this fact as well!
With our latest order for the TB-6, we have now included, by popular request, the addition of a phase reverse switch on every channel! This is updated in the description on our Tool Boxes page.
Speaking of which, I'm reminded to REMIND YOU that our Tool Boxes page is continually being updated from time to time so please keep checking it on occasion! The most recent addition, along with the one just mentioned for the
TB-6, is the updated description of our TB-4 "DaviShaper" Equalizer!
It includes a link to the recently completed "TB-4 On-Line Manual"! You can view the page now by simply ... CLICKING HERE!
The "WOOD YOU BELIEVE!" page, which is linked from the TOOL BOXES, page is also featuring some of the new photos of the newly designed TB-4 Equalizer!
Of course photos and descriptions can NEVER tell the REAL story. That must be experienced, FIRST-HAND for YOURSELF! And, the only way to do that, is place your first order for YOUR very own DaviSound TOOL BOX! Naturally, we urge you to do just that!
And, in closing this edition of News Updates ... I'll talk a bit about "closing"! DaviSound traditionally closes down, fully, only TWICE per year ... the week between Christmas and New Year's Day ... and the week of the 4th Of July. This year we worked through the 4th Of July week (boy I'll say we did!) so, instead, we'll be closing down for one week the last week of July ... July 23 through July 30. However, we will be back in action full swing on Tuesday July 31!
Thus we get to the part about ... "on the road again"!
Though we seldom get the time and coordinated scheduling to travel for fun very often, Annette and I are looking forward to that break this year as we intend to take a little motoring jaunt toward some of the heartland
(THANKS TO MORGAN FOR MAKING IT POSSIBLE by "babysitting" Dolly, our mixed Terrier) !
We will be passing through and visiting in quite a few areas if all goes well next week and it will give me the chance to revisit some "old haunts" and explore a few new places also. I'm looking forward to travelling through some of the locations of some of our regular clients and friends over the years including Middlesboro, Lexington and Louisville Kentucky ... Cincinnatti, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Branson, Springfield, Poplar Bluff, Memphis, Nashville and Chatanooga!
Believe it or not, I had wanted to include even more areas but Annette has convinced me that should be quite enough itinerary for one week!
So, that about does it for this edition! Once again I sincerely thank you for coming to our website and for keeping up with our activities. Keep watching, more website expansions ARE being, slowly but surely, developed and keep the email coming! VERY soon that FAQ (Q&A) page will be added and regularly maintained as linked from the DaviStories site area!
Continue to STAY COOL and STAY IN TOUCH!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
"NaySay?" ...
Well, I have put it off long enough ....
And, at the recent encouragement of one of our most supportive clients, I am not putting it off any longer! And, that is specifically, I am about to address the "NaySayer" and some of the accompanying "sophomoric" attitudes in regard to purchasing audio products!
"Experts" always contend that it is not ususally a good idea to address ANY negative issue bringing it to the forefront in regard to business. But, being the blunt, "politically incorrect" individual that I am, I intend to do just that herewith!
Besides, the WHOLE IDEA here is to turn a "somewhat negative" into an "absolute positive"!
It seems that a lot of novice purchasing decisions are made these days, or at least TALK about purchases, as a result of discussions on "message boards" of "newsgroups" on the Internet. Now for we suppliers, this can be a double edged-sword - "live by it / die by it".
FORTUNATELY for DaviSound, this "electronic scuttlebutt" is most ALWAYS positive. And, furthermore, the few times when it has not been, it has ALWAYS TO DATE been posted as unsubstantiated opinion from those WHO HAVE NEVER MADE A PURCHASE , ususally not even a direct inquiry, from DaviSound! As unlikely as that may seem to some, I am most sincere in this fact!
So, in other words, ALL of the negative comment we have learned about to date comes from those with NO direct personal experience with our products and services. Hmmmm ... VERY INTERESTING indeed!
Then, why not just ignore any such " NaySay dribble"? Well, I could - and probably should - but it is just not my nature to do that so ....
HERE WE GO!
( Maybe you should settle back with a favorite beverage as this may take awhile!)
Out front, let me say that much of what follows (and THEN some) has just been added in Q/A form to our ...
FAQs And LAFs Frequently Asked Questions Page. So, after reading this ... I steer you in that direction as well.
To begin with ... like most of you who will be reading this, I LOVE the Internet and especially the potential for what it can/will hopefully become! Whatsmore, unlike many "on-line businesses" ...
the re-concentration of business activity for DaviSound through a WebSite on the Internet was an inherent "natural"! This is because, for thirty years plus, we have already been doing business in the global marketplace ... by direct mail and telephone.
So, what could be a more natural segue than to try and focus activity toward the new, electronic forum with all of its spontaneity? It is just so much more efficient to transfer all of the "brochure" activity and written correspondence to a Browser and eMail! Unfortunately, of course, to do this exclusively is still a bit premature since factual studies indicate that up to 80% of our potential market clientele still do NOT use the Internet at ALL ... for whatever their reasons.
Still, for the past two years, aside from serving our existing pre-Internet client base by the old methods, we have confined ALL of our new promotional and advertising activity exclusively to the Internet through our WebSite! And, as stated on our Home Page, we hope to someday be able to make that our EXCLUSIVE method of operation!
I must say, that since we joined the Internet community, it has been largely a very positive experience all around with nearly ALL of the direct feedback (email to us) being positive and most of the indirect feedback (message boards on other sites) being the same. But, today, I just feel like addressing those few negatives we've heard about ... the "naysayers" .... for the benefit of the impressionable few of you who may be unduely swayed by them!
Now, as just mentioned ... almost 80% of the pro audio marketplace is currently NOT using the Internet on a regular basis. Therefore, with few exceptions, you will likely NOT find many of the long-time, satisfied, professional users of DaviSound hand-made gear sitting around "chatting" on the Internet! They, quite frankly, have a lot more creative, artistic things to do with their time! So, this fact in itself serves as my answer to the particular "naysay issue" that goes ... "Why can't I find more users of DaviSound products on newsgroups and why can't I find someone to exchange email with me about their experiences with DaviSound?".
Likewise, most of us product/service suppliers for the professional user group also have more crucial demands of our time than to do much "chatting" on the Internet. However ... I, personally, spend a GREAT deal of my time answering email and preparing updates for our WebSite. This is because I want it to continually expand in a positive direction with substantive information for anyone who would honor us by visiting and reading our pages! I also hope to encourage those in the pro audio community (studios/broadcast/multimedia) who have still not found their way to the Internet to do so in the near future!
Even before the immensely contagious popularity of the Internet, there was an amazing upsurge in home recording and "project studios" in this country. As you would expect, there was also an upsurge of those who would EXPLOIT this attractive new market for their own economic gain.
As the director of DaviSound, although with much opportunity otherwise, I chose to take the OPPOSITE aproach and, instead of trying to gouge and exploit the novices with hype and "guru nonsense" like so many others were doing on such a large scale, I chose to try and genuinely EDUCATE them as to what is and is not important in terms of professional audio criteria.
The feeling was/is ... the more one TRULY KNOWS about audio and audio electronics, then the more one would fully appreciate what DaviSound has to offer, exclusively!
This is why you see so much attention and focus being placed herewith in the direction of the NOVICES into the realm of "professional" audio! We simply want and hope to "educate" them to the point that they can make their own INFORMED, unbiased and undistorted purchasing decisions based soley on their own needs and desires without so much influence - pro or con - from others.
As I told one of our clients the other day, I can NOT understand much of this latter generation's incessant need for peer collaboration! I was always the opposite and always wanted to experiment on my own applying and trusting my own insights and abilities to the experience without the opinions of anyone else influencing me!
Nevertheless, I do NOT want to turn my back on those with differing opinions and we sincerely want to encourage ALL newcomers to professional audio to learn as much as they can in all directions and to, hopefully thereby, ultimately become satisifed DaviSound customers!
Therefore, although I have NO patience with "Arrogant Ignorance" - as addressed on our Business Philosophy page from day one - I do sincerely want to help anyone who truly wants information ... and, I will answer email to perpetuity for someone who is genuinely sincere in their questioning! This same spirit is what prompts all of this "ado" with this "news update" you are now reading as well as the new addition of similar "editorializing" on our FAQs/LAFs page!
Most of the few "NaySay" comments are covered there, and I have refered you to them after reading this, so they will not be further berated here. However, there is one major "NaySay" that I have not added to the FAQs/LAFs page as of yet (though I intend to) so I'll conclude with it. In fact, it is the one that prompted the encouragement from one of our regular clients to address all of this which I alluded to earlier.
That one is ....
"Why doesn't DaviSound submit their products to reviewers for their opinions to be published...
What are they 'afraid' of ?"
Well, we certainly would not want to imply that such reviewers are unduly "biased" or swayed by any motives other than their own pristine assessment capabilities of high integrity audio ...now would we?
That being the case, we will present, herewith, our reasons for not doing the "review thing" which are well known by our encouraging client as well as by the hundreds of purchasers/readers of our DaviSound TECH REPORTS which is where this story is originally published.
So, excerpted from DaviSound TECH REPORTS, we present this little narrative herewith for your consideration:
QUOTE -
As I conclude this “foundation” segment, one more “story” is in order to, hopefully, inspire you to
always keep an open mind as well as an open ear when studying and testing audio circuitry.
Hopefully it will demonstrate the power of suggestion and the power of psychoacoustics ... in other
words, the ways in which the brain’s perception of sound can be influenced, even fooled entirely,
by all the other senses aside from the auditory senses.
You could devote an entire volume to this subject and as tempted as I am to delve into many of the arguments and examples to demonstrate the “hows and whys” that have led me to my conclusions over the years, I will simply relate the following for your consideration.
Audio engineer, consulting author, columnist and AUDIO OBJECTIVIST EXTRAORDINAIRE , Larry Kline, spent much of his career trying to “educate the masses” in the many areas I just mentioned. Writing in his column in the old RADIO ELECTRONICS magazine, he delighted in telling the following story about something that once happened to me, “yours truly”, long ago when submitting preamps to a well known magazine reviewer for his opinion!
At that time, in the late seventies, I had designed and built two versions of an identical...and I emphasize, IDENTICAL preamp for the audiophile marketplace. I purposely intended to test which concept would sell better or be more profitable.... a low priced model for the masses, or a high priced model for those who believed religiously in “you get what you pay for”.
So, I built two preamps identical in function each employing IDENTICAL “cloned” circuit boards with the same components right down the line. They were even hand soldered and completed at the same time ... R1 would be soldered to PCB one and then R1 would be soldered to PCB2 in that alternating fashion. That is about as identical as you can get! Each employed the same Texas Instruments BiFet op-amp, the TLO72, as it’s active component, and each IC came from the same batch run from the factory.
The ONLY thing that distinguished these two units (we even used the same hardware), was their case design, their “brandname” and their price tag! We marketed the high priced one in a better grade of cabinet under our name DaviSound ... and the other was being tested under another brandname which I will not identify here.
Well, as you probably suspect by now, the reviews were quite different!
This “golden eared” reviewer, who had no doubt swayed thousands of buying decisions throughout his magazine writing career while simultaneously assuring the wealth of some companies and the early demise of others, made the following assessment of my two preamps. Remember, he did NOT know that both were from the same source.
Fortunately, the DaviSound model won favor as the “high end” version with such accolades as “Silky,sweet high end...extraordinary definition on the strings ... effortless, well defined bass reproduction” ..and so on. It seemed our high end amp could do no wrong! But, alas, the “other brand” (the same identical preamp in disguise) failed miserably with such denouncements as “flat, lifeless, strained” and “veiled”.
Larry Kline thought that was a marvelous real life example of what he had been trying to convey
in his writings for years. I offer it here for you to make of it whatever you choose. As for me,
suffice it to say I have NEVER ... to this day ... EVER considered submitting something to a
reviewer again! But, I can assure you that such subjectivity does not stop with the “critics” writing
their reviews for audiophile magazines. Indeed, it is also very much alive and well within the ranks of
today’s professional recording industry!
-END QUOTE
As an aside to this "philosphical reasoning", there is another more practical reason that we do not offer equipment for review as explained in detail on our website for those who express enough interest to read about it there! That is, we are so busy producing our gear for a waiting list of eager clients, that we never have time to accumulate any "demo" pieces for "reviewers"!
Well, one more "NaySay" question layed to rest ....I hope! But it is doubtful since these types seem to just tend to talk themselves in circles ....however it is presented here for any serious ones amongst them!
Well let me back off the old "soapbox" for awhile and tell you ... "POSITIVELY" ... that I thank the overwhelmingly majority of our supportive clients and readers for indulging me this one attempt at dealing with the negative few!
So, for now, that's it on the DaviSound "news front". Naturally, we sincerely hope that you are enjoying the Holiday Season to it's fullest this year!
As always, I sincerely THANK YOU for reading and for visiting our website! I continue to be amazed at the number of "hits" this page receives each month and I DO appreciate it! Please continue to come here and to our entire site on a regular basis!
We always welcome any opportunity you may provide to allow us to improve YOUR audio signal chain! And, I always welcome any opportunity to correspond with you directly and personally!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
"MARCHing into APRIL" ...
The year continues to fly ...
We just finished our innaugural TB-10 and it is, as of this writing, on its way to Canada! And ... a BEAUTY it is too!
We hope to have the full description, along with photos for all to see, of this solid wood, "WG" 3RU, Tool Box on the web site very shortly along with its accompanying "On-line Manual".
I continue to be proud of the evolution of our "Wooden Wonders" ...the DaviSound solid Oak rack mount cabinets! More and more users are requesting ALL wooden units ("WG") versions of our Tool Boxes which incorporate the wooden faceplates in addition to the wooden cabinets.
I do not think it is only a coincidence that I am starting to see more "woodlook" designs from major manufacturers' latest offerings and many wooden cabinets showing up amongst the contributors' photos in the hobbyists and amateur audio construction magazines!
As for the TB-10, I expect it to be a popular addition to our Tool Box line. It essentially borrows the design styling of the TB-1 but, instead of tubes and discreet circuitry, it incorporates two channels of MIC-ALL amps as well as a newly designed pair of DIFFERENTIAL INPUT instrument preamps based on the MIC-ALL MP-2 module!
It also offers two switchable (mic/instrument ... -10/+4 levels) lighted VU meters.
Our MasterPieces modules continue to be popular lately so, it seems that maybe some of that old "do-it-yourself" spirit of the fifties and sixties is coming back to pro audio engineering!
We're very pleased to offer our TECH REPORTS, our MP DATA, and our MasterPieces modules to those who would like to try building their own superior audio equipment! In regard to this, I am very happy to be able to present two recent success stories which are now posted on our DaviStories page! Please check them out!
And, to all of you who have heard, and inevitably continue to PRAISE, our MIC-ALL circuit design which is housed in the MP-2 module, I want you to also consider checking out our MP-8 monitor amplifier as an accurate reference to monitor your recordings! This is because the MP-8 power amplifier actually uses the MP-2 as it's front-end, voltage gain stage!
The TB-8 is nothing more than an MP-2 module with appropriately adapted line level inputs, and boosted current gain output stages added externally, enabling it to drive speakers! So, it is possible to get that super clean, accurate sound ALL THE WAY THROUGH your signal chain! Think about it! It sure makes the TB-8 the most "startling", revealing amplifier my ears have ever "tried on" ... and I've listened to a "few" in my time!
And, if you haven't considered a TB-8 lately, you may want to check out the recently added TB-8 On-Line Manual . It is not fully completed as of yet but what is there so far is a nice "primer" on amplification in general that is useful for helping to dispel some power amplification myths we've seen surface of late!
As the month of April wears on, we should be just a bit further caught up from all of the "hectivity" of the early part of 2002. So, it is a good time to get your order in for your own DaviSound Tool Box or custom item to assure its place in the new order work rotation schedule!
As always, I sincerely THANK YOU for reading and for visiting our website! Please continue to come here to the "news" area and to our entire site on a regular basis!
We always welcome any opportunity you may provide to allow us to improve YOUR audio signal chain! And, I always welcome any opportunity to correspond with you directly and personally about our products and audio in general!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
Well, we "blinked" once again and another month passed ... I'm sure I just wrote last month's update last week. It couldn't have been a whole month ago! - could it?
At that time we were "bragging" a bit about our new TB-10 just completed and sent to Canada. Well, since then, the excited feedback we received from the client was ... quote ...
"I am one damned happy customer!"
No words minced there.
He went on to explain just how and why he was so pleased and we hope to include his story, in his own words, on the DaviStories page as soon as time permits. But, suffice it say that we are happy that he is happy. That is a big part of the inspiration for us to do what we do!
We KNOW that our methods yield superior performing audio equipment that, as he says, "blows away" some of the other gear in use out there. But we ALWAYS get renewed satisfaction each and every time we see that realized for the first time with a new client! And, of course, it is especially satisftying when it comes with the introduction of a new "Tool Box" addition to our line of pro audio processors as the TB-10 "DaviSource" preamp is!
CONSOLE -ing News ...
On the "news" front, actually we are right now just quietly plodding along getting more Tool Boxes ready to ship, slowly but surely, stage by stage. Simultaneously, we are also starting to really get into the large custom console project that we have underway for one of our most faithful clients on the West Coast.
I suppose I should address this in regard to our workload since word of this this project has sparked so MANY recent inquiries over the past sevral months asking us to quote on various large, custom mixing console projects. While I am most pleased that so many of you would want a custom DaviSound console, I am sorry to have to tell all those inquiring in that regard, and reiterating it here, that DaviSound can only affor to commit to ONE such major project at a time.
This is because, our very small, specialized crew can only work on just so many projects at once and we have to have ample time rerserved for our Tool Box clients without the work rotation backlog getting too large at any given time. We have always worked with a waiting list to some degree but we like to be able to get all firm orders in the work rotation schedule as quickly as possible.
It is a standing "joke" around here that the typical console inquiry is ... "Can you please tell me if DaviSound can custom build for me a flawless console, with the typical DaviSound exceptionally superb signal chain which is far superior to most of the others available on the market, with your unique, meticulously handcrafted workmanship and fabrication techniques, containing at least twenty-four channels with eight subs, deliver it tomorrow and price it in-line with the 'competition'?"
Well, all kidding aside, this is VERY, very close to many of the typical inquiries we actually get!
So, let me say, that if you want a DaviSound console, you may need to be prepared to invest quite a bit up front, and then prepare for a wait of from eight to fourteen months give or take a month or so, because that is just what it takes for us to take one from idea to working reality. A major recording console is a terribly complex undertaking especially when it is done in custom fashion by our painstaking methods.
It is so taxing and demanding that DaviSound had "sworn off" large boards until this recent commitment.
Now that we are getting back into it, we are as enthused and excited about watching a new console grow in our fabrication room as we have ever been in the past ... maybe much moreso.
Does this mean we will take on another such large project after this one? Well, it is very likely that we will. But, it will be offered on a one-at-time basis. We can not build super complex consoles on the same work rotation basis the way we do Tool Boxes and other smaller custom items.
So ... if you are determined to get a DaviSound console, please make your plans WELL in advance, be prepared to be very patient while it is being "grown" and get your advance order in, firm, as soon as possible .... in order for the project to launch beginning NEXT year!
Now if you have something simpler in mind like a basic stereo mixer with eight input channels, we can put that in the regular work rotation schedule at ANY time!
And, while we are on the subject, we welcome ALL interest and ALL inquiries to DaviSound and I will, PERSONALLY answer them all as quickly and as sincerely as I possibly can. But, I respectfully ask that all inquiries be SERIOUS inquiries of actual intent to purchase and not simply born out of whimsical curiosity or otherwise.
Now, for those regulars who might visit this area frequently looking for actual "news" as it relates to their current projects, let me say that we will be updating all of you, individually and personally as always, very soon with a shipping date!
We are currently in the final stages of three beautiful, new TB-6 Tool Boxes with the first one probably ready to leave here in two weeks tops with the other two following something like a week apart. You three know who you are and we DO APPRECIATE YOU and the opportunity to work for you! And, we are confident you will also appreciate the time and effort behind your "new baby" when it arrives very soon!
Finally, there is yet a bit more "educational lecture" material which has been added to the TB-6 and TB-10 on-line manuals on the website. Please check them out.
As always, I sincerely THANK YOU for reading and for visiting our website! Please continue to come here to the "news" area and to our entire site on a regular basis!
We always welcome any opportunity you may provide to allow us to improve YOUR audio signal chain! And, I always welcome any opportunity to correspond with you directly and personally about our products and audio in general!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
It is difficult to realize that we are upon yet another "anniversary" here at DaviSound.
Therefore, it is an appropriate occasion to reflect just a bit and to, again, thank all of you who have supported DaviSound over the years especially recognizing our many loyal, repeat customers who have increased steadily in number during the recent decades.
I really do believe, and our clients of late concur, that our handmade products are now better than ever in all respects and that we really do continue to get a little more proficient at what we do with each new piece that we create!
In spite of the fact that I am now "flying solo" most of the time, with only sporadic part-time help on occasion, DaviSound is supplying more "Tool Boxes", in less time, to more clients than at any previous time in our history (even when we had two full time and part-time assistants!).
Importantly, and of special note to all, in spite of continually rising costs and expenses, we have NOT had an across the board price increase on our pro audio offerings in over two years!
2006 was the year of "BIGGER AND BETTER" with an increase in sizing for several of our standard Tool Boxes from 2 RU to 3 RU, and a more spacious panel layout arrangement for others in the 2RU format, primarily in order to better showcase the "WG" wooden panels while accomodating larger knobs and hardware for enhancing our inherent "vintage" look.
2006 (as well as the end of 2005) was also something of a "roller coaster ride" in terms of health issues for both myself and my wife, Annette (and on into this year for her) . As a result, I was spread pretty thin at times and while I am now, thankfully, feeling much better and just about back up to FULL speed once again, I am, as a result of that, still playing catch-up with some of the more long-term custom projects. In conjunction with this, I am genuinely proud to say that we are so lucky to be able work for some of the finest people on the planet! Not only are our clients invariably "the cream of the crop" in being the most intelligent and the most discriminating of working audio professionals, they have also proven to be the most sincere and
caring individuals I have ever encountered as well. I want to publicly thank ALL of you who not only stood by us and saw us through some untypical times and untypical work delays in 2006, but who also showed us untypical support, understanding and encouragement through our troubled times here!
This is MOST gratifying and inspiring and it causes me to pledge to work even more devotedly for all of you in the months and years ahead!
We recently completed a new TB-3 in a new combination of contrasting wooden cabinetry that we plan to offer as a standard "WG" option for Tool Boxes! This is an especially attractive combination utilizing my personal favorite exotic wood, Padauk, for the faceplate in conjunction with our traditional Red Oak for the cabinet. We have, affectionately, nicknamed this new cabinet combination style "PedOak" !
To see this new beauty ...please go to ...
Then, following that introduction, we just completed, and shipped, the first complementary 2 RU "PedOak" piece ...
January, 2007 brought forth the first one of our new combo processors ...
Not only is this new, "well stacked" piece feature-packed with three of our most popular processors
on-board one 2 RU "WG" Tool Box package, it is also a superb bargain at the introductory price!
And now ...
AND ... there is even more news ... MUCH MORE ...
We have two new custom projects nearing completion that we will likely add to our "standard" lineup in some fashion ...
Another unusual custom item has also been recently completed, once again prooving that we will go out of our way to accomodate even the most esoteric of requests by our clients! This one, a custom eight channel LED, bargraph display, VU meter in Tool Box packaging, which we have nicknamed ... you guessed it ... "The DaviSighter"!
This underscores the fact that unique, custom designed audio gear is always available from DaviSound as are individualized customizations for any of our "standard" Tool Boxes as well.
And ... FINALLY for this edition ...
We are also very close to completing, and displaying, the "DaviSheen" TB-9 all vacuum tube preamp/ compressor prototype which will, ultimately, round out our "clean dozen" of standard Tool Box designs. This will be an exciting new unit also which will feature our first, full "DaviSheen" design for a non-hybrid, completely triode, signal chain!
I should mention that we have, temporarily, withdrawn our TECH REPORTS for extensive recompilation. This longtime popular material will be rewritten with new graphics and new content and resissued, in html eBook form, as soon as possible when available time allows for the rewrites, editing and repackaging.
Please note that we recently added some new user comments to the DaviStories page ...
If you are a newcomer to our site now thinking of a unique pro audio equipment purchase of your own, this would be a perfect time to "DaviSample" any of our "audio as good as it gets" gear with any of our new stylings! Remember to anticipate your needs and order early! There is nothing like having the appropriate tool in hand ( DaviSound Tool Box © ™ ) for the job at hand!
To get your order into our current work rotation schedule, simply follow the order procedure outlined at ...
As always , I thank you for reading and for visiting DaviSound.com and I, personally, welcome all of your inquiries, thoughts and suggestions ...
Sincerely,
"DaviSteady" ...
This June marks our 37th year of doing business from the same location!
As for "NEW NEWS" ...
It will be available by special request (at a slight additonal charge) according to the availability of the, increasingly rare, fine Padauk.
First "PedOak" TB-3
a customized TB-12 in the same vein !
See "PedOak TB-12"
the "DAVISTRIP" TB-7 single channel, multi-stage processor!
It's new "On-Line Manual" speaks for itself so please click the link below to check it out!
DaviSound TB-7 "DaviStrip" On-Line Manual
Please note that we are currently working on a beautiful new, slightly customized version of the new TB-7 in contrasting, exotic woods cabinetry which will also introduce some further enhancements for this latest Tool Box making it even more versatile and atrractive than originally designed! For this reason, we are holding all further orders for the TB-7 until we can showcase this latest unit with its newly added features which will update and supersede the original design!
The first is a new, low power FULL CLASS- A SINGLE ENDED amplifier design that we are calling the "DaviSolidSingle" ...
You can see this new piece showcased and explained at the introductory page here ...
DaviSolidSingle Class-A SingleEnded Reference Amplifier (TB-8-SE)
It is a solid state forerunner to the all vacuum tube, powered monitor that we have on the drawing board ...
The "3T - Triple Triode Triangle" OTL amplifier ... that will be available in the future.
You can see the first of these interesting devices at ...
DaviSighter
and we have included more Q&A inquiry correspondence for the FAQs area.
The sooner you place your order and get it into the chronological work rotation, the sooner you can expect to get your hands, eyes and ears around it!
PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
I ESPECIALLY WELCOME YOUR NEW ORDERS AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU!
Hayne Davis
"DaviStruck!"
Since most all of last month's "news" will be applicable until the end of the year, it is included again below, verbatim. However, I have some further recent personal "news" that I have decided to share here in spite of "cautions" otherwise from some close associates and family members. When you learn the nature of this news, you will see why some of them feel I should keep this bit of news to myselfl. But, I have always been "honest to a fault" (talk too much!) and I feel I need to share this news with those of you who frequent the DaviSound News area.
Why is this bit of news so "DaviSensitive"? Because it has to do with my hearing ... that's why!
Obviously, when you earn your living by designing, building and testing audio equipment, then your ears are two of your most precious tools of the trade. Many of you reading this also depend on your finely tuned, hearing ability in many respects relating to your profession ... would you be willing to let your clients know if you had suffered a hearing loss?
I have decided to do so for several reasons.
First, let me point out that I have been assured by the experts and the ENT that the hearing that has been affected WILL RETURN to near full capacity of what it was. I can tell that this recovery has already made much progress after three weeks. So, that assurance, in itself, should moot any point regarding this issue having any effect on my ability to perform my duties at DaviSound.
But, since this experience is so unique as to almost be sardonic in nature by the very fact of it happening to yours truly, I really felt it ought to be shared with our site viewers. I also hope it will make all of you a little more aware of just how precious this special sensory acitivity really is, yet, one which so many take for granted on a daily basis.
Three weeks ago today, I began my Monday morning acitivities by doing something that was once, years ago, fairly routine ... but something I seldom get to do nowadays. That is, I began my day by doing some "critical listening", in the literal sense. An aquaintance was about to release a new CD and had sent a copy to me to evaluate. Shortly after an hour or so of this activity, although the medical specialist assures me the intense listening activity had nothing to do with what happened, I suddenly went totally, stone DEAF in my left ear! I repeat ... I went totally DEAF in my left ear ! Let me assure you that you can not duplicate what this feels like without experiencing it. Closing or plugging your ears won't do it bcause you just can not simulate this TOTAL lack of sensation any other way than to be totally and completely, numb DEAF!
Now ... imagine how I felt. Here is someone whose very existence has ALWAYS involved ... SOUND ... who is suddenly and totally without it albeit, thankfully, in just one ear.
Naurally, my first instinctive reaction was confusion as to what had just happened. At first I assumed that something had just, somehow, blocked my ear passage. But, the total absence of ANY sensation quickly led me to conclude otherwise. I placed a telephone with an active data stream ongoing close to my ear ... NOTHING! I grabbed another phone whose dial tone was loud in my right ear and held it to my left ... NOTHING! Further panic!
I immediately began calling doctors and, simultaneously, "Googling" "sudden deafness" trying to see what I could learn.
After reading all I could, talking with a doctor, and making an appointment with an ENT for the following Wedenesday, I finally accepted what had happened and began to deal with it while becoming determined to do whatever it would take to regain my hearing as soon as possible.
After throrough testing by the Audiologist at the hearing center, and a subsequent consultation with the ENT, I was told that I has suffered an "inner ear stroke". I never knew such a thing existed! I also never knew one could just, suddenly, go deaf! But, the good news, I was told, was that since some sensations were already starting to return (I could faintly hear the Audiologist when he talked to me in the left headset but his voice sounded exactly like Sonovox to my traumatized ear/brain connection) that I would eventually get nearly all of my former hearing ability back. They pumped me full of steroids over the next two weeks for added insurance.
Throughout this period, I have gotten quite an education regarding the human hearing process. I have learned, firsthand, how much we depend on our ears to assist our eyes with visual perception and sensory orientation. I have experienced the way that "bad effects" in one bad ear can alter, and work against, the hearing in the other good ear. I have also learned that the normal mechanics of the outer/middle ear interacting with a traumatized inner ear, which is reconstructing and "relearning" to hear, can duplicate most every "audio effect" that we create with our electronic processors, and then some!
When it first happened I could hear NOTHING in that ear. My first returning sensation was an assortment of "tones". I was constantly "bombarded" with various combinations of tones (EXTREME tinnitis) ...sometimes, what sounded like a loud "400 Hz sinewave", would fade in and out only to be replaced by an, around 800 Hz, "sawtooth" signal. Then, there would be various loud combinations of tones, noises and roars which I assume were good signs of nerve regeneration.
After a few days, I could hear just enough to occasionally distinguish a voice through headphones (I mentioned the amplified voice of the Audiologist sounded identical to the old Sonovox effect). Then, a few days later, everything had an irritating "mechanical rattle" ... wind noise and traffic sounds were almost unbearable ... although I could still not distinguish a normal voice at close range. Voices, when heard at all, sounded like chipmunks, a mile away, talking through a tin can.
Now, three weeks later, while still experiencing a constant, medium "roar" of tinnitis, after days of assorted "comb filtering" and "phase shifting" effects, I can finally, already hear about 50% volume, with minimal distortions, and pretty fair frequency response. Music in headphones is sounding only "slightly filtered"! So, I am now VERY confident that the doctors were right in predicting that my original hearing capacity will return to near normal, gradually, over the next few months. While researching the condition on the Internet I learned that entertainer, Phil Collins had also experienced an "ear stroke" in a similar fashion. From what I gather, his hearing fully recovered over time.
The irony, or "sardony", with this is the fact that this only happens to about 1 in 100,000. They say the odds are about like being struck by lightning. So, what this says about myself and my relation to fate I am not sure. But, it is kind of typical of my luck throughout my lifetime ... in many ways fortunate and in many not so fortunate ...but often seemingly VERY UNIQUE in circumstances. It is hard to imagine this Davis without Sound (as in DaviSound ..."a natural combination!"). But for the past few weeks I have had to do more than imagine it and have had to experience it to a great degree.
Like many of you, I have been fascinated by sound for as long as I can remember. In fact, some of my first, pleasant memories involve sound and music. And it is not only about music. I have always enjoyed the spoken word and one of my favorite hobbies is collecting and listening to old radio dramas and productions. I also enjoy building and tinkering with primitive shortwave radio receivers during a few spare, or stolen, moments on an occasionally rare, long winter night. I have been in the "sound business", in some form or another, constantly since I was fourteen years old. Obviously, it was traumatic for me to go through this experience. But, I also see it as another, rare opportunity to experience just how important our hearing truly is in our lives and just how important our audio industry is in relation to it.
I have never taken my hearing for granted, though. And, like most of you who will be reading this, I have gone to great lengths to protect it. I would never go into a club or concert situaiton without some kind of ear protection. I can remember, in the earliest days as a rock & roll musician, knowing I wanted to also become a producer and engineeer someday, plugging my ears with the filters torn from a couple of Marlboros for some protection. During my recording days I would never wander into the studio during a session, particulalry during setup and soundchecks, without ear protection ( I once experienced a guitarist cranking down on an ear piecing chord just as I bent down to adjust the mic near his Marshal stack). It is not like I have ignored anything I could do by way of "preventive maintenance".
These things can just "happen".
So that's my "DaviStruck" story ... my latest, temporary "sidetrack" to go along with the others documented below. But, as they say, such is life. Rest assured that I am on my way to a full recovery and, meanwhile, I will be doing what I tell all young audio engineers who have to temporarily operate with somewhat inferior monitoing equipment in their control rooms ...
"get to KNOW your equipment, its capabilities and its limitations, and then you can work around it"!
"DaviSorted" ...
Assorted "odds & ends" about "this & that" ...
In the early days of taking DaviSound to the Internet ... some ten years ago ...
This go 'round I decided to divert from the recent structure and lean backwards a little toward the old days and give this update a more personal tone, a "blog" style if you will, for those who care to read it . Whichever way it is presented, I always do sincerely thank you for reading and for visiting the DaviSound website!
I have always tried to update this area on, at least, a monthly basis and, sometimes, when new things were happening swiftly around here, even more frequently. I remember at least one month when we had so many developments to share that there were three updates in the same month. In reallity, some of these many updates were likely only noticed by a few since our tracking indicators tell us that we only average around ten visitors per day to the DavISound website. And, not all of them even check out the "News" page! So, I began "refeshing" the pages just somewhat and carrying over the main content for a second month or so, usually "fading out" the old news gradually to be sure as many as possible were reading about our latest efforts for a given time period.
In recent months, a lot of the "news" has been about the ongoing "backlog" of work we have been wading through here at DaviSound. This time, I thought I would elaborate on that somewhat and offer a little personal detail about some of the "whys & wherefores" that have contributed to that backlog. You regular clients, and certainly those who have prepaid projects in our current work rotation at some degree of development, certainly already know of these circumstances surrounding the "backlog". However, I thought that I would, now, "go public" so to speak and reflect on some of the contributing factors here that have affected the DaviSound operation as a whole. This will involve, as the old saying goes, both "good news and bad news".
The "good news" relates to the fact that the appreciation and demand for handmade DaviSound pro audio and audiophile components is at an alltime high and is continually growing in the worldwide audio arena. The "bad news", or let's just say the "not so good news" is the fact that this rapid growth, along with complications on the "domestic" front with the assorted personal issues and distractions that we all have to deal with from time to time, have been the factors that have created this "record backlog" which is taking us some months to work through.
One of the key factors is also the fact that the "we and us" at DaviSound is now, almost entirely, "I and me"! Aside from some, now, VERY rare part-time assistance with some very minimal tasks, DaviSound is now largely a one-man operation! That means I do EVERY little thing from all of the detailed woodwork in the cabinet fabrications to all of the component soldering and fabrication of the MasterPiece circuit modules to all of their installation and interwiring in the cabinetry. I also. personally, maintain all correspondence, the website, and every other management and labor function of DaviSound in entirety. No matter how dilligent one person may be, it is only humanly possible to accomplish just so much in one workday.
Now this evolution is both by chance and by design. Actually, all modesty aside, I have to say that the subtle qualities and owner desirabillity of DaviSound gear has improved, overall, as a result. Over the years I only employed a very select few, trusted, skilled assistants and when these assistants were no longer able to be with me, I found it more logical to devote my time to doing everything myself than to divert time toward finding, training and monitoring new assistants. Most of the craft work of each finished piece was always my responsibility. So, in many ways, it was actually more efficient to just eliminate the assistant since I have always been the "micro-manager" type anyway, as some describe it, pouring over each and every detail.
But, the drawback to my working solo really hit bigtime in early 2005 when I lived through some very tough times with several, separate, consecutive, chronically lingering health issues as many of you regular clients (and readers of this area) already know. I will spare the details but happily report that after a couple of rough years, I am, now, personally back to enjoying better health and renewed energy than I have experienced in many prior years! But, by contrast, I have also been sidetracked by increasing health issues for my wife since 2006 and, most recently, with assisting in providing daily care for my 92 year old mother with her own aging and health issues. So, the HEALTH FACTOR, in one form or another, has been an ongoing distraction for us here for several years now.
During this time, I am proud to say that even with all the side issues, I have managed to produce many of the newly improved DaviSound Tool Box "retro" designs and some of the better crafted, and best performing, Tool Boxes and custom pieces in DaviSound history. The only problem is, they have come to fruition rather slowly, over time, because of the restrictions on my time and work opportunities which must be spread amongst the largest influx of work orders in our history.
Where am I going with all of this and why have I provided so much personal detail up to this point? I am presenting all of this
here because I feel the need to explain just WHY the buzzword has been "backlog" all of these past months and WHY I so strongly feel that I simply HAVE to emilinate this infamous backlog once and for all and become caught up with ongoing projects for a change! So, that is the goal here at DaviSound for the remainder of 2008 and 2009 so long as the backlog continues. Elimimate that "backlog" entirely once and for all!
In order to make this happen, I realize that I am going to have to do something that I detest doing, and that is learn how to say "no" to some new projects for a brief time until I can announce that the workload is finally caught up. We have always worked with a waiting list, and/or chronological work rotation for prepaid orders to some degree. This is inherent with any made-to-order operation that hand crafts its products individually. The only difference that I am announcing here, now, is the fact that, just for a month or so until the end of '08, I will be MUCH more selective in the orders we accept and place into rotation until I can complete all of those now on the tables. For example, I was, just yesterday, very saddened to have to feel compelled to turn down a new project for an inquiror because of the custom complexities involved and the extra time that they would demand.
The fall is always, traditionally, our busiest time for new incoming orders. I expect it to be little, if any, different this year in spite of seeing the worst overall economic conditions in this nation during my 60 years on the planet. Naturally, no one in business wants to turn down new business, especially in tight economic times, and will always try and find ways to accomodate all comers. The same applies to DaviSound, of course. So, if you would like to place an order in the chronology so that it will be in the work order ready to go as soon as the others are moved out, then, we welcome such orders. Just know that the completion time will be several months down the road. You can place such orders with a 50% deposit and not have the balance due until just prior to completion/shipment per our notice.
However ...
I thank all of you for understanding this necessary maneuver and I also thank all of you who have, loyally, endured the longest wait times ever for delivery of DaviSound gear in recent months. The good side of it is when you finally do get your unit you can be proud to know that it is of the best quality ever and that it should serve you well throughout your lifetime!
Two other long awaited projects reached completion almost simultaneously with the new TB-10 ... each for European
destinations.
Also just added to the Tool Boxes area, is our new ultra- low power FULL CLASS- A SINGLE ENDED amplifier design that we are calling the "DaviSolidSingle" TB8-SE.
So, in spite of all the unusual circumstances described above, a great deal HAS been accomplished in recent months and more is ahead ... including new updates to our "DaviStories" client testimonials page in the near future.
Please, always remember to anticipate your needs and order ahead of time! Then, sit back and relax and leave the work to us knowing that you have a special piece being readied for you that will prove to be well worth the wait involved when it finally gets to you.
Creating unique, hand-crafted, lifetime quality, heirloom pieces takes some time and there are no shortcuts even during the best of times and circumstances! So, the sooner you place your order and get it into the chronological work rotation ... There is nothing like having the appropriate tool in hand ( DaviSound Tool Box © ™ ) for the job at hand! And there is NOTHING ELSE like a DaviSound "TOOL BOX" anywhere else! If you have never experienced using/owning a DaviSound Tool Box, then you have just not yet lived the ultimate audio experience until you do!
To get your order into our current work rotation schedule, simply follow the order procedure outlined at ...
As always , I thank you for reading and for visiting DaviSound.com and I, personally, welcome all of your inquiries, thoughts and suggestions ...
Sincerely,
The following continued from last month ...
and an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
this "news" updates area more closely resembled what almost everyone offers nowadays with their regular "blogs" ...
a term and label I refuse to adapt!
Eventually, some of those early "rants, raves and reviews", concerning almost anything happening around me at the time, began to be confined to more appropriate areas of their own such as DAVISTATEMENTS and our
FAQs pages. If you are new to the DaviSound website, I would suggest you check those two pages first because they will quickly impart a great deal of honest insight about the unique merits of DaviSound. Then, this "News Updates" area became just that ... a brief, more formal and less personal, news summation about the latest monthly activities here.
Please be advised that during this period I will ONLY be accepting orders for our STANDARD Tool Box lineup with NO major customizations. NO new prototypes and NO fully custom designed, one-of-a-kind projects will be considered or accepted until AFTER I can announce here that ALL of our overdue work is caught up and that I am comfortable with the new work schedule.
Now back to reflecting on a few accomplishments that I HAVE managed to make along the way in recent months ...
We now have the new version of our TB-10 completed giving us the chance to introduce our new "standardized", RETRO styled, SiFam VU meters to be used on all future Tool Box VU models. Unlike most of the other Tool Boxes which have undergone expansion during the past couple of years, this TB-10 is reduced in size from 3 RU down to 2 RU, mainly because of the smaller, 2 inch square, SiFam VU meters we are using for it. It also incorporates a new, compact front panel layout as well. This new model is now included in the TOOL BOXES lineup with the TB-10 on-line manual updated.
You can view a new "PedOak" styled TB-3 here New TB-3 and a unique,
new custom, audiophile "DaviSheen" Octal Preamp here ...
Custom Octal Preamp .
The newly revised TB-7 was, also recently, inserted into the line-up with the
Tool Boxes page, and the TB7 on-line manual updated for it.
DaviSound TB-7 "DaviStrip" On-Line Manual
For all of you who still have ongoing projects working their way up in the rotation ...
I thank you all again for your continued patience and I do promise to reward it with some special performers that will be joining those shipped very soon!
Now, If you have been thinking about a purchase of one (or more) of our STANDARD, unique pro audio "TOOL BOXES" for your own, don't let the current work "backlog" delay your decision. There is no better time than SOONER (as in "the sooner the better") to get your order in place our work rotation schedule! It only requires a firm 50% deposit to lock it in. Remember, no matter how caught up we become there is ALWAYS ongoing work ahead of every order that comes into DaviSound! But, we immediately add each new order to the work rotation schedule in the order they are received. You can see that it never pays to try and wait until a "slack" time to place an order since there is never a true "slack time" in the demand for DaviSound gear.
the sooner you can expect to get your hands, eyes and ears around it!
PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
I ALWAYS WELCOME YOUR ORDERS AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU!
Hayne Davis
NEWS UPDATE ... July 21, 2009 ... September 26, 2009
" Falling into Fall '09 ... "
Well we haven't exactly "fallen" into Fall ... just "DaviStumbled" a bit ...
Last update I wrote ...
"For those of you who do return to this area from time to time to watch for our "News Updates" ...
I suppose you have wondered where I have been and why the update is running a little behind schedule.
Well, let me assure you that I have been working through as steadily as possible and have NOT been vacationing ...
NOR, HAVE I BEEN AWAY 'HIKING ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL'! "
(I take this forum opportunity to announce that not ALL South Carolinians are as "wooden headed"
as our political "puppeticians"!)
Well, I guess that same opening is in order again this month since I did NOT get around to a news update in August and our SC politicians contiunue to embarass many of us around the world!
For most all of 2009, so far, this "News Updates" section has dealt exclusively with the all-time high backlog of work we had carried over from 2008. You will recall that over the last few months we, more or less, itemized all of the specific projects that we were working to complete. I explained the details of how and why we had such an all-time high backlog and how we had vowed that we would make it top priority to, FINALLY, be caught up and back on a more "sane", current, work schedule about mid way through the year. We even suspended receiving new orders for a time in order to expedite acheiving this goal.
For the first few months of '09 we saw much progress with the all-out "catch-up" effort as anticipated. Many complicated and long overdue custom projects were completed and shipped and others in the chronology followed on schedule as we averaged about three shipments per month. Then, all during summer, things bogged down again for assorted reasons documented here in the prior editions. It seemed we, again, had more of our old "Murphy's Law" style outside distractions in all directions than we have seen for quite some time ... from more family health and similar issues, to late spring heavy rains causing more roof leaks, to unanticipated and unprecedented industry-wide parts shortages from suppliers.
Fortunately, things have now greatly straightened out, settled down, and picked up. My, mostly solo, work schedule is, once again, running about 10 to 12 hours a day, 5.5 days per week. Although ii is taking about twice as long as we had hoped and anticipated going into this year, we should be mostly caught up and on a current turnaround schedule by the end of the year.
We shipped another of these long overdue projects in August, yet another in early September and expect to have two more backlogged projects ready to ship by the end of October with all of the final, remaining projects completed by year's end. Even the larger longterm projects are looking good for end of the year shipment, or close to it, at this juncture!
Again, I reiterate that no one is more anxious than I am to get all of these old worries behind me and begin operating on a more current turnaround schedule once again. The added stress of runnning behind, with several pending projects at various stages of incompletion lined up on the work stations, always takes its toll. You can't really feel the satisfaction of making progress in one direction for feeling that you are neglecting, and running behind, in another!
I do appreciate all of the continued encouragement from all of you "clients in waiting" as well as the special incentive from some of you who have already gone ahead and placed orders for the waiting list! And, I NEVER tire of receiving your wonderful feedback about our gear "from the field"!
These special comments from clients always provide extra motivation when they are received and I do appreciate them greatly!
Some of these have recently been added to our DaviStories Client Testimonial Page for all to consider.
Since we continue to have inquiries about the status of the reissue of the new version of our old "Tech Reports" DIY info package, I will, again, address that here also. For reasons that should be obvious after reading these updates, I am currently spending all of my available work time with my eyes/ears/nose etc. "glued" to the workbench. That, along with all the ongoing domestic obligations, does not leave me much time for writing (which is also why the website continues to lag behind in updates compared to normal circumstances). But, I do assure you that this new updated version WILL be forthcoming just as soon as I can gather the time to make it all happen. SOME progress has already been made as I am trying to allocate at least one evening per week toward completing this new edition which will be called "DaviSecrets" and published as a two part eBook delivered by private website download (or CDROM). I hope to have it all ready by the coming year.
If you are someone who has been thinking about a purchase of one (or more) of our STANDARD, unique pro audio "TOOL BOXES" for your own, don't let the current work "backlog" delay your decision. There is no better time than SOONER (as in "the sooner the better") to get your order in place in our work rotation schedule!
One small thing we have done, as the first order of business this year, to help accomodate our smaller, project studio clients during tight times ...
is to extend our payment terms somewhat to make it a bit easier to launch a new, made-to-order project.
NEW PAYMENT TERMS
Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of these new order terms.
I also point out that our "Tool Box" price list has not
had an increase in standard "Tool Box" pricing for almost five years!
So, always remember, it now requires just a 1/3 payment deposit to firm your order, get your project launched and locked into place in our work schedule!
Also, please keep in mind that no matter how caught up we become there is ALWAYS ongoing work ahead of every order that comes into DaviSound! But, we immediately add each new order to the work rotation schedule in the order they are received. You can see that it never pays to try and wait until a "slack" time to place an order since there is never a "slack time" in the demand for DaviSound gear.
Please, always try to anticipate your needs and order ahead of time!
Then, sit back and relax and leave the work to us knowing that you have a special piece being created just for you that will prove to be well worth the wait involved when it finally gets to you.
Creating unique, hand-crafted, lifetime quality, heirloom pieces takes some time and there are no shortcuts even during the best of times and circumstances! So, the sooner you place your order and get it into the chronological work rotation ...
the sooner you can expect to get your hands, eyes and ears around it!
There is nothing like having the appropriate tool in hand ( DaviSound Tool Box © ™ ) for the job at hand! And there is NOTHING ELSE like a DaviSound "TOOL BOX" anywhere else! If you have never experienced using/owning a DaviSound Tool Box, then you have just not yet lived the ultimate audio experience until you do!
To get your order into our current work rotation schedule, simply follow the order procedure outlined at ...
PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
As always , I thank you for reading and for visiting DaviSound.com and I, personally, welcome all of your inquiries, thoughts and suggestions. Of course, especially ...
I ALWAYS WELCOME YOUR ORDERS AND THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
Welcome to the DaviSound "NEWS UPDATES" Page!
NEWS UPDATE ... December 8, 2010 ... 1-11-11
" DaviSound ... DaviSpanning Four Decades ! "
And ...
"DaviStarted For The New Year" ...
While ...
"DaviSnowed Under" ...
Literally and Figuratively ...
As I write this, our southeastern location seems more like a northeastern location as we are currently "snowed under" a winter blanket of six to eight inches of snow and ice.
Our "snowed under" work schedule also continues here during, this, our 40th anniversary year ( which spans the calendar from June '10 to June '11 as we observe June 1970 - June 2010) and I have, truly, NEVER been busier during all of those forty years! Which is why everything here continues to run a little later and longer than I would like from month to month.
I look forward to the coming new year as the winter/spring seasons always seem to be, traditionally, our most productive work periods.
Our ongoing record work backlog is created not only because the demand for our gear is at an all-time high, but also because most every one of our current holdover projects are either unique, fully custom pieces or are extensively customized versions of our standard Tool Boxes, all of which require extra prototyping and fabrication time. Several of these would have already been completed had they not been redesigned with multiple enhancements, at various stages along the way, during fabrication.
But, as the year unfolds, we WILL have some VERY SPECIAL new pieces to deliver for some VERY SPECIAL clients in waiting as well as introducing and displaying all these special creations here on our website during the coming year!
As most readers know by now, in conjunction with this 40th anniversary, since June, we are featuring one of our "clean dozen" standard
Tool Boxes ©™ here on our News Updates section each month for twelve months! These are NOT being presented in numerical order but in random fashion so you will need to check each month to see what is being featured. This monthly "feature" will call attention to the special attributes of each piece as well as rememberances about the origin of each Tool Box.
The last remaining lineup addition, the TB-9 will be included at some point as will that revised TB-1 and the DUAL version option of the TB-7, the TB-7D.
We are also working on a special, long ongoing project that combines the stages of several standard Tool Boxes in a unique new 3 RU
"WG" combination package, as suggested by a longtime client, which we will be introducing as the commemorative TB-40 sometime before the celebration ends in June 2011.
I think this anniversary period is also a good time to call attention to a very special little presentation on our website. I am referring to a sub link from our "WoodYou" pages where we present a special "ODE TO WOOD" by none other than the late, Boris Karloff. If you have never heard this, I hope you will view the page and check it out as it is a beautiful little "audio essay" ! ODE TO WOOD .
Who gives a "tweet"?
It had to happen ...
I also, recently, received some inquiror email wanting to know if we were on, or going to be on, "Twitter" and "Facebook". The answer is NO and NO! My feeling is, why should I spend time fooling around on another "fad" website when I don't even have adequate time to devote to this site the way I used to and the way I would like to (and hope to be able to do again in the months ahead). If other folks with websites want to also jump on the "web within the web" bandwagon then SO BE IT. But, don't waste any "clicks" looking for DaviSound there.
THERE IS ONLY ONE, UNIQUE, DAVISOUND WEB PRESENCE JUST AS THERE IS ONLY ONE, UNIQUE, DAVISOUND!
Anything I have to say will always be found here, exclusively, in these pages and I truly thank those of you who frequent our website.
We continue to look forward to your frequent website visits throughout this ongoing 12 month, 40th anniversary period (June 2010 - June 2011) as we present these special, monthly features to call attention to the origin of our Tool Boxes along with other developing news which will include new photos of some of our long, on-going custom projects that will be culminating this year. These will include projects such as newly completed mixing consoles both solid state and all vacuum tube versions!
As I have been pointing out here for the past few months, I work mostly solo these days and I am STILL working LONG hours to get through the largest order backlog in our history. Albeit "slowly but surely", I am making progress on all fronts with every passing week.
Creating unique, hand-crafted, lifetime quality, heirloom pieces takes some time and there are never any shortcuts even during the best of scheduling circumstances! So, the sooner you place your order for your own special piece, and get it into the chronological work rotation ... the sooner you can expect to get your hands, eyes and ears around it!
There is nothing like having the appropriate tool in hand ( DaviSound Tool Box © ™ ) for the job at hand! And there is NOTHING ELSE like a DaviSound "TOOL BOX" anywhere else! If you have never experienced using/owning a DaviSound Tool Box, then you have just not yet lived the ultimate audio experience until you do!
To get your order into the queue for our current work rotation schedule ...
simply follow the order procedure outlined at ... ...
PRICES-TERMS-POLICIES
As always , I thank you for reading and for visiting the DaviSound website. I, personally, welcome all of your inquiries, thoughts and suggestions in email. Of course, especially ...
I ALWAYS WELCOME YOUR ORDERS AND THE OPPORTUNITIES TO GO TO WORK FOR YOU!
Thank you for joining in our continuing 40th anniversary celebration with us!
Sincerely,
Hayne Davis
Welcome to the DaviSound "NEWS UPDATES" Page!
THIS IS THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF THE HOLIDAY THEME PAGE
THAT WE NOW UPDATE AND RUN EVERY YEAR AT HOLIDAY TIME -
Happy Holidays to all ... And to all a GREAT AUDIO SIGNAL CHAIN !
"DaviSanta"?
With everyone else always over-commercializing our most major holiday of the year, we have usually hesitated to invoke the "Christmas Theme" for our business during the holidays.
But, just maybe, we here at DaviSound have more of a right than most to exploit the old Santa Claus tradition! And ... I am not just refering to the recent similarity in appearance and size by yours truly ...
Actually, it is the uniquely old fashioned way we do business and the, untypical for modern manufacturing, way we make our pro audio "toys", by hand, from scratch, in our workshop that
forces the similarity consideration!
So it is the "Santa's Workshop" theme that comes to mind with DaviSound.
Right now, as we try and ready a couple of on-going hand-crafted custom audio projects for delivery ahead of the big day, the atmosphere around our "workshop" at DaviSound must, without doubt, closely resemble that of the jolly old elf 's place.
It is important for all of our friends, clients and inquirors to realize ... we carry on this "old-time" tradition here at DaviSound all year 'round! Sometimes our methods might take a little longer and sometimes they may take a "detour" or two in the fabrication process ... but in the end, we are proud to say, the resulting products ALWAYS prove to be well worth the wait!
And ... the big holiday similarity TRULY hits home everytime a client unwraps the newly arrived package containing a long awaited, new DaviSound product delivery! On such an occasion, you just have to experience, at least a little of, that good old, familiar "kid at Christmas" feeling!
For a very real example of what we mean by all of this, please read the latest addition at the very beginning of our DaviStories User Comments page submitted by our most recent client after his first DaviSound "Tool Box"©™ delivery. We are so very proud of these comments and the many like them that we continually receive from our clients!
So, whenever you happen to think of old Santa Claus laboring in his workshop at the North Pole, we hope it will always spark a fond association with another little workshop down south ... "down home" at DaviSound!
I assure you ... the "elves" are always busy!
We thank all of you for the great associations during the past year and we look forward to serving you with even more vigor and growth in 2004!
We welcome all of your inquiries, observations, suggestions and your new orders as soon as you are ready to send them to us ...
May you have the best holiday season ever!
Ho Ho Ho,
according to "Mrs. Claus", Annette!
That kind of customer enthusiasm for our products continues to be one of the main reasons that we continue to do what we do and continue to put in the unusually long hours in the fabrication process!
in other words, I am personally looking forward to all of your "Dear Santa" letters throughout the year!
Hayne Davis
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