Comments on: RSR116 – How To Build Your Mic Locker With Matt McGlynn of Roswell Pro Audio

By: David Mortara

David Mortara — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 16:47:14 +0000

In reply to Walt. Good tip that, using a USB microscope for surface-mount work. Do you feel a disconnect between hands and eye, having to watch via a computer screen?

By: David Mortara

David Mortara — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 16:43:50 +0000

An informative interview with Matt and fantastic to have some well-designed notes to go with that. Thank you.

For sure, taking Matt’s comment about having great gear and recording capability — if a musician’s performance is mediocre, then all one ends up with is a great recording of mediocrity. In other words, many a great performance was recorded with far less capable equipment than is available today. So, invest in equipment including microphones, yes, but invest more in great performance.

That is why the build-it-yourself option is so attractive to would be professionals who don’t have the budget to afford to own the most expensive large diaphragm condenser microphones (although rental is always a cost-effective option). Building, testing and auditioning microphones is also going to teach someone quite a lot about audio, and what constitutes quality.

The situation changes, though, with live sound. I have witnessed many a great performance ruined for an audience by badly operated, and poor and badly maintained sound reinforcement equipment, including microphones. In that case, go for the very best quality and sound engineer you can afford.

By: Lij

Lij — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 04:00:40 +0000

In reply to Walt.

Thanks Walt! Great advice 🙂
Cheers,
Lij

By: Walt

Walt — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 02:47:16 +0000

Thanks for doing this guys – a lot of great information!
I don’t have much sympathy for those customers you had mentioned that complain that parts are too small. I occasionally solder 0402 resistors (1.0mmx0.5mm) at work and it is feasible to manually get good clean solder joints on parts that small – and these resistors are too small for the manufacturer to put any marking on them (generally 0603 is the smallest resistor that has a marking on it).
The price on USB microscopes has really come down (a friend of mine got his for about $30) and if you want to have significant magnification for soldering, you can connect one of these to your computer, mount it over your work and watch on your screen as you solder.