As I stood up on the bench and pulled the rusty chain of the ceiling fan above the sweltering café patio, I told my friend, who was complaining of the still-air heat, “I am an engineer. I fuck with my environment to make it better.” After a few tugs, the dead fan sprung to life …
Tag Archives: engineering
Wiggle and Fall
One of my worst fears became realized this morning when I discovered, at some point in the past few days, that the lower half of my 40m vertical dipole antenna had worked itself loose and fell straight down into my downstairs neighbor’s fenced yard. It stuck like a dart and bent to lay in the …
Empire, Still Empirical
29 years later, Queensrÿche’s “Empire” (1990) still impresses me with its deft audio engineering. It’s a cornerstone in the wall of sound. James Barton (engineer) and Bob Ludwig (mastering) did a bang-up job on the album’s sound with the band’s source material. It’s still fuckin’ loud with minimal compressor pumping, and the soundstage is still …