DIY Recording Equipment Podcast

Paul Wolff has designed more legendary pieces of gear than most of us have used. In his years with API alone, Paul designed the 550B EQ, 512 and 3124 mic preamps, Legacy console, and 2500 compressor. He was recently honored by NAMM TEC hall of fame for inventing the Lunchbox and 500-series format, which he helped turned into a cottage industry.

I was honored to have Paul on the podcast to discuss console design and how he's seen the industry change in the last 40 years.

Just a few of the things we discussed:

The origins of the 500-series

How Steve Perry became the first customer of the Lunchbox

The uphill battle to make gear that’s authentic to the API sound

What happened in 1978 to change the sound of most audio equipment

Paul's opinion that cloners "should be burned to death”

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Some Notes on API Jargon

As much as I try to keep our podcasts fairly jargon-free, I was guilty of using a lot of API model numbers without explanation this episode. These are:

550A: Late 60's, 3-band EQ

2520: The discrete operational amplifier (DOA, or "opamp") that's at the heart of most API designs

2488: Early 70's console

512: 500-series mic preamp designed by Paul

312: 60's mic preamp

3124: A 4-channel 312 designed by Paul

2503: The output transformer in most API gear

2500: Bus compressor designed by Paul

I've often fantasized about building a huge analog synth. But besides the obstacles of cost and not having a spare room in my house for it, I've always found the DIY synth world to be a bit intimidating.

In this podcast, synth wizard Abby Echiverri walks me through the basics, such as:

Is it feasible to build your own synth?

How much should I budget?

What are the basic modules I need to build?

Abby is a composer, DJ, DIYer, and audio gear designer. I caught up with her when she was on the road as the synth/keyboard tech for Soulwax.

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We audio nerds love to talk about particular parts and circuitry—transformers, op-amps, discrete vs integrated, passive vs active, etc—but we rarely discuss the biggest part and the one we actually interface with the most: the chassis.

In this episode of our resurrected podcast, I talk to Jon Erickson about the ins and outs of chassis design and manufacturing.

Jon Erickson has been involved with some of the most delicious-looking audio gear on the market: the A-Designs Pacifica preamp, JHS Pedals' line of 500-series modules, and his flagship Tonecraft 363 DI/preamp.

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Sticker shock is a common malady in the recording world. It takes a lot of money to outfit and maintain a studio. But why?

What are the factors that drive the price of professional recording gear?

Why does gear cost so much more than the sum of its components?

Are the prices justified, or is someone getting ripped off?

In this month's podcast, Peterson and Chris discuss what goes into the cost of a piece of gear, and how you can short-circuit some of these costs by doing it yourself.

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How do filters work?

As audio engineers, we use filters every day. We're all intimately familiar with high-pass, low-pass, band-pass, shelf, etc. filters. But how do they actually work in analog gear?

The basic operating principles of analog filters are actually very simple. In this quick (10 minute) podcast, Peterson and Chris explain the very basics of high-pass and low-pass filters so that any 5-year-old could understand.

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View the circuits we discussed in the podcast on Upverter: