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I watched a video a while back where the guys that made the Roswellite ribbon mics (before selling the designs to Shure) had one of their ribbon motors on a table hooked up to a DC power source. (Again, not something that really happens in the real world unless the mic is wired incorrectly) When...

Ribbons and moving coil mics are different types of dynamic. There is a slight chance of damaging a ribbon if the ribbon motor sees phantom power, which is unlikely but possible I guess. Note that active ribbon mics need phantom. Passive types generally use a transformer between the output and...

For some guitar sounds the amp is an integral part of the sound of the instrument. If you're chugging you might be able to do that with an amp sim if you're monitoring the sound. Off a clean DI? No feel. If you have something like a Fender tweed or Marshall that's on the edge of breakup where...

Here's a video that I found with measurements for correct nut height as well as some other interesting stuff.

Unless it's obviously damaged in some way you might consider replacing the nut if it's not made from bone or Tusq for tone reasons. There is a way to check the relief of the nut with feeler gages. Stew Mac and others have some good videos on youtube. If it's too tall it will be difficult to fret...

The only flats I've played are the Thomastiks. They're expensive but they last for years. They actually have decent midrange. I wouldn't call them bright but they're definitely not boomy and tubby the way some flats can sound. They're also very low tension and will crap out if you dig in too...

No, the half rounds have a substantial flat portion. Didn't chew the board at all. I believe they were designed with fretless in mind.

Really? The JTM 45 was the first one, followed by in no specific order the JMP series of lead, bass and PA heads, plus the Marshall Major. People started modding their plexis to do various things differently so Marshall introduced the JMP 2203 and 2204 heads which were basically the plexi with...

Things I might try, in general: Avoid stainless rounds. Pure Nickel would probably be the softest option. Oil the fretboard if it's not laquered. Laquer the fretboard. I haven't used roundwounds on my fretless. The Thomastic flats on there now sound great. Better than the D'Addario half...

I'm certainly not an expert but I believe the "considered opinion" could change depending on who you're talking to. The JTM 45 began life as a Fender Bassman clone. I think a significant difference between Fender vs. Marshall sound in general has to do with negative feedback and midrange. I...

It surprised me a bit to listen to isolated bass tracks of Beatles music to find that often there's mild but quite noticeable overdrive happening. It's not that obvious in the full mix, but the bass sits well and plays nice with everything else. It's one of the things I like about the GK RB...

As far as I understand, it's basically thermal noise or Johnson noise. It can be controlled somewhat through impedance matching of the ribbon motor to the transformer. The input impedance of the preamp plays a role as well, such that having buckets of gain and a very high input impedance should...

The -10 dBV is line operating level. Sound reinforcement or "pro audio" gear usually runs at the other line level spec of +4 dBu. It's a greater amount of voltage. RCA connectors typically run at the consumer line level spec of -10 dBV. It's an average value. Basically if your powered speakers...

What are you connecting? My example of a signal drop was when using a microphone with balanced output to a 1/4 unbalanced cable. If you're talking about the preamp to the 8 track I'm not sure it would matter with that short a cable run. What is the 8 track? Do both devices provide for unbalanced...

I agree. My point being that digital is more forgiving if you come in on the low side and doesn't buy you anything if you aim for maximum levels before clipping. It's an intuitive ideal on the surface unless we realize that what we really want is a capture that is flattering to the source or...

Or was it? It's a terribly interesting question I would entertain, possibly. Surely if they worked with tape they created evidence. If the engineers were so old that they never got to work with digital, what option to tape sound would they have as a basis for comparison? Wax cylinder? In any...

Not really. Headroom matters. It's good practice to set your levels without any risk of clipping but it does not have to be as high as possible. Audio signals are designed to operate at line level. Digital converters aren't made to a specific standard, but it's generally accepted that line level...

If an electrical audio signal has to travel through a long cable run - for example you plug your microphone into a snake or something and it goes around 100 feet out to the console - the cable can act as an antenna to capture stray noise from various sources. An unbalanced line will have the...

You're entitled to your opinion. I'm okay with that. My point is that not having a DAW that recognizes low latency ASIO drivers that bypass Windows sound controls plus having to use destructive effects rather than process on the fly like just about everything else can be a bit of a PITA. I...