World O’ Radio/Recording/Audio

Sonic’s World O’ KALX

A collection of personal effluvia related to my time at KALX. Presently featuring not much other than support information and files related to the 2008 re-airing of D.J.’s Choice — The Compact Disc.

The world-famous FM broadcast reception improvement article

Generic (fresh) version. (For an old, stale, probably not updated KALX-specific version, visit the KALX home page and hunt around. The content is almost identical).

Polarity Matters

An article about the relevance of absolute polarity (especially in signal paths featuring live mics and humans monitoring themselves in real-time) in the broadcast/recording studio world. Originally appeared in the August 1995 issue of Radio Guide.

Easy Polarity Measurement

The followup article which appeared in the October 1995 issue of Radio Guide, featuring both the Cosky Phaser and the Magic Polarity Box schematics.

Azimuth by Ear

A how-to article on adjusting the azimuth of analog tape recorder heads without the use of test equipment nor standardized test tapes, which may have appeared in an issue of Radio World.

Revox A77 Tips

A few quick tips for the venerable ’60s reel-to-reel tape deck, which may have appeared in an issue of Radio World.

Full-Logic Remote Control for Technics SL1200MKII

Which appeared in the August 1994 edition of Radio Guide. A.k.a. how to get that pesky platter spin signal from a 1200 for broadcast stop/start remote applications.

Cart Caretaking

(The book that never was.) Everything you always wanted to know about fixing broadcast audio cartridge tapes. Works for 4- & 8-track cartridges as well!

Dynamax CTR100 Tech Tips

A couple of somehow never published until 2013 tips dating back to the end of the 1980s for this great series of broadcast audio cart machines.

Dynamax CTR100 Series Preliminary Technical Manual

In 2019, i inexplicably decided to digitize (scan, OCR, convert to HTML) my copy of the entire huge, thick 3-ring binder original preliminary manual for this (in my opinion ultimate) series of cart machines from 1984, with some 1985 updates and some face-palm obvious corrections by me.

What exactly is a recording Album?

Sonic’s rant on precisely what constitutes a recording album. Word to the Boomers: it’s not just a vinyl LP!

The Best CD player mechanism yet made

Namely, the Philips Swing-Arm mechanism. This page is meant to help prospective buyers determine whether or not a particular player includes the Swing-Arm mechanism.

Analog Land

A mindset where my mind mostly lived until 1995. This Analog Land is a one-page pictorial overview of the very funky (yet fully functional) Siber-Sonic analog studio.

Conductive Glue Carnage

A brief visual and textual documentary on a ticking chemical time bomb unintentionally planted in a great deal of home audio equipment made between about 1979 and the mid-1980s. Provides clues for technicians regarding whether a particular device has it and how to eliminate it before it is too late.

Unidentified Old Radios

Years ago i put this page up for a couple of folks to look at to see if they could identify the radios (they could not). Now it is here for the whole world(WW). There is no “reward” for their identification… just my gratitude! Wanna play?

Griffin iMic - Category Killer? Pile O’ Dung? Both? Neither?

Thoughts on this very popular (in some circles) analog-to-digital audio converter and a couple of its closest competitors.