[BC] Radio stations that buy new equipment...

[Tom]

I'm using a new, bought for the purpose 120 GB Seagate HD on a 
fairly-new ASUS MB (bought used, but for this purpose) - thing is, 
I'm having issues with the on-board video "card", (and the on-board 
audio, but I'm using a pro soundcard, so the on-board is less 
important) and, since it's a micro-ATX, it's somewhat limited in 
memory capacity (2 slots) and also only has two PCI slots!  I've got 
it in a rack-mount server case (lots of fans!) running Station 
Playlist Pro suite (Creator and Studio).  Two boards available; one a 
BE 4S50 (which has an issue with one of the ribbon cables - needs a 
new male header, and my tool for putting new headers on ribbon cable 
is dead...), and the AudioArts A-50 I've been refurbishing... if I 
can ever find a couple of IN-50 modules, I'll have THAT one 
DONE!  You'd be amazed at the looks I get... If I can get my Webcam 
around the corner, I'll take some pictures - Two Gates CB1200 
turntables, two Otari MX5050 B decks, two Tapecaster 700RP cart 
machines (one with sec-tone), two BE 3000 series cart decks, one 
mono, one stereo (mono needs work; I may part it out...) and a BE 
5300 series triple deck machine.  (Available, if I can find room... 
THREE Scully 270 reel decks!); Tascam 122Mk II cassette; Orban 622 
parametric eq... miscellaneous patch and routing, outboard aux. 
mixers (including Shure M-67s), 25 Hz sensors, high-pass filters, 
monitoring... and an LPB RS25B AM transmitter.  FM around the corner, 
couple of different options there... (all mono - looking for an 
AFFORDABLE as in VERY LOW BUDGET used OPTIMOD 8000 or 8100).  Testing 
various streaming programs, and looking for inexpensive web hosting as well...

Tom S.

SteveOrdinetz wrote:
>At 09:36 AM 10/27/2007, Mike McCarthy wrote:
>
>>The bottom line CAN be helped by prescriptively selecting suitable 
>>equipment which would permit streamlining operations, thus allowing 
>>your attention to be allocated to better uses than babysitting a 
>>manual console.
>>
>>Since there are only the 2.5 of you (plus the dog), I'm sure some 
>>of your time can be spent on production, sales support or related 
>>business/office functions.  Investing in a more advanced switching 
>>system driven by the automation system would allow complete 
>>automation during those non-live times and for you to attend to 
>>more pressing matters...like production.
>>
>>So buying the fancy stuff doesn't necessarily mean better sound. 
>>But it does buy more time for you to spend doing more important functions.
>
>
>There's also the issue of reliability.  How long is that el-cheapo 
>Emachine computer gonna last before the hard drive crashes?  Ditto 
>for the Behringer mixer...how long before the faders get funky and 
>intermittent.  Or get feedback because you forgot to turn down the 
>monitors when you faded up the mic.  Or the consumer CD player where 
>the drawer jams after 6 mo?
>
>Don't get me wrong, I've had to make do with consumer stuff before 
>too, but if you wanna be a pro, use professional tools.  No one is 
>saying you have to buy a top-of-the-line digital console with all 
>the bells and whistles, but you said yourself that visitors were a 
>bit taken aback to see a studio that looked low budget.  Better to 
>go with the well-maintained 15-20 yr old board that's made for the 
>job rather than some toy mixer.
>
>_______________________________________________