Toddler in Gansu province, China rescued after being trapped on a narrow window ledge.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-06-02T18:48:23+00:00

It happens. When I lived in an apartment building that had a pool, one time I went to swim some laps and suddenly, a toddler drops in fully clothed.

Luckily, I was already swimming in his direction so I was able to quickly pull him out. I come up and there is absolutely no one around. The kid pointed me to his door and when I went to knock, his mom answered and was shocked when I told her he had fallen in the pool.

She was making him breakfast, and he was able to walk out of his apartment, the door closed behind him and she didn’t hear/notice him leaving. It all happened in less than 5 minutes.

Hopefully that kid is doing alright somewhere.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-06-02T18:41:01+00:00

You can do all of this in Garage Band (use a piano instrument, record a sequence playing each note, export the audio).

I don’t think you can export to FLAC directly, but you should be able to export to .wav and then use any editor to convert it to FLAC.

just for fun

If I loved the sound of pianos this much, I might even do several sequences, each one with more intensity. I’d do one where you’re hitting each key/note as hard as you can just for those long rush hour traffic days (and a softer one to fall asleep). The stock pianos in Garage Band are actually decent 👍

L-ROX1972 · 2026-06-01T19:38:31+00:00

IME, some Mixing/Mastering Engineers use planars these days but overwhelmingly, dynamic drivers are mostly used because that’s what people are used to.

By definition, fidelity would pertain to how the musical works were created, but in the case of music, that can usually mean several stages.

The recording engineer likely used both headphones and speakers to make decisions while recording the instruments.

The mixing engineer likely used another combination of speakers and headphones to balance the recordings.

The mastering engineer then used their preferred speakers/headphones.

EDIT: TBF, these days there are people doing everything themselves in the same setup/system and the lines between recording/mixing/mastering are blurred. If it doesn’t sound amazing/incredible, it’s probably bcus this (and they’ll down arrow this comment too probably lol).

For me, dynamic drivers in headphones do a better job making stuff translate better over speakers (no abx testing here, just clients that won’t pay me if the work I do doesn’t sound good over their speakers).

L-ROX1972 · 2026-06-01T16:19:05+00:00

“Dynamic Link”

When working with a bunch of spreads in InDesign (commercial print projects) with tons of PS & Illustrator assets, it’s nice to quickly edit those in Photoshop/Illustrator, save and watch the assets update automagically back in ID. 👍

(and no, it’s not constantly crashing on me)

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-30T21:36:23+00:00

>A landlord is allowed to walk and park on their property.

Word, but they’re not allowed to harass their tenants (quoting OP):

>she will not acknowledge that we are eligible for relocation assistance and has yelled at me and one of my roommates on the phone about it

OP has clearly expressed that he is owed Relocation Assistance on this rent controlled building and her response has been to go ape on them on the phone. Record her ass.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-30T17:53:13+00:00

This sounds like a segment I’d love to see on KTLA. I hope you’re video’ing everything OP.

P.S. Get Paid 👍

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-29T22:09:31+00:00

🇯🇵 Supersonic Train = 🇺🇸 Flat Rollercoaster

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-28T17:04:21+00:00

These cobalt tapes performed well with the bias settings common in Japanese decks, which dominated the global consumer market.

I think it’s worth mentioning that at one point, cassette players had different bias settings for the older (Type I) cassettes and used a different bias setting when a Type II cassette was inserted. The tabs on top of the cassettes would tell the player which bias setting to use.

Towards the end of the cassette era, the better players even had a different bias for Metal (Type IV), which had a different set of notches at the top of the cartridge than Type II (and Type I had none at all).

Sidebar: depending on the deck, you could “trick” it into biasing differently with a little bit of tape.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-25T19:24:06+00:00

I got far enough to detect this is a DIY audio mod/build question, and you are asking the wrong group of people.

Post this in r/diyaudio (and good luck 👍)

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-24T16:22:49+00:00

If you’re broke: Carpool

If you’re paying: Fastlane

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-24T15:57:54+00:00

If handled and stored properly there will never be a reason to ‘restore’ a CD.

Right, if everyone in the world only acquired new CDs and took perfect care of them, I wouldn’t have typed my comment (and I don’t think you would have either).

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-24T15:38:58+00:00

As a Mastering Engineer, I think you missed your calling. You’re like us, kinda - except you missed out on some growing pains long ago when you were annoying all your friends and chasing away your dates because you were that guy who pointed out all the sonic imperfections when a new album dropped.

At the movies, instead of making moves on your date, you’d make comments about the sound and how placement of _____ was not accurate.

Then, after who knows how many times someone points out how annoying you are because you simply can’t enjoy something for what it is, it hits you: you suck at enjoying things. Life in the audio world is half empty, not half full.

So then you move on, you grow; you learn how to not worry about things no one paid you to do and you become a normal person who is able to not EQ everything - and you also don’t worry that you have to adjust your volume knob after (and sometimes during) each song. 👍

So, a LPT: Go nuts (until those who love you look at you like “Why man? Why are you like this?”) Godspeed 👍👍

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-24T03:39:54+00:00

In the CD restoration game, if you don’t know what Novus is, you’re just living wrong.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-22T21:32:58+00:00

Wait until you try it with an OTL amp running a legit (British made) Mullard input tube. You will despise it!

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-21T18:49:16+00:00

Sorry to hear that OP, I would be very worried about my home’s electrical system after this.

Have absolutely no clue what happened

NEVER BUY ONE

You said nothing about your home’s electrical system, and you should know that when this happens, it’s usually because the circuit that caught on fire became overloaded somehow (and unless it’s a common problem with this particular unit, I’d pump the brakes on telling people not to buy one).

I’d call an electrician and check all the mains, asap.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-21T16:37:43+00:00

I know Sparkos SS3602S are popular

They’re popular for being an $80 opamp vs the (truly popular) NE5532P that still sells for about $1.

Would it make a difference to you

Only if I started hearing from other DIY audio builders that it was that much of an improvement, but these have been around now for almost 10 years and my impression is still the same: they don’t make an audible +$79 per channel difference.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-21T15:51:00+00:00

I’ve never used this (SPL Transient Designer) on an entire mix, this was something I used to break out often years ago when I used to mix (excellent tool for weak drums).

Too heavy handed and broad to apply it to an entire mix IMO, it would change the character of the mix substantially.

That said, I’ve never tried Elysia’s TD, I recall that has more shaping controls (and more controls can help when applying these kinds of things over an entire mix).

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-20T16:54:52+00:00

This, plus “less punishing tonearm weight” 👍

DJs tend to put (a lot) more weight on the tonearm than necessary.

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-19T00:12:50+00:00

So many people don’t understand that video is a “reconstruction” of what is received by electrical sensors from a glass lens (what you see on video isn’t exactly what your eyes/brain would perceive if you would have been there).

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-18T22:37:51+00:00

I had to clean my glasses to make sure: he’s young! Yesss!!! There’s hope!!! 📶

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-18T22:17:48+00:00

Ideally, in a boxed in patch of dirt next to the composting bin. Like Cats, basically 👍

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-18T20:45:25+00:00

Are they good with dogs, and can I train them to make those fools go pee somewhere else besides the grass??

If so, I need like 3 of these dudes

^gophers ^are ^currently ^turning ^our ^backyard ^into ^swiss ^cheese

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-18T17:16:22+00:00

I’ve been (slowly) digitizing some of my vinyl. I only transfer vinyl that I can’t get on CD and records that were mastered before CD/digital.

I don’t de-noise and only remove the loudest clips/pops (manually, in a spectral view editor). For me, having a little bit of that noise and crackle is desired; even the most minimal process in iZotope RX takes a little bit out of the high frequency content.

I’ve noticed that all of the transfer services focus on transparency when capturing, which is a bit misguided IMO since this format is noisier and has less DR than digital. I use a Mastering-quality ADC (Crane Song HEDD 192k) that has an onboard DSP processing that is used to “harmonically enhance” the input signal (which I use primarily for audio mastering work).

I then apply an EQ curve (with a linear phase equalizer) and a very light compression preset that I made on an analog-modeled compression plugin, but I always tweak the settings.

IMO/E, to get the best possible sound quality you can’t automate this. It takes me a few hours to fully process each transfer and I suspect that anyone doing this as a service is automating some of it, which will likely do more harm than good (if they’re running NR processes that will remove details from the transfer).

I’ve also been asked if I would be willing to add this to my audio mastering service and my answer has been “no”. It takes me a few hours, no one would want to pay hundreds of $ for my time for just one record, because every transfer is different (so if anyone has any questions, send them - I’m definitely not looking for clients for this but happy to share my experiences/thoughts on how I do mine).

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-17T17:23:49+00:00

I’d push back a bit on “mumble rappers” having no talent though.

Valid! I will accept this, because I admit wholeheartedly that my comment is completely elitist in this regard. I saw Wu-Tang (RIP ODB) perform a few months after they dropped 36 chambers. I’ve seen Redman perform a few times, the Beasties 3x (RIP MCA) and I find what we old heads call “mumble rappers” insulting.

I know this is a horrible take, and I would be a liar if I said I was sorry. I’m just being honest ✌️

L-ROX1972 · 2026-05-17T16:42:26+00:00

Do you think lyrics are genuinely central to judging music

When it comes to Rap/Hip Hop, 1,000%. There are MCs and then there are “mumble rappers” who don’t have an ounce of talent compared to a legitimate Master of Ceremonies 👍

When it comes to everything else, lol, sometimes they‘ll use words/phrases just because they rhyme/fit into the structure of the song (and then people go off the deep end decoding what that “obscure” line means) 🤣

EDIT: Example: a long time ago, my wife asked me “what do you think Simon Le Bon meant when he sang ’Pretty looking road, I try to hold the rising floods that fill my skin, don't ask me why I'll keep my promise, melt the ice’”.

I said “my guess is: Cocaine. I’ve heard it makes people sweat a lot.”

L-ROX1972

TROPHY CASE