At 10 minutes to 1 pm on Tuesday 22nd Feb, Christchurch was hit by a massive 6.3 magnitude aftershock. Everybody is still reeling from the horror of it  - much more destruction than the original 7.1 'quake of Sept 4th. It looks like the death toll will be over 200 people. Here is the alley I walked through 5 mins before it struck:

Due to a budget screw-up these didn't get purchased last year, but now it can happen. What's required is a good quality mid-field monitor. The Genelec 1032a would be ideal, but the budget is $3000 so I have been looking at what else there is. Here is the shortlist: Adam A8X, Mackie HR824 MkII, Tannoy Precision 8 (passive), JBL LSR4328P, Dynaudio BM15P(passive), and Quested S8R. Ideas, anyone?

more information here.

taken from an engineers home in Auckland today. Click here for details.

I was about to upgrade from version 8 to version 9, when the dealer got back to me to say there is no 'crossgrade' available because I have an original M-box. So it turns out that with LE you have to buy the software at the full price of $995. Yes that's right folks - nearly a grand to upgrade LE, for a version that includes not one additional plugin over version 8. Well done, Digidesign  -once again you have ripped off you customers. 

Every stopped to think about how man-centric the audio engineering business is? Here is a website to encourage more women to be active in audio.
"Women's Audio Mission is a San Francisco based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts. In a field where women are chronically under-represented (less than 5%),WAM seeks to "change the face of sound" by providing hands-on training, experience, career counseling and job placement to women and girls in media technology for music, radio, film, television and the internet. WAM believes that women's mastery of music technology and inclusion in the production process will expand the vision and voice of media and popular culture."

http://www.womensaudiomission.org/

A summers night, a free outdoor concert, 100,000 people... and the finale was magic: Bohemian Rhapsody performed by the CSO, the NZ Army Band, twelve male singers, a choir, a song and dance troupe, and with synchronised fireworks.