Summer Is Right Around The Corner

As a university professor, the calendar year is broken into two 15-week semesters. My life has been ruled by the academic calendar with its wonderful 3-month summer break for as long as I can remember. It was true while I was attending universities and has remained true since I graduated for the last time and began a rather schizophrenic existence in the professional audio engineering world AND the world of academia. One half of this split gives me the summers off and the other keeps me operating 7 days a week all year. But today, I smell the imminent arrival of summer vacation. Yeah.

It’s a time of making plans, catching up on things that have gone undone for too long, travel to a couple of trade shows and in a month, a trip to Boston celebrate the graduation of the youngest member of the Waldrep clan, my son Michael, from MIT grad school. I’m very proud of him and his perseverance…he hasn’t really enjoyed the city, the school, the program and just about everything else. That’s unfortunate but he managed to finish his thesis and is currently looking for the next thing. He’s smart and something will come along.

Here’s a brief list of things that I want to get accomplished in the next three months. They are not in any particular order.

1. The world needs a “High-Resolution Audio For Dummies” book and I think I’m just the guy to write it. The publisher, John Wiley & Sons, doesn’t accept submissions from anyone but a literary agent. I wrote to one but don’t hold out much hope. If anyone’s got a connection to an agent…I could pound out a “For Dummies” book over the summer. I think the time is right.

2. I’ve also targeted my “High-End Audio: From Production to Playback” book for completion this summer. I’ve made some pretty reasonable progress but the absence of teaching will free up the additional time I need to get it done. I’m finally admitting that I spend more time typing than I do engineering…but I enjoy it.

3. Complete the iTrax.com 2.0 website and begin to populate it with more content, headphones[xi] versions, more label transfers to 192 and 96 kHz/24-bit PCM files for remastering and distribution. We’ll be small operation but I’m striving to be the best.

4. Make some changes to the studio. I’m losing one of my tenants and plan to convert the “Red” isolation booth into a bona fide ADR room. Most of the sessions around here are film mix sessions. Being able to provide a wider array of film support services seems like a reasonable thing to do.

5. Move the current fulfillment room to the front of the building and make available an open space for some young, ambitious audio types to come in and benefit from having access to the equipment and studio. There were a number of mentors that helped me learn this craft and I would like to be able to help those that are just entering the field with practical education and opportunities to work on cutting edge equipment and projects.

6. I’m also committed to finishing my puzzle. In the 1980s, I completed a degree in art from CSUN in with a specialization in 3D art. My area of expertise was woodworking. I can cut a mean dovetail joint and won a big prize for a 1-foot long wooden “Swiss Army Knife”. It was big fun. I designed a 3D puzzle that I’m trying to get ready for a KS crowd sourcing campaign. Think Rubic’s Cube…this one will be Dr. AIX’s Cube.

So as summer approaches, it’s time to get a few things in motion…and this doesn’t even include the continuing search for a new puppy and the dozens of things that need my attention at home. Before I k now it, the fall semester will be here.