Podcast & Videos | SW Hammond

Videos

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 04 November 2021

Is your soundbar broken? Does it ompletely fail to turn on? This seems to be a common problem with the Vizio S4251w-B4.

This problem has actually happened to me twice on the same soundbar — I’ve done this project two separate times now. Because this soundbar continues to break, there’s a good chance that there’s a more significant issue going on with the power supply as I keep frying the same capacitor. This, to me, suggests that it’s not a cheap or weak capacitor problem but that more juice is getting sent to the capacitor than is supposed to. However, I’m not fixing that. I’m simply replacing the broken capacitor. if you’re looking of a cheap and easy fix just to get by, this has worked for me.

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 20 July 2020

Mexican Hat and Valley of the Gods Camping - Utah 4x4 ● SWH Adventures

Exploring Southern Utah, north of Monument Valley. Footage around Mexican Hat, Valley of the Gods, and Johns Canyon Road. Filmed January, 2019.

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 08 July 2020

Video on how to build your own skyline sound diffuser

As long as you have time and patience, this is a pretty easy and affordable DIY acoustic treatment project for your recording studio.

Skyline diffusers improve recording and listening environments by diffusing, or scattering, specific frequencies of sound waves when reflecting off of surfaces. Instead of sound hitting a flat wall and reflecting directly back at you, a diffuser disperses the reflection of the sound wave and interrupts it from being directly reflected back at you. This still allows for brightness within your studio while limiting problematic reverb.

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 31 January 2020

Spoken word and noise floor tests comparing the EV RE27 with and without a Cloudlifter. Is lowering pre-amp gain worth the price?

Word on the street is that you don't need a Cloudlifter Mic Activator while using an Electro-Voice RE27N/D microphone. However, to get the desired input levels, I had to run the Mackie Big Knob Studio+ pre-amp at about 90-95% gain. This seemed like a lot and I was afraid I was introducing quite a bit of pre-amp noise into my recordings.

In steps the Cloudlifter. Offering a 20-25 dB increase of ultra-clean gain for dynamic and ribbon microphones, I can now lower my pre-amp gain to 50-55%. But what does that actually sound like with the EV RE27?

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 27 January 2020

GLS Audio, Monster, and Blue XLR cable noise measured against Audioblast HQ-4 Star Quad XLR cable. Five mic cables go head to head to see which carries the least noise.

A review of the Audioblast HQ-4 Star Quad XLR microphone cable. This test proves it–quality Quad XLR cables make a significant difference in noise reduction over standard XLR cables. Perfect for voice overs, spoken word, audiobooks, and precision recordings, the Audioblast HQ-4 XLR cable offers superior noise rejection and the lowest noise floor.

Details: Written by SW Hammond; Published: 07 January 2020

Vizio M65D0 LED Driver Board Replacement

Backlight Out On Your TV? Try This Before You Replace The LED's!

If an entire quadrant of the LED backlight on your TV has gone out, it's possible that you have a driver board failure and not burned out LED's. Look for a uniform outage, not sporadic dimming or a single dim line (suggesting LED individual lights or entire LED strip failure). If your outage looks similar to mine, taking up 1/4 of your screen, try replacing your LED driver board.