“Gossip creates more shit than it purges. “

Summer Pierre

I have long wished to build my own quadratic residue diffuser for my humble studio. Today was the first day of the process! I’ll be posting more details as things progress.

A big concern of mine is bang for the buck. More than anything, I wanted to find a design that was put through a battery of scientific tests before I shelled out my money on it. I’m very suspicious of anyone writing a review on just about any acoustic product website that says: “it sounds awesome, buy it.” I needed more assurance than that! I wanted a diffuser that the company took the time and tested in an anechoic chamber with well-calibrated equipment and a scientific process. After tons of research on companies that offer acoustic diffusion products, I settled on Acoustic Fields’ QD23:

Acoustic Fields can send you a QD23, but if you have a DIY spirit, you can also purchase the build plans on their website and build it yourself. I previously bought some other products from Acoustic Fields, and I can’t say enough positive things about them.

After purchasing the build plans for the diffuser and paying my friend from AMBO Guitars (a superior woodworker) to help me with the build, today was the first day we jumped in. We purchased the wood from Austin Fine Lumber and Plywood in North Austin. Our goal today was to cut the pieces we’d need to assemble. Here’s the progression:

Starting the cuts with one huge 4’x8’ piece. This one was the scariest because we had to cut the backs out of just one huge piece. 

We started to get some rain, so we covered up the wood and took a coffee break. There was lots of swearing. 

With our big cuts done, we ripped the pieces in half for the backs and sides. Unfortunately, we needed one extra sheet. Oh darn. I have to go back to Austin Fine Lumber…

Quadratic residue diffusers have different well depths. We needed to cut the alder into thinner pieces. When we assemble the final piece, each of these will be placed at specific depths within the diffuser.

A little saw action…

Each of the wells is separated by one of these panels. We had a ton of these to cut. Our first job was to do a rough cut before we jumped into the precision cuts. It’ll make the wood more manageable to cut into pieces where we had the exact size we needed.

Clamping all of these boards together made it possible to do just one single rough cut.

The rough cut happens!

We have our cuts for the well dividers! Yeah!

Aside from the tops and bottoms of the QRD, we have just about everything else we need. 

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Coming Up Next…

My job this week is to get some more wood from Austin Fine Lumber and Plywood, purchase wood screws, and purchase the stain I would like to use.

More to come… stay tuned.

Just so you know, there will be cackling.

Apparently, I cackle when I’m composing. This is recent news to me.

“Just because I have boundaries doesn’t fucking mean I hate your guts.”

 (said to a dog)

All manner of barbarism is forgotten in the pursuit of caffeine.

A small night storm blows

Saying 'falling is the essence of a flower'

Preceding those who hesitate

— Yukio Mishima

Wikipedia

Jenson: Wikipedia

The trend is no longer a trend: Vinyl is back and it’s not going anywhere. And, the entire record store business breathes a collective sigh of relief! 

Apart from the obvious benefits, ie better sound and larger artwork to name two, there is one perspective that I’d like to add: Engagement. Owning a record player forces us to be one with our music collection, handling records, caring for them, and flipping them when we’re done with a side. 

When we engage with anything, we care for it more. I enjoy the music of the records I have, therefore I happily give them my involvement. I expect I’ll get a little closer to the soul of each record with each listen because of that. 

Ideas can be subversive, especially when I’m trying to fall asleep. 

Here’s a quote from Alan Fletcher’s book “The Art of Looking Sideways”: 

 Ivan Chermayeff does much of his thinking in taxies, Lon Dorfsman on planes, Steve Guarnaccia on the subway. Designers also talk of getting ideas when they are on the sleep borderland...”

Challenge: Can you successfully not pick up your smart phone in a taxi, on a plane, on the subway, or in that sweet transition from sleep to wakefulness? Can you do this in the service of idea generation?