Drews Sound

Wires are great, but sometimes, wireless is more convenient. I’ve been brainstorming for some time now, how, to reintroduce Stereo mics to my patio. I had a wired set for some time, and captured some incredible audio that I wouldn’t normally be able to capture without having outside mics that I can press record on and have a 30 second buffer, to give me time to capture what I’ve just heard, or am now hearing. I know having wires run from outside to in is not visually appealing, and I accept that, but when I took them down, I wanted them back.

I knew wireless was the answer, but I still had a lot of questions in my mind. FM, or, annilogue transmition is noisey, and can be picked up by other receiver equipment in the area, which I’m not fond of. How do I plug it all in, and keep it lie in weather, outside elements. Well? I believe I’ve found a solution. Bluetooth.

https://a.co/d/8lQGcZz

I’ve reviewed the Bluetooth Airfly transmitter/receiver before on Drews Sound, and it’s always been appealing to me. It’s small, and charges/keep alive via USB C. The nice thing about the pro model, is the one device will both transmit/receive audio, obviously, two different modes, using one at a time. So, if you purchase two of them, there’s your wireless stereo broadcast solution.

Plug one, in transmit mode into a microphone that has built-in monitoring. Note, that though a lot of UsB mics have monitoring, they need a data connection from computer/smart phone to have the monitoring just work. So just plugging into to USB power, doesn’t do the trick. The most lightweight, easiest solution I could think of may be a field recorder, the Zoom H1 Essential, for example. Turn it on, it drops into record standby, and there you go, using the headphones jack/volume knob to set levels.

The second Airfly, is in receive mode, and is plugged into whatever you need, in my case, line-in jack of a sound card. Pare them both together once, and the next time you turn them both off/on they reconnect seemlessly. I leave them both plugged into UsB power.

https://a.co/d/0Bl5Bmo

Ok, so the next hurtal, power, outside on the patio. Sure, I’ve got a home outlet, but, I don’t want to leave something plugged in 24-7. The battery linked to above, is not only water proof, it’s, solar charged, and yes, you may charge devices off of it as it itself charges. Both the Zoom H1, as well as the Airfly don’t use much power at all, 5 watts or so each. This battery stays very cool while charging devices, like, the coolest I’ve seen. It charges via the sun, and has enough power to last all night to then start recharging the next day. Both the Zoom, and Airfly don’t get hot either. I’ve got the Zoom H1 on a very small tripod. You know the kind if you’ve used Zoom products. I’ve got a dead cat to block wind.

So after the audio comes back inside, into the computer, I am using Stationplaylist Streamer to get it sent over the local network, via an Icecast stream, local server. AAC+ 64 KBPS. I calculated the bites for 30 seconds of audio at this bitrate, and set the buffer in the Icecast server configuration.

On the IPhone I have an app, VRadio, which pulls up the stream upon app launch. I sware it used to, before an update have the record button on the same screen upon launch, but, it’s not hard doesnt take much time to get to.

The Airfly devices don’t time out, just keep streaming. Yes, you do have a bit of G Sharp Bluetooth noise, but it’s an ok compramise for me, to have the outside mics. There was to be rain storms, so I went outside, and picked up everything in one hand and carried in, it’s so portable, battery, recorder, and airfly.

So, if your ever in the marcket needing a solution where you can’t, don’t want wires, Mull over the above! I was looking to not, have a phone or small computer always outside because of heat and pore WiFi coverage on the patio.

More great audio from the outside world coming soon! We promise!

The Pod Mic is a very economical priced Dynamic Mic. Got it for my Broadcast setup. Very clear and intelligible Listen below, run into the H1 essential XLR. No processing. Volume normalised.

Rode PodMic Cardioid Dynamic… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MSCRCVK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Have you ever lived with sub bass? Had a car with a 10, or 12 inch sub, bigger than factory? at least 4-500 wats?

It’s one thing to sit in a car with subs, and think, either, 1: man this is awesome! or, 2: this is in sanely loud, depending on the wattage, speakers, and setup. It’s another to have the opportunity to ride in a car, for some time, and sepperate out the benifits of sub bass. The, man, I didn’t realise that bass, was in that song, type of thing

I’ll just spell it out… I .. Love .. Sub bass!!!!!

I was sitting at work a few weeks ago. I have a setup that allows me to listen to music, alongside JAWS. I thought, you know what I miss? Hearing sub bass. I don’t listen to the music loud, it’s just the background, and when the volume is as low as I have it, you hear the mids and highs, but not the bass. That’s when I started thinking about my brothers old car. You could have the volume stupid low, and still feel the bass with our 1800 wat system. I mean, obviously right? 18? hundred! wats. Nuff, said. Lol. I have plenty of fun stories about those times, but I’ll digress.

If you know me you know I love radio. I run two processors, in paralel, one with the factory preset, the other, to even out the flaws of said factory preset. To make the volume more even, and add punch and sparkle. So, lets bring down the overall volume, and add sub bass.

The goal is, audio that plays 9-12 DB lower than standard audio, so that you have headroom to add a lot of sub bass. The goal isn’t to listen to this audio loud, but again, at volumes that are quite low, but allows you still to hear sub bass. It sounds like, 12’s, with smaller satalite speakers to my ear, much like a car system, in a sense. And you know what? For me it works. I hear songs today, and I’m like, dang, I’ve never heard that before in the sub bass range of 0-100 HZ. It’s pretty cool.

The below audio, again, isn’t meant to be played loud. It’s not meant for out of ear speakers of any kind, IPhone, 2.1 etc. This preset was created for in-ear earbuds. Spisifically, JBL Wired Tune buds. Listen as you turn up the volume to how your earbuds react. If they are clipping out in the low end your pushing them past the excursion. You will hear soft clipping in the highs, that’s how I want my processing to sound.

Hit play on the audio below: and be immersed into a completely new world, of MegaBass!

Some cool audio from Maui Hawaii below. Screen Reader users may drive through this post using headings

Playing guitar on the beach, (Binaural)

Always wanted to play acoustic guitar on the beach. The interesting thing was, that I could barely hear my guitar in realtime, but you can hear it clearly in the recording. Best listened to with Earbuds/Headphones:

Tsunami Sirens, from two different prospectives:

Both Binaural: The first from 400 plus feet above sea level, about 2 miles in. before the Tsunami was expected to hit. Also cell phone emergency alerts. Pretty eary sounding.

Tsunami Siren captured on the beach very close prospective:

This capture, was two days after the Tsunami warning. No one expected it. It was definitely an Oh Shit! moment.

Tourist events we attended while in Hawaii:

Luau music/dancing clips (Binaural)

A Luau, is a festive party for family and friends in the Hawaiian colture. They also have Luau’s that you can attend as tourists. That’s what we did. Here is some of the amazing music from Gilligan’s Island.

Maui Gold Pineapple farm tour clips

Most of the tour. It was very windy out excuse the noise.

We had so much fun on this trip! Look forward to going back to Hawaii in the future! 🙂

Set my Zoom H1 essential on the paddio for a while! Their are, roosters, my favorite, but also, some other cool birds and sounds. You’ll have to crank up the volume a bit.

Tsunami Siren clip below:

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

 It was a week ago and I was sitting at work, thinking

about my trip ahead.. We were going to Hawaii, I had never been before, but I was excited. Something crossed my mind, what if, something crazy hit?

It wouldn’t  surprise me at all, crazyness seems to follow me where ever I rome. I shoved the thought out of my mind and started hitting numbers again. When we were on the plane from Sanfran to Hawaii, the thought recrossed my mind. A bit more insistant this time. As these thoughts always come, I don’t really know what to make of them. Is it priminition? Because it happens so often, I don’t think so, but, now, you  can’t be so sure. Yesterday I was taking a knap and it was between 2, and 2 30. My phone squawked with an emergency alert. So did the other 3 phones, scattered across the house. I wasn’t quite sleeping, but I was close enough, my mind jirked, I grabbed my phone to hit the volume down

button to silence the screach. I read the alert. It mentioned a tsunami. A what?  I have never lived on the water, so, I didn’t really know how serious the event was , but I got up anyway. I said something to my wife Robin,

and she confirmed that she had received the same alert. We walked out on the patio, no wind, no rain, but the wave, wasn’t expected to hit until just after 7, so, we’re ok? Just then a tsunami siren sounded. I am used to tornado sirens, which mean, get to shelter, but, where do we go? My dad and his wife have been to Hawaii several times a year, so, naturally I went back in and asked him, dad, have you ever experienced this before? He said no. Dad went and opened the patio door again, and said, Drew, come over here and listen to this? apparently it was an announcement blasting over a loud speaker. I was to late, and didn’t catch it. We are staying at a condo, world Mark by Windom, so, I said, dad how about you call down to the office and see what they have to say? He did and the clerk told him, well, uh, you guys might want to leave, but they didn’t sound to forceful, but they did say, that the island was being evacuated, and, to get to higher ground. Alarm bells went off in my head, just as a second siren rang out. Evacuate? Thank God they rented a car. Thank God we are

all together, what would Robin and I do if we were by ourselves? I went into

the bedroom and started packing a few things into my suitcase, just the day before, I had emptied it all into the dressor. My heart started pounding and I really didn’t know what to think. I threw some underware in, a few shirts, grabbed my backpack, I had my Mac, grabbed my power bank, usb c cables. My guitar? no, I don’t want to have to cary that. It was the first time in my life that I

was ever in a situation that my stuff could just, disapeer. I had purchased a

ucalalee, do I want to take it? No I don’t want to cary it. If I have to walk,

I want to take, only what I can cary. Ok, suitcase and backpack. I was ready. Every one was packing. We need to leave, the alarm bells still sounding, let me take a piss. Drew pack this towell… Pack this blanket… I have to zippers on my suitcase, I couldn’t get it open, just kept going to the expander. I started freaking out. I felt like I was a kid when I  was lost, every thing started closing in around me. Com down Drew. Just com down. I didn’t take the towell or the

blanket. We all walked out side. Turn right, turn left, then at the elevator. We were

at the car. Dad packed every thing in the back and sat their in the parking

lot. The parking lot  itself was grid locked too. Apparently, someone was sitting their, and not driving. Why? the question was asked… Why aren’t they moving? Finally

dad pulled around the sitting duck, up a few feet, and we stopped. We just sat their,

which way to go? To the left, was paralel to the ocean, so, not getting away from it. To the right? may be higher ground. The interesting thing was , their was no announcements, no

police guiding traffic. We Googled, we siri’d, we tuned in local radio, and a

website was given for emergency info. I went their, and didn’t find anything

of promise. Ok, get to higher ground, the people in the office said to go to a

school up the hill, we sat their, no one was moving. Finally, as we creaped along, we saw the school, no one was their, it was closed, only to find out the next day, the parking lot was the evacuation point. We finally found a turn, that got us

to a road that drove a bit quicker. We had also heard that their was a new

housing development up the way. Dad had asked what the elevation was? I asked Siri, and found out how many feet above see level we were, 200 something feet. We continued, up hills, 300 feet. We finally got to the housing development and pulled off onto some gravel, 400 plus feet above sea level. Their was a large brick wall to the right of the car, the view spanned over the ocean, we could see when the big wave hit, at least that was the hope, right?. It, by that point was about 5 o’clock. We had 2 hours. At least we were above the ocean. My brother has been in the special forces, he got on the line and started researching. How far are you inland? He found out, about a mile and a half. The wave was expected, to come 4 miles in, but, because we were so far up we hoped to be safe. All of this was taking place

because an earthquake, in Russia. In the 1940’s, the last major Tsunami had hit hawaii, the earthquake then? was a 9 point 0 megnitude. The earthquake that hat hit Russia, was an 8 point 8, we expected that our condo would be wiped out, it was just a block from the ocean. Now, it was just a waiting game, sirens going off every hour, a lot softer than they were right by the ocean. It was a tence,long wait, a wierd expectation, what, was going to happen? Dad got his GWeb radio, station out, the music commed my nurves. Locals came to the new build site to watch, their was 20 or so crouding around, that made me a bit nervous. At least we had a porti potty, as it was a construction site. I didn’t bring any beer, which I should have, just some water, no food either. Finally, 7 10. 7 15. Nothing. My brother was watching a live feed of the ocean from

his home in Saint Lewis. stillNothing. It was a Youtube feed, at first their was 1000 viewers, then 5 thousand. then more. The camera was purched on a hotel roof top, you could see the now empty pool, and beyond a view of the ocean. Nothing Time passed, no wave. It got dark, we got back in the car. We waited, called emergency lines, the NOA weather line. No updates. cars began to leave, we were the only one left at the new build. It was 8. Should we go back? To me,

it was a gamble. We hadn’t received the all clear. My brother called, still nothing on the cam, it looks good, he said, you could wait an hour if you wanted, but you may be safe to go now. You can wait until 9, it’s your call.. At about 8 45 we pulled out, dad pulling up the GPS directions to the resort. We got home about 9, got all the suit cases out, went in. made a quick dinner, had a beer. Was it over? would I wake up to screaming alerts and sirens? Would I sleep? I had to.  I went to bed. Every thing was com. The next day, Wednesday, at around 9, in the morning, we received another emergency alert. Every thing was clear. Just watch out, the alert stated. Well, that’s something I will never forget. For sure!  one of the craziest time’s in my life yet.

I’m in Vaca mode this week! What up! from Kihei Hawaii

A few minutes by the Ocean

July 22 is a sad day in music history. We say a few words about Ozzy Osbourne, and a lot more!

Sorry this took me a few weeks to get out to you guys! This Fender Mustang Micro Plus:

Fender Mustang Micro Plus… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D76XGR7V?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

is quite amazing, when pared with the:

Fender Tone app!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fender-tone/id1174113426

I’m still pretty new to this little amp, so please excuse this less than perfect presentation. What I hope it does, is show you the possibilities of tayloring tones as a blind guitar player

Listen below.