Ron Keyser's Home Page
Welcome to my home page. Below you
will find links to some of my favorite sites.
Click here for my resume.
Click here for my DAT list.
& here for my CD-R list.
Who? What? When? Where? How? & Why?
I work at Interface Media Group, a video post production house in Washington, D.C., where I am currently a Video Tape Operator in the Duplication Department as well as an Assistant Broadcast Engineer where multi-tasking is the key word. My multi-tasking capabilities have included work in the audio department as well as our studio. In the Duplication Department we specialize in "Broadcast" Duplication including digital distribution of spots (commercials) via D.G. Sytems, Standard Conversions, Sigma Encoding, Subtitling and Close Captioned Encoding. We provide services for The DiscoveryChannel, The Learning Channel, ESPN, HGTV, PBS , A LaCarte Communications and many more broadcast companies. Some shows we’ve worked on have been Trail Side, Scholastic Sports America, Decorating Cents, Gardening By The Yard as well as Julia & Jacques Cooking at Home. Working in the studio I have been known to run a live remote camera for shows such as Prime Time Justice and Cochran& Company that air for CourtTV. At Interface we have also run remote shoots for HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher Show.
A project I am proud
to have been involved in was a recording for the television show West Wing. The
assignment was to record a 12 person choir (Choral
Arts Society of Washington) for the West Wing's Christmas episode. This show
was titled Noel
(Episode 32) The recording had to be true stereo and would be played back
during the actual shooting of the episode allowing the choir to lip sync. Then
with the magic of editing, it would then be inserted as the actual audio of the
show. This episode aired on Dec. 20th, 2000.
With my AMS ST250 we had the choir set up in Studio A. Standing in a semi-circle the choir
sang into the ST250. Set on Blumlein
pattern (Crossed pair figure eitghts) the imaging was perfect with beautiful
detail.
Another project I am
proud of ... I was given the task of master recording David
Maraniss reading for the Simon &
Schuster publication of the David Maraniss Audio Book about Vince Lombardi
titled "When Pride Still Mattered" which is the abridged version of
David's book with the same title.
I recorded this Audio Book on Tape using an AKG 414. I went straight to DAT with
out any EQ of any kind. 
David
Halberstam Praised David Maraniss by writting: David Maraniss, one of America's most distinguished
writers, has followed up his brilliant biography of Bill Clinton with a
remarkable portrait of Vince Lombardi, a man as different from Clinton as it is
possible to be. This is not just a book about sports or about a football coach.
When Pride Still Mattered is an exceptionally well-written, thoughtful, and
fair-minded portrait of one of the most important -- and compelling -- figures
in modern American popular culture, and of the profound changes taking place in
our society.
Besides working for
Interface Media Group, I spend a lot of time recording live music. I have been
doing this since about 1986 and have CDs out which I have recorded the live
soundtracks for as well as digital downloads that are for sale by the artists.
The first CD released with my recordings was Merl Saunders and The Rainforest Band,
"Save The Planet So We'll Have Someplace To Boogie". Recorded
in 1991 on the Sumertone Record label.
Out of the 16 tracks on the CD, I recorded 6 using my AKG 451 microphones with the CK1 capsules
into my Sony D10 Pro DAT recorder. NOTE: Steve
Kimock appears on this recording.
Another CD I recorded is Mr. Downchild At Western Maryland Blues Festival. The recording took place on June 2nd, 1996 at the City Park in Hagerstown, Maryland on the band shell stage. This recording was done with my AMS ST-250 SoundField microphone, using the Blumlein technique (crossed pair of figure eights at 90 degrees) into my modified Sony D10 Pro II DAT recorder.
Mr. Downchild was selling the CD
"He's Nothin' But The Blues" for $10.00 plus $2.00 for S/H (price may
vary). Order your CD by sending your money to MR. DOWNCHILD P.O. BOX 21334
SOUTH EUCLID, OHIO 44121. Remember to ask for his Live CD from the Western
Maryland Blues Festival.
Please Note: Prices and availability may have changed.
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS FOR SALE:
With out a doubt my favorite guitar player to record
is Steve Kimock. He is easily as enlightened as such great musicians as
Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and John Medeski. Steve plays
his guitar with his soul,
bringing incredible feelings to
his happy listeners making it impossible not to move that big toe. First you start tapping, then before
you know it, you are dancing. If
this is something you have never witnessed I would have to tell you to get to a
Kimock show ASAP. As a recording
enthusiast I am very lucky to say I’ve been recording Steve since 1988. (At the
time in a great band called ZERO) Not the first time I saw Steve, just the
first time I walked away with a master tape. After realizing I was unable to
listen to anything else, it became apparent that I had to record all the Kimock
I could get my hands on. Since
then I have been to countless shows all over the country. Please visit Digitalsoundboard.net for a list of
recordings available for downloading or mail order, along with directions on
how to do so. Here you will find beautiful multi-track recording by Steve’s
archivist Charlie Miller. As a
good friend of Charlie’s as well as the Kimock clan, I am lucky to find myself
assisting Charlie with these recordings at times. It’s because of this relationship with the band and Charlie
that I have had some of my recordings posted on Digitalsoundboard.net as well.
In March of 2004 I was helping Charlie with the multi-track recording of
The Steve Kimock Band in Baltimore, MD at The Funk Box. It turned out
that Charlie’s brand new multi-track recorders where giving him trouble making
it impossible for him to access the hard drives afterwards. This was a huge let down to Steve,
Charlie and all the Kimock fans, however, we ran a backup of the AMS
ST250. It was placed dead center
on the stage with Blumlein pattern.
You can find this show, The Steve
Kimock Band 3-05-04 currently for sale at Digitalsoundboard.net. Then in Aug. of 2004 The Steve Kimock
Band was scheduled to play The Woodstock reunion show at Yasgur’s Farm. Charlie Miller would unfortunately not
be unable to make it to this show so I was asked if I could step in and archive
the Kimock set. I took my entire family to the rain soaked fields where history
was made in 1969. My son Rowan
even helped out setting levels on one of the DAT decks... Sitting on the side of the stage he
starred in disbelief at Steve and Rodney Holmes.
Digitalsoundboard.net and The Steve Kimock Band is currently selling
this show as well. Look for The Steve Kimock Band from 8-21-04 Bethel, NY on Digitalsoundboard.net.
Again I used my AMS ST250 and ran it Blumlein, center stage. Using my modified Sony D10 Pro II with
a LunatecV2 as a mic pre-amp.
In July of 2005 I was asked to record Steve playing
solo acoustic at a music festival in West Virgina called the All Good
Festival. Being not
all that far from home I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see my favorite
guitar player not to mention recording him. Using my Sound
Devices 744T and my pair of DPA (B&K)
4021’s turned out to be the right choice. I placed the pair of 4021’s about 6
inches from Steve’s stereo rig ORTF (Two first order cardioid microphones spaced 17 cm and
angled 110° creating the stereo image)
and ran that into channels 1 & 2 line in of the Sound Devices 744T and then
took a FOH return feed for channels 3 & 4. After transferring the data files to DVD and sending them to
Charlie Miller, he then mixed them down and they went up for sale at Digitalsoundboard.net with 16 bit and 24 bit versions.
August 2005 once again I
was called on. Charlie Miller was
unable to make the Steve Kimock Band show in Nova Scotia Canada. I happily and some said insanely drove
about 20 hours to make it to the music festival know as EVOLVE. Here I helped Brian Abramson set up the
stage and then recorded the show.
The recording was made on my Sound Devices 744T using my DPA (B&K)
4021’s ORTF on stage to channels 1 and 2 and FOH return feed from Brian to
channels 3 & 4. My SoundField
ST250 was run on stage as well to my modified Sony D10 Pro II as a back
up. These recordings were sent to
Charlie Miller for archiving and after mixing down the 4021/SBD feed was placed
on Digitalsoundboard.net for purchase and can be found here.> (Steve
Kimock Band: Evolve Festival - Nova Scotia, Canada - 08-26-05
In January of 2006 I was fortunate enough to be one of a few people hired by Caution-Recording who was contracted to record Jam
Cruise 4. Jam Cruise
consisted of
about 5 stages that alternated and or simultaneously had acts performing
for up to 17 hours a day for 6 days.
I had the assignment of recording and archiving all of the “Broadway
Theatre” acts on the MSC –
Lirica after assisting in the
setting up of the recording stations.
What a pleasant surprise to find such a beautiful Theatre on a cruise
ship. Here I recorded,
coincidently, The Steve Kimock Band, as well as Keller Williams, Bela Fleck and The
Flecktones, Antibalas AfroBeat Orchestra, Honkytonk
Homeslice, The
Lee Boys and Michael Franti and Spearhead. When this
stage was vacant I assisted at the other stages as needed. Many of these recordings were available
for purchase on the ship (DIRECT2CD)
and some will be available for download.
Other recordings are making their way to Sirius Radio for a broadcast
highlighting Jam Cruise 4. The recordings made for sale direct to disc were a
matrix mix of a stereo pair on stage blended with a stereo FOH (front of house)
return SBD feed. Many of the bands,
but not all were also muti-tracked using Alesis adat
HD24’s for Jam Cruises archives.
NOTE: The Steve Kimock Band recording are available here on Digitalsoundboard.net and were mixed by Charlie Miller.
To read about my other accomplishments click on my resume above.
Tapers Environmental Warning:
Something to remember... We are only temporary custodians
of this magnificent Planet. Lets not damage Earth permanently or otherwise. If
you record music remember batteries harm the environment, so check out this web
page and tell James Young that Ron Keyser sent you. http://www.eco-charge.com/
Hobbies
Recording/Collecting/Archiving
Live bands: Recording live music is a passion of mine. I use my
AMS ST250 "SoundField" and my Sony TCD D10 Pro II DAT recorder most
of the time. My D10 Pro II has been modified so I can choose to record line in
instead of mic. in. This allows me to bypass noises created by the mic pre-amp.
, the filters, and attenuators. My favorite technique is the "Blumlein" technique. This technique, (a crossed pair figure of eights at
90 degrees), was named after A.D. Blumlein, whose comprehensive patent laid the foundation for
the universal two-channel stereo system as we know it. When I use this
technique my mic. is virtually 100% accurate creating incredible imaging and
spaciousness. To check out tapes I've made or collected over the past 15 years,
click on the word DAT. To setup a trade or to ask me a question please
e-mail me here> mailto:recording@comcast.net.
To Clone DATS I have one Sony
PCM-R500 and one Sony D10 Pro II as well as a Sony D8. Please note at this time
I really don’t collect DATS anymore…Since collecting DATS is somewhat over I am
currently archiving my DATS to CD using my computer with an Audiophile USB bit
accurate sound card and mostly collecting CD’s. I used to use an HHB CDR-850
but the motherboard was fried when a capacitor blew inside the unit. I was told the motherboard needed
replaced at a tune of $450.00 (Note that even though when I bought the unit it
was $1000.00 currently these decks run about $550.00 for brand new ones.) It didn’t make sense to me to fix the
old one and since HHB in now not willing to replace the motherboards for free…
I chose not to give HHB my money again. Personally, I will do my best to never
buy an HHB product if I can help it.
BREWING & TASTING BEER: My love for beer has taken me all
over the United States and England visiting Brew Pubs and Brewing Companies.
Julia & I have been to over 16 brewpubs/breweries in California alone and
at least 20 in Colorado, along with all the ones located in Maryland and at
least 3/4's of the ones East of the Mississippi. We've even been to one in New
Mexico. We never travel with out a map and a good book like "On Tap"
or magazines and other beer guides that list all the latest openings and
closings of brewpubs and breweries. Along with traveling to all of these places
I have developed a huge collection of brewania: beer glasses, coasters, bar
rags, and more beer bottles and cans than I know what to do with!
Here are some of my Favorite Sites...Check them out & have fun!
An Official Home
Page of GratefulDead
The Jerry Site.(www.jerrysite.com)
Hittin' the Web with TheAllman
Brothers Band
Government Mule
SANTANA
Steve Kimock
Legion Of Mary
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Peter Rowan
Owsly Stanley
Height Ashbury 60's
Grateful
Dead Links to their Friends
Your Favorite Bands Set Lists are Here!
Danish Pro Audio(B&K's)
Posthorn Recording
SOUNDFIELD RESEARCH
LegendsConcert Posters Bill
Graham-Family Dog Collection
Stanley Mouse Posters
LOM Archive Posters
Beer AcrossAmerica
