pan60
08-28-2009, 10:57 PM
The MookTronics PDI 500 3
An Interview
With Ben Mook
And
A Review
By pan60
pan60 First, tell us about yourself.
Ben I'm 26? I'm really having a hard time with this section.
pan60 LOL. Sorry, no problem. Let?s not worry about it. It's all fun. So, whatever comes to mind. : )~
pan60 Tell us about your shop. I Seem to recall you telling me you do your own metalwork? I think you mentioned CNC.
Ben Ok, CNC...
One of my personal philosophies is to "do it in-house," so I try and do everything here with the help of off duty runners I hire. All the metalwork is done with the CNC machinery I custom built to mill holes and drill countersinks. The accuracy of the machine is incredible and it's pretty fast at the job. In addition to the CNC machine, I hired a tool maker to design and build a custom machine to make the bend in the "L" bracket. With the combination of these two machines, I was able to eliminate ?out of tolerance? parts completely. After the parts are made I send them out for a nice anodized finish and silkscreen.
I wish the shop was bigger so we could do these steps in-house, but there's just not enough room. PCB assembly is all done by hand, one at a time. After the boards are completely stuffed we assemble the PCB and metalwork together, burn in each unit for 48 hours and test audio functions with the industry standard Audio Precision test set. In addition to just milling 500 series parts and stuff, I've been making small parts for bicycles, racing motorcycles and Lotus race cars. It's a lot of fun.
The main reason why I got into CNC was to make the metalwork for Mooktronics products. I hired a couple of different shops to produce the parts at first, but was never really happy with the results. It was a steep learning curve, but definitely worth the effort in the end.
pan60 Dude!! Bicycles, racing motorcycles, that's right up my alley. I have always had a passion for vintage motorcycles. I built a couple old vintage flat track racers. I plan to build me one some day. At some point I will try and learn the CNC stuff, but for now I am in old mode. : )~
Ben I'm more of a bicycle guy, simply because I can get around LA much faster than if I was sitting in traffic, in a car.
CNC is cool. Without it, I would have no idea how to make some stuff, but at times I wish I had a manual mill for basic operations.
Attached are a few old pictures of the diesel Enfield. A lot has changed, but you can get the basic idea. One thing that I really like about it is it doesn't need any electrical wiring to run at all. It's 100% mechanical. No battery, no problem!
download.jpg ̈
1__#$!@%!#__download.jpg ̈
pan60 That is one sweet looking cycle! I would love to get an old 26'' Schwinn Beach Cruiser or Corvette Cruiser!!!! : )~ Too much other stuff to do though. Maybe in another life time. : )~ You never know.
Ben Last time I was in NYC, I almost bought a women's Firestone bike to cruise around the city, but I ended up getting something cheaper. It was a cool looking vintage bike.
pan60 Are you a musician?
Ben Yeah. I grew up in a somewhat musical household. My dad played scales on his flute everyday ever since I can remember. We had a family piano that I would bang on. Later in life, I was in the orchestra program, for a while, in school. It wasn't until I got a guitar and started playing tunes on the radio when I realized the power of music. From there, I kinda picked up every instrument I could get my hands on, which led me to playing out with bands in NYC and LA. Now a days, I just like to create, collaborate and produce stuff in my home studio.
pan60 Seems I remember you telling me once you working in a cool studio?
Ben I've worked at a bunch of cool studios in New York and Los Angeles, but I'm currently a staff technician at Conway Recording in Hollywood. In addition to my staff gig, I freelance at a few other studios in town that don't have full time technical support. It makes me a pretty busy guy.
pan60 How did you get into the recording industry?
Ben My first real gig was at an audio repair shop in New Jersey. Just about every piece of gear with every problem imaginable floated across the benches there. I got to the point where I didn't want to sit in a shop all day, so I contacted some studios in NYC about interning. I basically said, "I can fix your broken stuff if you teach me the ropes of a recording studio."
pan60 How long have you been into electronics?
Ben Pretty much as long as I can recall. My grandpa taught me Morse code and the resistor color code by the time I was 4 or 5, so it's been a lifelong passion since then. I was the kid that would take everything apart, and try to put it back together.
pan60 Any hobbies you care to share with us?
Ben Yikes! I have too many hobbies and they're always changing depending on my mood. Currently I'm into black and white film photography, wrenching on my diesel motorcycle, cactus gardening, building lugged steel bicycle frames and desert camping.
pan60 What has drawn you to the 500 format?
Ben The format is small enough that I can do all the metalwork in my CNC machine shop. In a nutshell, minimal metalwork, no need to design a power supply and get UL certification. It's really, really cool that this format has become so popular and lots of people are building stuff for it.
pan60 Where did the thought for the PDI 500 come from?
Ben I had a bunch of synths in my studio that needed DIs. Also, there were a bunch of empty slots in my rack that was bugging me. So, I decided to make DIs that would fit. When I finished the project, they looked so nice, I decided to put them out on the market.
An Interview
With Ben Mook
And
A Review
By pan60
pan60 First, tell us about yourself.
Ben I'm 26? I'm really having a hard time with this section.
pan60 LOL. Sorry, no problem. Let?s not worry about it. It's all fun. So, whatever comes to mind. : )~
pan60 Tell us about your shop. I Seem to recall you telling me you do your own metalwork? I think you mentioned CNC.
Ben Ok, CNC...
One of my personal philosophies is to "do it in-house," so I try and do everything here with the help of off duty runners I hire. All the metalwork is done with the CNC machinery I custom built to mill holes and drill countersinks. The accuracy of the machine is incredible and it's pretty fast at the job. In addition to the CNC machine, I hired a tool maker to design and build a custom machine to make the bend in the "L" bracket. With the combination of these two machines, I was able to eliminate ?out of tolerance? parts completely. After the parts are made I send them out for a nice anodized finish and silkscreen.
I wish the shop was bigger so we could do these steps in-house, but there's just not enough room. PCB assembly is all done by hand, one at a time. After the boards are completely stuffed we assemble the PCB and metalwork together, burn in each unit for 48 hours and test audio functions with the industry standard Audio Precision test set. In addition to just milling 500 series parts and stuff, I've been making small parts for bicycles, racing motorcycles and Lotus race cars. It's a lot of fun.
The main reason why I got into CNC was to make the metalwork for Mooktronics products. I hired a couple of different shops to produce the parts at first, but was never really happy with the results. It was a steep learning curve, but definitely worth the effort in the end.
pan60 Dude!! Bicycles, racing motorcycles, that's right up my alley. I have always had a passion for vintage motorcycles. I built a couple old vintage flat track racers. I plan to build me one some day. At some point I will try and learn the CNC stuff, but for now I am in old mode. : )~
Ben I'm more of a bicycle guy, simply because I can get around LA much faster than if I was sitting in traffic, in a car.
CNC is cool. Without it, I would have no idea how to make some stuff, but at times I wish I had a manual mill for basic operations.
Attached are a few old pictures of the diesel Enfield. A lot has changed, but you can get the basic idea. One thing that I really like about it is it doesn't need any electrical wiring to run at all. It's 100% mechanical. No battery, no problem!
download.jpg ̈
1__#$!@%!#__download.jpg ̈
pan60 That is one sweet looking cycle! I would love to get an old 26'' Schwinn Beach Cruiser or Corvette Cruiser!!!! : )~ Too much other stuff to do though. Maybe in another life time. : )~ You never know.
Ben Last time I was in NYC, I almost bought a women's Firestone bike to cruise around the city, but I ended up getting something cheaper. It was a cool looking vintage bike.
pan60 Are you a musician?
Ben Yeah. I grew up in a somewhat musical household. My dad played scales on his flute everyday ever since I can remember. We had a family piano that I would bang on. Later in life, I was in the orchestra program, for a while, in school. It wasn't until I got a guitar and started playing tunes on the radio when I realized the power of music. From there, I kinda picked up every instrument I could get my hands on, which led me to playing out with bands in NYC and LA. Now a days, I just like to create, collaborate and produce stuff in my home studio.
pan60 Seems I remember you telling me once you working in a cool studio?
Ben I've worked at a bunch of cool studios in New York and Los Angeles, but I'm currently a staff technician at Conway Recording in Hollywood. In addition to my staff gig, I freelance at a few other studios in town that don't have full time technical support. It makes me a pretty busy guy.
pan60 How did you get into the recording industry?
Ben My first real gig was at an audio repair shop in New Jersey. Just about every piece of gear with every problem imaginable floated across the benches there. I got to the point where I didn't want to sit in a shop all day, so I contacted some studios in NYC about interning. I basically said, "I can fix your broken stuff if you teach me the ropes of a recording studio."
pan60 How long have you been into electronics?
Ben Pretty much as long as I can recall. My grandpa taught me Morse code and the resistor color code by the time I was 4 or 5, so it's been a lifelong passion since then. I was the kid that would take everything apart, and try to put it back together.
pan60 Any hobbies you care to share with us?
Ben Yikes! I have too many hobbies and they're always changing depending on my mood. Currently I'm into black and white film photography, wrenching on my diesel motorcycle, cactus gardening, building lugged steel bicycle frames and desert camping.
pan60 What has drawn you to the 500 format?
Ben The format is small enough that I can do all the metalwork in my CNC machine shop. In a nutshell, minimal metalwork, no need to design a power supply and get UL certification. It's really, really cool that this format has become so popular and lots of people are building stuff for it.
pan60 Where did the thought for the PDI 500 come from?
Ben I had a bunch of synths in my studio that needed DIs. Also, there were a bunch of empty slots in my rack that was bugging me. So, I decided to make DIs that would fit. When I finished the project, they looked so nice, I decided to put them out on the market.