I was asked to create these little characters for Rational Acoustics, a company that makes software for acoustical analysis. For now, they're using the 7 Bad System Dwarves on t-shirts. Each dwarf represents one of those nasty tones that need to be flushed out of a sound system.

The 7 Bad System Dwarves are called Tubby, Muddy, Boxy, Honky, Barky, Edgy, and Sibilant. Getting rid of them usually involves a sound man incessantly repeating some inane phrase into a microphone like "checking, one two". He'll repeat this about five hundred times followed by even more annoying tooth clicks and kissing noises until everybody within ear shot is ready to beat him senseless with his own microphone. But I digress!

Hopefully, Rational Acoustics technology will help make this annoyance no longer necessary. Click on the image to check out the details in the dwarfs.

The Copper Spot

This old 1000 watt Times Square follow spot was given to me about a year ago and it had been gathering dust and rust in a corner. Last week I was asked to do some scary lighting for a Halloween party and got the idea that maybe I could somehow insert a gobo of a witch or a ghost into this follow spot and then have it fly around the room as I move the light around.

Unfortunately, on closer inspection, this light was an accident waiting to happen. The wires were frayed and the socket was arcing. It was too dangerous to even turn on. So this past week I took it completely apart, cleaned it, replaced the socket and power cable. Unable to find a lubricant that is non-flammable, I used powdered graphite to lube the shutter, iris and sliding focal lens. Then I repainted it using high-temperature Rustoleum spray paint. The hardware store carried 3 chioices of high-temp paint; black white and this copper color. The original color was a dark grayish-brown so I thought the copper would really jazz it up. After all, it's an antique (probably from the early 60's?).

I think the copper color really emphasizes the retro look. I love it!