by Flip Michaels
The disease: STATIC ELECTRICITY, the victim: YOU AND YOUR STUDIOS. (SFX: SCREAM)
RAP Readers: Can it be? Not me. Oh dear, oh my.
Flip: Relax, I hold in my hand THE CURE!
RAP Readers: (sighs of relief)
Flip: A can of fabric softener!
Yes, it's true. All it takes is a can of fabric softener. John Bisset (of "Workbench," Radio World) was kind enough to share the information. "If you find your studios suffering from static, put a little bounce in your life by picking up a can of spray softener." According to John, it lasts quite a while and beats the $100 price of those "anti-static carpet treatments" that some cleaning companies charge. True, you'll have "April fresh" smelling studios, but the static will vanish. John, thanks for sharing your answers with The Cheat Sheet.
Moving on...toys. Yes, toys. Want a new one? Check this out!
The EX-W2. Sounds like a heat seeking missile right? Wrong. It's a voice-recognition mobile audio system. Yes! A toy to drive back and forth to work with! SANYO has just released (big breath) a double-DIN size tuner/cassette tape player/6-disc CD changer. By saying a few simple words, one can select a radio station, tape or CD recording without ever removing his/her eyes off the road or hands from the wheel. It's done with voice-recognition.
The unit needs only your commands (eg. "tuner, preset 1" or "tape, fast-forward, play") and it obeys! There are a total of twenty user-programmed words or phrases that are accurately recognized by the system despite music output from the system itself and outside noise. SANYO's new voice recognition module actually absorbs changes in speech patterns over time to achieve a high degree of recognition accuracy. You'll find it priced around $1,500.
Next.
For sale! For sale! A $19.00 cassette (and it's blank!). I kid you not. TDK has created a tank that surrounds a dual-layered, high energy, ultra-fine metal tape which has been rated by Audio magazine as the best of the best. Really. They call it the MA-XG -- ultimate digital ready tape that provides the highest output and lowest noise (not to mention the highest price). It's available in sixty and ninety minute lengths.
So there you have it! Don't spend it all in one place. As always, drop a line, share some answers, and remember, never let your mother brush your hair when she's mad at your father.
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