Pro Audio from Idea to Production

In this second of a two-part discussion on Pro Audio, we'll look at the engineering story behind the Useful Arts Hornet.

Every engineer, hobbyist, or entrepreneur has faced this problem: you have a clear vision for a product, but turning that vision into something affordable, manufacturable, and genuinely great requires a different set of decisions entirely. How do you protect the things that matter while cutting the things that don't? Where does compromise become unacceptable?

This talk uses the Useful Arts Hornet, a professional-grade microphone preamplifier, as a real-world case study in taking a product from concept to production. The Hornet was born from a challenge prompted by Jerry Barnes, bassist for Chic and instructor at the Berklee School of Music: give today's musicians a studio in a backpack. What followed was a masterclass in principled engineering tradeoffs.

Topics covered will include:

• The design philosophy — How studying the methods and reference texts of 1950s engineers, then marrying that mindset with modern surface-mount technology, shaped every decision in the Hornet's architecture

• Signal path decisions — Why a custom humbucking input transformer is the most expensive part in the box, and why that was non-negotiable; how a proprietary discrete transistor preamp and variable "color" control replaces the tube to deliver harmonic distortion on demand

• Power supply design — How a 48V wall wart eliminates high-speed switching inside the unit and enables a fully linear, high-voltage internal supply in a budget enclosure

• Where to cut and where not to — A frank look at which components were cheaped out on, which were not, and the reasoning behind every call

• From passion project to product — How surface-mount technology and pick and place manufacturing made it possible to build a professional product at an accessible price point

• Whether you are an audio enthusiast, an electronics engineer, or someone working to bring your own product idea to market, this session offers an honest framework for building something great without an unlimited budget. This talk is for anyone who has ever had a passion project and wondered: could I actually build this?

Speaker Bio:
Peter Swann is a mediator, arbitrator, and litigation strategy consultant at ConvergentADR, and former Chief Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals. He holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he graduated first in his class out of 262, and a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric and Economics from UC Berkeley.

The kind of person who doesn't do anything halfway, Peter has spent decades pursuing a parallel passion: chasing a specific sound he couldn't find in any modern audio equipment. Without a single engineering degree, he taught himself electronics, product design, and manufacturing — and built two companies around it, launching Useful Arts Audio in 2016 and Neoden USA in 2017.

His path from passion project to manufacturable product is one that engineers, entrepreneurs, and hobbyists alike will recognize: a relentless pursuit of a specific idea, and the self-taught skills to actually pull it off. If you've ever had a product concept you weren't sure you could build, this proves that you can.

Agenda:
We will start our meeting at 7:00 pm. For the next 15 minutes or so, we will introduce ourselves, handle any LICN business and do a little networking. We will then start our presentation. After the presentation, feel free to stick around and chat with others to network or to further discuss our lecture topic.

NOTES
There is no cost to attend this meeting, however, if you are a NYS Professional Engineer and would like to receive Professional Development Hours (PDHs) of continuing education credit, then payment of a $15 fee is required. You will also have to properly fill out an Evaluation Form to prove that you attended this lecture.

Click here to open the form. Simply fill it out and click on the “Submit” button. PDHs will be granted based upon actual time of lecture including Q&A. You must stay to the end to receive credit.

We accept electronic payment via Zelle. Zelle is a bank-to-bank transfer mechanism supported by most banks, without a fee, as part of their normal online banking capabilities. There is also a Zelle app available for your smartphone.

When you use Zelle with your bank, it will ask for the following information: 1) the amount to send (enter $15.00), 2) what account you want to pull the money from (select whatever account you want to use), and 3) the phone number or email of the recipient (enter ieeelicn@gmail.com. Don’t worry if you see the name of our Treasurer, David Rost, pop up). If it asks for a memo field, we suggest entering "yymmdd LICN PDH” where yymmdd are the year, month and date of the lecture.

While we prefer that your payment and evaluation form are received by the day of the lecture, they must be received by the first Monday after the lecture.

If paying by Zelle is a problem for you, then please contact Ed Gellender at edgellender@gmail.com for an alternate payment method.