Hello World.txt...... let's introduce myself.........

Hi there and welcome to my blog!

First of let me introduce myself. My name is Thomas Hopman, i live in Amstedam, the Netherlands and i have studied Audio Design at the Highschool of the Arts Utrecht (HKU) in the Netherlands. Since then i have worked as a Live/Studio Sound Engineer for various companies like DeSmet Studios, Paradiso and the Melkweg and as a repair engineer for Backline Rental company Artist on the Road.

Before i discovered music and girls when i was a teenager(these two usually come together when you're a lowlife with no selfconfidence don't they?) , i was always fascinated by electronics. Every piece of gear that i could open up, would get opened up. Usually without getting back together again. I would always look for books at the library about electronics and technical stuff, which i didn't and at the time never could understand.

It wasn't until about 9 years ago at the age of 20 that i started getting back to electronics. I had found a great place called Groupdiy on the interwebs where Gustav from Gyraf audio was offering PCB's for great audio projects. So there i went, never in my life had i built something from scratch that worked, and ordered all the parts for a SSL compressor clone. And because of the great community over there at GDIY, i had a working piece of gear in no time! After that i started building lots and i mean lots of Guitar pedals because as most people know DIY is not about saving money (cos you just don't save any money) and i wasn't that rich to start with. When i made the SSL clone i still had pretty much no clue at all about the workings of electronics apart from the essential basics. So making lots of simple guitar circuits gave me the perfect starting ground to make mistakes and learn a lot in the process.

Since those humble beginnings i've come a long way by teaching myself. Heck i'm even making money fixing stuff. And i'm living my dream of building stuff that doesn't even exist commercially. The purpose of this blog is to showcase some of the stuff i'm doing and to hopefully get some feedback from people doing the same. Heck, some people might actually learn something from this stuff or get inspired to make some DIY gear of their own.

Hope people will enjoy reading this stuff, if you like/hate or find something usefull please feel free to leave a comment.

greetings,

Thomas