Analog Design - A conversation with Doug Ford

In this episode, Doug Ford of Doug Ford Analog Design recounts his career and how he became an analog electronic design engineer. Doug has worked for Australian companies Jands, Rode Microphones, and now his own company DFAD.
The interview provides for some fascinating insight into how he got started, early learning, education in electronics and finally work experience. Having worked for about 19 years at Jands, where he worked on everything from rock and roll lighting dimmers & consoles, large PA’s, audio mixers, he got to experience a wide range of products. At Rode it was far more targeted towards a single product range - microphones, where he designed (as part of a small team) the Classic Two, a valve-based microphone with a sneaky transistor embedded. This caused a sensation amongst the die-hard valve enthusiasts. Luckily Doug went on to design other microphones with Rode including NT3, the NT1000 and the NTK Microphones.
The interview was recorded at his home workshop on the 20/10/2010 in Sydney for State of Electronics.
Apologies for the audio quality in this interview. I should have used one of Doug’s designs but alas I did not & the location was a bit noisy :-)

[@PhilsLab]

I absolutely love the series Doug Ford did on microphone electronics with Dave Jones. Shame there aren't many resources from Doug around the web, would love to hear more about his work and designs.

[@EEVblog]

It's Dougie! For those interested, I have a 7 part microphone design series with Doug: kzbin.info/aero/PL-BGXjnid99lfPnLLstVcSDlKnXQ3EWqg

[@deviantmultimedia9497]

Doug Ford is a genius. Seriously. He's one of the few modern engineers- in the realm of audio electronics- who continues to bring new ideas to the table with unique circuits and creative ways to bring production costs down without sacrificing quality. As a result, he's blessed us with an arsenal of kick-ass microphones and other pro-audio devices that perform way outside their price ranges. I really wish he had more online content because he absolutely knows his shit. No pretending. I've watched the EEVlog series about 6,000 times.

[@darrylgodfrey9604]

Electronics Australia! During my teens at high school, I used to be glued to that mag when it came out each month or whatever. I understood practically nothing, but was hooked on what these funny looking components did. Despite the set back of doing an electrical engineering degree, I'm now back into electronics with a critical difference from my teen years: I actually have some money!!! What a brilliant conversation with a master.

[@RobertHart]

Such a common story of people at my age, wish there were social networks back then, as I knew nobody back then with the same interests.

[@BritishEngineer]

Everything Doug spoke about was what i went through in my early days… i’ll be taking a degree in electrical and electronics engineering soon.

[@EVSA]

Hi Doug, I too had the Philips Electronics kit, which really launched my hobby into electronics and eventually my career into electronics, starting as a Technician in Training with the PMG. Specialising in the Radio section, then later in computer repair.

[@kwazar6725]

Doug. Fantastic! Seems some people have curious disease. I know i have as well. Great life story.

[@PeterMilanovski]

What an amazing life story, I'm sure that there's plenty more where they came from!

[@xjet]

I had the EE8 kit. It was great, built those projects over and over again. Had AC126 and AF117 transistors and an OA91 diode. The radio was my favourite project -- hooked it up to 100 feet of copperwire strung across the back yard. Thanks SOE for bringing us this stuff.

[@SpectreOZ]

Thanks for uploading these interviews 👍

[@StateofElectronics]

Your welcome :-)

[@SuperToughnut]

Thank you!

[@peterkutas1176]

Everything that Doug talked about is how I became an electronics tech... My apprenticeship was at Government Stores Technical Services Branch when NSW Government would repair typewriters, projectors and all electronic devices in schools and government departments way back in the old days...

[@HardwareNinja]

Hi Peter, check us out for engineering interview related questions. We'd love to hear your feedback! kzbin.info/door/7h3PROcX7Zgx00alQokJ-w

[@dougford-isms8844]

Not the Doug Ford I thought I was going to be watching, but I appreciate this

[@HardwareNinja]

Hi Doug, check us out for engineering interview related questions. We'd love to hear your feedback! kzbin.info/door/7h3PROcX7Zgx00alQokJ-w

[@lucasc5622]

america moment

[@geoffswan1254]

Ha ha! I remember the Jands JM5 series of mixers that were also excellent noise generators! And the Rode NTK is a really good mic indeed.

[@avejst]

Great video 👍 Thanks for sharing 👍😀

[@StateofElectronics]

Your welcome

[@jmdjasonday]

Hey Doug, I think you'd be a great teacher!

[@HardwareNinja]

Hi Jason, check us out for engineering interview related questions. We'd love to hear your feedback! kzbin.info/door/7h3PROcX7Zgx00alQokJ-w

[@dylanmenzies3973]

Bonza!

[@royrogers7644]

On this channel I was hoping for circuit talk and schematics only...😂

[@davidbrewer7937]

Globalization & cheapening of technology has turned electronics into graceless garbage which is specifically designed to be a black box & un-repairable junk. Nobody wants to pay us REAL design engineers properly any more & the far east has flooded the employment market with cheap labour destroying the subject. When I first qualified in the late 80s, I could earn great money doing really interesting things with discrete components & knowledge. Whan times got tough I could always make money from fixing things like TVs, audio, microwaves, VCRs, power supplies & computer monitors...now everyone just chucks in the garbage & buys a new item of garbage made in China to replace it knowing the item will likely not last more than 6 months...but it is so cheap they no longer care. I still have passion for electronics...REAL electronics but I am not willing to do what I do for the money employers will pay me to do it so I have finally given in, hung up my scope probe, multimeter & soldering iron to take up construction trades instead. At least rich folks will still pay for quality work where real craftsmanship is more important than low price!

[@SpectreOZ]

Surely the Military Industrial Complex would still be a viable career/employment path, perhaps even avionics?

[@davidbrewer7937]

@@SpectreOZ Not at 55 years old...

[@SpectreOZ]

@@davidbrewer7937 Might be why so many contributors interviewed went into business for themselves, I look forward to the upload of the interview with Andrew Griffiths (Resurrection Radio) 👍

[@BritishEngineer]

I agree with the disposable society points. The engineers that design systems for PCBs still are payed major amounts.

[@BritishEngineer]

@@davidbrewer7937Electrical installations design. They will take you in if you are willing to learn to work towards the regulations and general practise. Nowhere near as complex as electronics but it’s better than nothing whilst you search for another electronics job.