Tag Archives: audio semiotics

These Dudes Get It

Posted on 04/20/2013 by chris

I know there’s not too much value in my ‘re-tweeting’ (it’s safe to use that verb as a generic descriptor now, right?) something that the Ole Gray Lady published, but the piece by Jon Caramanica in Friday’s NYT really got … Continue reading →

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Hottt Pixxx (SFW)

Posted on 08/27/2012 by chris

  Download the twelve-page ‘guide to STEREO’ from the July 1971 issue of the International Magazine For Men: DOWNLOAD:Penthouse_Stereo_71 Items of apparent concern to readers of this publication (see image above): Nuclear power; package size; dangerous-computers; hegemonic reproduction via linguistic … Continue reading →

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Synthesizers photographed on stone-colored backgrounds

Posted on 07/01/2012 by chris

As the first in a series of “Brief Trends in Visual Culture,” we bring you: synthesizers photographed on stone-colored backgrounds.  Pictured above: Roland  S50, Korg SG1, EMU Emax SE and Emulator 3.  If anyone can explain the significance of the … Continue reading →

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Genre-branded instruments

Posted on 06/15/2012 by chris

(Image Source) On eBay: a circa 1990 Casio Rap-1 ‘Rapman’ synthesizer/child’s-toy.  In its original box with original accessory-microphone; click here and make it yours for $20 plus s+h. The Rapman (see here for a detailed analysis of its feature-set and … Continue reading →

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You’ll Want More Than One

Posted on 06/12/2012 by chris

US Marshall Amplifiers Print-ad circa 1979 An advertising executive told me a great story about Arm & Hammer Baking Soda once.  He was working on a new round of adverts and the client was frustrated with trying to figure our … Continue reading →

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1953: What is High Fidelity?

Posted on 04/02/2012 by chris

Lee de Forest (L), the man who invented the voltage-amplifer tube, takes in the state-of-the-art in consumer audio reproduction c. 1953. Download a two-page article on the subject of “What is High Fidelity” as-published right at the dawn of the … Continue reading →

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Communication

Posted on 02/29/2012 by chris

Today: some excerpts from a piece by C.W. Vadersen as published in the AES journal.  It’s a good thing to remember that early audio technology developed not out of the entertainment industry but from the communications industry: primarily, the telegraph.  … Continue reading →

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Here’s those EQs and Compressors you asked for. Now go F’ yrself.

Posted on 02/15/2012 by chris

Above: 12×3 Audiofax mixing desk circa 1961. I was reading a 1961 AES journal when I came across this piece by Phillip Erhorn of Audiofax associates in which he details “New trends in stereo recording consoles.”  Erhorn will let you … Continue reading →

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This month at PS Dot Com: Pro Audio Equipment of the early 1960s

Posted on 02/14/2012 by chris

I do not trust you, microphone.  Yet.   The next few weeks at Preservation Sound: we bring you: in no particular order: some of the state-of-the-art in studio recording equipment of the early 1960s.  A period that I like to … Continue reading →

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Out-of-print Book Report: “Making 4-Track Music,” John Peel (TRACK pub., 1987)

Posted on 01/22/2012 by chris

Download a seven-page scan of some interesting hardware on offer in “Making 4-Track Music,” Track Publishing 1987: DOWNLOAD: 4trackMusic_JohnPeel Includes advertisements for Yamaha MT2X, DX100, and RX17 drum machine; Akai MG614 four-track machine, Tascam Porta2 4-track, Fostex 160, the Boss … Continue reading →

Posted in Publications, The 4-Track | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments