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1940: Radioman Romance

Was electronics repair ever a ‘sexy’ profession?  “RADIO NEWS” March 1940 seems to make this case.  Wishful thinking, I imagine…

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Uncategorized

Magnecord INC archival factory-film now available online

Thanks to H. Layer: A never-before-available Magnecord, INC factory-film circ 1955 (???) is now available on YouTube.  These are the people that built the machines that powered broadcast tape-recording on the 1950s.

Click here to see the video on YouTube

Loads more Magnecord INC history and related information on PS dot com… just click here!

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Uncategorized

Beyond Four Tracks

Sansui six-track cassette format c. 1989

Otari Compact 8-track 1/2″ format c. 1989.   Also, SECK mixer.

Toa 8-track cassette format

…and you better bet TASCAM made one too.

Above: some short-lived “more-than-four” home-recording formats that were available between the 4-track cassette and ADAT eras.   It’s kind hard to imagine how significant an issue ‘track count’ (IE., the number of available tracks of a particular multi-track recording machine) was just a short while ago.  It’s not unusual at all these days for me to make a production for an artist that has 80 or even 100 tracks.  And I am not talking about some crazy orchestral or prog-rock epic; I am talking about just a well-produced indie pop song.  Modern music means layering.  Lots of it.  When I, and many other folks started doing this, we dreamed of someday having more than 8 tracks to work with.  Well, as it turns out, ‘more’ didn’t mean 16, 24, or even 48: it meant infinite.  “Be careful what you wish for…”

What will be the next technological barrier to fall in the world of audio production?

I wouldn’t mind seeing all those goddamn wires go away, for one…

Any other ideas?

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Uncategorized

Ladies and Gentlemen of 1989 (pop music division)

Cyborg chick with some sort of midi-synchonizer

I play the keyboards (for Bon Jovi)

(pointy guitars are) impossible to (avoid) / (resist)

“Well I like your style too, man.  Got a whole cowboy thing goin…”

 

Categories
The 4-Track

The Concept of Home Studio Carried To Its Logical Conclusion

Bathroom Studio

Kitchen Studio

Yamaha home-studio adverts circa 1989.  Click on the images to expand.

Categories
Synthesizers

Synthesizers photographed on stone-colored backgrounds

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 all the stone-gray backgrounds, please let us know.

Categories
Guitar Equipment

1967

The Selmer Varitone Saxophone amplification system circa 1967.  Click here for previous coverage on PS dot com.  I once bought a few of the lil cigarette-pack-sized belt-mount preamp units; they make the most fantastic fuzz sounds when used with gtr or bass.  Long gone to the eBay wilds…

Heathkit rock-band hardware circa 1967, including Heath-distributed Rocket, Silhouette, and ‘Deluxe’ Harmony guitars.  Also on offer: Heathkit TA-16 solid-state guitar amp.  Click here and here for more Heathkit coverage on PS dot com.