Author: chris

Categories
Altec Technical

Original EMI-modified Altec compressor on eBay: UPDATE

image source

NOTE: the above unit eventually did sell on eBay for $35,000.  See below for scan…

Here’s something that you don’t see everyday.  Courtesy of this eBay auction, an apparently original EMI-modified Altec 436B.  Buy it now for $55,000 (fifty-five-thousand) US dollars.   If this price seems absurd (and it surely is optimistic at best),  I will point out that the seller claims (and he/she may very well  be correct) that this particular unit was in fact used on numerous Beatles recordings.  The particular quality of its compression, pumping, and mild distortion were integral to creating the vocal and drum sounds of the most widely-heard and widely-copied pop/rock recorded sounds in the entire history of sound recording.   Add to that likely provenance the fact that only a handful of these units were ever made and you have a very unique piece of audio history on the block.

image source

Here’s a shot of the rear of the unit.  A few things worth noting: the JJ multicap (above the blue LCR cap) is of recent manufacture, indicating recent servicing.  The lineup of three tubes and only two audio transformers indicates that this unit began its life as a 436(x) compressor, not a 438(x) mic pre/compressor.  The mains transformer (far left) was necessarily replaced to facilitate easier use in a 220v country.  My biggest question (and please, readers, fill me in… ) is:  what is that unit above the 6AL5 tube?  Is it a 2nd output transformer to allow of use of a T-pad attenuator on the output while retaining output balance (IE., the T-pad would go between the two transformers)?

image source

Getting back to the front panel, we see evidence of the modifications that EMI made in order to make the 436B more useful in the studio.  From left to right: a ‘balance’ push-button switch (not sure what this is, but i image it might have something to do with balancing the vari-mu action of the two halves of the gain-reduction tube?  not sure how a pushbutton switch would be implemented there?). Next, a ‘recovery’ or ‘release’ control (self explanatory), then factory ‘input’ attenuator control, and to the right of the meter an output attenuator.

Anyway…those of you who have been following PS dot com for a while will know that I have a tremendous interest in these Altec compressors; I have restored them, modified them, scratch-built them, and use one regularly in the studio.   Here’s some links to catch up:

History of the Altec 43(x) compressor and its relation to the EMI RS 124

Adding a balanced output attenuator to an Altec compressor

Modifying an Altec 438a compressor to gain many of the EMI RS124 features

 

 

Categories
Custom Fabrication Uncategorized

The BRDCSTR

Above: The BRDCSTR, a two-stage vacuum-tube microphone preamp inspired by classic 1940s broadcast audio preamps.  Single-ended design with a 6SJ7 and 6J7 tubes, massive output transformer, and only one capacitor in the signal path.  I have built more of these than any other design; people really seem to respond to the sound.  It’s pretty much the least ‘stuff’ that you can put between a microphone and your A/D convertor.  All the attitude of ancient tube studio equipment without the hum and the noise, and with much better frequency response.

Categories
Mixtapes

New Live Radio Show Available to Stream Now: WPKN 89.5 FM 12.8.11

Last Thursday I put together an impromptu 200-minute, all-vinyl drive-time set for WPKN.  No real theme for this set; just yr basic ‘it’s 1973, feeling hazy and fatalistic’ kinda mood.

Stream the show in high quality at: http://archives.wpkn.org/bookmarks/listen/28950

Gene Clark: 1975
Country Joe And the Fish: She’s a Bird
David Crosby: what are their names
Moby Grape: I am not willing
The Dead Boys: ain’t it fun

Wizards from Kansas: high flying bird
John Entwhistle: You’re mine
Graham Nash: Better Days
Tommy James: nothing to hide

Smith: baby it’s you
Rod Stewart: Losing you
Dr John: Black Widow Spider
The Small Faces: Tin Soldier
Bob Seeger: Ramblin Gamblin Man
Tommy James; Christian of the world

Leon Russell: Stranger in a strange land
Captain Beefheart: happy love song
T Rex: the slider
Johnny Thunders: can’t put your arms around a memory
Cochise: back home

Nina Simone: to love somebody
Slade: Gudbuy T’Jane
Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose: treat her like a lady
Laura Lee: wedlock is a padlock

Patti Smith: free money
Cat Mother: The last thing that I do
Tranquility: where you are
Man: out of your head

Lake: on the run
Emmit Rhodes: ‘really wanted you’
Dwight Twilley: i’m on fire
Spooky Tooth: I am the walrus

The Kinks: Shangri La
T Rex: broken hearted blues
The Shocking Blue: california here I come
Genesis: back in N. Y.C.
Tommy Johnson: canned heat blues

Categories
Uncategorized

Astatic Microphones 1964

Download the complete eight-page 1964 ASTATIC microphone and phono cartridge catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Astatic_1964_catalog

Models covered, with text, specs, and photos, include:  hundreds of phonograph cartridges and needles; Astatic microphones model 332, 22, 225H, 335L, 77, 77-L, 788 ‘Metro’, 888 ‘Tempo,’ 988 ‘Vogue,’ Astatic 331,DN-50, UG8-DN50, JT-30, D-104, 513H, 511, 531, 150, 151, 10M5A, L-1, T-3, and 551 microphones.

Astatic was mostly known for communications mics, aka., voice frequency mics, aka, mics that were intended to accentuate the 300hz-3000hz frequency band.

See this previous post for earlier ASTATIC mic coverage.

 

Above, the ASTATIC 788, 888, and 988 studio mics, aka the “Metro,” Tempo,” and “Vogue.”  The 988 was the top-of-the-line and boasted impressive specs.  I have never come across one of these.  Anyone?

Above, the various ‘heads’ that were available to mount on the ASTATIC ‘squeeze-to-talk’ base unit.  See here for details. 

Categories
Uncategorized

Live DJ set this Thursday December 8

This Thursday 12.8.11 I’ll be doing a live set at The Outer Space in Hamden CT.  The Outer Space is the 21+ venue operated in conjunction with Hamden’s legendary “The Space.”

I’m appearing as part of BDUB’s Sway night.  I’ll be on around 830.   This will be strictly a vinyl-only affair… no surprises there.  Have a beer or four as i dig into the best of 2o years spent searching for the secret gems of Nixon-Era rocknroll…  for a preview you can check out my two recent appearances on WPKN FM.  Listen here and here…  and check this link for some recent mixtapes...

The Outer Space:  295 Treadwell Street, Hamden CT: Thurs Dec 8 2011

Categories
Microphones Technical

UPDATED: So You Want A Good Cheap Ribbon Mic: Upgrading the $69.99 MXL R40

UPDATE: since this article seems to get an enormous number of pageviews, I thought I should mention that we did in fact carry-out the intended shoot-out of the mod’d R40 versus a range of other similar ribbons (with a Royer R121 as the ‘control’ sample.  CLICK HERE to listen to some apples-to-apples action.

I love the sound of ribbon mics.  Friends and clients will often ask me why, or ‘what’s the difference’ (b/w a ribbon and other forms of mics) and I generally reply that good ribbon mics seem, to my ears/brain, to reproduce sound in a way that more closely resembles the actual event.  To my ears, a good condenser like my U87 or U47 FET sound fantastic – more spectacular than the actual sonic event, in many cases – and a good dynamic mic like a 441 or an SM7 can really improve the sound of an electric guitar speaker – but there are ways that they do seem distorted, especially on material with complex, aggressive high-frequency content, such as cymbals played with a heavy touch.  Ribbon mics also seem to respond better to additive EQ, and on bass instruments they also seem to create the impression of bigger, fuller bass without actually taking up as many DBs in the mix as you might expect.  Anyhow, I keep writing ‘seem’ because all of this is, necessarily, subjective.  That being said, these are opinions that more and more recordists and musicians have come to share since ribbon mics came back into vogue a decade or so ago.

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO READ-ON AND LEARN HOW TO MAKE YRSELF A REAL-NICE SOUNDING RIBBON MIC IN 45 MINUTES FOR UNDER $100…

Continue reading “UPDATED: So You Want A Good Cheap Ribbon Mic: Upgrading the .99 MXL R40”
Categories
Mixtapes

Holiday 2011 Mixtape

It’s that time again…  another mixtape fresh off the deck at PS dot com.  Twenty tracks transferred off LP records I’ve dug up the past four months from the basements, garages, attics and flea markets of Southern Connecticut.  Transferred to digital via my trusty Apogee A/D convertor… by way of a seventies Sansui integrated and a Shure 91 cartridge.  I found a pair of mint Shure 91s at an estate sale recently (the house had – no exaggeration- ten to twenty thousand records piled up in it) for a few bucks…  my lord these carts sound so, so much better than the Benz Micro that I paid $240 for two years ago (I bought it on Stereophile‘s reco, and it ain’t bad…but…). Anyways.  My new cartridge recommendation.  Shure 91.  Here’s the mixtape:

1. “We’ll have a real good time” Cat Mother.   Last Chance Dance, Polydor.

2. “Happy Love Song” Captain Beefheart. Unconditionally Guaranteed, Mercury.

3. “Me About You” The Lovin’ Spoonful.  Revelation: Revolution ’69, Kama Sutra

4. “Step Away” Don Cooper. What You Feel Is How You Grow, Roulette.

5. “I’ll Be There, I Still Care” Leroy Hutson.  Love Oh Love, Curtom/Buddah.

6. “Jackie Blue” The Ozark Mountain Daredevils.  It’ll Shine When It Shines, A&M.

7. “Looking For Jesus” Clive Sarstedt.  S/T, RCA.

8. “Back In N.Y.C.” Genesis.  The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, ATCO.

9. “Black Widow Spider” Dr. John. Babylon, ATCO.

10. “Give it up or turn it loose” Dick Hyman.  The Age Of Electronicus, Command/ABC.

11. “Did You Know” Jake Holmes.  The Above Ground Sound Of Jake Holmes.  Tower/Capitol.

12. “Mary’s Garden” John Roman Jackson. S/T, OAK Records.

13. “Sittin In Circles” The Barry Goldberg Reunion. S/T, Buddah.

14. “Ode To A Tin Angel” Hearts and Flowers.  Of Horses-Kids-And Forgotten Women, Capitol.

15. “Organ Blues” Tyrannosaurus Rex. A Beard Of Stars, Blue Thumb Records.

16. “All Around Man” Bo Carter.  Blues Roots Mississippi, RBF 14.  Originally released on Bluebird Records 1931.

17. “Cat’s Squirrel” Jethro Tull. This Was, Chrysalis.

18. “Dark Is The Night” Tommy James.  My Head, My Bed & My Red Guitar, Roulette.

19. “Stallion” Kris Kristofferson.  Who’s To Bless And Who’s To Blame.  Monument.

20. “The Last Thing That I Do” Cat Mother.  Last Chance Dance, Polydor.

Follow the link below for full track details, links to listen, and more of the best album images of all time…

Continue reading “Holiday 2011 Mixtape”

Categories
Microphones

Turner Microphones circa 1970

Download the complete 23pp 1970 Turner Microphones Catalog (in two parts due to size):

DOWNLOAD PART ONE: Turner_1970_catalog1

DOWNLOAD PART TWO: Turner_1970_catalog2

Models covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: Turner 500, S-500, 505, FM500, and 777 microphones; Turner 600, 600, 701, 2203, 35, 35A, 2300, Balladier 866, 766, 566, and 2266 mics; Turner Model 360, J-360, 350C, 355C, SR90D-5, SR90D-6, SR90R, M+2/U, JM+2/U, +350, and J+350 push-to-talk communications mics; Turner 254X, 254C, 454X, 454C, 754C, Model  +3, Model +2, model 750, 751, 758, 250, 251, 252, 253, 258, and +50 ‘base station’ tabletop mics; Turner model 2800, 2804, 2811, 2812, 2813, 2814, S2850, 2852, 304C, 300C, 304X, and 30002 ‘tape recorder’ (IE, economy) microphones; Turner SR585D, 585m SR70D, 58, 58A, S58, 33D, S33D, P-9D, 35614, and 36004 ‘general purpose’ mics; and a range of accessories including the Turner RA-50 ‘remote amplifier.’

Above, the Turner +3 ‘base station’ mic.  The “plus-three” designation, in Turner-speak, indicates a battery-powered, self-amplified microphone that also has a built-in compression circuit.  Although the +3 is the only mic in the 1970 catalog that has this feature, it would become available on some of their smaller hand-held communications mics in a couple of years.  I recently purchased a new-in-the-box M+3/U that I am excited to try out; the only problem is that it uses some sort of since-banned mercury-cell battery.  So I need to implement a work-around there.  Could make an interesting ‘secret weapon’ ‘set-to-incinerate’ room mic.  Sorta like an ancient mic-plus-level-loc all-in-one.

Above, the Turner 510, one of our favorite snare drum mics at Gold Coast Recorders.  The 510 was, AFAIK, the most high-fidelity mic that Turner ever made.

  Above, the classic Turner 33D, perhaps the most visually-iconic of their lineup.  How long was thing thing in production?  At least forty years.  Seems like an impossibly long time, until you consider how long Shure has been making 545s, and how long Sennheiser has been making 421s… both of those designs are past the 45-year-old mark at this point…

…and the Turner 251.  The 250 series was also very long-running at Turner; 251s can have a really cool sound for that ‘rock’ vocal thing; instant ‘bad-p.a.’ punk sound, but quiet and reliable.  I seem to find one or two of these per year; there are a ton out there for very little bread…

See here for previous Turner Microphone coverage and catalogs at ps dot com.

 

 

Categories
Early Electronic Music Magnecord Recordings

Magnecord PT6 c.1950 used in contemporary music production

It never ceases to amaze me how many people navigate to this website as a result of searching for Magnecord tape-machine information.  Until I bought a pair of PT6 machines last year, I had no awareness of them; since then, I am continually discovering more and more evidence of the role that Magnecord played in mid-twentieth century broadcasting and recording in the United States.  Moreover, my two machines (previously owned by the University of Connecticut; purchased by me last year for $25/each) now work great after I performed some restoration work.  This is no mean feat for sixty-year-old tape recorders which were subjected to the harsh treatment of student-recordists for untold decades.  Anyhow, you can hear some early test-recordings that I made with the PT6 shortly after I restored them:  listen here and here.    Since I recorded that version of “Hallelujah,”  my two PT6’s  have been parked in the entryway of our studio Gold Coast Recorders.    Clients often inquire about them, surprised to learn that they are in fact functional; but it was not until last week that they actually got used on a session.   Take a listen to the track below and you can hear some of the wonderful music of Keith Restaurant.  Keith’s been a frequent visitor to Gold Coast since we opened our doors in April and he makes music that you might call minimalist, or noise music, or process music;  it’s inherently impossible to categorize.  With this sort of ‘organized sound,’ every listener needs to find his/her own way in.  The following piece is from a set he recorded called ‘computer music.’  You are hearing a single live take of several performers manipulating the harddrives and power supplies of live laptop computers, amplified with induction mics and guitar amplifiers.  The Magnecord PT6 is the primary recording medium, and several generations of re-amping and re-tracking (via our UREI 809 studio playback monitors) in the big live room at Gold Coast were layered to create the overall piece.

LISTEN: KR_CmptrMx_Track2.mp3

Since the sounds that composer Keith Restaurant organize in this music have essentially no reference point (I.E., none of them are sounds that you or I would have heard before), every element of the production process is incredibly important in creating meaning.  In this way, the Magnecord PT6, with it’s peculiar frequency response, distortions, and flutter, is being used in a very significant way; it is a primary component of the sound, rather than an ‘effect.’  This contribution is intensified by the multiple-generations of recording and re-recording via the PT6.  It is also interesting to note than even in the longer (4:00) piece, the PT6 deviated less than 250ms over 4:00 relative to the Pro Tools safety copy.  This is great news for anyone who wants to fold one of these into their working process.

You can learn more about Keith Restaurant at his blog.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Interesting Audio-Technology Mini-Exhibit in Philadelphia

Walking around Philadelphia I noticed this shop-window.  Wow these people really had my number.   The shop is called Art In The Age Of Mechanical Reproduction (h.f. AITAOMR), which is a reference to a seminal essay by Walter Benjamin.  Benjamin was interested in understanding how our concept of value in art was altered by the new processes of mechanical reproduction (offset printing, phonograph records, etc) which became widely available in the early 20th century.  ANYways… AITAOMR is a fine shop with appealling apparel and lifestyle items offered for sale.   They also market their own line of rustic flavored boozes you can sample in the shop  (sold elsewhere at licensed agents).

Turns out that the shop-window display is part of an in-store exhibit of audio-technology that was put together by record producer/engineer Bill Moriarty, who has worked with popular artists like Man Man and Dr. Dog.    It’s a fun tactile display that foregrounds some of the crucial basic processes we use in audio work: editing, mixing, reverberation, ‘effects processing,’ etc.

The exhibit is up for a few more days; you can read more about it in Moriarty’s own words at his blog.