Categories
Radio Shows

Preservation Sound Radio: May 09 2018: The 80s with Special Guests

Last night’s show has already aired, but you can stream it for a limited time at this link.  The theme for this show was THE 80s and I had three guest selectors in the studio with me.  All vinyl as per usual.  Here’s the playlist:

Neneh Cherry “Buffalo Stance”
Tina Turner “Better Be Good to Me”
A Flock Of Seagulls “Space Age Love Song”
Jan Hammer “Theme from Miami Vice”
Fleetwood Mac “Seven Wonders (Remastered)”
Kate Bush “Cloud Busting”
Grace Jones “Nipple to the Bottle”
Beastie Boys “Egg Raid on Mojo”
Flock of Seagulls “Telecommunication”
Glaxo Babies “This is your life”
Au Pairs “Don’t Lie Back”
The Vapors “talk talk”
New Order “the village”
Shannon “Let the Music Play”
Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark “Telegraph”
NRBQ “Captain Lou”
Book of Love “boy”
Two Party System “safety in numbers”
Mystery Girls “Mystify Me”
Kristy MacColl “A New England (12″ Mix)”
The Cult “Big Neon Glitter”
The Smiths “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This Once Before”
Echo & The Bunnymen “The Killing Moon”
Orange Juice “What Presence?!”
Billy Idol “eyes without a face”
Inxs “New Sensation”
The Pretenders “Middle of the Road”
Barrence Whitfield & The Savages “Georgia Slop”
The Pogues “If I Should Fall from Grace With God”
Blue Orchids “Dumb Magician”
The Clash “Atom Tan”
Big Dipper “Ron Klaus Wrecked His House”
New Order “Age of Consent”
The Go-Betweens “Cattle and Cane”
The Sea Urchins “Cling Film”
The John Black Experience “crystal mirror”
Enya “Storms in Africa”
Momus “Flame into Being”
Jane Birkin “Baby alone in Babylone”
The Philistines Jr. “Tarzan at the Met”
Jane’s Addiction “Up the Beach”
The Smiths “I Know It’s Over”
The Commodores “Nightshift (Single Version)”
Devo “beautiful world”
Cocteau Twins “Cico Buff”

Categories
Film Scores

HOT DOCS Toronto 2018 Festival to feature two films with scores by Halpern and Ruggiero

I am very pleased to announce that two films I’ve recently scored (with Nathan Halpern) are appearing in this year’s HOT DOCS film festival in Toronto.

CALL HER GANDA premiered just last week at the 2018 TRIBECA film festival.  This intense and beautifully shot film was reviewed in The Hollywood Reporter this past week.

MINDING THE GAP premiered at the 2018 SUNDANCE film festival where it won an award in competition.  This film has received numerous strong reviews and we are thrilled to see it appearing now in this fantastic showcase for documentary cinema.

Categories
Radio Shows

STREAMING NOW: Pres Sound Radio 4.11.18: 90s Indie Rock Vinyl w/ J Hammel and EKL

Jason Hammel (Vosotros, Mates Of State) and Emily K Larned (Muffinbones) join me in the studio for three hours of HVY 90S NOSTALGIA all broadcast from the original 45s and 33RPM LP records.  Check it out ::: This program has already aired, but u can Click here to stream the show until May 2018.

Setlist:

  1. Guided by Voices – My Son Cool

2 Helium – Baby Vampire Made Me

3 heavens to Betsy – calculated

4 beck – Asshole

5 sebadoh – on fire
6 blonde redhead – fake can be just as good
7 stereolab – miss modular (12″ single version)
8 gamma rays – Lovely
9 aislers set – red door
10 nirvana – Molly’s lips
11 free kitten – Cleopatra
12 chisel – your star is killing me
13 pavement – carrot rope
14 eggs – a pit with spikes
15 team dreschdon’t try suicide
16 Gbv -game of pricks (ALT EP version)
17 superchunk – kicked in
18 mommyheads  -cactus farm
19 the sea and cake  -Station in the valley
20 sebadoh – Soul & Fire
21 lungfish – instrumental
22 six finger satellite -coke and mirrors
23 Neptunes – knife fight
24 Antioch arrow – Too band you’re gonna die
25 slant 6 – click-click
26 secret stars -sister brother
27 heavenly – trophy girlfriend
28 pavement  – Perfume V
29 lync -firestarter
30 the monorchid – oral fixation
31 the makeup  -the choice
32 air Miami  -Airplane rider
33 thermals – no culture icons
34 gbv -cutout witch (EP version)
35 new bad things -no pass, no fail
36 kicking giant – she’s real
37 smog – all your woman things
38 cat power – you may know him
39 aislers set – Chicago  New  York
40 belle and Sebastian  – Slow Grafitti
41 neutral milk hotel – Naomi
42 nick cave – are you the one I’m waiting for
43 pavement  – filmore jive
44 Elliot smith -St Ides Heaven
45 porno for pyros – black girlfriend
46 broadcast – living room
47 Mates of State – I have space
Categories
Radio Shows

Preservation Sound Radio 031518 : LINK TO STREAM

Last night was the first P-S-R broadcast of ’18.  The show has been archived and you can stream it until April 15 2018 at this link.  Don’t snooze this is a good one – the first two hours are post punk /new wave and the last hr is moody 70s doper jams.  All from the original LPs.   GET IT ::::::::::

  1. Joachim Witt GOLDERNER REITER
  2. Grauzone EISBAR
  3. Greg Kihn THE BREAKUP SONG
  4. Soft Boys I WANNA DESTROY YOU
  5. Hot Head Slater IT HAPPENED TO ME
  6. 999 HOMICIDE
  7. Romeo Void NVR SAY NVR
  8. The Flying Lizards HER STORY
  9. Anika YANG YANG
  10. Alva KOPA
  11. Glaxo Babies AVOIDING THE ISSUE
  12. Siouxsie and the Banshees JIGSAW FEELING
  13. Blue Orchids DUMB MAGICIAN
  14. MI-Sex COMPUTER GAMES
  15. Yello NIGHT FLANGER
  16. Magazine DEFINITIVE GAZE
  17. Higelin BOOGIE ROUILLE
  18. The Only Once ANOTHER GIRL ANOTHER PLANET
  19. Nick Lowe HEART OF THE CITY
  20. INXS DONT CHANGE
  21. MX80 Sound MAN ON THE MOVE
  22. Larry Wallis POLICE CAR
  23. The Chameleons DONT FALL
  24. Simple Minds SPEED YOUR LOVE TO ME
  25. Soft Boys INSANELY JEALOUS
  26. Talk Talk HATE
  27. Colin Newman FISH 3
  28. Lilliput HITCH HIKE
  29. The Raincoats IN LOVE
  30. Violent Femmes GOOD FEELING
  31. Robert Wyatt AT LAST I AM FREE
  32. Can DEADLOCK (theme from the film)
  33. Peirre Bachelet & Herve Roy EMANUELLE THEME
  34. Total Issue LES MARINS
  35. Plain Jane SILENCE
  36. John Kay TWO OF A KIND
  37. The Appletree Theatre WHAT A WAY TO GO
  38. The Rationals GLOWIN’
  39. Fluff WHOS GONNA LOVE ME
  40. Elephants Memory PIECE NOW
  41. Blue Cheer SATURDAY FREEDOM
  42. Lee Python Jackson IN A BROKEN DREAM
  43. The Instincts DONT LOOK BACK
  44. Don Walker DEAR PRUDENCE
Categories
Connecticut Audio History Pro Audio Archive Technical

Excellent Larry Scully / Bert Whyte interview from AUDIO 1969

Download the complete 5-page Bert Whtye interview of Larry Scully from the 11.69 issue if AUDIO:

DOWNLOAD: LarryScully_BertWhyte_Interview_AUDIO_1169

As longtime PS dot com readers know, we are based in Bridgeport CT,  former home of Scully.  Scully was America’s leading manufacturer of Lathes for cutting LP masters; only Neumann lathes offered any real competition in terms of quality. Starting in 1962, with the aid of former PRESTO engineers, Scully also began manufacturing high-quality tape machines in a variety of formats.  I had a Scully 1″ 8-track machine recently and it was a marvel of engineering; the sound quality was absolutely astonishing.  In this article, L Scully describes his father’s start at Columbia Records (also based in Bridgeport in the early 20th century), their movement the manufacture of professional tape machines, ETC.   Great piece of history.

There is a plethora of Scully, Columbia/Bridgeport, and Bert Whyte material elsewhere on this site; just use the search box. 

Categories
Recording Studio History

Studio Report (c. 1949) : WMGM NYC (later FINE SOUND INC) (UPDATED 1)

Download a 7pp article from AUDIO ENGINEERING magazine March 1949 on the subject of WMGM NYC.  Author is one M. E. Gunn.

DOWNLOAD: Audio_Engineering-4903-WMGM_(later_Fine_Sound)-2018_scan

Thanks to Tom Fine for the scan, and for this context:

Here’s a look at WMGM, at 711 Fifth Avenue NYC (now the Coca-Cola building). My father’s first company was called Fine Sound, located in Tomkins Cove NY (Rockland County). He and George Piros started the company after they both left Reeves Studios, around 1951. It was there that the recording truck was conceived and built (*see here for our extensive prior coverage of that endeavor*), and also where my father invented a process we’d today call pseudo-stereo sound for film, PerspectaSound (more at  widescreenmuseum.com).
Fine Sound INC circa 1954
Loews/MGM bought 51% of PerspectaSound and moved my father’s studio business to most of the WMGM space described in this article. Studios A and B, which were 2-story floating rooms within the building, were the original NBC Network studios, before Rockefeller Center. After NBC moved out, World Broadcasting occupied the space during WWII. Loews/MGM bought the building in 1948 and set up their main radio station there. By the time Loews/MGM bought 51% of Fine Sound, WMGM wasn’t doing large-audience live radio very much, so Studios A and B weren’t needed for day to day radio work. So it was a good business move to convert most of the space into a recording and mastering facility. Columbia Pictures bought the building in 1956 and wanted to take over Studio A as a large screening room. My father’s business wasn’t viable without both big studios, so he got into a lawsuit against Loews/MGM to block the sale. He lost and ended up without a business. He ended up back on his feet a couple years later with Fine Recording (*see here for our extensive coverage of Fine Recording*)
The ground-breaking Miles Davis/Gil Evans/Gerry Mulligan “Birth of the Cool” sessions were done at WMGM. As Fine Sound, the studios were host to numerous jazz sessions for Norman Granz (Norgran/Verve) and Mercury/Emarcy, by the likes of Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Johnny Hodges, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, Roy Eldridge, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Patti Page, etc.
Fine Sound studio B during Raymond Scott “Your Hit Parade Session.” Photo by Bob Eberenz, courtesy T. Fine
The studios were also used by Raymond Scott to pre-record music for “Your Hit Parade,” and also to pre-record music for Patti Page’s TV program. There were also early stereo recordings made for Grand Award (Enoch Light’s company which ABC-Paramount bought and it then became Command Records).
Raymond Scott (R) and assistant during”Your Hit Parade Session.” Photo by Bob Eberenz, courtesy T. Fine
The studio was also used to produce PerspectaSound soundtrack masters for MGM movies and cartoons. Fine Sound also had a unique mono LP cutting system, using the Miller cutterhead. This system had zero electrical feedback, instead the cutterhead was mechanically damped with rubber blocks. The cutterhead could be driven with more power and was capable of greater dynamic range than Westrex mono system. Fine Sound was the largest independent (ie not Columbia, RCA or American Decca) LP-cutting facility in the USA in the mid-50s.
As Prior

During its time at Fine Sound, one of the 12-channel RCA consoles was converted to three-channel (in reality, it ended up being three 4×3 mixers). That console later ended up in Studio B of Fine Recording from 1958 to 1967. In the film-mixing studio (Studio C), MGM installed a custom Western Electric console designed and built specifically for MGM (and described in a SMPE [pre-SMPTE] Journal article). This console also ended up at Fine Recording, in Studio C, and was then at Walter Sear’s studio in NYC, and later it was briefly used at the now-defunct Museum of Sound Recording. It’s now privately owned and under restoration.
Categories
Manufacturers Pro Audio Archive

Harrison Recording/ Mixing Consoles Circa 1980 : complete catalog scan

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE

IM A HIGHER BEING

if you get that reference

we’re probably in the same karass

and if you get that second reference as well

one of us might be a clone

Download the complete 21 page Harrison Systems, INC catalog of audio mixing desks circa 1980:

DOWNLOAD: Harrison_Consoles_circa_1980

This document contains images and text describing the following units: Harrison 32C and Series 24 recording / mixing consoles and Harrison “Autoset” automation.  The product photography and GDSN of this publication are second to none.  Unlike virtually every large-format console-manufacturer of the 1970s, Harrison is still in business; I saw their recent 950MX mixer at AES a few years ago and it looks killer.  Anyone using an older, or newer, Harrison, for their day-to-day?  Let u know in the comments.

Categories
Uncategorized

ULA RUTH : THIS IS A DRUM : First Single From Forthcoming U/R Full-Length album

Very excited for the world to hear the new full-length from ULA RUTH.  Recorded and produced by your truly at our studio Gold Coast Recorders and mixed by Greg Giorgio at Tarquin Studios, the first single THIS IS A DRUM is available to hear now on the usual channels:

Click here to listen on Soundcloud
Click here to listen on Spotify
Enjoy – much more to come from these gentlemen in 2-0-1-8
Categories
Gold Coast Recorders Uncategorized

Gold Coast Recorders Now Offering Old -School Analog Multitrack Recording

When M/T and I started recording music together in the mid 90s, we used a Tascam 1/2″ analog 8-track machine.  We still have that machine, although it was sidelined sometime in the very early 2000s when ProTools became affordable.  18 years and 1000000 unnecessary drum edits later we are 100% sure that the time is right to fully embrace the awesome sound and liberating minimalism of the 8-track analog format again. To that end, we have ‘upgraded’ from the TSR-8 to both a Tascam 48 and a Tascam 58: serious, pro versions of the classic 1/2″ 15ips format responsible for so much of the great underground and indie music of the 70s and 80s.

The combination of this tape format, but in our enormous, fully equipped modern studio with every possible mic, instrument, and audio gadget is simply an unbeatable combination if you are looking for true grit and soul.  We’ve recently completed our fifth project on this format and the results are simply awesome.  Drop us a line if you are interested in learning more. Oh, and btw, we still have 256 tracks of Pro Tools HD3 and we’re happy to use that too,,,

Categories
Film Scores

MINDING THE GAP with score by Halpern & Ruggiero debuts, wins award at 2018 Sundance film festival

Nathan Halpern and I just recently completed the score to Bing Lui’s debut feature doc MINDING THE GAP, and the reception as Sundance 2018 has been phenomenal;  by the end of the festival the film was enjoying prominence as the best reviewed film of Sundance 2018.

“Less than a week after its sold-out world premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, Minding the Gap by Bing Liu won the US Documentary Competition Jury Award for Breakthrough Filmmaking last night at the fest’s official award ceremonies in Park City.  US Documentary Competition Juror Barbara Chai presented the award, saying:

“We are so exited to celebrate this extraordinary documentary for its vivacity and freshness of spirit, its unexpected revelation of personal detail, and dazzling, un-choreographed sequences that possess the athleticism and grace of ballet.”

The emotional world premiere of Minding the Gap was attended by film subjects Keire Johnson, Zack Mulligan, Kent Abernathy and Mengyue Bolen. Earning an uproarious standing ovation inside the theater, immediate reactions from social media and from critics were very strong…” (SOURCE).