broadcast audio – Preservation Sound

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

chris — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 15:14:39 +0000

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.

Gray Research, Hartford CT: 103-LP tonearm and 602 equalizer circa 1950

chris — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 10:30:44 +0000

download the 4pp circa 1950 Gray Research sales flier for the model 103-LP Transcription Arm and the model 602 disc equalizer:

DOWNLOAD: GrayResearch_103_602

Gray was located in Hartford, CT, just a stone’s throw from here, from roughly 1950 through 1970. feel free to correct me if you personally know otherwise. I have come across very little original Gray literature and equipment in my 13 years here.

There seems to be very little information on the internet about this company, other than this nice archive.

If you or a family member worked at Gray, please drop us a line.

1965: Early Wireless Microphones

chris — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:24:52 +0000

Download a 3pp article from B.E , 1965, on the subject of wireless microphones used for broadcast reporting. Author is R Fetterman. BTW: is that a large collection of RCA OP-7’s pictured above?

DOWNLOAD:WirelessMics

DIY Tube Broadcast Console c. 1964

chris — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:02:38 +0000

From BROADCAST ENGINEERING Mag, circa 1964, plans by one Robert Tiffany on the design and construction of a low-cost ‘standby’ broadcast console. Output amp stage uses my fav line output transformer, the UTC A-25: still unequaled among air-gapped plate:line transformers for low-frequency response. BTW, add a 600:60K mic input transformer to the front of this thing and you’ve got a pretty nice mic preamp with a LOT of gain.

DOWNLOAD: Console_0001

Coming this month at PS Dot com: broadcast engineering highlights of the mid 60s

chris — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:10:55 +0000

How are y’all doing… I recently picked up a large pile of the old ‘Broadcast Engineering’ mags from the mid 60’s. Although much of the content focuses on video engineering (not quite ready to go there yet…), I found a good amount of audio-related content that is still potentially relevant today. I’ll be uploading bits and bobs throughout March. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned…. oh and here’s a sample of that yr in for…

Broadcast Compressors etc. Circa 1974

chris — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 13:07:16 +0000

From Collins Radio 1974 catalog #74: A round-up of broadcast compressors from Collins and CBS. Models covered: Collins 26U-3 limiter, 26J-3 compression amplifier, CBS 4100, 4450A. and 4110, 4000A limiters; CBS 4500 dynamic presence equalizer; and CBS 710 ‘automatic loudness controller,’ which I imagine is some sort of LFKS-type limiter?

Also – a bonus – from the same era – second-hand limiter/pre-amp price list from the same era. RCA BA2Cs for $20? Yes I will take 30 please. How about a General Electric BA-5 for $75?

Big scans so… follow the link for the info…