Month: September 2013

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Uncategorized

Live DJ Set / Tonight Wed 9.18 / FIREHOUSE 12 New Haven CT

Firehouse12_091813Sway + Sanchez return tonight to Firehouse 12, 45 Crown ST, New Haven CT, for 4 hours of lost LP gems… it’s been a great summer for crate digging and I’ve excited to be able to deliver some all-new sets.

Above: last week’s finds (thanks DS): The Electric Prunes 2nd LP “Underground”; Twarz, Poland’s Janis c. 1970; Cherry People, obscure Shondells-styled pop rock; Earth Opera, which was Dave Grisman’s psych band before he found fame as a roots performer; FUSION, an early Ry Cooder project, v v Beefheart psych weirdo blues; Barrabas, spanish rock band c. 1970; Black Pearl, a v cool MC5-type Dopers-Play-James-Brown RnB freakout music; and two LPs from The Equals (Israeli pressings ?!?!), utterly fantastic band fronted by a young Eddy Grant.

Come on down to CT’s best bar and hear all the non-hits.

Categories
Pro Audio Archive

Gotham Audio NYC – Complete 1979 Catalog Download

Gotham_1979_logoDownload the complete 16pp 1979-1980 Gotham Audio catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Gotham_Audio_1979

Products mentioned, with text + photos, include: Telefunken M 12A, M 15A, and M15A Multitrack (32 tracks!) tape machines; Telcom C4 noise reduction system, TTM universal noise reduction frame, Neumann microphones including U89, KMR 82, USM 69; Neuman VMS 80 Disc mastering system, SP 79C Disk Cutting Console, MT 80 preview  playback tape deck, SAL 74 Cutter Drive Logic (600 watts per channel!!!!), and SX 74 cutter head; EMT 240, 250, 140, and 244 reverbs; EMT 424 and 422 flutter analyzer, and EMT 950 turntable; K+H 0-92 and Model OY speaker; the EFP Phonograph plating plant (!!!!), NTP console modules 179-120 compressor, 177-520 oscilloscope, and a range of meters; plus a bunch of other related bits+bobs from the end-of-the-line of crazy-hi-end analog studio infrastructure.   Just be glad you didn’t buy a new Swedish-built LP plating plant in 1980, ‘aight?  Re: bits+ bytes are just ’round the corner….

NTP_Modules Telefunken_M15a_32_track EFP_Plating_plant K+H_Model_0-92_Speaker Neumann_VMS80_Mastering*************

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For our earlier scan of the 1972 Gotham Audio catalog, click here.  Astute commentators are encouraged to reflect on what had changed significantly between ’72 and ’78.  And sage speculation on what might change between today and 2019 is equally encouraged.

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Uncategorized

The Studer 169 Portable Audio Mixer c. 1980

Studer_169_mixer_1Got a pretty good one for y’all today… download the complete 12pp catalog for the Studer 169 Portable Audio Mixer:

DOWNLOAD:Studer_169

Oh Studer 169.  How long you have taunted me on eBay.  How little use I would probably find for you.   Available in configurations varying from 8 to 11 inputs, 1 to 4 masters (each with integral limiter), the 169 was a 19″ rackmoutable mixer.   Anyone using of these?  Weigh in!

Studer_169_1 Studer_169_MB Studer_169_studio

Categories
Pro Audio Archive

Harrison MR2 and Post Prod’ Series Consoles C. 197*

Harrison_MR2Download 10pp of period promo materials for the Harrison MR-2 and “Post Production Series” mixing consoles:

DOWNLOAD: Harrison_consoles

I have several other pieces of Harrison documentation; if there is enough demand + attention to this post, I’ll post those as well.

Harrison_console_2 Harrison_Console_3

Categories
Technical

Mullard “Made For Music” c.1960 Catalog / Datasheets

Mullard_1Download the complete 6pp Mullard “Made for Music  / Valves For Audio Equipment” c. 1960 catalog:

DOWNLOAD: Mullard_Made_For_Music

Products covered, with text, specs, and photos, include: Mullard EF86 (6267) pentode, Mullard ECC83, ECC81, and ECC81 twin triodes (12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7), EL84 (6BQ5), EL34 (6CA7), and EL37 (6L6) power tubes, and EZ80, EZ81, and GZ34 rectifier tubes (6V4, 6CA4, 5AR4).

There’s plenty of info here, operating points, some basic schematics, etc…  good for any tube audio-maker to keep on hand. I stopped by the shop briefly today and was pleasantly surprised that to see that E.Lyon had found this for me…   Thanks again!  Enjoy…

Mullard_EL37 Mullard_ECC83 Mullard_Circuit

Categories
Pro Audio Archive Uncategorized

The Quad/Eight Model 248 Mixing Console c. 1980

QuadEightMini248Download ten pages of literature regarding the Quad/Eight model 248 mixing system:

DOWNLOAD:QuadEight_248

Anyone?

QuadEight_InputModules Quad_Eight_illustration

Categories
Videos

New Video : “Build A Variable H-Pad”

FirefoxScreenSnapz002How are y’all doing today…  we have a new video ready: “Build A Variable H-Pad.”  If you’ve ever wanted an easy, controllable way of reducing level in the studio without losing signal balance or creating wild impedance variations (which can have undesirable consequences frequency-wise), this project is for you.  I have a couple of these little boxes at Gold Coast Recorders and they get used pretty often; the most common use would be if I want to crank up a tube mic preamp to get some break-up on a drum kit or vocal mic.  If this results in an excessive output level, I can just patch in one of these variable pads and dial in a safe level for the A/D convertors.

Check out the video, and here’s the schematic for anyone who wants to build one of these lil fellas.  You’ll need two balanced jacks of your choosing, four 1% 1-watt 160-ohm resistors, one 200-ohm 1-watt resistor,  a 1-watt 1-K linear taper pot, a terminal strip, and a small enclosure.

StaLevel_Output-1024x537*************

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For my original article which describes the development of this device, click here.

Categories
Pro Audio Archive

The EMT 250 and 244 Digital Reverbs

EMT_250Download the original product-sheets for the EMT 250 Digital Reverb and its baby bro the 244:

DOWNLOAD: EMT_244_250_reverb

That giant 99-lb star-wars-lookin thing above is an EMT 250.  Ten years ago I was working on a session at Ocean Way Nashville and they still had one of these things right next to the console.  Anyone out there still using a 250 in the studio?  The 250 uses 12-bit, 24k convertors, which means that both input and output are low-passed at 11Khz.

EMT_250_flowThis brings up a good point about reverb in general: you don’t need a lot of hi-end to create good-sounding reverb for most applications…  I always keep some sort of low-pass filter active in my reverb returns to trim off anything that’s not contributing in a meaningful way.  Luckily, even the most basic reverb plug-ins tend to have a low-pass adjustment built in.  My $0.02: use it!

250_reverb_diaVery interesting to read this: so apparently the 250 uses 19 different taps, with feedback only on some of them.

EMT_244The lesser-known 244 (i’ve personally never seen one, FWIW) uses 13 bit convertors; no sampling rate is specified, but given that the frequency response is stated between 30hz and 8khz, it’s likely around 20k.

To you veteran engineers out there: was the 250 the first high-quality digital reverb? Were there any earlier units that you have used?  Let us know,,,

Categories
Uncategorized

The Sound Of 23.5 Karat Gold

EMT_240Download not one but two circa ’72 brochures for the EMT 240 ‘Gold Foil’ reverb system:

DOWNLOAD: EMT_240_reverb

The 240 was apparently intended not to replace the 140 so much as provide a smaller, portable (132 lbs haha) alternative.  I’ve provided y’all with 10 pages of documentation here, it’s worth reading..  this thing really is an engineering marvel.  Rather than a ‘plate,’  the reverberant surface is a tensioned sheet of gold-foil 18 microns thick.  This gold-foil material, btw, was a completely in-house-made material…  fkkn crazy.  Anyhow, check it out…   those of you who have had experience working with both a 140 and 240, pls weigh in on the relative merits thereof.

EMT_240_inside

Categories
Pro Audio Archive

EMT 140 TS Plate : King Of The Mechanical Reverbs

EMT_140_TS_1971Got a pretty good one for y’all today… download the complete 8pp 1971 brochure for the EMT 140 TS reverb system:

DOWNLOAD: EMT_140_ts_1971

I was recently given a large collection of 1970s EMT documentation, so get ready for detailed info on pretty much every EMT reverberation product ever made.

I met a studio owner recently,  it was a very nice place, some excellent gear and instruments, mentioned that he was in the market for a plate; he felt that a good plate reverb is a piece of kit that can actually be a significant factor in a producer or engineer choosing one facility over another for a project.    Those of you who regularly hire facilities for projects: agree?  As a studio owner, I’ve personally been planning on skipping the plate and going directly to building a chamber, but who fkkn knows when/if this will happen.  Plate would sure be nice… here’s what EMT had to say about the 140 back in ’71:

EMT_140_text

EMT_140_frontEMT_140_TS EMT_140_block_diagram*************

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For previous plate reverb coverage on PD dot com, click here…