I just couldn’t keep offa the damn thing. Here’s another similar compostion made on the Vestax MR44 – only diff is that I used the DBX this time. I also played a whole lotta really hi-endy stuff (sleigh bells, tibetan bowls, tambo, shaker) on the 2nd set of passes in order to see how the DBX handles the high end. I’m impressed with the sound! Def some tape hiss there, and some weird low-freq bump going on, but it sounds presentable. This piece is 7 tracks – i played the wha gtr into the bounce of the nylon gtr/bass/low percs so that’s 4 into one plus the next 3 (hi percs, Hohner Pianet, and Recorder are first-gen). Oh yea and the reverb this time is that cheapy lil boss pedal rather than the Eventide. Again, this is all live, played into and mixed exclusively on the MR44.
Author: chris
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Vestax MR44 4-track tape machine
I can’t stop buying these oddball ‘hi-end’ cassette 4-track machines. At this point, I’m up to 5 of them. This Vestax 44 was bought ‘untested’ from ebay; it needed a power supply (which entailed adding a conventional p/s jack, since the Vestax one is super weird), but other than that it worked right away. Strange set of features, but it has zero return, DBX, and high speed, and the best part is the form factor: it’s ideally suited for my ‘desktop’ style composing station, with its shallow rackmount chassis and all i/o on the front.
I had a chance to really try it out today and make a track using it exclusively. For this first experiment I used no DBX, and type II Maxell tape. This is a 6-voice piece. I started with a metronome on 1, and then bounced Ac Gtr, bass, and handdrums over to 1, adding some eventide reverb; track 2 was Organelle doing a mellotron kinda thing with a lil sample of my voice, 3 is my Moeck Alto recorder thru the yamaha E1010, and 4 is my old les paul with a wha wha.
I figured what with the inevitable tape hiss I should try something old school – went for a 70s euro-horror feel. “It was the goat all along….”
When I have a sec I’ll try another onna these with DBX and using a compressor on the instruments on the way in – see how much diff it makes in terms of fidelity. Pretty happy w this tho.
Click here for my earlier demo of the Yamaha MT44 4-track machine.
On this day, which history will recount as the Day Of Brexit, your humble audio historian/engineer/hoarder (that’s me) greets you with a simple request. Please buy this $30 T-Shirt.
FWIW, neither this site nor our Youtube channel has ever accepted any of the many many offers for advertising and/or ‘branding opportunities’ that have come our way. We have kept it direct+ unfiltered, catering to no one. But like your friendly local NPR station, we are not above asking for money. 
We struggled to find the right kind of $30 T-Shirt to offer, and when we learned about the uber-rare circa 1970 Wally Heider Recording promo shirt (see right), one of which recently went on sale for $1,500 (not a typo), we knew where to go with this. Email Chris@preservationSound.com for paypal payment instructions. $30 Shipped to your USA address. (ROW higher).
We also have a limited supply of GCR hooded sweatshirts – see above – with the same lovely graphic and colors. $55 shipped to you in the USA. ROW higher.
Shirts and sweatshirts are printed in Napa California on soft lightweight 100% cotton tees. Expect shrinkage. Large image at top is taken in natural light with no processing whatsoever. Shirts are subtle “Army Green” with mustard yellow ink. For shirts, unshrunken across arm holes (see image at left) are: Small 17″; Med 20″; XL 23.5″; XXL 25. NOTE: Size M, L and XL are sold out! Only S and XXL remaining for the shirts.
Sweatshirts measure across underarm as follows: medium 21″; large 23″; XL 25″ EDIT: we only have a single Medium sweatshirt in stock!
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The Fisher PR6 Phono Preamp Circa ’55
Been working on developing a ‘NEW’ octal -based RIAA preamp so this caught my eye in a giant pile of rotten paper at ye olde Sunday Flea. Click the link below to download the manual for the Fisher PR6 preamp, including schematics ETC. And check out this link for some worthy thoughts on mod’ing the circuit.
DOWNLOAD: Fisher_PR6_Manual
In May of 1962 “AUDIO” magazine celebrated its 15th anniversary. IIRC, AUDIO was the more consumer-facing half of what had initially been AUDIO ENGINEERING magazine; the AES Journal being created sometime in the 50s to carry the more professional articles. Anyhow, for their 15th, AUDIO asked some of the experts of the time to weigh in on THE FUTURE OF AUDIO. Harry Olson, certainly one of the greatest inventors of sound equipment who ever lived, had some comments that struck me as being incredibly prescient. I’ve never seen this reproduced anywhere, so check it out, enjoy it, share it, and take a minute to speculate on where this is all going.
this is my new group
this is our debut record
TABLES s/t debut LP is available NOW as 12″ LP and digital download on Safety Meeting Records; you can purchase and/or stream all ten cuts at this link.
If you dig this blog, you will like this record. But don’t take my word for it. Check it out. Also makes a great gift for all the other weirdos in yr life. LPs are limited to 250 in this pressing.
In the later part of 2015, Nathan Halpern and I wrote and recorded the original score to a new documentary film called OUT RUN. OUT RUN premieres next Friday April 8 at the Full Frame Doc festival in Durham North Carolina. Directed by Emmy-nominated filmmakers S. Leo Chiang and Johnny Symons, OUT RUN tells the story of the Ladlad political party. In the words of the Full Frame curators,
“Ladlad is the only LGBT political party in the world, and their charismatic transgender leader Bemz Benedito is running for Filipino Congress alongside two other LGBT candidates. Eighty percent of the legislature in the Philippines is elected by geographically defined voter districts; the other 20 percent consists of candidates from issue-oriented parties who campaign nationwide to represent marginalized minorities like farmers, women, and workers. The Philippines is a primarily Catholic country with a complicated relationship to LGBT issues. While Catholicism considers being gay a sin, many villages have drag beauty pageants, and beauty parlors are social hubs for a highly visible LGBT population who are tolerated as long as they don’t cross certain societal boundaries. Ladlad, taking their name from the slang word for “to come out,” tests campaign strategies: Do they defy the conservatives in power by expressing their authentic selves, or do they suppress their flamboyance to win over the most voters?”
The story is modern and dramatic, the backdrop of Manilla and its surrounding regions is colorful and dynamic, and we tried to reflect these qualities in the percussion-and-guitar based score that we created. For anyone interested in election politics or LGBT issues, the film is a must-see.
This is my new group.
This is my new album.
It’s available to order now on LP and Digital Download from Safety Meeting Records.
If you have been enjoying this site -my general take on sound and music – you will dig this album. It’s a synth record. It’s a strange record. But it’s strange and beautiful, and it comes from a very unique process + a very unique place. Please check it out, and consider ordering a copy. Vinyl is limited to 250 units and will sell out fast.
If you are in the CT/NYC area, we will be having a record-release show Friday March 25 at the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport CT. It will be a unique performance.
Interested in music production? Well, there’s a new 8-hour TV miniseries that you will want to know about. It’s called Soundbreaking and it’s an amazing documentary about the history and craft of music recording. Nathan Halpern and I wrote and recorded the original music and title theme for the series. We previously worked with show creator Jeff Dupre on his award-winning Kehinde Wiley doc and we could not be more thrilled to have been a part of this incredible new program. Aside from an enormous depth of rare archival materials, the show features over 160 new interviews. The first EP will debut at the 2016 SXSW Film Festival. I will post broadcast times/channels when available.
The 2015 Open Studios at the American Fabrics Arts Building will happen November 14 + 15. The address is 1069 Connecticut Avenue, Bridgeport CT. Ample on-site parking is free. I will be there with a big pile of used+vintage hi fi and pro audio gear from 2PM – 5PM on Saturday and 10AM – 1PM on Sunday. Stop by, say hi, and relieve me of my chattels. We will also have lots of clothing and some records and books for sale.
Since my shop is no longer in that space, I won’t have component-level stuff for sale (tubes, transformers, raw speakers, meters, ETC) unless asked to bring it??? So if there is something of that sort that you need, and you will def attend, pls just LMK in the comments section and I can bring some (if I have what you want,,,).
Two Roads beer samples and the big WPKN record sale will be parked right outside our door, #310. You don’t want to miss it! It is a super fun event – there are a lot of great artists in the building who will have their studios open – including a couple of sound-installation pieces – and this is just one of three major studio-buildings in BPT that are participating. Good clean free fun. Admission is free to all events.