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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

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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

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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

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Russco Broadcast and Mobile Mixers Circa 1980

Disco_421DISCO 421: Capturing the feeling that you get exactly one minute after four-twenty, all my dank-bros.  Yes this is an image intended to sell audio mixers.  Download the original sales-fliers for the RUSSCO Disco 421, Studio Master 505 and Studio Master 505S:

DOWNLOAD: Russco_Mixers_1981

Russco_StudioMaster_505Russco_Disco_421

Russco_StudioMaster505sNo further comment.

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Visual Culture part XIV: 1981

Toa_Mixer_1981Just stick a Porsche next to pretty much anything

PeaveyWorld_1981In Hartley Peavey’s imaginarium, everything is made of Peaveys.  Kinda like BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, but with amps.

MesaBoogie_1981‘Hey Jim, how about Denim for the background?’  ‘Sounds good Mike.’

CerwinVega_1981Is she intended as *a simile for the speakers?  *a metaphor for the musical signal that will ‘exite’ these speakers?  *a metonym for the community of all nightclub-speaker users?  *a form of ‘impossible representation’ given that she seems quite unlikely to be a purchaser of this product, and the speakers are equally unlikely to be a ‘client’ of hers?   Please use the COMMENTS section to offer your own analysis of the precise ‘non-literal meaning’ being used here. 

Top to bottom: Toa, Peavey, Mesa-Boogie, Cerwin Vega, all circa 1981. 

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Check Out This Crazy Fkkn Tape Deck (Technics edition)

Technics_RS-M95Download the 4pp catalog for Technics’ top-end tape deck of the late 70s, the RS-M95:

DOWNLOAD: Technics_M95

A few months back, I was sweatin the Technics RS-M85 of the same era; turns out there was an ever finer deck on offer.  Man high-end tape decks were nuts back then.  And the best part is that almost none of em work anymore!!!!  Truly lost to time.  Hey btw we have a really exciting cassette themed video dropping in a few weeks, keep ’em peeled…

Revolution

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“Amplification Without Distortion,” Acme Radio Co. 1925. Full Book Download…

AcmeTransformers_1925Download the 40pp book/advertorial “Amplification Without Distortion,” as published by the Acme Apparatus Company of Cambridge Mass in 1925:

DOWNLOAD: Acme_AWD_1925

Acme_TOCAcme_A2_transformerWe haven’t run anything quite so Ye Olde for a while, so I was excited to come across this odd little item at the flea mkt recently.  Acme made a few transformers and other radio-part-flotsam and this book offers fundamental advice and construction information regarding RF and AF amps.  I’ve included some of the more relevant Audio Amp information below; I’m not a radio guy so I can’t comment on that stuff…  At left is their A-2 audio transformer, seems like a Plate-to-Grid unit based on the specs.  I think I actually have one of these around somewhere…

I actually own a few of these super fkkn old homemade radios, and they are really pretty fascinating, starting with the fact that there’s basically NOTHING in them… they don’t even have wires, everything is connected via buss bars.  I also picked up a circa 1922 one-tube power amp a couple years back, eventually I’ll get around to firing it up…  this is real dawn-of-a-new-age stuff here, folks, all of this gear was designed to run on batteries, cos very few people had ELECTRICITY when this book was published.  Dig in….

Acme_amps_1Below, schematics for the three audio amplifiers spec’d in the book:

Acme_one_stage_amp Acme_3_stage_amp Acme_2_stage_amp

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Live DJ Set Tonite Wed 7.24.13 New Haven CT

BIC_301How y’all doing…  tonight I’ll be behind the Garrard 301’s at Firehouse 12 in New Haven Connecticut, joining mi hermano Sway for another night of dark old rock soul + psych.  Come on down to the best bar in CT and expand yr horizons, man.

UNSPUN at Firehouse 12

45 Crown St New Haven CT

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Snake Oil or Holy Water?

EXR_ExciterDownload the original 4-page catalog for the EXR Exciter circa 1979:

EXR_Exciter

If someone who was involved with the development of this product could please write-in and end the debate on these things:  what exactly does this device do, processing wise?  The catalog has an intense quasi-scientific account of human perception (going so far as mention Autism), and no real explanation of WTF this thing is actually doing besides some selective harmonic distortion addition, which jibes with my experience of similar products from Aphex.  EXR dude, the ball is in yr court…fill us in…

PerceptionExciter_Specs

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Yamaha HS50s are $129/ea at MF dot com

photoAbove: my lil home editing setup: Apogee Mini-Me, MBox 2, Macbook, Fostex T40s, 2nd LCD display and…  my HS50s (astride DIY’d platform/isolators).  Oh yeah and of course the Mighty Mouse.  Best time-saver ever.

How y’all doing today…  srry for the lack of recent posts; been working on some pretty exciting new projects here at PS dot com that we hope to unveil soon.  In the meanwhile: a tip:  people often ask me for speaker recommendations, and for many years now I’ve been reco’ing the Yamaha HS50s.  I bought mine at Sam Ash maybe 5 years ago for $300/pair, which seemed like a bargain at the time.  Well now the price has dropped, likely in advance of a phase-out.  The HS50 is a powered speaker with balanced inputs, dunno how much power but more than enough for working at home, trust me.  Now, you can spend a lot more on speakers, but when yr gonna stick them on a desk, right next to a big ole LCD display, in some untreated spare bedroom: why would you?  I’ve worked on literally hundreds of spots, jingles, and film and TV tracks on these suckers and I’ve never been disappointed.  At the studio we have (along with Tannoys and Avantones) a Blue Sky speaker rig that cost about 10x as much, and yeah it sounds better.  But… it’s also in a properly-dimensioned room with a shit-tonne of acoustic-control devices that cost a fortune in parts and time to build.  Unless you take the time to really treat your listening environment, I am not convinced that you need much better desktop speakers than the HS50s.

BTW – I reco these not just for musicians/engineers, but for anyone who needs good small speakers for listening to anything – TV, music, etc.  Small, well-made, reliable, accurate sound.

Yamaha HS50s – $129/ea at MF dot com.