Preservation Sound

Download my new track “Derniers Préparatifs” here:

Eight days ago I found an ancient Italian polysynth at a local pawn shop. Called the Crumar Orchestrator, it’s an odd combination of string synth, ‘electronic piano,’ and monosynth all in one rather heavy package. The sound is effortlessly evocative of circa 1980 Euro cinema, and this track came to me instantly. You can see pics of the Crumar, hear my original live performance of the piece, and even see the drumkit mic’ing for this track at my Instagram page.

As with the rest of my Camerro project, this track was recorded entirely on a four-track cassette recorder: in this case, a Tascam 134. Here’s how it went down:

Track 1: Ace Tone ‘Rhythm Ace’ drum machine w/heavy Yamaha E1010 16th note echo; Track 2: Crumar orchestrator (this is the bulk of what you’re hearing). Track 3: Bass guitar. Track 4: add elec guitar while submixing with tracks 1, 2, 3.

After the bounce, I added live drumkit to track one (overwriting drum machine), and add two passes of Roland Alpha Juno synth + Hohner Pianet electric piano to tracks 2+3 (overwriting bass+ Crumar). The kit was recorded with two mics, submixed thru a basic mic preamp and heavily compressed to tape.

SONG TO WELCOME THE SPRING /// the first track I’m releasing from my solo recording project CAMERRO. 

‘control-click’ on the player below to download the MP3.

This song is inspired by my trip last yr visiting ancient pagan churches in Estonia.  Everything you hear is played live by me and the track was entirely recorded on a cassette 4-track.  For me this music is as raw and personal as it gets.  The 4-track cassette process requires that everything be performed carefully and with great intent as ‘fixes’ are not possible. For yall techy-types here’s how it went down:

Tascam 134 4-track cassette deck with Maxell XLII-S tape. Click to track three, elec gtr (finger picked rh+melody) to track one, drums to track two, bass to track four;

Submix gtr, drums, bass while playing congas all to track two (erasing click);

add electric organ on track two (overwriting drums), add sitar and cello (in sections) to track one (overwriting gtr), add percussion to track to 4 (overwriting bass). Two microphones were used: Bang&Olufsen ribbon for drums and perc, Neumann TLM170 for congas and cello, gtr bass sitar organ were direct. FX are Yamaha PROR3 reverb and Yamaha E1010 delay.

UTC’s “CG” ‘commercial grade’ line of transformers were high-quality sealed units made in the 50s and 60s and possibly later. The later ‘red paint’ iterations often have pinout data printed on the cases, but the earlier ‘metal-badge’ versions sometimes do not. Despite the wealth of vintage UTC transformer data already available online, I could not find this particular document on the internet so I have scanned it for y’all. This particular document has a March 1956 date code so i assume that it covers the line at-that-point.

CNTRL-CLICK TO DOWNLOAD 4PP PDF:

Units covered include output transformers CG-2L6, 4L6, 15, 16, 19, 710; power transformers CG-422, 428, 429, 431; bias units CG-315, 316; low-level audio units CG-131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 1347, 140, 141, 233, 235, 333, 433; and power transformers CG33, CG120, CG122, CH124, CG125, CG126, CG300, CG301, CG302, CG303, CG34.

I wanted to see how compact I could make a high-voltage, point-to-point wired Tweed Champ. Here’s the result. Leo Fender’s 5F1 circuit, but with a solid-state rectifier, built into a tiny vintage NOS Bud hammertone chassis. Front panel is gain (standby switch at zero), pilot lamp, input; rear panel is fuse, power switch, IEC and speaker jack. See my Instagram page for sound sample.

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Click this link to stream a special two-hour Preservation Sound Radio show focusing on: Psychedelic Soul. (show starts approx 12 minutes into the file). This show was assembled in my studio and relayed for broadcast on WPKN. Audio-nerd notes: the entire program was assembled from my vinyl LP collection, freshly transferred via a vintage Denon DL207 MC cartridge through a 1:20 ADC step-up transformer unit I assembled this week. My voice via a 1950s EV 666.

Tracklist:

1. curtis mayfield DO DOO WAP IS STRONG IN HERE
2. cymande BIRD
3. the main ingredient SUMMER BREEZE
4. brother to brother I WISH IT WOULD RAIN
5. minnie ripperton LES FLEUR (set break)
6. soul searchers WE THE PEOPLE
7. the temptations SMILING FACES SOMETIME
8. junior parker TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
9. manu dibango HIBISCUS
10. the dramatics IN THE RAIN
11. shuggie otis JENNIE LEE (set break)
12. rotary connection PAPER CASTLE
13. rasputin’s stash YOU BETTER THINK
14. edwin starr BALL OF CONFUSION
15. sly and the family stone TIME
16. james brown JUST ENOUGH ROOM FOR STORAGE (set break)
17. the southside movement IVE BEEN WATCHING YOU
18. eugene mcdaniels CHERRY STONES
19. the sound experience EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL
20. dennis coffey LONELY MOON CHILD
21. david axelrod FREEDOM (set break)
22. funkadelic ILL BET YOU

Above: prototype of a novel design for an economical all-tube headphone amplifier. I have been hunting for a way to build an all-tube cue amp into the @berlinettabrewing DJ console. I was forced to design this because no decent schematics exist anywhere online for something like this: something compact, simple, and inexpensive to make that can run either 600 ohm cans or modern low-impedance cans.

This design uses a basic voltage amp (1/2 a 12AX7, although a 12AT7 would work fine too) driving one paralleled cathode-follower 6CG7 per channel. In theory, with a big enough output cap and 300 plate volts, this SHOULD be able to drive 600 ohm headphones to a very high level. And it does. But here’s the twist: the “600 ohms” jack is a switching jack that, when blank, sends the signal to a pair of 600 ohm:8 ohm “70v” 5-watt line-to-voicecoil transformers: I used inexpensive old Stancors. These are the sort of transformers that you often find inside old schoolhouse baffle speakers.

At full rated level, the low end of these transformers is weak. But at the 1/2w that they see in this circuit, they sound absolutely fine. The amp sounds great with either variety of cans- i tried @akgaudio 600 ohm k240s and @audiotechnicausa ATHM50, which I suspect are 30 ohms-ish. Way way more then enough level, great fidelity and just great sound all around. A little experiment that paid off, coming soon to the world’s most esoteric DJ console.