Preservation Sound

How y’all doing… srry that the fresh content has been slow to come lately; I’ve been blessed with a full plate, production-wise, lately, so there has been little time for writing.  Expect some interesting new posts + project-build-notes in early January.  In the meanwhile, I wanted to take a moment to share the results of a really rewarding project that I was part of recently.  The Alternate Routes have been spending some time with me at GCR lately, and while none of that material has been released yet, I did a live multi-track and mix for them at The Quick Center in Fairfield CT on October 19th and they have made a few of those tracks available on YouTube with some great-looking multicam video footage by Mike Falzone.  The band hired me that night to capture a Protools session with every input iso’d, which is easy enough…  the wrinkle was that they wanted to be able to sell a recording of the set at the event itself.   In the lobby.  As the audience was leaving the venue. So using my Mackie ONYX 1640 mixer/firewire interface and a handful of outboard gear I did a live mix and a multitrack, both to Protools, and then quickly ‘mastered’ the stereo mixes during the encore; The Alternate Routes-logo’d USB drives were then quickly made and shuffled out of my little production suite backstage and out to the merch table.  It’s basically the equivalent of doing a live TV mix, but with the additional task of getting the isos.  Ten years ago I think this would have required a Remote Truck, but god bless technology (yup i said it), I was able to do this, properly, with inexpensive gear that fit in one load of my GMC Sierra.  The band was pleased with the results of the live mix, and so what yr hearing here is just how my fingers moved the faders while the band played.  Here’s “Oh My My,” which opened the concert.

Those of you who follow my Tumblr may recall that I posted a snapshot of my lil’ setup during the event:

Pretty minimal tools; 6 channels of comps and a TC FX unit; this is actually just the outboard rack for my PA-Hire system.   The Mackie was fed via a Whirlwind transformer split (thanks K!) by my usual live-sound-kit mics; basically Shure Betas with a pair of SM81s in the audience and a few special additions.  On a more ‘Preservation Sound’ note, if you pay attention to Eric’s guitar sound: this actually proved to be the most difficult part of the equation to get right, and it required dipping deep into my mic cabinet for a vintage Sennheiser MD409.  Nothing else that I tried on Eric’s Badcat Amp seemed to do the trick.   The 409 is unfortunately extraordinarily expensive these days due its close association with both Pink Floyd and Stevie Ray Vaughan.  If you have the chance to pick one up for a reasonable price, I would highly recommend you try it out.  It really is a pretty special dynamic mic; certainly not for everything, but it does have a unique quality to it.

Getting back to the band: they have also posted a few other songs from the evening, including Moonshining and Stay.   Check ’em out; they really are are a fine group.

Happy Holidays y’all.  I’ll be joining my good friend JBW aka Sway behind the 1200s at Firehouse 12 in New Haven again this Wednesday 12.19.12.  Got a whole new set ready for this one.   45 Crown Street  New Haven, CT.

Since we’re on the subject of antique hi-fi installs… download a three-page article from RADIO-ELECTRONICS, April 1950, on the subject of the burgeoning custom-installation business for hifi equipment (via opportunities-await-you).  Author is one William Rivkin.

DOWNLOAD: CustomHiFi_1950

When I was a child my family moved into a circa 1930s home (renovated circa 1965) that had one of these custom installs.  I can’t recall what brand of drivers were installed, but the amp was a Harmon-Kardon, stereo, with (I think…) 6BQ5s.  The Ttable was likely a Garrard.  I really think that the particular smell that the amp made was one the things that fascinated me the most about it; shortly thereafter I picked out my first guitar amp (thanks Mom+Dad), an excellent-sounding brand-new Fender Champ 12.  I remember the gtr-store salesmen being completely shocked that a child wanted a tube amp, rather than something with Mega-Distortion and Chorus; perhaps I should have told him that I was attracted to the smell.  The Harmon Kardon, I believe, I gave away to a high-school classmate named Matt Tebbe; Matt, if yr still out there, drop us a line and let us know if you stuck with the tube thing.  I definitely have…

Recently shipped this bespoke four-channel unit to customer P.G.  PG sent me a pair of UTC A20s and a pair of Triad HS-66 600:600 transformers; he wanted a finished piece that would allow him to switch the transformers in-and-out of a signal path easily.

For an explanation of the ‘transformer-as-signal-processor’ concept, see this previous post concerning a similar custom build.  P.G. wanted his unit built as a two-space chassis so that he could add a third pair of transformers in the future if he wished; the front panel was precisely measured and punched so as to allow this to be done in a visually harmonious manner.

Above, the inside of the unit.  Belden 9451 wire and the same 12,000 watt (no typo) 4PDT toggle switches as the prior build.  So how does it sound?  For those of you who are curious about commissioning or DIYing a piece like this, here are my impressions.

First, the ‘hard facts,’ measured using sine waves at +10db.

UTC A20: Insertion loss approx. 0.2 db.  down 1 db at 12hz, down 1 db at
65khz.  Otherwise flat.

Triad HS66: Insertion loss approx. 0.1 db.  down 1 db at 10hz, down 1 db
at 60khz.  Otherwise flat except for a bump up around 10k.

As fast as listening test (with music, not test tones): and this is obviously very subjective: the UTCs are very very subtle.  Bass is little more organized but it’s really hard to say. They are just too perfect I guess.  If they are run them at full protools level (+22) the user will likely hear some color, as it is outside their stated linear range. But at +10 there is little effect.

On the other hand, the Triad HS-66 definitely have a sound: at first I thought that they were bass shy, but the sweep test denies that.  To my ears, they make everything sound more forward and aggressive.