Categories
Icons Manufacturers

Rare Tony Schwartz Interview/Profile From “Better Listening Through Hi-Fi” July 1957

Tony Schwartz is a towering figure in the worlds of audio production, advertising, and media studies.  I recently came across a very obscure, AFAIK never-before-reproduced (feel free to prove me wrong here guys…) profile on Schwartz from the July 1957 issue of “Better Listening Through High Fidelity” magazine (h.f. ‘BLTHF’). As far as I can tell, BLTHF was an advertorial publication distributed gratis via electronics retailers in the 1950s.  The author of the piece is Robert Angus.

DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE: TonySchwartz_1957

If you are not familiar with Schwartz’ work, read this basic profile here.  Schwartz ranks alongside such luminaries as Brian Eno, Janet Cardiff, Morton Subotnik, and not too many others in my personal  pantheon of audio greats.  Schwartz is widely recognized to be the first person to successfully conceptualize and properly exploit the possibilities of tape-recording-as-art.  Not music recording or music production, mind you, simply documentary tape-recording. Schwartz then took this hobby, essentially, and went on to create one of the most significant careers in the history of advertising and media production as a producer and director of commercials.  His most famous production, which I teach in not one but two of my classes at the Uni, is the spot known colloquially as ‘Daisy.’ If you have never seen this short piece of film, take sixty seconds to watch it below.  You will see a no-budg spot that many media pundits acknowledge as having possibly decided one of the most crucial presidential elections in US history, an election that, had it gone the other way, could (and yes this is a stretch) have significantly altered the course of all human history.  Watch the spot:

NEways…  so, so much has been written about ‘Daisy’ that there is literally no way I can add anything new to the conversation.  Which is partially why I was so thrilled to uncover SOMETHING about Schwartz-in-his-salad-days that seems to have been largely overlooked.  As far as ‘Daisy,’ a quick google search will reveal much more than I could offer at this point in the evening, two-drinks-in as-it-were.  One more point before I go… in case you were wondering what brand of tape machine Schwartz was using for his editing work in the 50s:

Yup that’s a Magnecord.  If you are interested in learning more about Schwartz, let the man himself speak to you.  I recommend first his excellent book “The Responsive Chord.” For a buck-o-five you got pretty little to lose and maybe a lot to gain…

Categories
Uncategorized

Welcome To The Sears World Of Sound! Let’s Install A Dashmate! (197X)

I think they left out Phase Six: smoke grass.  Jesus my car stereo really started fukkin up y’day.  The CD player (which is an enormous, inscrutable six-disc changer built into the dashboard) started spewing out nothing but insane digital hash.  E. suggested that perhaps some force was trying to direct me to the New Sound. Before I could get a recorder to sample it, all returned to normal.  S’pose it’s just a matter of time before the doorway opens again.   And then: The New Sound.

Categories
Technical

Add Vibrato (?) To Any Tube Amp! (1962)

Download a short article from 1962 by one F.H. Calvert on the subject of adding a vibrato circuit to any vacuum-tube audio amplifier:

DOWNLOAD: Vibrato

Above, the schematics.  These are not plans for a stand-alone device: rather this circuit (the schem on the left) is intended to be added to any resistance-coupled voltage amplification stage (for instance, the circuit on the right).  It requires an extra single hi-mu triode section.  The author suggests 1/2 a 6SC7 or 1/2 a 6SL7, but it would presumably work just as well with 1/2 a 12AY7 or 1/2 a 12AT7, with maybe just a slight change to the 2.2K cathode bias resistor (can anyone tell me what the single-triode sub-miniature equivalent of the 12AY7 and the 12AT7 are?  Do they even exist?)  I have not built this circuit yet so no promises.   A few observations tho:  I find it hard to believe that this is actually a vibrato device; it seems like it’s likely a tremolo circuit.  It looks very similar, in fact, to the trem circuit in the ole 18watt Marshall combo. Also: if it’s worth building, it’s certainly worth adding the speed variation pot.  Contrary to what the author suggests, my best guess would be to replace the left-most 2M resistor with a 2M pot PLUS a fixed 470K resistor in series. Def gonna try adding this to the next Recycled Champ that I turn out.

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Best Shirt

Circa 1977: Pioneer Electronics promo T-Shirt.  From an era when audio consumer audio electronics were expensive, rarefied, and had actual parts inside of them (via is-there-even-anything-inside-this-ipod-?).

Categories
Uncategorized

Absurd And Brilliant 1980s Consumer Electronics Commercials

If you’ve been reading this website for a while, you’ll know that I post a lot of old print adverts and catalogs featuring 1920’s – 1980’s audio equipment.  I collect this sort of paper and I have 1000s of pieces of this stuff that I am slowly bringing online for y’all.

Larger consumer electronics chains also produced adverts for cable and local television broadcast.  Most of them were negligible affairs driven solely by budget concerns, but every field will have its mavericks.  My good friend GJ turned me on to the collected television advertising of the Federated chain of stores. GJ: “…the Federated spots…were done by Shadoe Stevens when he was a young unknown playing a guy named Fred. They were small time/ cheap and weird and made a little shop really popular. Developed a cult following…some are amazing and inspiring.”  No small praise coming from GJ, a fine director himself.  You can watch his latest production, a music video for the fantastic group Peaking Lights, at this link.

I won’t offer any analysis or commentary on the Federated spots, as one could quite literally write a book about this series of spots:  there is that much going on as far as the highly intertextual and media-aware nature of these little narratives, the smart visual language, and the savvy use of minimal production bucks to create memorable advertising that really does relate well to actual consumer-benefit of the products offered.  So get ready for a journey through time and space:

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Yard Sale Speaker’s Spotter’s Guide: 4: AR and Klipsch

Today: the last in our series on better-quality readily available vintage hifi speakers.  Above, AR’s AR-3A, AR-2AX, AR-6, AR-7, AR-5, AR-8, AR-4XA, and the model XB turntable.

Above: Klipsch Cornwall, Heresy, Belle, and the mighty Klipschhorn.

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Yard Sale Speakers Spotter’s Guide: 3: Dynaco

Above, the Dynaco line-up circa 1974: A10, A-25, A-35, and A-50 speaker systems; Stereo 120, Stereo 50, and Stereo 400 amps, PAT-4 Preamp, FM-5 and AF-6 tuners, SCA-80Q integrated amp.  Dynaco components were offered pre-assembled (and badged as Dynaco), and in kit form (badged Dynakit).  The speakers, AFAIK, were all pre- assembled.  Dynaco had an earlier line of tube components that are more sought-after, but you can find plenty of all types out there… the speakers are not as common but apparently not-too-bad.

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Yard-Sale Speaker Spotter’s Guide: 2: KLH

Today: part two of our series on the higher-end of widely available vintage hifi speakers: KLH.  Despite their very generic, un-hip look, these KLH units really surprise me with their sound.  IMHO they sound a lot better and a lot more modern than the JBLs of the same period.  Plus they have woven clothe surrounds so they are a lot less likely to need any servicing.  I have personally encountered some units that had bad crossover caps, so if you get a pair and there’s no tweeter action…  it might be the cap.  I recommend this brand of cap for replacement.  Good price/performance value.  Some of these KLH models were also available (with a different numerical designation) as part of a 3-peice-set including an amp/tuner/phono combo unit.

Above: KLH Model Five, Six, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Eight, Twenty-One, Seventeen, Thirty-Two, and Thirty-One.  

Categories
Antique Hi-Fi Archive

Yard-Sale Speaker Spotter’s Guide: 1: JBL

JBLs ‘in-the-studio.’  Seriously tho you wouldn’t want to use these in an actual recording studio these days, trust me I’ve tried.

This week at PS dot com…  a collection of the better-sort of home hifi speakers that can turn up for $10 – $30 at yard sales in the local posh suburb.  Aside from some of the larger ‘marquee’ models, I think i’ve come across pretty much all of these at one point or another…  And remember, don’t be afraid of disintegrated foam surrounds on old woofers…  a $40 re-foam kit from Orange County Speaker and about 2 hours of your time is all it takes to bring most of these things back.  Scared me the first time too, but shit now I get to watch TV with a $1700 pair of Dahlquists that cost me all of $35.

Above, JBL Flair L45, Century L100, Decade L26, L88 Plus, Studio Master L200.

And last but not least… The L25 Prima!  JBL’s plastic-cased speakers circa 1974.  With optional coordinated record-bins.  This one’s for you MT.  You still got these things? 

Categories
Recording Studio History Uncategorized

An opinon piece that laments the ‘good old days’ of old-school music production (1958)

Download a four-page article from “High Fidelity Music at Home” (yes this was the title of an ancient magazine…) circa 1958 on the subject of Oh How Things Have Changed (in Jazz recording):

DOWNLOAD: HFMAH-5804-Jass_Band

Yeah yeah sure DAWs have changed music, MP3, etc., etc…  but how about electricity? I recently started reading a couple of books from Mainspring Press on the subject of “Recording the Twenties” and “Recording the Thirties.”  It’s a little tough for me to get through owing to the fact that I have no interest in the vast majority of music that the author discusses, but shit if I am going to sit here and harp on and on about audio history, maybe I should have some of the facts straight?  NEways…  some interesting stuff for sure.  I bought an old spring-powered Victrola for a few bucks at an auction last week and ran some 78s on it… it sure didn’t sound great but music came out.  Music made and recorded without the benefit of microphones, speakers, wires, or electricity.  Crazy right?

A “Jass” session for Gennet Records circa 1923.  All of the sound happening in that room vibrates a small metal diaphragm located somewhere down in the bowels of that wall-mounted horn; this diaphragm is mechanically coupled to a needle that cuts a varying groove into a spinning disc.  A record is made.

A Jazz session circa 1958.  The sounds happening in that room vibrate thin polyester diaphragms inside all of those microphones; a particular instrument’s proximity to a particular ‘mic’ determines to what degree that ‘mic’ will pick up that instrument rather than the others.  Electrical signals flow from each mic to an audio-mixing panel where the various signals can be combined or rejected to the taste of those with appropriate authority in the mixing-room.  Eventually, a record is made.

The only thing that we can count on as music-production professionals is change.  Market forces drive change.  The tastes and talents of the young, both music consumers and makers, drive change.   Just get the job done and make the music feel powerful.  Shit, I plugged my iphone into the HD3 system today to provide a quick synthesis source for a vocoder part and I’m not ashamed.  The MS20 was just too far across the studio for me to bother with.   As the author of the above-posted essay correctly states: “While we must encourage engineers to improve recording and reproducing equipment… the great enjoyment of music comes from understanding its aesthetic beauty, rather than concern with the techniques by which music is produced.”