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Old 1st Dec 2022, 8:56 am   #1
Malcolm T
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Default Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Ive just seen this .
I do enjoy this technology and often wonder what happened to the 50s and 60s valve / tube equipment in the UK and the US when semiconductors took over , where did it all go , a skip the dump ?. just not the same really.
There is a web site here,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hVW8PajaLc
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 11:19 am   #2
knobtwiddler
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Vintage gear and analogue tape has been more desirable than ever in recent years. In truth, it never went away. One of the first studios to get media attention for maintaining the old-school approach (here in the UK) was Toerag Studios - here's an article from 2003: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/...oe-rag-studios

I remember when A80 1/2" machines were being sold at £500 a pop. They are now at least 10x that in most places, as a quick Ebay search will attest. You might pay a lot more for the right model with low hours and nice heads.

I recently posted a link where a dealer was asking for $200K for a Fairchild 670 limiter / compressor. Here's one for the bargain price of £45K, but the seller is currently away: https://reverb.com/uk/item/4516093-f...ressor-limiter

The philosopher Sartre believed that a person could be trapped by having too many options, and that by having limits imposed, could actually have greater freedom. There are still engineers around who worked during the golden era at places such as Stax and Motown - and you can read their blogs / posts. One of the reasons why the artists (out of many reasons, not wishing to over-simplify...) attained such a high level of performance was because they didn't have limitless overdubs at their disposal. Tape degraded with every overdub, and studio time cost money. Going into the studio wasn't that dissimilar to performing at a concert. There are countless interviews with engineers who will tell you that iconic records were recorded in minutes, within a couple of takes (Kind of Blue was recorded in 2 sessions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue#Recording).

This is in marked contrast to digital technology, where the hardware is cheap, and there is no penalty if you need to re-record. You can spend a whole day recording one verse.

NB - I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the Trevor Horn approach of spending a day over a bar, but very few people are likely to do it as well as Horn.

edit - speaking of gear in the dump, synthesisers are a marked example of this. Synths that were literally put in skips a couple of decades back when digital gear seemed to be taking over, are now commanding prices into the thousands.
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 12:32 pm   #3
Malcolm T
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

A case of , if only i had known and waited at the back door years ago i could have caught the old gear flying out .
I have seen some of those interviews , the one on Gold Star in California is interesting , prices , phew !.
Also a lot of those studio session musicians in the 50s and 60s had interests in Jazz and the old time bands so knew their stuff as i believe , they just slid over to playing in a different style i have been led to believe, very talented people fascinating history i find.
Thanks for the links.
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 12:46 pm   #4
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

I do wonder if there was a golden age when there was just enough technology to enable a musician's vision to be recorded accurately. That could be Sun Studios, Abbey Road, Phillies Records or even Holloway Road - or perhaps Stockholm Studios.

Many of us have been in situations where a musician wants, say, a flute effect. Open the box and there are tens thousands of samples of flute sounds to choose from. Pick one - eventually - and then it can be manipulated, tweaked, quantised - and in the end the poor old musician has no idea what on earth he wanted the flute sample for!

As said above, I'd agree there's no substitute for working against the clock and with the constraints of technology - that's when creativity can shine through.
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 2:43 pm   #5
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Quote:
Originally Posted by knobtwiddler View Post
The philosopher Sartre believed that a person could be trapped by having too many options, and that by having limits imposed, could actually have greater freedom. There are still engineers around who worked during the golden era at places such as Stax and Motown - and you can read their blogs / posts. One of the reasons why the artists (out of many reasons, not wishing to over-simplify...) attained such a high level of performance was because they didn't have limitless overdubs at their disposal. Tape degraded with every overdub, and studio time cost money. Going into the studio wasn't that dissimilar to performing at a concert. There are countless interviews with engineers who will tell you that iconic records were recorded in minutes, within a couple of takes (Kind of Blue was recorded in 2 sessions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue#Recording).
100%

Quite a few UK artists went to the Motown studio back in the day to try and discover what made the Motown Sound....not a lot to figure out, excellent artists, musicians (Funk Brothers for example) songs, and arrangement, a later line up of the Funk Brothers shown performing here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-PNmGMTD-s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtvBdgyDH8U

Lawrence.
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 5:53 pm   #6
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Why oh why did I let my wife persuade me to sell all my Ferrographs 20 years ago!
I haven’t reminded her about the PR99( and all the tapes)in the loft.😎
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Old 1st Dec 2022, 7:01 pm   #7
Malcolm T
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

I agree about too much choice today , fascinating topic i find the musicians industry and the equipment.
As for a golden age i reckon for me i 1964 - 1972 .
Yeah but does the PR99 still work ?.
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Old 2nd Dec 2022, 7:31 pm   #8
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Interesting thanks for link. I notice the Mics don’t have that round screen in front of them, can’t remember proper name, when did they get introduced? Sorry I noticed a “ Ball and biscuit” later.
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Old 2nd Dec 2022, 8:49 pm   #9
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Some musicians still like using analog gear; Edwyn Collins [Co-founder of Orange Juice] used a lot of analog recording gear on his album _Gorgeous George_ and indeed his label "AED Records" was founded on the underlying idea of blending analog technology with modern digital stuff.

[AED stands for Analog Enhanced Digital].
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Old 2nd Dec 2022, 9:29 pm   #10
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Default Re: Vintage equipment recording studio Essex

Quote:
Originally Posted by John10b View Post
Interesting thanks for link. I notice the Mics don’t have that round screen in front of them, can’t remember proper name, when did they get introduced? Sorry I noticed a “ Ball and biscuit” later.
John
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