studio gear of the 60s & 70s?

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PrettyMonster

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Hey does anyone know of some websites where I can find some info on common studio gear from around '68 to '74?

I'm interested to know what kind of mics, mixers, preamps, tape machines, etc were being used in some of the major studios of that time.

Thanks!
 
If you're really interested in actually buying that stuff, you better have thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars to spend. A lot of that stuff is still the stuff that is being used today, and it's expensive.
 
Every studio was different back then... most studios built their own consoles until around the beginning of the 70's when "console manufacturers" started to spring up... Neve, API, Sphere, Helios, APSI, Angus, and a whole host of other regional desk manufacturers began to appear.

Most of the tape machines being used were made by Studer, Ampex, or 3M... most studios didn't really use much EQ though I believe Pultec [Pulse Technologies] started in the late 60's... most mic pre's were of the "cassette" variety that went into custom built consoles... and as the 70's began "solid state" technology started to arrive... making things like mass manufacturered consoles [like Neve, API, etc.] possible to produce on a scale that made console manufacture possible.

Microphones were mainly Neumann's and AKG's... but they had nothing to do with the modern dribble those company's currently spew. Back then they were hand crafted instruments that would cost hundreds of dollars [remember, you could buy a brand new Camaro in 1968 for like $2,000-... so "hundreds of dollars" for a mic was a HUGE investment].

Reverbs were either acoustic chambers or EMT "plate reverbs" [again, both were pretty expensive investments].

A lot of old radio and broadcast equipment was repurposed for recording... as were "disk cutting" equipment... like the Fairchild limiter, RCA limiters [which were mainly used for broadcast], Federal, Gates, yada, yada, yada

This is, needless to say, an exceptionally abridged version of what was going on back then but I reckon it might be a start for you to do some further research.

Best of luck with all you do.

Peace.
 
hmmmm ebay has just supplied my studio with a plethora of vintage delays ,echoplex, space echo & binson & some of the said delays/echoes are far from cheap & no real guarantee that it works

the reverb in the re201 is kapoot

if you're careful & extremely eagle eyed bargains can be found on ebay, BUT there are millions of us gear junkies watching these items out of curiosity as to eventual price or with a view to buying

out of curiosity has anybody ever made a plate reverb......I'm curious as to how possible it would be

also when dealing with vintage gear especially tape derived there are lots of maintenance points to remember. Like potential slipping belts or pinch wheels that don't quite grip or valve & valve bases needing cleaned. There's also a lot more noise with some of the gear that hails from the past
 
slidey said:
out of curiosity has anybody ever made a plate reverb......I'm curious as to how possible it would be
I believe Alton Everest included designs for building a sliding wall plate reverb in one of his studio construction books. I lost my copy years ago; I'm not sure if it's still in print with that info or not. But yeah, it's quite possible.

G.
 
There's a tutorial for building a plate reverb I came across a few times somewhere around on the net... not quite sure where though, it's been a while, but perhaps it can be found again!
 
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