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Thread: ... Back in the 70's

  1. #1
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    ... Back in the 70's

    If one had the $$$ and wanted to put what would essentually be a recording studio set-up in their home...,

    Marantz and triamped Altec Big Red Supers. Chartwell LS3/5A's for nearfield monitoring.






  2. #2
    Senior Member RMC's Avatar
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    Hi toddalin,

    You seem pretty lonely here. This is surprising as there was so much interesting gear back then. I'll try filling some of the gaps left by others re the 70s home recording studio. It assumes lots of $$$. The most challenging aspect here is to remember what was available or not equipment wise in the 70s. Maybe I'll trip on a few years, but I think I'll do ok.

    MIXER: most recording studios are designed/built around a mixer and monitors, not necessarilly the case here. Can't remember if Solid State Logic and Amek existed in the 70s, Digico didn't, then I would go with something like a Trident, Neve, API or DDA mixer. Nice Cooper Sound ones, too small for the purpose here.

    MONITORS: for mains,the 1979 Bowers & Wilkins 801, a long time reference, time aligned, phase correct, matched pairs, limited production, etc. Still need others though. Room acoustics is a separate issue here.

    In the 70s a studio also needed the small Auratone cube type to know how the mix would sound on car or table radio or from AM. They're still available but may be useless today.

    As for nearfield monitors, I'm pretty undecided at this time not remembering years, still trying to figure out some. For the time being I'll simply enter the 1978 purchased Polk Audio Monitor 5 I still have, though somewhat larger. At the time a trade magazine test compared its sound to the Spendor BC-? but the latter was said to be short on highs (13-14 khz max), while the Polk doesn't suffer from that having the widely used hi-fi Peerless "Evergreen" tweeter. The British Mission nearfield type I also use don't qualify since they're 1991 or so.

    AMPS: Bryston 4B Pro/XLRs or the original Crest Audio P-3500 for the B&W 801s, and BGW 100B for the nearfields.

    Tape recorder: a DBXed Revox, Tascam for multitrack recording.

    Mic kits: Neumann, AKG (e.g. C414), E-V (e.g. RE20), Sennheiser (e.g. MD 421, MD 441), etc.

    Headphones: good old Sennheiser 414X I still use, others more recent don't qualify year wise.

    Turntable: Technics SL 1200, SME tonearm (Shure V15 IV owner manual says 1980, one year too late...)

    Real Time Analyzer: Neptune (Crown RTA-2 is 1981, can't remember the year for Audio Control's SA-3050-2)

    BTW I've been looking around to purchase a new hardware RTA, not software, and there ain't many of these left: now the well known Audio Control has also been discontinued, and the only other affordable ones seen (not B&K or Tektronics) were the Behringer you have and a TC Electronics model, part of the Behringer family. Don't really like the TC unit so that leaves only the Behringer DEQ 2496 for now. Never owned nor ever been a big fan of Behringer for various reasons, but who knows I may have to swallow that back (lol). I noted you seem to be comfortable/satisfied with that RTA in your posts? One rack space means a quite small readout to look at, any issues? Using the ECM 8000 mic or another? Thanks, Regards,

    Richard

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by RMC View Post
    Hi toddalin,

    You seem pretty lonely here. This is surprising as there was so much interesting gear back then. I'll try filling some of the gaps left by others re the 70s home recording studio. It assumes lots of $$$. The most challenging aspect here is to remember what was available or not equipment wise in the 70s. Maybe I'll trip on a few years, but I think I'll do ok.

    MIXER: most recording studios are designed/built around a mixer and monitors, not necessarilly the case here. Can't remember if Solid State Logic and Amek existed in the 70s, Digico didn't, then I would go with something like a Trident, Neve, API or DDA mixer. Nice Cooper Sound ones, too small for the purpose here.

    MONITORS: for mains,the 1979 Bowers & Wilkins 801, a long time reference, time aligned, phase correct, matched pairs, limited production, etc. Still need others though. Room acoustics is a separate issue here.

    In the 70s a studio also needed the small Auratone cube type to know how the mix would sound on car or table radio or from AM. They're still available but may be useless today.

    As for nearfield monitors, I'm pretty undecided at this time not remembering years, still trying to figure out some. For the time being I'll simply enter the 1978 purchased Polk Audio Monitor 5 I still have, though somewhat larger. At the time a trade magazine test compared its sound to the Spendor BC-? but the latter was said to be short on highs (13-14 khz max), while the Polk doesn't suffer from that having the widely used hi-fi Peerless "Evergreen" tweeter. The British Mission nearfield type I also use don't qualify since they're 1991 or so.

    AMPS: Bryston 4B Pro/XLRs or the original Crest Audio P-3500 for the B&W 801s, and BGW 100B for the nearfields.

    Tape recorder: a DBXed Revox, Tascam for multitrack recording.

    Mic kits: Neumann, AKG (e.g. C414), E-V (e.g. RE20), Sennheiser (e.g. MD 421, MD 441), etc.

    Headphones: good old Sennheiser 414X I still use, others more recent don't qualify year wise.

    Turntable: Technics SL 1200, SME tonearm (Shure V15 IV owner manual says 1980, one year too late...)

    Real Time Analyzer: Neptune (Crown RTA-2 is 1981, can't remember the year for Audio Control's SA-3050-2)

    BTW I've been looking around to purchase a new hardware RTA, not software, and there ain't many of these left: now the well known Audio Control has also been discontinued, and the only other affordable ones seen (not B&K or Tektronics) were the Behringer you have and a TC Electronics model, part of the Behringer family. Don't really like the TC unit so that leaves only the Behringer DEQ 2496 for now. Never owned nor ever been a big fan of Behringer for various reasons, but who knows I may have to swallow that back (lol). I noted you seem to be comfortable/satisfied with that RTA in your posts? One rack space means a quite small readout to look at, any issues? Using the ECM 8000 mic or another? Thanks, Regards,

    Richard
    Back in the day we had converted the singers garage into a studio with a separate mix booth. We used a Tascam 8 channel board, with 4 channel mix-down and a Teac 3340S with dBX for recording. Amplification was a Phase Linear 400 and Crown DC150 for 4320 monitors and Auratone cubes.

    I only use the Behringer for the 61-band RTA, both mic and line, and it is not in the signal path. Yes, I use the ECM 8000 and viewing is not a problem, within a few feet of the display.

  4. #4
    Senior Member RMC's Avatar
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    Hi Toddalin,

    Thanks for the input. I tend to like project studio stuff.

    So many good bands started as garage or basement gigs. I guess the limited options and money early on for group practice space and recording studio gave way to more musicians' creativity music wise. Best decade for good music production in my view, seventies for sure. Holding on to LPs and keeping gear a long time.

    As for the RTA I don't need to have it yesterday, money is in the budget and got a quote for it, but I'm not getting an acceptable price yet, then I wait, letting the dealer chew on it some more to do better (audio gear is more expensive in Canada than in the US). Still, I must decide on this before that one gets discontinued too, as its starting to look like a lone ranger in its class already... May explain why Behringer distributor in Canada is said to have rigid pricing for the unit. Kind of a monopoly situation with DEQ 2496?

    RE the Peerless "evergreen" tweeter mentioned about the 70s Polk Audio Monitor 5, I don't want to change the thread's direction here, so I'll post in my BGW amp thread the tech sheet for that tweeter. The Polks replaced the mid 70s L26, therefore moving from the "West coast sound" to the more "East coast sound" I guess.

    With California burning one more time (this is crazy), stay safe! Regards,

    Richard

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    Quote Originally Posted by RMC View Post
    Hi Toddalin,

    Thanks for the input. I tend to like project studio stuff.

    So many good bands started as garage or basement gigs. I guess the limited options and money early on for group practice space and recording studio gave way to more musicians' creativity music wise. Best decade for good music production in my view, seventies for sure. Holding on to LPs and keeping gear a long time.

    As for the RTA I don't need to have it yesterday, money is in the budget and got a quote for it, but I'm not getting an acceptable price yet, then I wait, letting the dealer chew on it some more to do better (audio gear is more expensive in Canada than in the US). Still, I must decide on this before that one gets discontinued too, as its starting to look like a lone ranger in its class already... May explain why Behringer distributor in Canada is said to have rigid pricing for the unit. Kind of a monopoly situation with DEQ 2496?

    RE the Peerless "evergreen" tweeter mentioned about the 70s Polk Audio Monitor 5, I don't want to change the thread's direction here, so I'll post in my BGW amp thread the tech sheet for that tweeter. The Polks replaced the mid 70s L26, therefore moving from the "West coast sound" to the more "East coast sound" I guess.

    With California burning one more time (this is crazy), stay safe! Regards,

    Richard
    Someone on AudioKarma in Northern CA had a Behringer 2496 without mic for $90. I was considering it for a spare or mobil unit, using my existing mic, but it just never happened. He may still have it for sale.

  6. #6
    Senior Member RMC's Avatar
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    Hi Tod,

    $90. for a 2496 sounds like a fire sale or divorce type pricing to me. I'm tempted to paraphrase another LH member: "Only an angry wife would sell at that price" (lol; great imagination!). That unit must be pretty old, in poor shape, the guy is short on cash or hates it to let it go for that price? Still, I prefer purchasing locally a brand new one therefore avoiding sad surprises when receiving a used unit, not as described by seller, seen too often on Forums. Plus it will have a warranty in view of few comments on the Net mentioning the unit had a reliability issue (a magazine reviewer even received a defective one, replaced pronto! Behringer...).

    Anyway, I've just looked at six places on the US side of the border to see pricing there on DEQ 2496 and just realized its more expensive in the US than I thought: MSRP was $429. and dropped to $403.48 US now.

    In Canada MSRP is $450. and dealer quote is a little lower than that (saying "I don't have much room price wise on that brand", contrary to other ones). Well, I'm quoted not far from the US price, but in Canadian dollars worth much less, so the deal doesn't look bad after all.

    On the basis of CAD/USD currency exchange rate alone (today bank sells $1. USD for $1.35 CAD, so 35% in favor of USD), then the 2496 should have MSRP here around $545.CAD. Sadly for US folks, this would imply they seem to be the ones getting short-changed? Or simply Canadians are getting a nice break this time? Don't see this frequently as we're usually the ones getting hammered for audio equipment. A local audio importer/distributor once sold some stuff at American prices, paid CAD dollar for dollar, pretty exceptional.

    Seen the above way it appears like a no brainer. I might well order the DEQ 2496/ECM 8000 combo soon. Thanks for your help. Regards,

    Richard

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by RMC View Post
    Hi Tod,

    $90. for a 2496 sounds like a fire sale or divorce type pricing to me. I'm tempted to paraphrase another LH member: "Only an angry wife would sell at that price" (lol; great imagination!). That unit must be pretty old, in poor shape, the guy is short on cash or hates it to let it go for that price? Still, I prefer purchasing locally a brand new one therefore avoiding sad surprises when receiving a used unit, not as described by seller, seen too often on Forums. Plus it will have a warranty in view of few comments on the Net mentioning the unit had a reliability issue (a magazine reviewer even received a defective one, replaced pronto! Behringer...).

    Anyway, I've just looked at six places on the US side of the border to see pricing there on DEQ 2496 and just realized its more expensive in the US than I thought: MSRP was $429. and dropped to $403.48 US now.

    In Canada MSRP is $450. and dealer quote is a little lower than that (saying "I don't have much room price wise on that brand", contrary to other ones). Well, I'm quoted not far from the US price, but in Canadian dollars worth much less, so the deal doesn't look bad after all.

    On the basis of CAD/USD currency exchange rate alone (today bank sells $1. USD for $1.35 CAD, so 35% in favor of USD), then the 2496 should have MSRP here around $545.CAD. Sadly for US folks, this would imply they seem to be the ones getting short-changed? Or simply Canadians are getting a nice break this time? Don't see this frequently as we're usually the ones getting hammered for audio equipment. A local audio importer/distributor once sold some stuff at American prices, paid CAD dollar for dollar, pretty exceptional.

    Seen the above way it appears like a no brainer. I might well order the DEQ 2496/ECM 8000 combo soon. Thanks for your help. Regards,

    Richard
    I remember paying ~$140 for mine from ebay and bought the mic separate.

    Back in the day, Zilch used one and that's where I first saw them.

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