"Old Timers" production room TEST!

Okay..a few of us were on a confrence call last week and started talking about the "old days". (pre-digital) Let's see how seasoned a pro you are. (the phrase "seasoned" refers to "old, brittle and jaded")

1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil" and what was the actual name of it? (not "grease pencil") HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"

2. Name a brand of tape cartridge. (There are two posible answers)

3. What is a 635A? (Bonus points - Who made it?)

4. What is a "Space Expander" where was is primarilly used?

5. What company made the "Level Devil"?

6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)

7. What kind of equipment did Scully manfacture? (Bonus points - Name a model number)

8. What production studio workhorse did Russco make?

9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?

10. ESSAY QUESTION: How would you create a "reverse echo" (echo effect preceeeds the voice track) using only two 2 track tape decks..and only ONE deck had three heads?

We had fun going over this stuff..and to really jack around your old crusty chief engineer..ask him/her these questions..even if you get only a few right engineering types love to talk about this kind of thing.

I'll post answers in a few days..unless you get them right..if I see one that's 100 percent I'll send the first correct reply a beautiful new Autumn Hill Studios collectable tee-shirt! Select Black/Forest Green/Georgia Rust in XL and XXL only Wow? Yes wow!

Jeff Laurence
Autumn Hill Studios Imaging
www.autumnhillstudios.com
North Carolina USA

The only question I MIGHT be able to answer would be the reverse echo question...and it makes my brain hurt to think about it...God bless digital.

Guess I'm kinda green, huh?

> Okay..a few of us were on a confrence call last week and
> started talking about the "old days". (pre-digital) Let's
> see how seasoned a pro you are. (the phrase "seasoned"
> refers to "old, brittle and jaded")
>
> 1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil"
> and what was the actual name of it? (not
> "grease pencil") HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"
>
> 2. Name a brand of tape cartridge. (There are two posible
> answers)
>
> 3. What is a 635A? (Bonus points - Who made it?)
>
> 4. What is a "Space Expander" where was is primarilly
> used?
>
> 5. What company made the "Level Devil"?
>
> 6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital
> Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)
>
> 7. What kind of equipment did Scully manfacture? (Bonus
> points - Name a model number)
>
> 8. What production studio workhorse did Russco make?
>
> 9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?
>
>
> 10. ESSAY QUESTION: How would you create a "reverse echo"
> (echo effect preceeeds the voice track) using only two 2
> track tape decks..and only ONE deck had three heads?
>
> We had fun going over this stuff..and to really jack around
> your old crusty chief engineer..ask him/her these
> questions..even if you get only a few right engineering
> types love to talk about this kind of thing.
>
> I'll post answers in a few days..unless you get them
> right..if I see one that's 100 percent I'll send the first
> correct reply a beautiful new Autumn Hill Studios
> collectable tee-shirt! Select Black/Forest Green/Georgia
> Rust in XL and XXL only Wow? Yes wow!
>
> Jeff Laurence
> Autumn Hill Studios Imaging
> www.autumnhillstudios.com
> North Carolina USA
>

> 1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil"
> and what was the actual name of it? (not
> "grease pencil") HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"

China Marker (and i have several variations kicking around - can't pull the name back into focus)

> 2. Name a brand of tape cartridge. (There are two posible
> answers)

Fidelipac & Scotch (and HomeMade/HandWound)


> 3. What is a 635A? (Bonus points - Who made it?)
>
EV's handy-dandy mic. we had several in the mobile studios of the 80's &
90's. (although one station actually parted with bucs for a real-live RE20)

> 4. What is a "Space Expander" where was is primarilly
> used?
>
> 5. What company made the "Level Devil"?

Never heard of a Level Devil, but used the old Gates StaLevel at a couple of
stations.


> 6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital
> Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)
>



> 7. What kind of equipment did Scully manfacture? (Bonus
> points - Name a model number)
>
big shiny reel-to-reel recorders; never made note of the numbers.

> 8. What production studio workhorse did Russco make?
>

turntables! bring 'em back!

> 9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?
>
>

the only company i can bring into focus is Stanton in regards to tonearms or
cartridges.

> 10. ESSAY QUESTION: How would you create a "reverse echo"
> (echo effect preceeeds the voice track) using only two 2
> track tape decks..and only ONE deck had three heads?
>

assuming your reverse-echo was the lead-in, you simply record your sentence, then flip the tape around so it would play backwards. put the tape machine's pot up about 10-20%. to make sure you didn't mess up, a china marker at the lead sound would help... press play and then hit the record button as the mark passed rolled past the erase head. worked for me. the other way was to playback one tape backwards and record on the other machine - bring up the pot on the record machine at the point where you wanted reverse-echo.

almost as much fun as discovering vary-speed before vary-speed came standard on the Otari 5050B's. (little scotch tape over the reel-to-reel's capstain did the trick)


i know i don't have 'em all, but you're right: 'twas a fun little trip down memory lane.

and yes, i have an edit-all, a roll of splicing tape, a piece of yellow grease pencil & a blade in my work bag.

i could have puked my first week back (my second time around) at my present station when the production coordinator held out a reel of tape and asked me if i was any good at playing these back as she just couldn't get the hang of it. this was 4 years ago.

Hmmm...I consider myself an "old-timer" but have never heard of a "level devil".

Is it like a CBS VolumeMax unit?
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Some "thing" I've only seen once was a(heavy) round gadget, about 3 inches tall, looks like the shape of a bottle McCormick uses for spices and it had a hole in the bottom center.

This was used on warped records to flatten them out while playing.

I wound up making one with a soda can. I punched a hole in the bottom and put rocks in the can...worked like a charm!<P ID="signature">______________
"Be seeing you..."</P>

> Okay..a few of us were on a confrence call last week and
> started talking about the "old days". (pre-digital) Let's
> see how seasoned a pro you are. (the phrase "seasoned"
> refers to "old, brittle and jaded")
>
> 6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital
> Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)

William B. TANNER


>
> I'll post answers in a few days..unless you get them
> right..if I see one that's 100 percent I'll send the first
> correct reply a beautiful new Autumn Hill Studios
> collectable tee-shirt! Select Black/Forest Green/Georgia
> Rust in XL and XXL only Wow? Yes wow!
>
> Jeff Laurence
> Autumn Hill Studios Imaging
> www.autumnhillstudios.com
> North Carolina USA
>

> 1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil"
> and what was the actual name of it? (not
> "grease pencil") HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"

China marker, but Can't remember the maker.

>
> 2. Name a brand of tape cartridge. (There are two posible
> answers)

Audiopak / Fidelipac and Scotch / 3M

>
> 3. What is a 635A? (Bonus points - Who made it?)

A mic, I think

>
> 4. What is a "Space Expander" where was is primarilly
> used?
>

Hmmmmm.


> 5. What company made the "Level Devil"?

Damn. I can see the faceplate, just can't pull out the name. Wasn't it a small unit (not a rack mount)?


>
> 6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital
> Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)

Willima B. Tanner memphis, TN. My first "radio" type job.

>
> 7. What kind of equipment did Scully manfacture? (Bonus
> points - Name a model number)

RTR machines. The model I used in my first job is on display at the Stax record museum in Memphis. THAT HURTS!


>
> 8. What production studio workhorse did Russco make?
>

Big, clunky, indestructable turntables.


> 9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?
>

Audio-technica???????

>
> 10. ESSAY QUESTION: How would you create a "reverse echo"
> (echo effect preceeeds the voice track) using only two 2
> track tape decks..and only ONE deck had three heads?
>


Record it dry, reverse the tape. dub it over to the other machine with poor man's ech. Open the pot for feedback reverb.


<P ID="signature">______________
Never hold a cat and a dustbuster at the same time.</P>

> 5. What company made the "Level Devil"?

Gates
>
> 9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?

Gray

Another question for your list. In addition to the Viscious Damped Tonearm, Gray made another arm that had kind of a pivot elbow and a counter-balance. What were those called.... the name, the model.

And what is a PT6A?

An Edit-All?

>
> and yes, i have an edit-all, a roll of splicing tape, a
> piece of yellow grease pencil & a blade in my work bag.
>

Sheez, You had splicing tape and a yellow grease pencil? Got by on scotch tape and a sharpie. Had to make two cuts, one to cover the splice and two to narrow the splice on the tape.

By the way, a sharpie worked better on the tape. Don't know why, but I seemed to have better splices with that than grease pencil. Then finally stayed with the sharpie.

davery

> Okay..a few of us were on a confrence call last week and
> started talking about the "old days". (pre-digital) Let's
> see how seasoned a pro you are. (the phrase "seasoned"
> refers to "old, brittle and jaded")
>

Great stuff! I wish I'd seen this when it was first posted.

<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>

I prefer "experienced", not "old"...

OK, I'm dating myself (which is cheaper than dating anybody else), but here goes:


1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil" and what was the actual name of it? (not "grease pencil") HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"

It was a China Marker. I remembered Sanford China Markers. Don't remember (or have) Blais----

2. Name a brand of tape cartridge. (There are two posible answers)

Fedelipac, Scotch, Audiopac

3. What is a 635A? (Bonus points - Who made it?)

EV 635A dynamic mic - the ONLY mic to give ham-handed newsguys taking their SuperScope recorded out into the field.

4. What is a "Space Expander" where was is primarilly used?

I'm guessing you're talking about the old Fairchild Space Expander reverb unit used both in production and on some Top 40 stations in days of old. I've also heard them (or a reasonable substitute) used on oldies stations in more recent times.

5. What company made the "Level Devil"?

Ah, the old Gates Level Devil. Precursor to the Sta-Level. The Omnia/Optimod of the 60's.

6. Name the production company that first put out "Digital Director" on CD (Hint: William B. ------)

Ya got me. I'm guessing William B. Tanner, but I don't know what Digital Director is.

7. What kind of equipment did Scully manfacture? (Bonus points - Name a model number)

Scully reel-to-reel decks. Big-ass mothers, but I spent a lot more time with Ampex 601's and 602's.

8. What production studio workhorse did Russco make?

"Instant Start" turntables. Look a lot like the QRK. Were they actually the same turntable?

9. What company manufactured the "Viscious Damped Tonearm"?

Gray. I can't remember if they were the ones who also built the rosewood tonearms with the brushed aluminum heads that were EVERYWHERE back in the day.

10. ESSAY QUESTION: How would you create a "reverse echo" (echo effect preceeeds the voice track) using only two 2 track tape decks..and only ONE deck had three heads?

Record the original track. Reverse the reels, and put them on the 2-head deck. Start the 3-head deck in record, then hit play on the 2-head deck. Crack the pot on your Gates Yardboard that allows you to create an echo effect on the 3-head record deck. Voila!

Re: I prefer "experienced", not "old"...

>
> 1. Who was the manufacturer of the famous "grease pencil"
> and what was the actual name of it? (not "grease pencil")
> HINT: "Blais---- Ch--- Ma----"
>
>

Wasn't it the Blaisdell China Marker? I seem to remember something like that in a dream...
Helped me to learn my craft well, though, "too many" years ago.

Someone else mentioned a PT6A. I don't remember the "A", but I knew a PT6 as a Magnecord reel-to-reel with a funky function... It took what seemed like an hour to fast-forward a 30-minute reel, and about 6 seconds to rewind the same tape.

I'm not kidding, ye analog deprived young 'uns!

But WATCH YOUR FINGERS!!! PT6's showed NO mercy to either wayward fingers or the newly stretched tape on the reel!

Mr. Laurence, I HATE YOU!!! I'll be having another nightmare tonight, thanks to these memories!
(Seriously, what a hoot!!)

Re: Nightmares

> But WATCH YOUR FINGERS!!! PT6's showed NO mercy to either
> wayward fingers or the newly stretched tape on the reel!
>
> Mr. Laurence, I HATE YOU!!! I'll be having another nightmare
> tonight, thanks to these memories!
> (Seriously, what a hoot!!)

I have one word for you...

Wollensak

You can tell an OLD broadcast newsman. One arm is longer than the other because of those damn things.

RESULTS and we have a winnah!

Sir Roxalot got them all right (mostly) so the incredibale, wearable tee-shirt goes to him. Sir..e-mail me your parcel address at [email protected] and shirt size and color preference, and I'll have "the girl" send one right out.

Some additional info. The China Marker was indeed made by BLAISDELL. Sanford made the Sharpie, and I must agree that a simple "dot" on the tape worked great until 3M came out with that blasted 206 tape with the black backing on it. Couldn't see the mark very well so had to go back to the grease pencil.

William B. Tanner put out "Digital Director" the first production library to be entirely provided on that new format COMPACT DIGITAL DISCS. And as is usually the case with Tanner's stuff, it sounds really dated, but you still hear it on the air in Owego, and Vacaville, and Kermit, Texas..places like that. I gave my copy of it away to a station in the Phillipines several years ago..and I saw a knick-knack birdhouse for sale at a flea market a while back that had a melted CD on the "roof"..you guessed it! Made in the Phillipines, and it was Volume 10, Medium Tempo Beds..Guess they must have been too cheezy for them too!

The SpaceExpander was made by Fisher. It had an amplifier unit, and a separate spring unit that..if mounted improperly..would ((((ROAR))) every time you took meter readings using that remote relay rack switcher with the telephone dial on it.

The Scully 280B was the solid reel-to-reel machine preferred by Randy Michaels during the "Taft Broadcasting" years..Very solid unit.

Speaking of springs..those that remember the Magnecorder might also remember the stock issued "reel holders" were a spring loaded affair with a knurled metal cap. MAN when those suckers were in rewind and one of those shot off..it would break the skin..you could slice bologna on the spokes of a plastic reel if one was so inclined.

The viscous-damped tone arms looked like a big sewing machine needle..They were on a ball that was coated with a thick oil..and that would act as a shock absorber..insulating the pickup cartridge from the base of the turntable (which housed about a 4 hp motor that vibrated something fierce) The wooden tone arms were made by Micro Trak and I think either they bought the line from Grey, or Grey sold to them..Those were great tone arms, and much more sturdy that you might think.

The Gates "Level Devil" was notoriously s-l-o-w to attack and release, but it was all we had then...Anyone remember the Kahn Symmetra-Peak? Everyone had one, but I could never hear what it was supposed to do. An old engineer claimed that Stanley Kahn sold them as a "magic box" to make your station more "hi-fi" and that the box was just a bunch of wire..no components! He said that one afternoon before falling asleep at the transmitter building reading his "special magazines" and enjoying a glass of Wild Turkey.

EV made the 635A..the most solid microphone ever made.

The mighty WOLLENSAK was a workhorse tape machine that were mostly used in schools. Ask any of us that were in the A/V crew in school back then and we'll testify that they were great recorders..and for many of us the first one we ever used...

THAT'S IT! This is all WOLLENSAK'S fault!!! Get him boys!

Hope ya had some fun with this one. We'll do more later! For now I am on vacation until July 7th! Lata!

Close gets the cigar

> Sir Roxalot got them all right (mostly) so the incredibale,
> wearable tee-shirt goes to him.

What? No "shipping & handling"? Woo-hoo!

> The SpaceExpander was made by Fisher. It had an amplifier
> unit, and a separate spring unit that..if mounted
> improperly..would ((((ROAR))) every time you took meter
> readings using that remote relay rack switcher with the
> telephone dial on it.

You could also get a really cool "crash" effect if you kicked it just right. Just don't let an engineer catch you!

Actually, I don't remember if the station that used it on-air had a Fisher, or a Fairchild "Reverbertron" - another spring reverb.

> The wooden tone arms were made by Micro
> Trak and I think either they bought the line from Grey, or
> Grey sold to them..Those were great tone arms, and much more
> sturdy that you might think.

Click HERE for a trip back in time. Scroll down a little...

> The Gates "Level Devil" was notoriously s-l-o-w to attack
> and release, but it was all we had then...

While you're at it, click HERE for a trip to the Gates that was famous before Bill.

If you remember as much of this stuff as I do, you're old. If you still have a bunch of this stuff in the basement, garage, back room, or storage shed, you're either ancient, or run a museum.

Oh, the war stories that could be told. I feel sorry for today's guys. What can they say, "Oooh, one time, at the radio station, the computer crashed. I had to play CD's for an hour until the engineers could get me switched to the backup server!"

Re: Close gets the cigar

Send me your parcel addy, and I'll ship out a shirt tomorrow.

The Fairchild Reverbatron was really pretty much the same sounding unit as the 59.95 (Allied Radio) Fisher unit..When we got a new Fairchild unit in Syracuse..(799.95 from Broadcast Supply Warehouse I think) I was REALLY unimpressed! It was tinny, and cheaper sounding than the Fisher..WOW was I upset.. We used it though because that's what WGR in Buffalo was using..Thiers sounded great..what was the problem? After about two years of crappy reverb in the production room I finally called an engineer at WGR. He said: "I assume you "unlocked the springs"...Whaaa? Yup..there it was..a knurled knob with a locking flange on the back of the unit..just as I reached into the rack to unlock the springs..the CE grabbed me by the shoulders and slammed me into the wall (you could get away with that then) and said that he would snap my fingers off if I EVER went into the rack again..that was HIS job! I explained about the locked springs (done so for shipping the unit) and he told me I was "a puny little pipsqueak disc-jocky that should leave his mitts OFF the goodies" and that there WAS NO LOCK on the springs..I didn't know what I was talking about and go back to my "oooga booga music" and leave HIS equipment alone! What a sweet guy..that reverb is probably still locked somewhere.

Did you ever "warm up" a sandwich in the slot of an old Collins/ATC cart machine?

Re: Close gets the cigar

> Send me your parcel addy, and I'll ship out a shirt
> tomorrow.
>
> The Fairchild Reverbatron was really pretty much the same
> sounding unit as the 59.95 (Allied Radio) Fisher unit..When
> we got a new Fairchild unit in Syracuse..(799.95 from
> Broadcast Supply Warehouse I think) I was REALLY
> unimpressed! It was tinny, and cheaper sounding than the
> Fisher..WOW was I upset.. We used it though because that's
> what WGR in Buffalo was using..Thiers sounded great..what
> was the problem? After about two years of crappy reverb in
> the production room I finally called an engineer at WGR. He
> said: "I assume you "unlocked the springs"...Whaaa?
> Yup..there it was..a knurled knob with a locking flange on
> the back of the unit..just as I reached into the rack to
> unlock the springs..the CE grabbed me by the shoulders and
> slammed me into the wall (you could get away with that then)
> and said that he would snap my fingers off if I EVER went
> into the rack again..that was HIS job! I explained about
> the locked springs (done so for shipping the unit) and he
> told me I was "a puny little pipsqueak disc-jocky that
> should leave his mitts OFF the goodies" and that there WAS
> NO LOCK on the springs..I didn't know what I was talking
> about and go back to my "oooga booga music" and leave HIS
> equipment alone! What a sweet guy..that reverb is probably
> still locked somewhere.
>
> Did you ever "warm up" a sandwich in the slot of an old
> Collins/ATC cart machine?
>

Jeff might recognize the studio in this photo.


<P ID="signature">______________
Jon Scaptura
Binghamton Radio Archive
http://www.BinghamtonRadio.com
</P>

Re: An Edit-All?

> >
> > and yes, i have an edit-all, a roll of splicing tape, a
> > piece of yellow grease pencil & a blade in my work bag.
> >
>
> Sheez, You had splicing tape and a yellow grease pencil?
> Got by on scotch tape and a sharpie. Had to make two cuts,
> one to cover the splice and two to narrow the splice on the
> tape.
>
> By the way, a sharpie worked better on the tape. Don't know
> why, but I seemed to have better splices with that than
> grease pencil. Then finally stayed with the sharpie.
>
> davery
>

learned the scotch method back in "college" (Grahm Jr College in Boston) back in the day. nice thing about the newer Otari 5050B's: the outside edge of the playback head casing lined up perfectly with the straight-cut slash on the built-in editing block, so you would use the diagonal cut for a perfect slice every time, and you'd not get anything on the heads at all. and with the housing, you didn't even need a marker. small pressure on the tape with a finger against the outside edge provided a small enough dent to not have to tear the room apart looking for any type of marker. ;-) (like M*A*S*H* and meatball surgery, friday's were "meatball production" days)

and for the record: my comments said "HAVE," not "HAD." still carry the items with me to show the young whipper-snappers how good they have it! ;-)

nice to know us old fellers and gals have somewhere to hang... other than the 4pm early bird dinner place.

Re: Close gets the cigar

>
> Oh, the war stories that could be told. I feel sorry for
> today's guys. What can they say, "Oooh, one time, at the
> radio station, the computer crashed. I had to play CD's for
> an hour until the engineers could get me switched to the
> backup server!"
>

ROFL...Sad, funny, and so true!


<P ID="signature">______________
Never hold a cat and a dustbuster at the same time.</P>

Holey Tile, Batman!

> Jeff might recognize the studio in this photo.

Did every studio back in the day have the same "acoustic" holey tile, or just all the ones I worked in?

I also love the "cans" sitting on the console. I suspect chief's back in the day supplied those as "standard" just so jocks would go out and buy their own.

Re: Close gets the cigar

> Jeff might recognize the studio in this photo.

God! Jon! Great pick of the control room at WENE in Endicott/Binghamton..That is a Gatesway console, and three Tapecaster cart decks..You had to pull the plunger back to lock the cart in. I swear that was one of the best sounding stations..right up there with WAPE, and WAXC, and WAYS..it sounded great!

That studio was located inside a church (Lincoln Baptist Jon?) The studio sat with the jock's back to a big wide window that looked into a HUGE studio that the church used for Sunday School..and other meetings. We were supposed to pull the curtain all the way accross..most of us didn't and were always getting nasty little memos from the pastor that we were "distracting" the children with our devil's rock and roll..

At the time the station was owned by Merv Griffin..There was a giant black and white framed photo of ol' Merv that was routinely defaced, and left hanging in the meeting room with various cute sayings and other words of the devil..

Memos flew all the time. Now Clear Channel owns them, and they moved out of the church to leave the devil to work elsewhere.
>