[Vintage-Audio] RE: Does anyone really care...

[Salmons, Michael]

Hey Duane, I've been lurking for a while but not writing, too. Life just
has a way of keeping you busy.  

> 
> Now what is so difficult about describing your equipment, 
> telling how you make
> tapes or DAT or CDS or?	

Good point. Here goes. I cut my vinyl directly to disc using a philips
deck, the 730. I try to focus on getting as faithful a burn as possible
first, then once it's converted to digital I sometimes denoise using a
free program for the PC I found for the purpose. I sometimes tweak the
eq, especially with my oldest records, using Audacity and a free VST
parametric eq plugin. 

My turntable is a trusty old kenwood belt drive (KT-1400 I think). My
favorite cartridge is a Shure N91ED. I like using older Shure carts
because, even though they may not have the silver hand-wound coils and
wooden bodies of the esoteric models, they really seem to track the old
records I tend to want to record (50s and 60s lounge, jazz and rock
records mainly) very well. They're great for 45s, too. I also have a
Voice of Music Stere-o-matic changer, and my plan is to set it up for
dubbing 78s, but I have yet to do that.

Monitoring: Although I do have one token tube amp (the very fine
low-power Pilot 230 stereo integrated), I typically use mid-seventies
transistor amps for monitoring my recordings. One of the reasons is
pretty obvious: not many tube amps have headphone jacks, and that's how
I monitor recordings. You catch a lot more that way. Other reasons are
more elusive. I think it's because I cut my audio teeth on transistor
amps of that era, so they sound more natural to me. I ues a variety of
amps for this purpose depending on my mood, but the one I favor is a
Realistic model, the SA2001. It's got a subsonic filter and switchable
eq, sorta simplified parametric, which gives a high degree of control
for an integrated. Plus it's all defeatable with the flick of a couple
of switches, so I don't lose perspective.

As far as headphones, I prefer the transparency of sennheisers. I've
tried several models, but the model I overwhelmingly prefer, so much so
that I've got three of 'em, is the HD 420. It has the best bass and
midrange to my ears at least. Perhaps not to someone else. They are
open-air so they would not work well for someone who needs to be very
quiet or needs to cancel out a lot of noise, there's a lot of
bleed-through. But the sound quality is fantastic.

Once digital I like to keep my recordings in wav format. I really don't
like mp3s, although I have broken down a few times and burned things
like all of the beatles on one disk in mp3 format. Ithink it's pretty
neat that you can do that. Although mp3s are limited, if you choose the
correct sampling rate you can make a reasonable fascimile. But I
wouldn't recommend mp3s for any sort of reference use.

For a long time I used the Tascam TSR-8 (1/2 inch, eight track) as my
vinyl dubbing machine of choice. Quiet as a mouse, incredibly reliable,
absolutely flawless playback. I'd still use it if I owned one...
Foolishly, instead of relapping the heads, I let it go. Biggest
equipment-related mistake I've ever made.

Oh yeah, regarding the rumor that there will be no more tape made... I
find that impossible to believe. A lot of professional studios like to
keep the analog option around, because, alas, in the modern digital
times we're in analog is now just another affectation to add to your
mix. But it's a popular one. Rather than the core of the sound itself,
which if you ask me it ought to be. But as ever, the market will
ultimately decide for silly old me what the next cool recording format
for me, so maybe it really is sayonara for magnetic tape. Hey, what
about VCRs and DATs?

Okay, and some non-technical stuff: I beamed with pride this weekend as
my seven-year old son grabbed the karaoke boombox he got from grandma
for christmas and founded "radio station kjr" and interviewed everyone
in the house, interpersed with his favorite songs. Another gearhead in
the family is always a good thing. Oh, and his medium of choice? Analog
cassettes.

Hm... Music? You want to talk about music, eh, Duane? Okay, let's talk
music. My current fascination is with the progenitors of sample-based
music, such folks as Perrey-Kingsley. I just picked up an extraordinary
record by someone called The Hellers this month. They took samples of
things like typewriters typing, people talking on the radio, and
squealing tires and turned it into pop songs. Plus this was the mid to
late sixties, and fascination with the various psychoacoustic effects of
stereo was still a new thing to record producers. So the mix is pretty
out there. Very entertaining stuff. Of course I converted it to digital.
I'd be happy to provide a sample if anyone is interested.

That's it for now. Hopefully your plea will provide some momentum,
Duane, as I am interested in discussing these topics, too. For this to
work more people will have start fresh threads!

Michael Salmons

> 	
> What is so complex about describing the best ways you have 
> found to record by mike? The best mike for a specific task; 
> outside in the world, inside in a studio, in your basement 
> work shop etc. The type of mixer used and why. How you
> stole it from your old high school DJ booth on Prom night!	
> 	
> The reason you use a Fisher amp (not my last name spelling) 
> and why you like it better than Pioneer or EICO or 
> Whoflungdug. What about it out performs modern gear, besides 
> being better at holding the solid Maple end table down during a
> parade of Elephants trotting by or an earthquake in LA. 	
> 	
> There are countless things we could be discussing. They do 
> not have to be technical all of the time. It is not every day 
> somebody needs to know how to calculate the stylus pressure 
> on an eliptical diamond cartridge at a given angle! But where 
> to buy a good stylus would be helpful! What weight you track 
> at and why? Using an anti-static brush or cloth? How? What 
> brand? Where do I get one? How do I get more music out of the 
> 78 rpm record I got at the yard sale and
> less static from the wife?	
> 	
> A good place to purchase vinyl 45's or 33 1/3 albums? And I 
> mean information, not just a blasted link! I am so tired of 
> the "point, click and shoot" concept that I smash every one 
> of those mouse's that do not eat cheese as part of my revolt 
> against computer's telling me how much water I may use to 
> flush my toilet and when i can flush it! If they ever get 
> that scent thing working right so your computer can add the 
> proper smell to the image on the CRT, I am going to write the 
> code for the old outhouse out back on a 90F Summer day! Send 
> it to all the CEO's of those software vender's and tell them 
> to take a whiff of this incredible sensory plug in that 
> allows users to enjoy the actual scents of being in a real 
> woods void of all prior invasion by mankind. Just nature at its best!
> I am taking bets how many of them clear up their troublesome 
> sinus conditions caused by fumes from those monitors running 24/7! 
> 
> The point is, to enjoy our gear and tell each other how we 
> enjoy it! If we need help fixing it, yell for help! If we 
> need a record by Floyd Cramer like the "Class Of 1971", as I 
> do!, who has one, how much and how do I contact them. Not 
> another link that when I click on it tells me to upgrade my 
> software, my taste in music sucks like a Hoover on 220 VAC or 
> has some kind of font fancy script that it makes normaly 
> sighted people crosseyed to read! Just give me the
> telephone number, please!	
> 	
> Let's talk some audio, people! Not sit here with the stylus 
> in our ear protecting the tip with human ear wax that 
> somebody read in an audio magazine fifty years ago while 
> getting their haircut in a small town barber shop in Viva, 
> Nevada! It is fine if it is mono, stereo, quad or whatever. 
> If you use that vintage audio stuff, then tell us about it! 
> Share! Care! Or just ship it to me and I will e-mail you a 
> hug and never ever forget the day that Ed gave me his old 
> Sony amp from 1969 and put a plaque on my wall right above it 
> bearing his name! Hey, I am single, and enough of those 
> plaques and I don't have to pay
> somebody to paint the wall every ten years!	
> 	
> We all have a lot to contribute here, but we have to get our 
> butts in the groove and type some words on the screen! Who 
> gives a rodent's rump hairs if we brag up our systems, so 
> what? We are proud, and that is cool! So toot your tweeter! 
> Woof that woofer! Flaunt that middle age spread with 
> monsterous mid-range that makes that love handle quiver with 
> joy! If the neighbors gripe, tell them you are practicing 
> good health by vibrating those fat cells out the pores of 
> your skin and if they were smart, they would get a system 
> like yours and some real speakers, not those things hanging 
> from a plant stand on a tri-colored piece of designer oxygen 
> free wire that look like a misshapen grapefruit and have about
> the same fidelity as those old Victrola's with that trumpet 
> horn speaker!	
> 	
> So dust off your life, get it off the bookshelf, and use that 
> vintage gear people! Let's rock and roll here, or poka or 
> waltz or square wave dance, and do a little rump rumba as you 
> spin some platters, cue up a single, thread a1/4 inch tape 
> across those Grundig heads or play with the pink noise 
> generator and EQ those speakers and show those still wet 
> behind the ears kids with those cars that thump down the 
> street like a drum machine at a heavy metal rock concert when 
> the sound effects tape, or digital circuit, gets stuck in an 
> endless loop!
> Yea, come on! Let's party! Silence may be golden, but who 
> wants to live in a
> cemetary?	
> 	
> Go find some audio nuts and get them signed up on this list. 
> Get out your gear, set it up and use it. It is not getting 
> any younger and you aren't either! So
> get the dust off it, before you turn into it. Turn into dust, 
> that is!	
> 	
> Duane	
>   
> 
>  ----------
> From: Robert J. McKee <mckee137 at mindspring.com>
> To: vintage-audio at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Vintage-Audio] RE: Does anyone really care...
> Date: Sunday, January 09, 2005 10:18 PM
> 
> ...certainly I do.
> 
> But I'm not smart enough to have much to contribute in the 
> way of info and advice.  It really makes me smile to see 
> someone write of a real problem they are having with a piece 
> of equipment... and then read the replies that pour in.  
> Duane, if that is not people caring then I do not know what is.
> 
> Some of us have very narrow areas of interest.  Like myself I 
> do live on-location recordings using only Crown reel-to-reel 
> analog recorders and condenser microphones that cost as much 
> as a set of premium grade tires for a Corvette for each mic.  
> Not many people are into live recording of audiophile quality.
> 
> My tube amplifiers are not original or even restored.  They 
> are modernized to perform with the best of today's tube 
> technology so the only thing that is truly Dynaco Mark III 
> are the chassis, cage, transformers and KT 88's.  It again 
> makes me a rare bird who did not do much on his own.  Really 
> just bought proven upgrade mods and installed them.
> 
> So I just lurk in the sidelines reading whatever posts come 
> along.  But I do care as do lots of the lurkers.  And Duane, 
> THANK YOU for all you do for this list and the people who 
> search for answers.  We appreciate it more than you know.
> 
> Bob McKee
> 
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