Nuclear Console

Do you remember I recently built a big console for my rack modules? (here) well, how about this auction, for an actual real nuclear reactor control console, like, a REAL ONE. And how much is it currently going for? £85

Consoled

I have just built a BIG CONSOLE to put some of my rack-units into, rather than having them all piled up on the floor, etc. Its really big! But its pretty cool having everything connected up to a new (actually old Roland) patchbay. It took ages to connect it all up - below you can see its development from paper to reality, and at the bottom is the patch chart, including all the midi patching

Coming Soon...

God's Seck

O-M-Effing-G! I just bought Martin Hannett's actual Seck 18 channel mixer on ebay! This tiny little early 80s console was actually owned by Martin Hannett! He had it in his home studio! WHAT??? OMG!!!

The ebayer was Chris Hewitt who has just made a 4 hour documentary about Hannett. Chris worked with him over the years, and during the process of making the doc discovered a lock-up containing loads of Hannett's personal equipment. Hannett was completely obsessed with high-end playback and recording gear, and this was actually the reason he got into music production in the first place

I think he is my all-time favourite producer because he gets such a cool, edgy and unique sound, especially his early stuff between 1978 - 1985. AND NOW IVE GOT HIS EFFING MIXER! It was only £350 - it was sold as not working as it was missing its power supply, but I managed to find one and plugged it in and - BINGO! it works perfectly (its a bit scratchy and wonky but that makes it even better - IT USED TO BELONG TO MARTIN EFFING HANNETT what do you expect!!!)

Console Myself

Messing about with the scalpel again...

Mixed Feelings

Speaking of mixing, half way through the monumental task of mixing our (John Foxx & The Maths) Live in the Studio album, the Mackie DXB digital console decided to die! So I have had a very busy few weeks here at Benge Central, running round and sorting things out. I decided to replace the DXB with a lovely little Sony DMX R100 digital desk, which I have always lusted after but could never really afford. Now however they can be picked up for less than a tenth of the original price, and I lucked out and found a pristine one with all the right interface cards in place. So i swapped this:

for this:

The really cool thing was that the Sony fits into my console frame perfectly, so Big Al and me had a sleepover and did the switcheroo at the weekend:

So its goodbye to the DXB, you've been a good friend

Underpass Pass

We've been mixing a lot this week, heres Underpass through the MCI with me adding plate reverb to the choruses:

Holy Ground

I bought a little 8 channel mixer on ebay exactly a year ago and I've got it set up at home just in case I need to suddenly mix something. It sounds really cool this mixer, it's got a big edgy character and I like working with it's quirks and limitations. It came from the Holyground studio, one of england's seminal 1970s recording labels. I mixed all the new tracks on the Evidence album (see previous post) on it last week

Here is a picture of it in 1975 from it's previous owner:

Plank

Theres a really good article about one of my musical heroes Conny Plank HERE. There are some interesting contributions from Foxxy in there, and Eno tells of Plank's inventiveness - check out his solution to mixing desk Total Recall:
Plank also rigged a special system to take a photograph of the entire mixing console, to ‘save’ his work in the days before digital. ‘He was an inventor,’ says Eno. ‘When I was working there he’d developed an early automation system which consisted of a specially developed camera lens mounted above the console, so that you could take a picture at the end of the session of the state of the console. Then if you wanted to set the desk up in the same way at some point in the future, you’d project the picture you’d taken down through the same lens so that the image perfectly lined up with the desk. Thus you could move every knob back to its original position. It was an insane idea that probably only a German would have a) thought of and b) made work

Ebay of the Day

Look at this beautiful mixing console. The ebay seller has put it up in four separate lots - what a stupid idea!

It looks like it is a BBC / Glensound fully discrete Class-A germanium induction EQ equipped broadcast desk from the early 1970s. Wow. More info on my other blog here

GG GT

We started mixing our Great Guns EP this week. What a busy week!

I love the big LEDs on the MCI console. They make me happy

Abbey National

I have posted about EMI mixing consoles before and before on this blog, so I was highly excited to see that there is arguably their best and most prestigious desk for sale at the moment. Unfortunately I don't think I can afford it right now, and for that reason I have become very sad. Because I know that this caliber of desk will NEVER become available again. This is the main console at the heart of Abbey Road between 1971 and 1984, so just think of all the amazing records that have its sonic imprint. It truly is a part of our national heritage, and I think it is as important to our cultural history as just about anything. So if there are any readers out there who want to help keep this important artifact here in the UK (in my studio) just let me know, I have shipped large consoles before from america

I have posted more on this over on my other blog if you are interested

Dancing Lights

Me and Phil mixed the new Wrangler single yesterday, heres a bit of the b-side going through the MCI. Its fun mixing on that thing, especially with all the dancing lights. This track features Stephen Mallinder on vocals. Watch this space....

Want 3

Its such a shame I got all my lottery numbers wrong this week, because on ebay today is a mixing desk that I would like in my studio. You might have seen my other blog which is all about recording consoles and from that you can gather that I am fairly obsessed with these things, and the Neve 8078 is regarded by many to be the best ever made. Apparently this one has been in the same studio since it was first commissioned in 1977

Modular Mixing

I have put a post up on my other blog (which focusses exclusively on mixing consoles, so be careful) about a really amazing vintage (1965) solid state mixer made by Langevin for the producer Kearney Barton. The mixer sold on ebay yesterday for a very reasonable £6K. What is interesting about this console (apart from the fact that it sounds amazing) is that it is a modular patchable devise and I have never seen that before. It would make a fantastic addition to a modular synthesiser based studio like mine. Here is a PDF that the seller put together:

Kearneys Mixer


Check out this wonked-out funk track by Misterholmes and the Brotherhood, recorded on this console by Kearney Barton in the mid seventies. What a great sound, yes?

Wood

This is what I was thinking for the live room walls, made with american walnut planks...
This studio is Gilley's, built in 1978 in Pasadena, Texas, by country producer Bert Frilot. That looks like an MCI console, maybe a 400 series

Basing Treat

Look at these super-cool pictures of studio one at Basing Street, as it was in the mid-70s. This is the studio set up by Chris Blackwell of Island records, and was home to some of the best recordings of the 70s - Led Zep 4 for example. It evolved into Sarm West at some point and 80s music was born. Here we can see the Helios [not neve as I originally thought] wraparound console that epitomized the big huge sound of the seventies, plus it was painted yellow

UPDATE: Using the magic of google image search, I discovered a scan of the original Basing Street studio brochure on this forum here, and now this post is complete

UPDATE TWO: OK so see the comms for something cool...