Life in 1979

UPDATE: It's no wonder Edward Williams is pictured with all that EMS equipment, according to the book Vintage Synthesizers he actually OWNED the EMS company for a while....

============

I have just discovered this little gem on the wonderful Trunk Records. It's the music from the 1979 BBC series Life On Earth by Edward Williams [pictured below with EMS gear including in the background the uber-rare Synthi Sequencer 256]. You can read at the link above the fascinating story of how Jonny Trunk discovered this lost recording, which was only pressed up by the composer to give out to members of his orchestra - rare!

The album is mostly lovely english pastoral fare, with occasional sprinklings of studio effects and minor electronics

I was interviewed in 2008 by Jonny for his excellent Resonance FM radio show where we discussed Twenty Systems and electronics in film and tv music in general. I am trying to find an archive of it to post here. Here is his review of my album he wrote for Record Collector

'Eusthenopteron and the Primeval Swamp' by Edward Williams. Buy the album here in any format

Cubism

Thrilling

I just posted over on the Balance Blog about the Thriller Board, yes the actual console that MJ and Quincy recorded on back in the 70s at Westlake Studios in LA. Its a Harrison 4032 and it only costs £60k. WEAPON!

Awkward Delays

I wouldn't go to all the bother of maintaining a studio full of ancient synthesisers and effects units if I believed they could be adequately modeled on a computer. I firmly believe that an analog tape based echo unit has a sound that simply cannot be achieved in any other way than by sending a signal through analog circuits and onto magnetic tape and so on, and all the artifacts and quirks and degrading of the signal that goes on when you do this are what makes it so interesting and desirable to me

The same goes for the next stage in the development of the delay effect unit - analog BBD chip-based units such as the Ibanez AD 80. They have an equally unique sound and the way the various controls work together [feedback, delay time and blend] makes them very intuitive to use. The AD 80 in particular has a wildness and immediacy that  never ceases to amaze me, and again it cannot be recreated in the digital domain. It uses analog electronics, and therefore any digital model will have inherent compromises and will only be as close to the real thing as the skill of the person designing the algorithm can get, in other words an interpretation by the designer using one medium to mimic another

I want to get some analog delay modules for my Moog modular format system, and also for the Serge modular. I know that Serge made the excellent Wilson Analog Delay, but they are impossible to find and would probably cost thousands to get as you cannot buy Serge modules individually [they are all in 19 inch wide mixed panels]

As far as I can tell there are no current manufacturers of Moog format modules that make true BBD units. There is a COTK delay module that looks absolutely amazing but it uses a digital model inside and as I have been trying to explain I don't want that. So I am looking into [with Big Al] the possibility of DIYing some panels based on the AD80 circuit, but adding a few twists such as voltage control and dual delays and an LFO

Here is the COTK VC delay module

And here is the Serge Wilson Analog Delay

Below is the MN3005 BBD datasheet

3005 Datasheet




Here is the Ibanez AD80 shematic:

ibanezad80




And here is the Ibanez FL301 flanger schematic which has an LFO:

ibanez_fl301_flanger




Here is a very interesting and relevant article by Scott Swartz about his PT80 digital delay model:

pt80techinfo

Seventies Films

Here are some cool youtubes I've seen recently

New Console Blog

I have decided to start a new blog, all about vintage mixing desks. I am a geek. Its called "Balance", like as in to balance a mix. Pretty cool huh? So that means I will post console-related stuff over there, but I will link posts from here as well

Great Guns Jam

Here we have JG on the Moog Modular [and dotcom] jamming along to a Linn LM1 pattern

Studio Hand

A mysterious hand appeared at the studio yesterday, so i put it to use straight away

And together we made the track below, using a Moog Modular 3C, a Smallstone phaser, a Vesta DigiDelay and the analog console, with a bit of spring and plate in there too. The 960 sequencer isn't actually triggering the envelope, we decided to use the trigger buss so that the envelope can complete it's full decay without the next step of the sequence getting in the way

Uncola

Did you know Gary Numan recorded a song for a 7up ad that was never used? Check




[Via aliveinsound] In 1982, American-based 7-UP got in touch with a UK agency to get a 30 second tune made by someone who was "happening" at the time to advertise their drink. So the agency contacted Gary and offered a £10,000 deal so he recorded 3 pieces of music with lyrics supplied by them. When the recordings were sent to the Americans they had not heard any music like this, and they were expecting something in a punk style as that had just arrived over there so these recordings were never used

There were some pretty amazing 7up ads that did go out though, here are my favorites

Tom Tom Club

Here are a few ebay auctions that caught my eye. First up is an astonishing mid-70s acrylic Sonor kit, all original and lovely. Asking price = 3600 euros

Next is a Gretsch maple kit from around 1980 from the same expert seller. Three drums, not even all matching [one has a square badge, the others hex] for £3500! I have the same kit but with 5 toms and bass and snare from this same vintage....