Created August 17, 2023

Jay and Amy return after a protracted interval to explain and reveal some of the inner workings of building an analog recording studio with vintage vacuum tube equipment. Studio electronic noise issues explained and corrected, as well as mismatched impedance, loading by various amplifiers and interactions explained. How analog photography is similar to analog audio and sound recording. Debugging multi-track recording is underway. Overview of the podcast and rebuilding of the recording studio equipment. Vocal balance and audio compression is described. Rebuild complete of the mastering recorder, the Ampex 351 reel to reel, considered by many to be a “holy grail” of vacuum tube recording. Calibration test magnetic tape alignment and adjustments were made. Location and use of this mastering recorder is revealed. Debugging, testing, and arrangement of the multi-track capabilities of the Scully 280 eight track recorder has started. Discovered several Canadian musical groups that had recorded on the Scully, and master tapes were left with the recorder. Groups “The Happy Feeling” and possibly “The Guess Who” masters were found. Passive mixing of multi-tracks, track mixing, effects addition are explained. Discovery and rebuilding of a Langevin AL-4A mixer is detailed.

Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher