EMI Pathé Marconi
PIECE: 1
This is the historic 24 channel "large format console" from EMI / Pathe Marconi, designed & built for the studio of the same name.
Unique in its kind - unique in the world.
This more than special console comes out of the late 60´s.
Pathe Marconi is the name of the studio and Boulogne Billancourt the place, south west of Paris, after the Porte d'Auteuil near Parc des Princes and the Roland Garros tennis stadium.
Also the Beatles dropped in to Pathe Marconi Studios in January 1964…
EMI's West German imprint, Electrola Gesellschaft, had been attempting to convince Brian Epstein and George Martin that they could only sell Beatles records if they were in German.
The session had originally been scheduled to take place on 27 January 1964, but The Beatles had proved reluctant to attend. George Martin eventually persuaded them to fulfil the obligation, and so they entered the Pathé Marconi Studios in Paris to record new versions of their two biggest hits. They recorded new vocals for “She Loves You”,”’I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Can’t Buy Me Love”
The Rolling Stones show up in the studio in 1982. At this time it was their second home. A kind of new Olympic studios for them.
EMI TG12345 MKQ
PIECE: 1
One of only two EMI winged TG12345 Mk.IV consoles ever built.
This beauty found it’s new home as main console at Prime Studios control room C, next to a EMI TG12410 transfer desk.
The iconic Abbey Road Studio’s EMI TG12345 Mk.IV recording consoles used between 1971 – 1983.
During the '70s and up until 1983, the TG12345 consoles (Marks I–IV) were the main desks used at Abbey Road Studios, contributing to the sound of timeless albums such as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band, George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, and many more.
Only two of the Mk.IV series were ever build - custom-made by EMI engineers specifically for the Abbey Road Studio.
The two TG12345 Mk.IV recording consoles were located in Studio 2 and Studio 3.
The TG was EMI’s first solid-state mixing desk. Its modular design was an innovative approach that enabled the quick replacement of faulty channel strips (or ‘Cassettes’ as EMI called them). Each Microphone Cassette contains two input channels that could be used independently or as a stereo pair.
One of the main features of the TG was the inclusion of a compressor/limiter in each channel, unique in console design at the time. The compressor/limiter was based on the valve Fairchild and Altec units that EMI used in the 1960s, but being a solid-state device, their sound was not the same.
Most engineers found the sound to be more aggressive than the old valve units and although popular, the trusty Fairchild 660s and Altec RS124s were still preferred for processing vocals and drums. Compression or limiting was selectable via a toggle switch, with COMP offering a 2:1 ratio similar to the Altec, and LIMIT giving a 8:1 ratio mimicking the Fairchild. Another of the TG’s features was its expanded EQ, which offered wider scope for shaping sounds than the old EMI REDD desks that had gone before.
The solid-state TG12345 had a much smoother and brighter sound than the valve REDD.51 it replaced. Some engineers complained that they were unable to get the gritty, edgy sounds they had achieved by overloading the valves in the older desks. The only Beatles album recorded with the TG was Abbey Road, and comparing the sound of that album with previous ones clearly shows off the TG12345’s inherently clean nature.
EMI TG12410 Transfer Desk
PIECE: 1
Originally built for transferring the master analog tape to the vinyl master cutting machine.
The TG12410's tone control and filter modules have become secret weapons of mastering engineers all over the world - or in better words…everywhere a rare TG12410 console can be found. Very few of these consoles were ever made.
The distinct solid-state transistor-based sound of the TG12410 has proven itself time and again over many decades. Whether it's used for mastering as a complete console, or for mixing with only select modules, the TG brings nothing less than magic — the same magic heard on albums like Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, Nirvana's In Utero, Radiohead's OK Computer and Ed Sheeran's "+"..
The EMI TG12410 was custom designed and built by EMI's research department in Hayes, Middlesex, England, beginning in the late 60s. Made strictly for use in EMI studios around the world, this console was never available to the public.
The TG12410 has a sound so musical and unique that Chandler Ltd. released a plug-in emulation of the modules a few years back. But no plug-in can match the sound of the original.
NEVE 5300 SIDECAR
PIECE: 1
Neve Melbourn – Classic Neve 12 channel sidecar. These beautiful small discrete 12 channel desks were designed to accept the 33114 and/or 33115 mic pre/eq modules, great, smooth & punchy sounding Neve modules.
Class A/B rather than Class A (as in the legendary 80 series larger format desks), the 33114/5 have the same mic preamps as the 1081 and comprehensive three band eq, making them punchier than a 1073 and so ideal for drums, and more modern music with raunchier dynamics.
Although limited to two aux’s which doesn't much matter for recording, the Melbourn has inserts and direct outputs plus decent centre section facilities. All in all, an incredibly desirable, great-sounding little lady.
TAB Telefunken Console
PIECE: 1
This 12 channel desk has been build for the “Deutsche Grammophon” & used for classical music recordings.
It includes V72, V76s, U70 tube preamp modules (even one V72 for the talkback microphone…), U71 level meters, Eckmiller W86 high/low pass filters & the Eckmiller PF 5/8h filters.
It was used as a mobile recording console by the “Deutsche Grammophon”.
This mixer consists of 5 individual pretty heavy boxes: the center section, two boxes with build in preamps & meters and two boxes for wiring & microphones.
Two of these boxes had to be placed one on top of the other and the resulting two “packages” then had to be connected with metal rods.
This created a mobile table, in the middle of which the central unit was placed. The individual “boxes” were then quickly connected to the main section using Tuchel cables and the mobile tube mixer was ready for use.
Direct siblings or at least blood relatives of this console are the well-known REDD consoles.
A slightly modified version of the V72 modules, the V72S, were found in the famous REDD.17 and REDD.37 consoles as standard channel amplifiers. The V72S isn't much different from the standard V72. It is modified for EMI's 200 Ω standard and provides 6 dB higher output gain. The original V72 wasn't supposed to be replaced because the quality wasn't good, EMI simply wanted a cheaper replacement because the original amplifiers were so expensive.
UNIVERSAL AUDIO CUSTOM
PIECE: 1
An unbelievable sounding custom console.
10 channels, with historic Universal Audio 610 mic preamps, Universal Audio 508 (A & A.V.) inductor 3 band Eq’s, 3 aux/echos, 3 busses, direct out per channel and a left - center - right master section - everything fully tube driven.
This beauty is specially built for use at Prime Studio with originally parts out of the Bill Putnam era - late 1950´s-1960´s.
Unlike today, in 1960 there were very few recording studios and they were mostly owned by the major record companies. Almost all recording consoles of the day were custom built using lever key switches, transformers and vacuum tube amplifiers & thats exactly what was achieved and implemented for Prime Studio with this console.
Completely custom made with originally parts out of the Bill Putnam era.
While the 610 was never sold as a complete console, the 610 modules were used as a basis for many consoles used at Bill's studios.
The UA 508 Envelopmental Equalizer is another of UA's earlier commercially available EQs. It is a no-loss, high- and low-frequency passive EQ designed to be used with modular amps like the 1008 tube amplifier or the 1108 solid-state amplifier.
