Eric Toline Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Probably before most here were born......................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark kirchner Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Eric, What a great photograph, love the dramatic backlighting! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Mills Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Hey Eric, what's "the rest of the story" on this cool image? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Here are some of the "rest of the story" shots. Circa 1962-'63. Home built Ampex 3 track tape deck, Schoeps mics direct into the record electronics. 1/2" tape @ 15ips....."The Way We Were" back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VASI Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Eric, I am little curious about the printing process for these photographs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 I'm sure the smoke and ashes has no affect on the tape and the heads on the recorder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 The originals are 50+ yo 8x10 B&W prints that I have. I gave them to a company that cleaned the surface of the prints to remove the suface grime. Then they were reshot and digitally processed to clean up the contrast, etc, etc. Then they were printed to 24"X36" paper and sandwiched between two sheets of acrylic and then finished and mounted on the wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwill Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 ET: " and mounted on the wall. " at your new office ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VASI Posted November 28, 2014 Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Fantastic work Eric! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2014 Jack Norflus, on 28 Nov 2014 - 2:42 PM, said: I'm sure the smoke and ashes has no affect on the tape and the heads on the recorder Absolutely right. That's what the head gate is for. EDIT: I guess I should have added one of these to indicate I was kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan McL Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 Those were the days...and ARE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay Rose Posted November 29, 2014 Report Share Posted November 29, 2014 That's what the head gate is for. I've always assumed the head gate was to hold the hum shields in place... They certainly didn't stop smoke in the machines I had to clean... or the brown tar gunk providing a nice heat insulator on some of the resistors. Besides, in a production environment those gates would be open more often than not. How else could you edit, unless you could press your finger against the back of the head assembly near the capstan to make a mark, and then lift the tape out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al mcguire Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Cleaning 40+ Penney and Giles faders is the root of my opinion about smoking in studios. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Jay Rose, on 29 Nov 2014 - 11:30 AM, said: I've always assumed the head gate was to hold the hum shields in place... They certainly didn't stop smoke in the machines I had to clean... or the brown tar gunk providing a nice heat insulator on some of the resistors. Besides, in a production environment those gates would be open more often than not. How else could you edit, unless you could press your finger against the back of the head assembly near the capstan to make a mark, and then lift the tape out? Exactly. On the Ampex & Scully decks the distance from the center of the PB head to the outside of the head cover was exactly the same as the distance on the Editall block from the vertical cut point to the 45 degree cut point. You found your cut point on the tape and you used your thumb nail to indent the back of the tape at the exact out side of the head cover and placed that mark on the vertical cut point, and cut on the 45 degree groove. Marking the cut point on the back of the tape with a yellow or white grease pencil was the sign of an amateur as the grease pencil always got on the PB head and or the oxide side of the tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 The "head gate," was a hum shield, nothing keeps smoke off of a head. When I worked at SSI, the owner smoked like a house on fire, and it was unbelievable, the residue on all the heads of the ampex's and the Magna Sync Recorder/Reproducers. I cleaned the heads on all machines every morning, part of my morning responsibilities. Nice photos, Eric. What Schoeps microphones were you using? RVD, Usually the abrasive nature of the oxide kept the heads free from smoke residue but oxide build up on the heads in the head gap was the main problem in HF response. I don't recall the Schoeps models but each one came with it's own shoe box sized power supply as 48vp was not available yet in the 60's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Marking the cut point on the back of the tape with a yellow or white grease pencil was the sign of an amateur as the grease pencil always got on the PB head and or the oxide side of the tape. I did not know that. I am clearly the amature. But if I had to guess for every one cut and splice I've done in my life you probably have done 100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 Jack Norflus, on 29 Nov 2014 - 9:20 PM, said:Jack Norflus, on 29 Nov 2014 - 9:20 PM, said: I did not know that. I am clearly the amature. But if I had to guess for every one cut and splice I've done in my life you probably have done 100. x10, but my system only worked on the Ampex & Scully studio recorders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Toline Posted November 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 studiomprd, on 28 Nov 2014 - 3:03 PM, said: ET: " and mounted on the wall. " at your new office ? Yes indeed, along the wall past the arched doorway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Norflus Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 A bit sparce. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al mcguire Posted November 30, 2014 Report Share Posted November 30, 2014 >On the Ampex & Scully decks the distance from the center of the PB head to the outside of the head cover was exactly the >same as the distance on the Editall block from the vertical cut point to the 45 degree cut point. You found your cut point on the >tape and you used your thumb nail to indent the back of the tape at the exact out side of the head cover and placed that mark >on the vertical cut point, and cut on the 45 degree groove. We updated from an Ampex 440 to a Studer A80 RCVU that had a pair of scissors on the head block. You would find the edit point by scraping tape and push the scissor button. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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