Nagra Stories Sound-men won’t ever tell

[tourtelot]

Let us know!

 

D.

[dela]

It looks interesting, but the price is a bit steep. I know that is a limited audience, but the price (€467) will limit it even further. I love  his book about Stellavox, and I have been thinking that it would be a dream scenario with him writing about Nagra. I consider myself a Nagra aficionado, but I would rather scale down on the luxury (and the signature) and go for a lower price. I wouldn´t use it as a coffee table book, for my use a paperback version would be perfectly fine. For a €100 paperback, you could count me in, but for €467 I will probably have to give it a no.

 

The web page mentions that the author had access to probably the world's largest collection of Nagras. I would like to know more about that collection....

[tourtelot]

Ouch.  Well out of my budget at such a price point.  Can imagine a 100 euro tag.  Sorry.

 

D.

[dela]

I have sent the publisher a mail asking if there is going to be a cheaper/non-luxury version at some point. And politely pointed out the no Nagra collectors or (ex-) Nagra users will spend €467 on a book, however luxurious it is.  But it would probably leave buyers of the luxury version a bit disappointed if there suddenly was a significantly cheaper version available shortly after having bought the expensive version…

[Marc Meklin]

Ich habe das Buch "Nagra" gekauft und bin absolut begeistert. Der Preis von 467 € ist vollkommen gerechtfertigt, wenn man bedenkt, dass dies einem Euro pro Seite entspricht. Dies mag auf den ersten Blick hoch erscheinen, doch wenn man die Qualität und den historischen Wert dieses Buches in Betracht zieht, ist es eine lohnende Investition.

Vergleicht man den Preis des Buches mit dem Preis, den man damals für ein Nagra-Gerät, z.B. für ein Musikstudio-Mehrspurband etc. bezahlt hat– etwa den Preis eines Kleinwagens –, wird der Wert dieses Buches noch deutlicher. Wer heute ein Nagra-Gerät besitzt, kann sich glücklich schätzen, da diese Geräte im Laufe der Zeit erheblich an Wert gewonnen haben. Nagra-Geräte waren für ihre außergewöhnliche Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit bekannt, und diese Eigenschaften spiegeln sich auch in diesem Buch wider.

Besonders beeindruckend finde ich die originale Unterschrift der Familie Kudelski, die dem Buch einen einzigartigen Sammlerwert verleiht. Für Audiotechnik-Enthusiasten und Sammler ist dieses Buch ein absolutes Must-Have.

Darüber hinaus ist dieses Buch in limitierter Auflage erhältlich, was seinen Wert weiter steigern wird. Ich habe sogar drei Exemplare gekauft, da ich sicher bin, dass der Wert in den kommenden Jahren weiter steigen wird. Jeder, der sich in diesem Bereich auskennt, weiß, dass sich die Investition von 467 € pro Exemplar (ein Euro pro Seite) mehr als lohnen wird.

Wer Interesse an der Geschichte und den Innovationen der Nagra-Geräte hat, sollte sich dieses einzigartige Buch nicht entgehen lassen.

 

Marc M.

[dela]

Funny; this appraisal actually made me more negative towards buying it… I don’t care about gorgeousness, future value, value for money etc, collectibility etc. I would buy it to read it and use for reference, not as an investment.  

And good luck with selling you extra copies for a profit. I sincerely doubt that there are that many rich Nagra collectors.

 

His eminent book about Stellavox cost €35 in hardback version. It may not have been signed by George Quellet, but i enjoyed it anyway, and it has been incredibly useful to me. In theory I am a core audience for a Nagra book, but… No thanks.

[The Immoral Mr Teas]

On 11/9/2024 at 8:44 PM, dela said:

His eminent book about Stellavox cost €35 in hardback version. It may not have been signed by George Quellet, but i enjoyed it anyway, and it has been incredibly useful to me. In theory I am a core audience for a Nagra book, but… No thanks.

 

I think I'm with Dela, Doug and everybody else here on this one. Do I really want to sell one of my Nagras to afford a book about them?

 

I'm interested in the Stellavox book now however (if resale collector value hasn't already pushed that into the €350 territory ...?!?)

 

Jez

[JBond]

Now that I have received my Nagrabook,

I can give more insight into the book to end any speculation; 

 

When I signed for delivery of this Nagrabook, I could not help but notice the heavy weight of the package when handed over by the postman. The pictures of the book online do not do justice to the size of this remarkable book. The quality of the work involved in constructing the actual book that Ernst Hrabalek did and published is impressive. Once you hold it, it becomes clear that no expense was spared in creating this book.  Each time you turn the page, you feel the heavy-weight paper only to view another quality image that pops right out at you, but most important to me was seeing the vast number of incredible, previously unseen rare photos of very early Nagras, which is exciting.

 

After all these years of seeing all things Nagra and now seeing for the first time all these new photos of very early Nagras all together, it was a surreal experience. I never thought I would see such a collection of the rarest of rare early Nagra recorders compiled in one giant eight-pound book in English, no less. 

 

The outer spine of the book has a strip of what looks like lightly brushed aluminum with the name Nagra cut out. If you look closely, you will see that it comes with protective plastic over the aluminum. The purchaser can either leave the plastic coating on or peel it to reveal the natural beauty of the aluminum in all its glory. Yes, the cost of producing this fine-quality, once-in-a-lifetime book is reflected in the price. I will have more to say about the aluminum strip in another post.

 

 

I would expect nothing less when a Nagra is involved. I have spent countless thousands on my collection. Of course, I will buy the only Nagrabook ever produced in my lifetime. I hoped it would show me new and unseen photos of Nagras and stories about Kudelski. I had never seen or heard about it,  so yes, I had to make this gamble. Even though I didn't know what to expect in this expensive book, I knew I had to find out. 
I'm telling anyone genuinely interested in Nagra, especially Nagra Collectors, right now, in no uncertain terms, that you should not pass up buying this book. You won't be disappointed; I wasn't disappointed.
 
As always, Roland did an excellent job putting all the information together; Roland always finds a way to add a few other recorders from the same period for comparison and mixes them here and there among the Nagras, which works very well. The other brand recorders take up very minimal space in the book and only complement Nagra. This book is Roland's best work if you're a fan of Roland's previous books.
 
I have to say, though, if not for Ernst publishing the book, we would not be talking about a Nagrabook of this size, quality, and complete content today. Very few publishers would publish a book like this due to the sheer cost, primarily if the book is targeted at a smaller audience.  Most publishers want to move books fast and make as much money as possible as quickly as possible, or they pass on publishing the book altogether, and that would have been everyone's loss.
 

Remember this fact: There will never be another Nagrabook that is this complete again. Nagra/ Kudelski and employees have contributed a large part of everything they have to this book. There will never be another book made with the amount of new information and the amount of old, rare, never-seen photos before. 

 

Inside the book are stories from the Kudelski family's detailed history of manufacturing recorders and many different phototypes of just about every Nagra recorder made and ones that were never made. With all the pages to read, completing this book will take me a year. Thank God it's in English. Finally, it is not another picture book for me, as I only know one language.

 

This book was not written and published with so much attention to detail and quality to "make money." 
It was published to reflect the quality and love of Nagra and to show many rare recorders from the world's most extraordinary Nagra collection shining in the best possible light. With the amount of work, time, energy, and money that must have been put into making this book, what was it 5 years in the making? The publisher allowed time to get things correct.

Why would the publisher and author downgrade and cheapen their dream of having a great Nagrabook like this? To sell more books? I don't think so; Ernst and Roland put a fantastic book together here. Never lower your standards. They put all that work into it, taking their time to get it right. 

 

We should respect the author and publisher's choices in making this book, the way they wanted it to be made, and how they wanted it to reflect on Nagra, and we should thank them profusely for making this outstanding one-of-a-kind  Benchmark Nagra Book for us. It's not a technical repair book; it's a history book with many things you have not seen before.

 

After owning this book and viewing what is inside, I wholeheartedly recommend it. I would not want it in any other size, shape, or form other than the way it was intended to be. As others who have bought the book have said, it is worth every penny, and I agree. It's so well made that someone said it will last for centuries. 

I feel very fortunate to own this book.  Nagra has been my passion for many, many years, and I still can't believe how much I have missed out on until owning this book.

 

Thank You very much, Ernst, Roland, and Marguerite Kudelski, for making this fantastic book a reality. 
 

 

[JBond]

 There is a story about someone who didn't think the Nagra logo on the spine of a book was the correct way. He decided to pry the strip of aluminum off the spine of a $500 book that was only three weeks old to be able to turn it around and make it look the way he wanted it to.

He then found it was made of high-tech plastic that mimics natural aluminum beautifully. That strip must have broken on him since it was bonded to the book's spine. To his surprise, oh, it's plastic! So he had to make a new one out of Real Alumnum and use Nagra's current logo today.

 

"Here is an update about "The Book". I could not live with this upside-down spine. Finding it a terrible mistake of the publisher, who did not, to this date, answered my question about it. I also found the typeface wrong, not like the real logo. So I made my own edition. Took the faulty one off and made a new one. In photo-etched real aluminium. Not like the cheap laser cut plastic one. Should I ask for a discount?? They are in it for the money."

As it turns out, the logo on the Nagrabook was NOT a terrible mistake but was actually on the correct path of (European publishing standards), and the font they used for the book's logo was a closer look to the original older Nagra logo, which started on the Nagra II ci in 1957. and is on the majority of Nagra products throughout Nagra's history. 

 

The book is not a Nagra product or sold by Nagra and should not have the exact copyrighted Nagra Group logo that's even on cable boxes, etc. For this book's purpose, that modern logo is irrelevant to this book as most of the early nagras and history is what this book is about.

 

So, all of this is his own doing, and then he has the nerve to complain about the book being cheap. It's not cheap at all.  The only way to tell if that spine is aluminum or plastic is to take a knife and destroy it. And that is what he did. He is building himself up at the expense of the book.

 

1) So, the publisher did not use the wrong logo.

2) And the publisher did not put the logo on backward. 

3) And the book is in no way cheaply done.

 

I have nothing to do with this book whatsoever; I first learned of it when Vienna posted the link back in October when everyone else did. My review of the book speaks for itself.  He is wrong about the quality, and I'm pointing it out.

 
 

Scroll through these pictures and Notice the Nagra logos on each of the pictures, In the last picture, two pictures: One that came with the book and the Narga group logo in the last photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vienna]

Allow a brief comment re the book’s spine and why the version that was finally selected was the fourth version,  after a series of tests.

The very first version was made of relatively thick aluminum; however, as the thickness of the book cover only allowed a pressing of one millimeter max (roughly 1/32"), the resulting protruding edges were so sharp that it might have caused injuries.

Two thinner metal versions proved to be too flexible and did not retain their shape on the flexible book spine.

Finally, an important point came up: when shipped internationally, books are often randomly scanned; a layer of metal could have been interpreted as a knife blade, which in many cases would have led to the packaging being opened.

[dela]

I have seen some photos from the Nagra book, and I have now ordered one. It is expensive, but from the look of both photos and text, I think that it will live up to its ambitions about being a sort of "definite reference" on the Nagra history. So I am looking forward to getting it soon...

 

[Soundbites]

Finally I received my NAGRA book and pleasingly it is evident this book is nothing less than a labour of love. Firstly on presentation with its faux brush aluminium slip case, and hardcover, purposefully reflective of the Nagra recorders body. Inside, the book is sumptuously filled with high quality photographs - from the inception of the first Nagra recorder, then following with the evolution of its numerous models, until the reel to reel’s final demise and the introduction of digital recorders. Author Roland Schellin’s research is exemplary, presenting in great ‘nerdy’ detail, the engaging historical journey of  Stefan Kudelski and his Nagra machines. Credit also be given to the publisher Ernst Hrabalek, obviously intent on producing a book of quality, paralleled with Nagra itself. 

[Jim Feeley]

I have only watched the first minute of this 14-minute video, but it looks fun. 

Not sure he got everything right (because I just don't know), but his enthusiasm is pretty cool.

 

 

[DHB]

"..Not sure he got everything right.."

 

No, he's just delaying and repeating his tape loops ..the delay's too coarse for it to be just a fraction-of-a-second *phase* delay.

 

(Of course the 4.2 CAN be locked to a pilot-tone, or other camera servo ..but his IV-S lacks that extra head.)

 

It's enjoyable for its enthusiasm, but it's rather like the old BBC Radiophonic Workshop, or the Watkins Copycat tape loop echo recorder: the pair aren't sufficiently finely-tuned to slip just a little out of *phase* ..and then back again. Still, it's fun, and he's enjoying himself, but the title's wrong.

 

But nice to see such well-preserved machines, though!

[Jim Feeley]

4 hours ago, DHB said:

No, he's just delaying and repeating his tape loops ..the delay's too coarse for it to be just a fraction-of-a-second *phase* delay.

 

Just so I'm clear, I think Hainbach is talking about phasing in the way Steve Reich talked about phase music, rather than in the tape flange/phase filtering. 

 

So are you thinking Hainbach got the tape flange/phase thing wrong, Steve Reich's concept of phase music wrong, or both? Or something else? 

 

Thanks! 

 

Two examples of Steve Reich "phase" pieces:

 

 

 

[DHB]

Hi Jim. "..So are you thinking Hainbach got the tape flange/phase thing wrong, Steve Reich's concept of phase music wrong, or both? Or something else?"

 

I think that Hainbach(?) got Steve Reich's concept of "phase music" exactly right ..but I think it's the wrong name for what they've done. Their music (?) slips *out of step*, but not out of *phase* ('flanging') - the sounds don't cancel out each other when a peak of one waveform meets a trough of the same waveform.

 

This - to me - is more like jolly 'hear what happens when two or more tape machines run increasingly out of sync with each other' (..didn't we all do this when we were about twelve years old?) ..It's a slippage in syncopation, it's a delayed overlap, but although Steve Reich apparently calls it 'Phasing' I think that's the wrong name for it. Hainbach copies Steve Reich's method, if you like, and does a similar thing with a couple of Nagras, but I'd call it 'dislocation' or something similar.

 

'Phasing' is what Kenny Everett, of blessed memory (a UK DJ) used to do on BBC radio: he'd play Beatles records *out-of-phase* ..taking a copy of a disc, inverting the phase, so that the central mono Beatles *voices* cancelled out, thus removing the lyrics so that radio listeners could sing along with the music as if they (we) *were* the Beatles! For me, 'phasing' is that down-a-drainpipe 'flanging' sound, but Steve Reich's - and Hainbach's - staggered delays, or repetitions at a different tempo, or speed, are, perhaps 'Phrasing', but not 'Phasing'.

 

Hainbach certainly got it right ..b-but the question remains: "Why do it?" ..It's an exploration of what things sound like when they're overlaid 'out-of-step' on top of each other, and that might entertain one's ears. [..For me, a more involving and delightful and similar 'staggered time' work was a - very short - film made by, or inspired by, the man who made the neon tower which stood on top of London's Hayward Gallery; it faded and dissolved from one colour to another depending on the wind direction and speed. The 16mm colour film consisted of a view of boats on a river, shot 1st through a red filter, then a blue filter and then a green filter, with the film being rewound and put back exactly 'in rack' (frame-accurately) in the camera (maybe a Bolex) and then run through again. When the wind was calm, the three sets of images coincided perfectly, and the scene looked like a normal colour film, but as the boats swung with the stream and with the wind, not only did their positions change slightly, but - because the images no longer perfectly overlapped - they dissolved into different colours; red+green, or blue+green, or blue+red, and them merged again into their original colours.. THAT was like, for me, seeing music! ..It'd be nice if that kind of more thoughtful thing could have been done with the 'Phasing' exercise, above, rather than just letting the same sounds slip out, and back in again, of temporal step.]

 

So, Hainbach did an approximation of what Steve Reich did ..but I much prefer the slipping in and out of step of "Three six nine, the goose drank wine, the monkey chewed tobacca on the street car line" (Shirley Ellis, 'The Clapping Song') or the change of emphasis on all those different syllables of Martha and the Vandellas' 'Dancing In The Street'! Now That's What I Call Music!

[Jim Feeley]

15 hours ago, DHB said:

I think that Hainbach(?) got Steve Reich's concept of "phase music" exactly right ..but I think it's the wrong name for what they've done.

 

But then, there are so many meanings for the term "phase." Phases of the moon, It's just a silly phase I'm going through, the filtering of audio signals. I'm not an expert on this stuff (just a fan), but I think Reich started using the term "phase music" in the early/mid 60s, around the same time or perhaps a bit before (or after) it started to be used to refer to tape phasing/flanging in the Everett/Beatles/Eventide/etc sense. At least, I'll guess neither set of people using the term one way or the other was aware of what the other was doing. So I think "phase music" is a reasonable name for Reich's concept, and it stuck....just a linguistic bummer that we need to keep track of... 

 

Also, have you seen the weird and cool audio plugins Hainbach created with AudioThing? My composer son digs them. Info here: https://www.audiothing.net/bundle/hainpack/

 

Demo of one here: 

 

 

And back to your first response, yes I mainly posted that video here because his Nagras are in such fine shape, and he's using them!

[DHB]

Oh, that 'Noises' plugin doesn't appeal to me. I HAVE used, through, the vaguely similar, but rather more immersive and enveloping Sampleson 'Scaper' (..as in audio landscaper). Not a beat machine, but creates entire 'sci-fi-ish' soundscapes.

 

"..It's just a silly phase I'm going through.." ..the best! On misty nights across the river (Thames), that would come wafting on the wind from Turk's Launches' late night disco boat.. (I remember booking Graham Gouldman and The Whirlwinds at Kennedy Street Enterprises in Manchester ..before they morphed into 10cc, and his mum and dad being costume designer and stage manager of our local am-dram society ..but I'm getting carried away, and that was - aarrgghh! - *sixty* years (!!!) ago.)

 

Er, careering swiftly back on topic; I'll be watching 'Diva' again tonight, trying to spy where the postboy's Nagra mic is, and what it could be - we never see it. What would I have used where he's sitting in that theatre to catch Cynthia Hawkins singing 'La Wally'? ..a Neumann RSM 191? ..Dunno..