BBC Radiophonic Workshop Desks

This is my 100th post for Balance, so I thought I would do something a bit different. Here is a review of the various consoles used by the totally great Radiophonic Workshop over the years

V72a Collection

Someone is selling 32 original Telefunken V72a pre amps for £10k

Some Neve History

I found some information from Geoff Tanner about the history of some of the classic Neve consoles, like the beautiful 8014 below. So I took the liberty of illustrating his words with some more pictures from his website

Thriller Board

Just saw this on the bay, MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER BOARD - a Harrison 4032 from Westlake Studio in Beverley Hills

MCI JH-636

From the Hit Factory in NY. You've heard this console for sure

Electrodyne Quad 8 2

Another Electrodyne

Electrodyne Quad 8

Quad 8 consoles get a lot of respect for their sound. And I particularly like these upright wooden console designs

My Consoles - MCI416b

Here is some info about my MCI console. It is a 416b made in 1973

Neve DSP1

Alan found some pictures he took of the Neve DSP-1 console he helped build in the early 80s

Focusrite Studio Console

Here is a Focusrite Studio Console for sale. POA though, so not a lot of useful info. Imagine how much power this thing would use up each day. And you would keep yourself fit just walking round eq-ing things

Neve DSP1 The First Digital Console

Some days I come over all Neve and have to look at pictures of old consoles and listen to Dire Straits recordings

Welcome

I am interested in vintage mixing consoles. So I am starting this blog about them, in which I intend to put up pictures, information and links whenever I find something that catches my eye. There are not many websites or blogs that I can find on this subject, which probably means that no one else will find it even remotely interesting! What is interesting about mixing desks to me is the fact that they are the ultimate studio gadget and the centerpiece of any recording studio, and they have defined the sound of all the recorded music we listen to. So I will persue this fascination of mine and try and document in a rather sporadic way the history of these beautiful objects. Hopefully over time the labels/tags will be useful in categorising posts by manufacturer or era produced, etc. I will endeavor to credit pictures or link back to their origins, and when it comes to reporting on eBay items I will try and put information in the post as opposed to linking to the auction as eBay don't archive for long. If you see a picture or anything on this blog that you want me to remove, or if you see a console that you think I might like to post about just let me know at balanceweblog@gmail.com

I have another blog called Its Full of Stars which is all about my studio and stuff I like in relation to that, and I have decided to re-post all the console related posts here. So the following 20 or so items are duplicated here for posterity






The picture above is from a session at the studio at Château d'Hérouville during the recording of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road in 1973. The console is an MCI 416b and was situated in the smaller of the two studios there