Re: [ARSCLIST] Vintage Recording Equipment

[Tom Fine <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

That's quite a mic closet!

Regarding the original question, about obtaining the vintage equipment. In the case of Western 
Electric, be prepared to pay. You might check some of the props-rental places that serve Hollywood. 
I think there's one guy who just specializes in old electronic gear. All things WECO have cult value 
and go pricey on eBay. I must say, the stuff is built like tanks and it IS the rosetta stone of or 
source spring of most electronics (at least in the USA), so the cult is not whacko like with some 
vintage gear. I've heard of at least one recording studio that still uses a WECO 22D remote mixer as 
a "flavor" of mic preamp!

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Sohn" <mahatma57@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 6:57 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Vintage Recording Equipment


> > > At  10/4/2007 08:50 AM, Karl Jackson wrote:
> > >
> > > > I'm writing to inquire about recording equipment used in 1950s era radio
> > > > broadcasts. I work with the United States Marine Band, which will be
> > > > celebrating its 210th anniversary next year. As part of our concert series,
> > > > we will be transporting one of our "Dream Hour" radio broadcasts to the
> > > > concert stage, complete with microphones, equipment, and announcer. We would
> > > > like to replicate the gear as accurately as possibly. I've posted
> > > > photographs of a broadcast here:
> > > > http://picasaweb.google.com/karl.j.jackson/HistoricUSMBPictures?authkey=NAbG
> > > > I8uh8RE, and am hoping that you all can help to identify and or locate some
> > > > of the equipment, including microphones and mixer/transmitter. My best
> > > > guesses for microphones is that they are either RCA 50-A or Western Electric
> > > > 618A. I have no idea what the contraption in front of the broadcast engineer
> > > > is.
>
> Try contacting Bob Paquette Sr. www.sssmilwaukee.com/Microphone%20Museum.html
> I don't know him, but was just reading an article about his microphone museum in the latest issue 
> of TapeOp Magazine. He is the author of "the History and Evolution of the Microphone" and is an 
> authority on pre-1960's broadcast microphones.
>
> -Matt Sohn