Re: [ARSCLIST] Vintage Recording Equipment

[Karl J Jackson <karl.j.jackson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Good call on the mixer! Based on a quick Google Image search, it's
definitely a Western Electric mixer, possibly the 22D Portable Mic Mixer.

kj

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
> [mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John Ross
> Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 1:31 PM
> To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 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?authke
> y=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.
> 
> Are you sure these pictures were taken in the 1950s? The equipment
> makes it look more like early 1930's. Any later than that, WOL would
> probably have been using ribbon microphones (probably some version of
> an RCA 44) for a music remote.
> 
> The device in front of the engineer is the microphone mixer. It looks
> like a Western Electric  mixer, but I'm not sure about the model
> number. The visible connections on the right side are the big round
> connector from a power supply (this would have been in the era of
> vaccuum tubes), and the telephone wires that connected the broadcast
> back to the WOL studios. There's a telephone handset next to his
> right hand, which he probably used for "talkback" to the station's
> control room. It appears that the engineer has placed his ashtray
> with a couple of cigars on top of the mixer.
> 
> The two pictures of the whole band look like the were taken in two
> different sessions. Notice that the conductor is on the left on one
> picture and on the right in the the other, and the musicians are all
> seated facing him in both. It's not a flipped negative, because the
> "USMC" on the background is correct in both pictures.
> 
> John Ross