45 minute read
Classic Tracks: “Goin
from MIX 526 - Oct 2020
by publications
Classic Tracks
Stan Ridgway’s Noir-Style, Lo-Fi, High-End Sound
By Barbara Schultz
“There’s a big truck waiting tonight at the pier,” and a deal is about to go down in Stan Ridgway’s quirky rock-noir song “Goin’ Southbound.” The third track on Ridgway’s second solo album, Mosquitos, tells a dangerous tale under a full moon that “shines like a big cue ball.”
Adding texture to Ridgway’s story are drummer Denny Fongheiser, Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin on sax; guitarists Ridgway, Eric Williams and special guest Marc Ribot; and synth/drum programmer Jim Lang. But the vintage-cool feel of this dramatic song was originally mapped out by Ridgway, an avowed tinkerer who was an early personal studio owner.
Ridgway’s first success in the music business came with the L.A. Modern Rock band Wall of Voodoo, best known for their song “Mexican Radio” from the 1983 album Call of the West. The song yielded a popular MTV video and rose to Number 58 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Ridgway embarked on a solo career the same year.
He soon after collaborated with Stewart Copeland on music for the movie Rumblefish (1983) and in 1986 released his first solo album, The Big Heat. Most of that debut was produced by Mitchell Froom, but a couple of tracks are credited to another young producer, Joe Chiccarelli, who later produced Mosquitos.
“When Stan started making Mosquitos, he was working with another producer,” Chiccarelli recalls. “They did a few songs and handed them in to Geffen Records, and I don’t think the label
was too crazy about the way it turned out. So Stan called me and asked if I would be interested in working on the record, and I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ Our experience in the past was super positive and turned out great. So, we went about starting over with the record.”
Ridgway and Chiccarelli went back to the drawing board in Ridgway’s personal studio, Impala, which the artist had built in a storefront on Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood. Ridgway had amassed a variety of conventional and electronic instruments, as well as an Allen & Heath console, an Otari tape machine, and an assortment of microphones and outboard gear. Chiccarelli brought along some of his own equipment, as well: Focusrite and Neve preamps, UREI 1176 and LA2A compressors, a pair of Tannoy SGM10B monitors, and various microphones.
BUILDING THAT NOIR SOUND Many of the Mosquitos tracks stemmed from demos that Ridgway had created, and he and Chiccarelli built on those ideas gradually, bringing
musicians into Impala or moving to a different electronically, but once several other parts were cut, facility when needed. the project moved to Capitol Studios (Hollywood),
“I would say maybe half the record was made where staff engineer Pete Doell recorded Denny from something that Stan started by himself, and Fongheiser’s kit in Studio B. about 60 percent of all of the tracks were recorded cool. Much credit goes to Mitchell Froom and in Stan’s studio,” Chiccarelli says. “I believe we DRUMS FROM CAPITOL rented a Telefunken U47 for Stan’s voice. Stan’s “I don’t remember many specifics as far as mic vocal would also have been through a Neve 1073 choices,” Doell says. “With Joe, we’d always find preamp into an LA2A compressor. some novel combination of mics or a different
“Stan really delivered a great vocal performance,” way to process a track, though we had to keep in he continues. “The tricky part of the song was that mind that we might run out of tracks because we ‘Goin’ souuuthbound’ line because it’s kind of a were recording to tape. If you felt like you needed howl; the trick was to try to get it just melodic another couple of tracks to record a part, the room enough but keep the right character in his voice. tracks sometimes had to go and hopefully you’d I remember spending a little extra time trying to create something cool with the digital reverb in get that line.” the mix.
On guitars Ridgway and Chiccarelli used a “It helped that Studio B is especially versatile Neumann U87 or Shure SM57 going into the for recording drums, because you can move the producer’s Focusrite 115 preamps and 1176 or LA3A mics far enough away to where you could actually compression. Another essential part of the film hear what the room sounds like,” Doell adds. “So, on almost all the recordings I would do in there, I would record some room tracks, placing mics 20 or 25 feet away sometimes.” Doell recalls that he captured the drum parts to the studio’s Studer A800 MkIII Photo Courtesy of Pete Doell tape machine, though he says it’s possible the studio had replaced it with an A827 by that point. He used the preamps in the facility’s famed Neve 8068 console. “It is serial number 001—the Back in the day: engineer Pete Doell in Studio B at Capitol Studios. actual prototype,” Doell says. noir-ish sound of the track is Berlin’s sax solo. automation ever in a console.”
“Steve always likes his saxes pretty low-fi,” says Doell also recorded a string section for the album Chiccarelli. “So I think we might have done that in Capitol, but “Goin’ Southbound” doesn’t include with a Shure SM57 almost crammed down the bell the full section—just some solo violin, which he of the horn. There might have been another mic, captured with a Neuman U67 out in the same live though—like a Neumann U47 FET—that was back room where they’d recorded drums. off the mic and was blended in for more natural “Then we had Jim Lang do the keyboards at tone. But Steve really is a character kind of player. his home studio,” Chiccarelli says. “We especially That’s why I love working with him. Los Lobos went to Jim’s studio when we needed more heavily were into making low-fi records with these sounds programmed tracks because Jim had an Atari that sounded broken and unique, before that was computer. He was way up on the technology of 1989.” “It also had the first Necam Tchad Blake for those sounds. MIXING WITH CSABA PETOCZ
“Stan also loved that low-fi kind of thing,” he The Mosquitos mix was in Richard Landis’ studio, adds. “On Mosquitos we tried to make a record that the Gray Room, equipped with an SSL G+ board had that sort of kitschy, lo-fi aesthetic but still had and the same Tannoy monitors that Chiccarelli a sense of polish and fidelity to it.” used at the time.
In Impala, drum parts were mapped out “Richard Landis was an independent producer
who was formerly a staff producer at Capitol,” Chiccarelli explains. “He had a lot of hits as a record producer and built a wonderful Vincent van Haaff mix room in his home in Laurel Canyon. He also had Studer tape machines and tons of outboard gear—EMT 250 reverb and 140 plate, Pultec EQs, and AMS reverbs as well.
“My friend Csaba Petocz mixed the record,” Chiccarelli continues. “Csaba and I came up together in the business in the early ’80s as assistant engineers, and we really shared shared the same spirit and sensibilities, but Csaba’s ear was far superior to my ear on certain things, so I brought him in to mix Stan’s album. He was just the best partner in the studio—a great guy with such positive energy. He put his heart and soul into everything.”
Chiccarelli gives Petocz a lot of the credit for balancing the album’s lo-fi factor with the right amount of polish. “I believe we used a GML parametric equalizer on the stereo bus, and the SSL compressor. Part of the sound of the record is [Landis’] SSL console. But it really was Csaba’s sense of fidelity. He was a very musical guy, and he always wanted to keep things authentic and honest. He really helped me focus on priorities. I can hear him with his Australian accent saying, ‘Look, mate, this is the hook. This is the thing that is really, really the key here.’
Chiccarelli looks back somewhat philosophically on these sessions, as they took place at the crossroads of artists beginning to choose personal studios rather than commercial ones, and though Ridgway had a record deal with Geffen, the musicians and production team felt a level of independence that they couldn’t have had if every moment had been spent in commercial facilities on the label’s dime.
“This was when artists were starting to say, ‘I don’t want to be dictated to by the label, or asked where, how, with whom I record,” Chiccarelli says. “I want to do it in a way that is comfortable and not so tense or expensive. Stan wanted to do things in his own way, be able to tinker and experiment and not feel like there was a clock.
“Stan was only trying to be Stan,” Chiccarelli concludes. “He had no desire to copy the trends or have a big smash record. He said what he had to say, and ended up reaching a lot of people. It was such a positive experience for me, because it was really the first time I helped an artist make a record that was for the artist solely, and we didn’t worry about anything the outside world might have to say about it. Despite label pressures—and there were plenty—we just went about it in in our little bubble.” ■
on the cover
Rhythm Lead”
Jackson Browne’s Personal Approach to Songwriting, Recording and Social Activism
By Robyn Flans / Photos by David Belle
JBrowne ackson smiles as he overhears one of the students in the breezeway at Haiti’s Audio Institute singing the hook of his song “Love Is Love.” “Love is love, love is love, lanmou se lanmou,” as the young man took a break where 40 students convened to learn the art of recording, all in connection with Browne’s most recent benefit project, the World Music project, Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1
Most people familiar with Jackson Browne know that he is a songwriter, recording artist, producer and activist. This project, recorded in two weeklong sessions in Haiti—united all those roles: As a songwriter, Browne contributed to a few songs, but “Love Is Love” was his (David Belle collaborated on lyrics) as writer and artist. He coproduced the record with Jonathan Wilson, and proceeds benefit Artists For Peace and Justice in support of the Academy for Peace and Justice and the Artists Institute of Jacmel, Haiti.
Browne grew up in the 1960s, first in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles, which he describes as predominantly Mexican-American, with a certain amount of racial tension. He credits both his parents—in different ways—for his social consciousness.
His dad, a musician, loved jazz and Dixieland and introduced him to all kinds of Black music, and took him to see Lightnin’ Hopkins sing at the Ash Grove, L.A.’s roots music folk club. He was the one who sat his son down to have that important conversation about prejudice, as racism was referred to in those days. His mother protested the Vietnam War. Then, while living in Orange County as a teenager and encountering real class divisions for the first time, his older sister Berbie went to San Francisco to demonstrate at
the Republican convention against Presidential in his house, and finally Groove Masters in 1986 candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964. By the next in Santa Monica. He says he bought a Neotek year, he was visiting his sister at her apartment console because Ladanyi advised him that it was in San Francisco, experiencing peace and love in the lowest-costing, still-possible-to-maintain, the renowned Haight-Ashbury district, listening board available. to the Staples Singers and jazz organist Jimmy “But it didn’t sound as good as what I
Smith. eventually wound up with, which was a Neve,
THE RECORDING ARTIST of his 8078 that David Manley found for him.
By 1967 Browne became a fan of bluegrass music, He says that even though he can’t talk about the and also joined the newly formed Nitty Gritty equipment technically, he knows how it sounds.
Dirt Band, which at the time was a traditional “I still don’t know how anything works,” jug band; Browne played guitar, washtub bass Browne admits. “The engineer and I have a and jug. After a few months, though, Browne dialog, which turns out to be the best way for realized that he had to depart to concentrate on me to get what I want out of the studio. The his own songs. engineers I work with have become more and
When he began making records, he worked more like a confidant to me. I explain why I want with producer-engineers or co-produced with to do what I want to do, and they are there to engineers. After his third album, co-produced facilitate that.” with Grammy Award-winner Al Schmitt, he but that was quite a few years later,” Browne says began producing, beginning with Warren THE ARTIST-ENGINEER CONNECTION
Zevon’s debut and its follow-up, Excitable Boy, Singer/songwriter/producer and studio owner co-produced with Waddy Wachtel. He made Jonathan Wilson, who has known Browne for those two albums and two of his own, back to back, in four years. Browne figured that he needed a studio. Well, nearly a decade and accompanied him to Haiti to work on the recent project, indicates that Browne knows more than he lets on. "The engineer and I have a dialog, which turns out to be the best way for me to get what I want out of the studio. The engineers I work with have become more and more like a confidant to me" —Jackson Browne“ ” it was more like his business manager figured “He’s built himself an amazing, first-class that out. He told him: “You spend so much studio that he sits in every day,” Wilson says. time in the studio and it costs you this much “’Does he bother himself with all the model an hour, you might want to think about having numbers?’ No. But Greg Ladanyi was sort of his your own studio. It would end up saving you a guru, and Ladanyi told him a lot of great stuff to lot of money, even though it would be a big cash get, and when you get into the habit of sitting outlay.” with an engineer, you know what it does. And He also said to him: “And look at you, you he certainly knows when something doesn’t traded in your job as an artist for a job as sound right.” producer. Congratulations! You’ve just taken a Most artists who have studios don’t book 90 percent pay cut. But if you worked in your them out, but to defray some of the costs, own studio, at least you’d be making some Browne does, and the benefit is that he learns money on that end.” from the other artists recording there. While By that time Browne was working with Browne says he doesn’t “haunt” the studio and
Grammy Award-winning engineer Greg Ladanyi, hang around while others are working in it, he who helped him get a studio up and running. talks to his engineers and takes note of how they
The first things he bought were a Studer A80 are working. and a Neotek console. His first studio space was “It’s like having a master class, only they don’t in a warehouse in Downtown L.A. in 1982, then know they’re giving it,” Browne laughs. ”I don’t
The live setup in the Artists Institute Studio A.
A postcard view of the Artists Institute Studio A.
Engineer Trevor Spencer conducts a class for post-high school students in the Studio A control room.
Crew and artists in the Studio A control room.
ever touch anything, but I may come in late at night and see where they put the drums. Some people do some crazy stuff. David Briggs had this band in there that was set up in a circle. The singer was in the center of the room, with no separation, and everyone was set up around him.” Browne says sometimes a song may not become what he originally thought it would be. He also says that sometimes the studio dictates the direction of a song; until the to pledge long-term financial support to build the Academy for Peace and Justice in Port au Prince, serving middle and high school students with Haitian musicians and then later couldn’t remember what he had been singing. He and Browne had to get David Belle to show them "“I thought in the back of my mind, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if somebody came down here and made a record and brought some of the old gear and showed them what that’s about?’” —Jackson Browne “ ” musicians have at it, he doesn’t quite know what from one of the poorest neighborhoods in the the footage of that jam that Belle had filmed so it will sound like. Western Hemisphere. they could learn it. If Belle hadn’t filmed it, it
“You have to find out from the players what In 2015, he went to Haiti to take a look at the would never have become a song. That song, “I the song really wants. Sometimes I’ve found out school to which he had contributed, at one point Found Out,” was the initial inspiration for the that I wrote too many verses; it really annoys me spotting a tile with his name on it outside one of whole project. to have to throw shit out,” Browne groans, “You the classrooms. When Browne visited the Audio Institute mean, I have to throw that verse away because I “There’s a buoyancy and optimism to studio, he heard a band recording on what APJ can’t say all that before I get to the chorus?” everything that APJ does,” Browne says. “They touted in their brochure as their state-of-the-art
I do a lot of editing, which is why all these got a school up and running within a year, and SSL console, Genelec monitors and Pro Tools workstations with Pro Tools have been so at this point, 10 years later, 2,600 kids go to that rig, in a studio designed by John Storyk of the welcome to me—not because of how they sound, school for free.” Walters-Storyk Design Group. But to Browne’s but for what they let you do.” During that trip, Browne visited the APJ’s mind, they were missing much of the important Artists Institute, established by filmmaker David analog gear that could make a real difference in MORE THAN MAKING A RECORD Belle, comprising the Cine Institute and the their recordings. Jackson Browne’s involvement with Haiti Audio Institute, up the coast in Jacmel. “I thought in the back of my mind, ‘Wouldn’t began right after the country’s devastating 7.0 One night on the beach, musician and it be great if somebody came down here and earthquake in 2010, when he teamed with APJ songwriter Jonathan Russell, who was also on made a record and brought some of the old gear and a roster of musicians, film makers and actors that Haiti trip, became entranced in a jam and showed them what that’s about?’” he recalls.
It wasn’t long before that thought went from the back of his mind to the front. Still, Browne says, it took engineer Jonathan Wilson, game for the adventure, to make it happen. It took about a year before they could put it together.
Of Wilson, Browne explains that they are friends and both have studios, but that Wilson “knows how to work his and I just own mine. Again, I don’t easily focus on the technical stuff. I know how things work and how to use them, but not how to fix them or even how to turn them on. I do know the process of making records. Fortunately, I’ve always had the good luck of working with great engineers.”
Wilson collaborated with Browne to create a package of equipment to augment what they found on the Audio Institute’s equipment list. The package included gear from Jeff Ehrenberg (Vintage King), David Jenkins (True Tone Music), Wes Dooley (AEA microphones), EveAnna Manley (Manley), Eric Stollsteimer (Caveman Vintage Music), Ross Garfield (Drum Doctors) and Dusty Wakeman (Mojave Audio).
They brought a matched pair of AEA N22 mics, a pair of MA-300 Mojave mics, some older model Electro-Voice, Shure, Beyer and Telfunken mics, two Neve 1073 mic pre’s, two Pultec EQs, a pair of old reissue Electrodyne preamps, two Retro Instruments Tube Compressors, an API 500VPR 10- slot rack with power supply, a Manley VOXBOX, a JHS Colour Box V2 Preamp Pedal, Istanbul cymbals, Drum Doctors drumheads, and left it all there as a gift to the school.
All of this—the gear and the musician’s travel—Browne paid for with charitable dollars, accumulated over a period of time by adding a dollar to the price of his live concert tickets.
The project became so much more than teaching recording. It became a joyous cultural exchange with seven songwriters from four countries: Spain (Raúl Rodríguez), Mali (Habib Koité), Haiti (Paul Beaubrun) and the U.S. (Jonathan Russell Jenny Lewis, Wilson and Browne)—sharing musical sensibilities and diversity, while teaching about 40 post–high school students the principles of recording, all the while speaking through translators.
LEARNING BY DOING Browne recalls after they hooked up all the equipment and the students heard the signal chain, and heard the drums, “They went, ‘Oh, we were wondering how you get that sound to happen.’
Jackson Browne, on guitar.
Haitian bass player Paul Beaubrun.
Wilson adds that some of the Western grooves were unfamiliar to the Haitians yet interesting to them; they were also enamored of the drum kit, exotic to them, but it had their deep roots; it was the deep stuff.” Before they knew it, they had six songs in five "“I could tell that seeing someone play a drum kit was a point of interest,” —Jonathan Wilson “ ” as they mostly employ hand drums in their music. days, and what had started as an idea just to do “I could tell that seeing someone play a drum some sessions, became a record, extending the kit was a point of interest,” says Wilson, who project to a second week later in the year. played drums on all the songs. It was during that second session, that indie The night before the first recording session, songwriter Jenny Lewis and Malian singer everybody went to see local band Lakou Mizik and guitar virtuoso Koité both recorded, and play live, and they invited some of the members ended up collaborating on the song “Under the to record with them. Those players remained Supermoon.” And together they imbued the close at hand during the project so they could be Raúl Rodríguez song “El Viajero” with an aura of drawn into the arrangements as needed. transcendent mystery. Browne calls singer-guitarist Paul Beaubrun, Wilson called upon engineer Vira Byramji who became the bass player on all of these songs, from Electric Lady Studios to join in the first the “glue” of the project. “As a Haitian, he speaks week, then Trevor Spencer, Josh Tillman’s
Creole and English and made it possible for all of engineer, the second week to help inspire the us to communicate.” students to become great engineers, and they Then there was Habib Koité, who Browne conducted technology seminars for the students, describes as a sunrise: “For the Haitians it was who also had the opportunity to observe in the like this is Mother Africa, a voice from their studio in small groups throughout the project. ancestral homeland singing to them. And he was Wilson also held Q&A sessions to share such singing in a language they didn’t know, so it was techniques as his approach to multi-miking the
Malian artist Habib Koite.
drum set, displaying the effects of compression on drums, and additional American-style recording techniques.
Browne says with a laugh that most of his ideas are not so much moneymaking ideas, but rather money spending ideas. Browne then adds, “It was really fulfilling to be down there in a situation where we were so welcomed. These students have such dignity and a real thirst for knowledge. They were as serious as could be. Instead of working to support their larger family at home, they are being supported here in their dream to become professional engineers. To have them respond with real interest to what we were doing was very fulfilling, and it showed us all how music is the key to our own transformation. That is a pretty great feeling.”
Artists for Peace and Justice Let the Rhythm Lead: Haiti Song Summit Vol. 1 is available worldwide via Arts Music Inc., a Warner Music Group Company. A short documentary and music videos from the album are available on Jackson Browne’s YouTube channel. n
Jonathan Wilson, engineer and multi-instrumentalist on the Haiti project; Jackson Browne gives him much of the credit for making it happen.
American artist Jenny Lewis.
Birth of a Classic
The dbx 160 Compressor, Its Variants and a Little Bit of VCA History
By Ian Anderson
David Blackmer received his training ultimately be his greatest legacy, the Blackmer in electronics first from the Navy and Gain Cell: four transistors—two NPN, two PNP— later from both Harvard and MIT. As arranged as complementary current mirrors, was most often the case in that 1960s one pair able to alter the current flow through audio era, Blackmer’s interest as an engineer and the other upon receipt of an incoming control circuit designer focused largely on maximizing the current. While the VCA itself was not exactly new dynamic range of recorded media. (analog synthesizers were using voltage-controlled
Recall that the LP vinyl record of the time had amplifiers to shape a sound’s envelope in the late a rather restricted—read: compressed—dynamic 1960s), Blackmer’s invention was the first VCA range in the neighborhood of 60 – 70 dB. Classical with low enough noise and distortion to make it orchestral music can easily exceed this by 30 dB. suitable for use in professional audio products. The With this in mind, Blackmer set about expanding Blackmer gain cell was patented in 1973. the dynamic range of recorded media. The key to maximizing the So deliberate was his focus that performance of these VCAs lay in Blackmer, in 1971, named his company the painstaking process of matching after his goal of deciBel expansion: dbx. individual transistors to one another,
During the process of designing and thermally coupling them to noise reduction systems for tape ensure consistent performance: a recorders (dbx’s first, and often transistor’s transfer characteristics overlooked, products), Blackmer, in David Blackmer, can change depending on the 1971, developed the core of what would founder of dbx. component’s temperature. The importance of ensuring all transistors (after they have been matched to one another, of course) exist in the same thermal environment cannot be understated. This four-transistor design ultimately formed the basis of every iteration of the Blackmer gain cell, including the seven-transistor 200 “silver can” VCA—the first to market—used in the 160 and 161 compressors.
The next development came in 1978 with the addition of interleaved local feedback loops to reduce distortion. This brought the transistor count up to eight. The first commercial appearance of this circuit was the 202 “black can” VCA at the heart of the 165. The 200 and 202 VCAs had a -6 mV/dB logarithmic curve: every 6 mV change in control voltage results in a signal level change of 1dB at the VCA’s output. dbx called this a “decilinear” curve: logarithmic changes (the decibel) in the audio signal were the result of linear changes in the control voltage.
THE BLACKMER GAIN CELL The Blackmer gain cell was the first voltagecontrolled gain-changing device to do this. This is important to note, as designers of compressors and limiters based on other topologies at the time, like JFETs, diode bridges, electro-optical cells and the variable-µ vacuum tube, were limited by the transfer curve (which was often decidedly nonlinear in nature) of the gain reduction cell itself.
Both the 200 and 202 VCAs—in fact, all but one Blackmer gain cell, the 2001—are class A/B devices that require careful trimming to minimize crossover distortion.
Meanwhile, in 1980, audio engineer Paul Buff of Allison Research (which eventually merged with Valley Audio in Nashville to become Valley People) developed his own eight-transistor device, the class A TA-101, which formed the core of Valley People products like the famed Kepex, Gain Brain and Dynamite. The TA-101 wasn’t exactly a VCA, though. It was actually an eight-transistor array (hence “TA”) consisting of four matched NPN and four matched PNP transistors in a .435-inch square package around which a skilled designer could build a VCA.
Further, in a VCA application, four of the transistors are connected as diodes, which aids in maintaining audio waveform symmetry without the need for careful external trimming. The earlier ECG-101 is functionally identical to the TA-101, though the package is different. Owners of some vintage VCA-automated Harrison consoles (Harrison, incidentally, also being located in Nashville) will find an ECG-101 on each of their faders. It is worth mentioning that the Buff transistor array is similar enough to the Blackmer VCA that Allison/Valley People paid some royalties to dbx.
The first monolithic integrated circuit version of the Blackmer gain cell, the dbx 2150, was released in 1981 in the now-familiar 8-pin SIP package. The much smaller form factor, along with the current in/current out nature of the Blackmer VCA, enabled designers to cost-effectively use multiple VCAs in parallel. Four 2150s wired in parallel, for example, yields a 6dB improvement in signal-tonoise ratio. It is this principle upon which all of the later open-frame Blackmer VCAs are based. dbx was purchased by Birmingham Sound Reproducers (BSR) in 1979. During this period the dbx brand name was found on numerous consumer audio devices, including turntables, tape decks and amplifiers. It was also during this period that the 160x and 160XT were released.
Variations on a Theme: Various Incarnations of the Blackmer VCA
Model 200
202
210 Package 1”x 1” 2”x 1” Black Can
Card
202C
202X
202XL
202XT
202XTC
202R
2001
2002
2002T1
146732
2150 2155 2”x 1” Gold Can
2”x 1” Open Frame 2”x 1” Open Frame 2”x 1” Open Frame 2”x 1” Open Frame 2”x 1” Open Frame
2”x 1” Open Frame
2”x 1” Blue Can 2”x 1” Open Frame
8-pin SIP
8-pin SIP 8-pin SIP
2180 8-pin SIP
2181 8-pin SIP Branding
dbx
dbx
dbx
THAT
THAT
THAT
THAT
THAT
THAT
dbx
dbx/THAT dbx/THAT
THAT
THAT Notes 7-transistor, -6 mV/dB transfer curve
8-transistor, -6 mV/dB transfer curve
4-transistor card (two matched dual-transistors) found in 162 and some consumer products like the 128. -50 mV/dB, the new standard at this point. Found in a number of console automation systems. 8 paralleled 2150 ICs; higher I/O impedance than the 202C; had issue with “thump” when unmuting. 8 paralleled 2150 ICs; fixed 202X mute “thump,” but suffered from increased noise modulation.
8 paralleled 2150 ICs; fixed noise modulation issue in 202XL
8 paralleled 2150 ICs; 202XT with temperature-compensated control voltage port.
R = “retro,” designed with same -6 mV/dB curve as original 202.
Discrete, 8-transistor. The only class A Blackmer VCA, designed by Bob Adams, one of the founders of THAT Corp. Higher noise due to higher class A current. 4 paralleled 2180 ICs. Potted.
4 paralleled 2180 ICs. Required external symmetry trim.
In-house part number; it is the dbx 1252/THAT 2159; essentially a lower-grade 2155, which is itself a lower-grade 2150. Developed by Dave Welland of dbx in 1981 Lower-grade variation of 2150 Developed by Gary Hebert (another founder of THAT Corp.) Designed to “minimize effect of non-linearities in the VCA drive circuitry at high frequencies.” Read: overcome HF distortion issues in operational amplifiers. Requires no external trimming. 2180 requiring external distortion trim. 2180/1 graded by distortion, best to worst: A, B, C. Priced accordingly.
In 1989, the dbx division of BSR was acquired by Edison Laser Player, a Japanese company whose founder, Sanju Chiba, invented the laser turntable. The professional products division was then sold to AKG, which was in turn purchased by Harman International in 1994.
At this time a number of critical patents were sold to THAT Corp (THAT is an acronym formed by the surnames of Les Tyler, Gary Hebert and Paul Traveline), whose 218x ICs—direct descendants of the original Blackmer gain cell—are still in use by companies like Solid State Logic, Smart Research, and various other manufacturers of VCA compression devices.
THE DBX 160 AND ITS PROGENY First things first: no iterations of the “classic” dbx 160 or its relatives ever shipped with input or output transformers as standard. All iterations of the dbx 160, including the 161, the 160X, the 160XT, the 160A, the 162 and the 165, used electronically balanced or unbalanced inputs and outputs built around operational amplifiers. Only the contemporary 160SL and 162S shipped with transformers, and only on the outputs; inputs on these devices remained electronically balanced.
Each of these devices (as is the case with every VCA compressor the author can think of) also has a very short internal signal path:
Input stage -> VCA -> current-to-voltage converter -> output driver
The current-to-voltage converter, or “I/V” converter, is also known as a transimpedance amplifier, and is almost exclusively executed with a simple inverting op-amp stage (typically those with high impedance JFET inputs). The I/V converter is necessary as VCAs are current in/current out devices.
All of the 160-derived devices are also feedforward designs, wherein the control voltage driving the VCA into gain reduction is derived from the input signal and “fed forward” to the VCA, rather than being “fed backward” from the signal after it has already passed through the VCA. This allows for much faster attack times that can drive the signal into large amounts of gain reduction more transparently than a feedback design. THE ORIGINAL DBX 160 “VU” (1976) Released in 1976, dbx’s first dynamic range compressor for professional audio was reportedly not a particularly popular idea with Blackmer, whose primary objective was to increase the dynamic range of recorded audio. Nevertheless, the two-rackspace, half-width box would prove popular with engineers looking for inexpensive alternatives to, say, the LA-3A and 1176 in spite of its limited feature set.
It is also important to note that the 160s compression curve was a “hard knee” curve: the onset of compression was instantaneous and often resulted in noticeable compression depending on ratio and threshold settings. As is often the case with audio devices that have earned “classic” status, these shortcomings weren’t necessarily a bad thing and often contribute to their desirability.
The dbx 160 VU model used the first commercial version of the Blackmer gain cell, the 200 VCA, and its companion RMS detector, the 207/208. These were both discrete-transistor devices on small printed circuit boards potted in metal enclosures.
Another persistent myth about the 160VU is that it has balanced I/O. The input stage is indeed a textbook differential amplifier built around a TL082 FET op-amp with a gain of -6 dB, but the output driver is a bit different and is, in fact, unbalanced. Here, a non-inverting, “ground-canceling output” driver circuit is used. Where a fully balanced output will produce the “hot” output signal on XLR pin 2 and an inverted or anti-phase signal (“cold”) on XLR pin 3, the 160 VU’s ground-canceling output is a single output op-amp stage with push-pull drive transistors driving pin 2, with pin 3 designed to cancel out any errant voltages, i.e., ground hum, that might appear on pin 1 (ground). Gain of this stage is set at +10dB.
So what are the real differences between the 160 and 161 VU models? First and foremost, the 161’s inputs and outputs are unbalanced on RCA connectors and calibrated for -10dBV (consumer audio). The 161’s output stage also lacks the output drive transistors as well as the groundcancelling circuitry and will also have a higher output impedance. In fact, the 161’s post-VCA current-to-voltage conversion op-amp stage is serving double duty as the output driver. THE DBX 162 (1978) The dbx 162 is often referred to as a stereo 160 VU. This isn’t quite the case. Unsurprisingly, there are a few key differences. First, where the core of the 160 VU was the 200 VCA and 207 RMS detector, the 162 used the 210 VCA, a four-transistor device (a pair of complementary current mirrors; the true “core” of the Black gain cell) on a daughter card instead of the expected potted can. Stereo operation is made possible by a dual RMS detector (also on a daughter card) with two inputs and a single output: both channels are summed to a single sidechain.
There is also a mysterious unpopulated header on the motherboard similar to those upon which the VCAs and RMS detector are mounted. In a telephone conversation with David Kulka of Burbank, California’s Studio Electronics, Kulka pointed out that this header resides between the input buffer and RMS detectors, suggesting some manner of optional sidechain insert functionality.
Inputs are balanced differential amplifiers. Outputs, like those on the 165, are unbalanced and ground-canceling. Both inputs and outputs remain on terminal strips.
The threshold control is still labeled in Volts, though the author has seen two versions of the front panel: an older version retains the 160 VU’s 10mV to 3V threshold labeling, while a newer version omits the unit altogerther and is simply
labeled “.01” to “3.” THE DBX 165, 165A (1978) Also released in 1978, the 165 was clearly intended to be the flagship dynamics device in the dbx professional audio lineup. Built around the newest eight-transistor 202 VCA (the “black can” version of the later VCA used in automation systems in consoles by MCI, SSL and others) and an 8-pin DIP IC RMS detector, the 165 featured a fully balanced differential amplifier input, though the output is still, as stated in the 165 manual, “…single ended, so that in normal operation, the [cold] signal output terminal is internally connected to the [ground] terminal.”
The 165 adds attack and release controls, a threshold control with proper dB units and, most significantly, was the first dbx device to feature Over Easy soft-knee compression. Unlike its predecessors, the 165 was capable of stereo linking using a proprietary cable available from dbx. The 165 also adds sidechain detector access on the I/O terminal strip.
The 165A adds the Peak Stop Limiter, a diodebased hard limiter that most folks agree doesn’t sound particularly good.
THE DBX 160X The next iteration of the dbx 160, the 160X, differs from the 160 VU in several significant ways. First, and most obviously, the form factor changed to a full-width single-rackspace with LED input and gain reduction meters.
Second, this is the first 160 to use the nowfamiliar 8-pin SIP integrated circuit VCA and RMS detectors, the 146732 and 146742, respectively. The 146732 is equivalent to the dbx 2152/THAT Corp. 2159. Interestingly, the 2152/2159 is a lower-guaranteed-spec version of the 2150, an interesting selection for dbx’s most well-known compressor line.
The 160X also adds greatly simplified stereo coupling via an additional ¼-inch TRS connector, and external sidechain access on the I/O terminal strip.
The most significant change, however, was the addition of dbx’s “overeasy” soft-knee circuit which premiered in the 165.
There have appeared, on numerous internet forums, claims that the 160X includes a transformer-balanced output. As mentioned earlier, this is untrue: the 160X did not ship standard with an output transformer. There is, however, space on the 160X’s PCB for a Jensen output transformer. The best part: this output transformer, part no. JT-123-DBX, is still available from Jensen Transformers. Installing the transformer requires removing a few jumpers; anyone comfortable with a soldering iron will be able to handle the task.
By default, the 160X employs the same groundcanceling, single-ended output circuit as the 160 VU. The output signal appears on a ¼-inch TRS jack as well as a terminal strip, a la the 160 VU.
Another interesting option: the AB1 electronically balanced output card featured a fully balanced output with an op-amp stage driving both hot and cold leads, which show up on the terminal strip; still no XLR connectors!
THE DBX 160XT The biggest difference between the 160X and 160XT lies under the hood, but a glance at the rear panel reveals all. The XT was the first 160 to ship with a fully balanced output, essentially the 160X’s optional AB1 card installed from the factory. The terminal strip is also gone, replaced with proper XLR connectors with one important caveat: the XT was “pin 3 hot” from the factory.
The balanced input also appears on a ¼-inch TRS jack, and the unbalanced output driver circuit from the 160VU and 160X remains in place on a
Matrix
Model
160 VU 161 VU
162
165 Input
Electronically Balanced Unbalanced RCA Electronically Balanced Electronically Balanced
165A Electronically Balanced Output
Single-Ended, Ground cancelling
Unbalanced
Single-Ended, Ground cancelling Single-Ended, Ground cancelling, Terminal Strip
Single-Ended, Ground cancelling, Terminal Strip
160X Electronically Balanced Single-Ended, Ground cancelling
160XT
160A
160S/ SL 162S/ SL Electronically Balanced
Electronically Balanced Electronically Balanced Electronically Balanced Electronically Balanced, XLR
Electronically Balanced, XLR
Transformer-balanced
Transformer-balanced VCA
200 Connectors
XLR Notes
+4 dBu; professional audio
200
210
202
202
215x
215x
215x
V8
215x RCA
Terminal Strip Terminal Strip
Terminal Strip
Terminal Strip, Unbalanced ¼”
XLR, Unbalanced ¼”
XLR
XLR
XLR -10 dBV; consumer audio
Quad coupling option
Stereo coupling option, sidechain access Stereo coupling option, sidechain access, adds Peak Stop limiter
Opt. output transformer, ppt. balanced out card, Stereo coupling via TRS
Opt. output transformer Stereo coupling via TRS, PIN 3 HOT Opt. output transformer Stereo coupling via TRS
separate ¼-inch jack. Interestingly, both outputs can be used simultaneously to drive different loads, as each output driver is independent of the other. Finally, the optional transformer footprint remains.
THE DBX 160A This currently available descendant of the original 160 differs very little from its immediate predecessor, with the important exception of XLR pin configuration: the 160A is “pin 2 hot.” The only other apparent difference is a smaller, redesigned PCB layout, though that is a recent change; older 160As used a larger PCB similar to that of the XT. The good news for interested parties is that, at least on the 160A PCBs the author has seen, the transformer footprint remains.
THE 160SL AND 162SL dbx also manufactured, from _____ to _____ a pair of high-end compressor/limiters, the 160S/SL and 162S/SL. Immediately recognizable by their bold blue (160SL) and purple (162SL) anodized aluminum front panels, these two devices were marketed as the ultimate expression of the Blackmer gain cell-based dbx dynamics processor. Functionally identical, the 160SL featured higher-quality components than the 162SL and, more significantly, made use of the “V8” VCA, a return to the eight-transistor potted discrete VCA. The 162SL, in contrast, relied upon dbx-branded THAT Corp IC VCAs.
LEGACY The original dbx 160 VU is by now considered enough of a studio classic to both command steep prices on the vintage market and remain worthy of continuous production (albeit in modified form) since its release in 1976. But dbx’s, and David Blackmer’s, most significant and lasting contribution to professional audio is undoubtedly the heart of the 160: the Blackmer VCA.
It has survived and thrived for nearly 50 years, and it gave birth to an entirely new type of studio production tool. At this point, nearly every currently manufactured VCA compressor or expander/gate contains the most recent descendent of the original Blackmer VCA, the THAT Corp. 2180/2181. Even those who don’t use this specific device are using VCAs that almost certainly owe their existence, in some way, to David Blackmer’s magnificent creation. n
Preserving the Legacy
Bill Smith Named Chief Archiving Engineer at United Recording
by David Goggin
United Recording recently named Grammy-nominated recording industry veteran Bill Smith as Chief Archiving Engineer for its ever-expanding Archiving division. With 35 years in the business, Smith brings a broad and extensive background based on hard-earned skills in caring for, reviving, reconditioning and restoring audio resources.
But what path led Smith to archiving, of all things audio? “When I was very young,” Smith recalls, “I can only remember being drawn to and really interested in one thing—music. Initially, it was the rhythm, melodies and lyrics that appealed to me, followed not too long after by the more complex concepts of note, shape, form, harmony, counterpoint, and the other things that form the basis of musical composition. I initially thought I would be a musician, and while I had a good aptitude and talent for it, I grew to realize there were lots of other people who were a whole lot better than I was.”
Realizing his limitations as a musician led Smith in another musical direction. “During this time I would usually be camped out in my local record shop flipping through all of the LP’s and studying the jackets and reading the back cover credits. One thing that I always noticed was the credit for the recording engineer on the album. I wondered to myself what was that all about? So I began to investigate who those guys were and what their function was in all of this music I was listening to.”
“The more I learned about what the role of a recording engineer was the more I came to realize that this was also a path to being able to create. It was in a different way from writing or performing, but still an avenue to do something directly connected to music that afforded the ability to use your mind and imagination in a way that wasn’t bounded by rules or regulations. This appealed to me immensely, and I began to move in that direction. And here I am now, 36 years later, extremely grateful that I have been able to spend my life doing something I love—and never regretting a single moment of it.”
Smith began his professional career in New York City in 1986, working at The Hit Factory, Quad
Recording, and Todd Rundgren’s Secret Sound Studios. He cut his teeth working on albums for artists such as The Violent Femmes, Lou Reed, Leni Stern, C&C Music Factory and Grandmaster Flash before moving to Los Angeles in 1990.
Upon his arrival in L.A., he secured a position as engineer at Capitol Studios, where he remained for several years before transitioning into freelance engineering. As an archivist, Smith became wellversed in the varied operations required for the restoration of entire tape catalogs for a number of major artists.
When asked about his most challenging archival project, Smith replies, “That would be archiving the entire multi-track tape catalog for Natalie Cole. Natalie was someone I had worked with many times on a few albums over the years, and I knew her personally, so I had a bit of an attachment to this project.
United Recording Chief Archiving Engineer Bill Smith
HISTORY IN A CATALOG “There were so many different formats that were used across all of her albums, starting with the 1975 analog 16-track tapes from her first album ‘Inseparable,’ right up to current-day Pro Tools files for her final few recordings. It was a mini-history of recording formats across a 35-year period that included reel-to-reel 16-track analog, single-reel 24-track analog, multiple-reel 24-track analog, 32-track digital, 24-track digital, 48-track digital, and ADAT-style digital tape, right up to computer based recording via Pro Tools. By the time I was finished, I had transferred slightly over 300 reels of tape in an historical variety of formats.”
To strategize the project, Smith decided to work on it chronologically. “At the time she had 22 released records, so I approached it on an albumby-album basis in the order that she recorded them, gathering together the assets for five albums
at a time. The analog tapes for her first eight or nine albums had to be baked first before I could begin the transfer process. A majority of them had been recorded using Ampex 456 2-inch tape, which in later years was to become infamous for suffering from sticky shed syndrome, so that was another hurdle to be overcome.”
“As the work progressed I needed to be changing or adding analog playback machines to fit my needs (16/24-track, single reel/multiple reel), as well as changing any noise reduction also required, Dolby A and then Dolby SR, in order to decode noise reduction the reels had been recorded with. With all of that, of course, comes the need to properly align both the tape machines and Dolby units for proper playback each time, which could happen several times a day.
“The same was true with regards to having to
Photo: Zane Roessell
Robin Goodchild, Director of United Recording and Production Services, Sunset Studios, left, with Bill Smith.
Having the opportunity to work alongside [Al Schmitt] for so many years as I did, and the wide variety of album projects we worked on together was like attending the Harvard University for recording engineers. —Bill Smith
change tape machines when I got into the digital era: 32-track/24-track/48-track/ADAT. Although I no longer needed to align tones and Dolby units, these various digital formats required having to employ Otari UFC-24 Digital Format Convertors so I could export everything into a final, consistent AES/EBU digital format that could then be fed into Pro Tools in order to make direct digital-to-digital copies.”
Prior to heading up the archiving operation at United Recording, Smith spent 34 years as an indemand recording engineer and music producer. He recorded and worked on numerous Gold and Platinum records, many of which were Grammywinning and Grammy-nominated records and film soundtracks.
During this time, Smith engineered and worked on albums for Barbra Streisand, Quincy Jones and Sammy Nestico, Whitney Houston, George Benson, The Manhattan Transfer, Toto, Chris Botti, Steve Lukather, Natalie Cole, John Fogerty, YES, Queen Latifah, Diana Krall, Trevor Horn, Christopher Cross, and many others. Some of the numerous film scores Smith has been involved with over the years include Forrest Gump, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Payback, Godzilla, Wyatt Earp and Grace of My Heart. LEARNING AT THE SIDE OF AL SCHMITT Smith also spent 11 years working as the personal recording assistant, co-engineer and Pro Tools operator alongside 23-time Grammywinning recording engineer, producer and music industry legend Al Schmitt. During those years Smith and Schmitt traveled both nationally and abroad working together on a sizable number of projects for some of the best-known names in the music industry.
“After I moved to Los Angeles and progressed in the business,” Smith says, “if I had to point to one person who has had the greatest effect on me and I can truly say took me under his wing and whom I would consider a mentor it would have to be Al Schmitt without question. Having the opportunity to work alongside him for so many years as I did, and the wide variety of album projects we worked on together was like attending the Harvard University for recording engineers.
“Alongside the infinite depth of knowledge he has in terms of the actual process of recording, mixing and record creation, there is the aspect of client interaction, client support, personal integrity, humility and total professionalism which he advocates and stands for that are equally important as recording the music itself.”
Al Schmitt comments: “Bill is one of my dearest
friends, we have worked together for years and United is truly lucky to have a man of his integrity, competency, technical skill and background heading their Archiving department. His attention to detail is incredible, and he has such extensive experience with all recording formats that I would trust him completely with every aspect of any archiving project.”
NOW WITH UNITED United Archiving’s facilities are perhaps the most comprehensive and complete world-class purpose-built archival rooms in existence today. In addition to the studio’s extensive collection of vintage analog and digital equipment, they also feature high-level security, climatecontrolled tape storage, analog tape baking via state-of-the-art lab-grade convection ovens, cutting-edge hardware and software, dedicated electrical power, custom-designed antistatic flooring and in-house technicians who maintain all equipment to the highest possible operational standards.
In conclusion, Smith says, “In today’s modern world where technology, application software versions, plug-in formats, computers and interfaces are changing in the blink of an eye, even Pro Tools sessions from ten years ago are becoming difficult to open and recover. Do you have all of your audio files consolidated, labeled and stored in a way that will allow you to access them in the future on any editing platform? Archiving provides you the ability to generate income by repurposing your existing catalog and material for today’s modern formats, making it always available for any number of enterprising purposes.” n
