Tracks 1 thru 7 were recorded on an Electrodyne
console at Quad Recording and Soundstage in Pennsauken NJ, just across
the river from Philly. George Carnell cut all of these songs and
mixed the first two. I mixed the track called "Middle of Nowhere"
on the Quad-Eight console at Bearsville in 1978.
The scratchy record is for real! I cut this acetate
direct from the multitrack on a Presto lathe with a mono cutter head that
I made work (at the ripe old age of 21). It was supposed to be a
serious advertisement, but obviously got turned into a free-for-all.
The BEARSVILLE Era: 1978
In 1978 I got to work at the Bearsville Studio Complex
which included the Turtle Creek
Barn, in use at the time by Eddy
Offord (of YES
and Emerson, Lake and
Palmer fame). At the time he was recording
David
Sancious (formerly Bruce
Springsteen's keyboardist). Eddy gave me access to the barn (I
was learning about his custom
console MAVIS) and we cut two tracks, MINUS TEN and THE REST OF HIS
LIFE.
This version was roughly remixed one evening, on 21 February
2006. The key drum mic is an AKG C-12A in omni, positioned way down
on the drummer's side of the kit - just above the kick, below the toms
and close enough to the snare. I don't recall the two overhead mics.
The MAVIS console was used to record and mix YES
and ELP live.
It was a discrete transistor monster, modelled after the Neve consoles
at the time. It came in three sections, two 15-module assemblies
plus a master section. It had quad joystick panners, send and return
from tape was via 6-conductor Tuchel connectors.
I've found pictures of this gorgeous desk on thewho.net
and taken the liberty of downloading the images from that site, thanks
to Kurt Schrotenboer. Please
visit his site for more pix and jistory of this desk. Apparently
The
Who also owned one.
The tape machine was an MCI JH-100 repackeged for
the road as three boxes - transport, audio electronics and power supplies.
MINUS TEN was recorded at 15 IPS, with dolby noise reduction.
Eddie Ciletti
February 2006
