JUNE /JULY 1976 VOL. 1 NO. 5 DON $1.50 RRII(G SERVING TODAY'S MUSIC/RECORDING-CONSCIOUS SOCIETY P.A71t1P History of RecordL .« dip Elton's Producer: Gus D b Reports Nevi/ Products Recat''E.-. www.americanradiohistory.com Think of them as your musical instruments. The audience can't see you. But they can sure isolated inputs and outputs, dual echo send hear you. busses, an input level attenuator that takes +4 dB They don't know it, but they're depending on just line level to -60 dB mike level in 11 steps, and 5- one person to get the music to them. And that guy frequency equalization. is you. Whether you choose the PM- 1000 -16, the It's not something an amateur can do. It's an art. PM- 1000 -24 or the PM- 1000 -32, Yamaha gives you And That's why Yamaha has designed 3 superb the flexibility you need to turn your job into an art. mixing consoles with the qualities and range of Ard because they're designed from the ground contrcls that the professional sound reinforcement up to perform on the road, more and more artist reeds. professional sound men around the United States For instance, our exclusive 4x4 matrix with level and the world are depending on Yamaha, night contrcls gives you more exacting mastery over after night, gig after gig. your sound than the conventional method of If you've never thought of your mixing console driving speaker amps directly from the bus as a musical instrument, we'd like to invite you to output. stop by your Yamaha dealer. Once you've Features like that are years away except on the checked out the operation manual and tested for most expensive mixers. On the Yamahas, it's yourself what the PM Series can do, we think you'll standard equipment. And so are transformer ccme away a believer. O YAMAHA Box 6600, Buena Park, 2,A 90620 CIRCLE 27 ON READER S ERVILE CARD www.americanradiohistory.com In the Black P.A.M.1.111.0 N../1111 11S.,0111., IMP 1,--C I WI, P.a. N.1.1 niM Au. aMlle M. an/ ,ms Ile WIG WV rune . 4,1 '1 1=117 Suggest Retail of System shown-Mark V III(S650.00), Mark IXB(S400.00), 2200(S450.00)-Total System $1500.00 They say that you cant judge a book bit its cover; that's true, but what This system combines beauty, performance, quality and because its a cover. What was, and is, the most beautiful look in the professional SAE a FREE 5 YEAR Service Contract. Comoare and you'll find this field is now the most daring look in general audio. BUT looks are not is another great value by the people who mace "Components for the the whole story, in fact, not even the best part. Inside-that's where you Con no iSSP,11 " find true SAE quality and performance. Here are just a few highlights of this SAE system: MARK VIII FM DIGITAL TUNER-A 5-gang tuning ap.,Dual MDSFET front-end, Lincor-Phase IF filters with 7-stage limiter and Inc. I'LL MPX. IHF Sen.--1.6uV, Stereo Sen.(-50dB)--30uV, mono THD. ientific Audio Electronics, less than 0.15%, stereo THD-less then 0 2%. Box 60271, Ter mlnal Annex MIARK IXB PRE-AMPLIFIER EQJALIZER-Low noise phono Angeles Ca. 90060 ase send information circuits, 7-band equalizer with precision wound toroid inductors. THD more on the MkVi II Mki XB, and 22$ and IM-less than 0.02%, Phono S/NflOmV ref.)-75dB, Aux. S/N-95dB. ME 2200 STEREO POWER AMPLIFIER-Fully complementary cir- DRESS cuitry, LED Power Disp ay, Relay Protection.100 WATTS RMS/ CHANNEL (both channels driven) from 20Hz to 20kHz at less than 0.05% Total Ha-monic Distortion. CIRCLE 7 ON READER SERVICE CARD www.americanradiohistory.com Amazing 1ape02200 Unveiled. The people at Taoco have Baiad inputs aid outputs spent thousands of hours -o (for use wil-h afl professional bring you a great graphic reco-di¡g equipment). equal zer -the repro 220C. Single -ended inputs and out- And row, at ast, it's here: puts ';for 3 I hi -fi equipment). the totally professional g -aph c EQ I - -out switches for each equal zer with everything cherrel you've always wanted -for Ou-put Level ooitrols. s_udio or home recording, And built -ii litre drivers (to sound reinforoement and allow the 2200 to be used as a hi -fi use. booster for weak signals, too). Tapco 2200'eatures include: What it all means is that the Two comple_ely independent Tapct 2200 is compatible with cnanne s wish ten ±15 dB virtuz-lly every type of audio equaüzatior bards. equipment on the market. m3re information 'rile: JValene Inouye,Tapco. 405 Howel Ednoids, on. 38020 (20E) 775-4411 CIRCLE 79 ON READER SERVICE CARD www.americanradiohistory.com JUNE /JULY 1976 MoIXRN VOL. 1 NO. 5 laW RIMING SERVING TODAY'S MUSIC /RECORDING - CONSCIOUS SOCIETY ;rwiw'..`,.'; z3._ 4 w M, s i$61~f .e.; THE FEATURES 4,41 THE STAPLES lk4': n ++ ii ,wLiA..1C4-14si THE HISTORY OF RECORDING, THE EDITOR'S MIXDOWN art 5 28 By Sedgwick Clark 4 By Robert Angus v The dramatic story of how two U.S. Sig- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 6 nal Corpsmen returned from Europe after World War II with a working tape recorder TALKBACK and revolutionized the recording industry. The technical Q & A scene. 10 ROCKET MAN AT THE CONTROLS MUSICAL NEWSICALS By Richard Sanford Orshoff 36 New products for the musician. 22 A free -wheeling interview with Gus Dudgeon, rock superstar Elton John's record producer, THE PRODUCT SCENE who talks about sessions with Elton and By Norman Eisenberg 24 others, and his unique methods of recording The notable and the new, with a comment on piano, vocals and drums. speakers. A SESSION WITH THE BEACH BOYS AMBIENT SOUND By Bob Weil 44 By Len Feldman 62 All of the Beach Boys together in full force! Are all the recent attempts at dynamic range Brian Wilson, the group's creative leader in expansion causing more problems than bar- the studio again after nearly five years of gained for? semi -retirement, and MR has the illuminating session report! LAB REPORT By Norman Eisenberg 64 P.A. PRIMER and Len Feldman Pan 1 52 A special comparative review of two new By Jim Ford and Brian A. Roth revolutionary turntables: ADC's Accutrac A serious guide to the ever -vexing P.A. prob- 4000 and Harman -Kardon's Rabco ST -7. lem by two specialists in the field. The Tandberg 10XD Open -Reel Tape Recorder authors strip away the superstition, rumor Pioneer RG -1 Dynamic Range Expander and calcified theories that have doomed B.E.S. "Geostatic" Speaker Model U -60 many a sound reinforcement system. GROOVE VIEWS 76 Reviews of albums by The Allman Brothers, Kiss, Duke Ellington, David Sancious, Aldo Cover Photo by Ed Roach. Pictured (left to right): Ciccolini and Martha Argerich. Marilyn Wilson, Brian Wison, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine. COMING NEXT ISSUE! A "Live" Session with Fleetwood Mac Modern Recording is published bi- monthly by Recording Institute Publish- ing Co., Inc., 15 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10023. Design and con- History of Recording, Part 6 tents are copyright 1975 by Recording Institute Publishing Co., Inc. and Tanglewood's "Live" Broadcast Facilities must not be reproduced in any manner except by permission of the publisher. Application to mail at second class postage rates is pending at P.A. Primer, Part 2 New York, N.Y. and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: $7.50 for one year; $13.50 for two years; $18.00 for three years. Add $1.50 per year for subscriptions outside of U.S.; subscriptions must be paid in American currency. 3 www.americanradiohistory.com NAODCIIN COREDIING SERVING iO /RECORDING-CONSOOUS SOCITIY The DDAYSMUSIC Editor's Mixdown SEDGWICK CLARK Editor Regular readers of MR will notice immediately that this issue is considerably larger than our previous ones -due primarily to H.G. LA TORRE an increase in advertising, but also because of a broader range Associate Editor of editorial content. As our subscription and advertising bases increase, so too will our editorial portion expand and broaden. Letters to the Editor and Talkback questions are coming in BOB WEIL with increasing rapidity. We are pleased to note, especially, Assistant Editor that readers are beginning to offer answers from their own ex- perience to Talkback questions. This is very important, for, if ROBERT ANGUS anything, we are particularly eager to establish MR as a means NORMAN EISENBERG of communication between its many readers. LEONARD FELDMAN Our features this issue are worthy of note, I think. Robert Audio Editorial Board Angus' popular History of Recording series is up to Part 5. This installment covers one of the most fascinating and FRANK SANTELIA dramatic events in the development of recording. Who's to say Art Director how long it would have taken American technicians to develop the tape recorder if Jack Mullin had taken the other road in the fork and returned to the U.S. after World War II without those STEFFON A. KACHOCKI famous German Magnetophons? Production Coordinator We also have an interview this issue with Gus Dudgeon, the acclaimed producer for Elton John and many other fine artists. ELLEN M. GASSIER Gus talked so much about his work with Elton that we felt the Executive Secretary interview transcended our regular Profile format, which deals specifically with the personality being interviewed.