By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 06:59 pm:

Continued from MIKE MCLEAN 4. And what am I going to do when I run out of fingers and toes to count on. Mike...you've created a MONSTER here.

By john lester (213.1.136.211 - 213.1.136.211) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:22 pm:

Ralph........

You can use your legs next!!!!!!!

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:35 pm:

But the way this is going that is wholley inadequate John. I know...I'll count my ex wives and go from there.

By M.McLeanTech (65.59.29.80 - 65.59.29.80) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:54 pm:

NOTICE

THIS THREAD "MIKE MCLEAN 5" IS A CONTINUATION OF A DISCUSSION THAT STARTED AT THE TOP OF THE THREAD "TECHNICAL DISCUSSION WITH MIKE MCLEAN"

AFTER THAT THREAD WAS CLOSED, THE DISCUSSION CONTINUED IN "MIKE MCLEAN 2", "MIKE MCLEAN 3", AND "MIKE MCLEAN 4" UNTIL THOSE THREADS WERE CLOSED.

THE DISCUSSION NOW CONTINUES IN THE PRESENT THREAD "MIKE MCLEAN 5"

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 08:59 pm:

Mike,
The way things are going it will get to the point that just your explanation of all past threads will necessitate the making of a new thread.

By M.McLeanTech (65.59.29.80 - 65.59.29.80) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:00 pm:

I finished up installing the new clutch in my truck. It is a wonderful success. The feel of the clutch is the best that I have ever experienced in any car I have ever driven.

It sure was a lot of hard work, but worth every bit of it for the wonderful satisfaction of a job done right!

And I saved $335. too!

Mikie (J)

By john lester (213.1.136.211 - 213.1.136.211) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:00 pm:

Ralph

Oooo...I am not sure even Mike will get to that many!!!

HA HA HA HA HA HA

Why do I do it Ralph...I bet you hate me...and quite honestly, I dont blame you

By John Lester (213.1.136.211 - 213.1.136.211) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:03 pm:

Ooo Mike.......a man after my own heart.....so what you gonna do with that 335 dollars...mine's a double!

By M.McLeanTech (65.59.29.80 - 65.59.29.80) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:10 pm:

Ralph,

I have been kind of beat from all the work on the clutch. Now that I am feeling better, I am going to try to step up my output. I don't want the forum to get bored.

The truth is that we have hardly even scratched the surface. I could fill several threads with just lurid stories about the funk brothers, and other artists.

However, I imagine that the forum would find a tutorial, on how the input noise of a preamplifier is calculated, more interesting.

Thanks for "brushing my threads." It has been a long time since I went to the rest room in a fine restaurant.

Mikie

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:12 pm:

John,
How could I hate you? the truth is the truth. Besides you always give me a chuckle here and there.

Mike...so the new clutch is " THE HOT SET UP ".

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:16 pm:

Mike ( J ),
I think the majority of the forum would love to hear your Funk Brothers, and other Motown triva stories. Just a hunch.

By Ian W (213.122.191.244 - 213.122.191.244) on Wednesday, May 15, 2002 - 09:58 pm:

Ralph's right, Mike. We're all waiting patiently - and no puns. (background noise of Ritchie clicking off his PC pun generator)

By Eli (170.115.179.118 - 170.115.179.118) on Thursday, May 16, 2002 - 06:01 pm:

Mike,

Can you please send me a copy of the aforementioed cd to me at :

Bobby Eli
5428 Woodcrest ave.
Phila. Pa. 19131

Much thanks for your answer on my echo chamber query

By M.McLeanTech (63.210.119.120 - 63.210.119.120) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 06:03 am:

Eli,

You have been a good person. You have asked intelligent questions.

A few remarks about the specifics in my answer to your questions regarding noise reduction and echo chambers would seem to be the nice thing to offer.

Perhaps Santa will visit. The reindeer took off today.

Mike

By M.McLeanTech (64.156.158.83 - 64.156.158.83) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 08:09 am:

Notice:

I have been thinking things over, and I feel that we have been disrespectful to David, who "pays the bills."

I have noticed some remarks that have convinced me that he is, as I am, a very serious person. He asks that the forum be serious. Childish goofy banter takes up space in the web server that costs money.

But more important, it clogs the flow of thought.

Respect is important. David is footing the bill.

I am going to try to make an improvment as follows:

1. I propose ending this thread, and replacing it with:

2. Several threads:

Mikie Audio Technical 01
Mikie Remembering Motown 01
Mikie Northern Soul 01
Mikie Motown Business Insights 01
Mikie Personal Soul Music Favorites 01
Mikie Detroit Soul Humor 01
Mikie Himself 01

I want to please David. I ask Ralph to only continue to monitor these threads as to lenght. I will depend on him for that.

I will take care of the announcments that guide the newcomer through the maze.

My plan would include two things:

1. I would rotate through the threads, answering one each day.

2. I would expect that only very dignified and serious postings would appear on each thread. Of course, I hope I have provided threads that would allow the most outragious humor and kidding. I don't feel that David objects to sillyness, in context. It is the "talking during a symphony concert" that bothers him, and I can see why. How can a serious person follow a serious communication process on an important subject, when little brats are butting in all the time?

3. I would pick up with the next person in the presently existing line. I would place my answer in the appropreate thread.

I am trying to do the right thing. David is our dear Father. We must honor our Father.

I ask that all who read the thread that started with TECHNICAL DISCUSSION WITH MIKE MCLEAN" submit their opinions. If there are any additional catagories that I have not thought of, please respond.

I want to get this mess cleaned up, so we can all have our corner in the sandbox!

Please help me. I am very sincere. I love this stuff, but we must integrate all this into a workable system.

One more thing: I find it offensive when someone asks a question like "Did you have problems with speed changes from the start to the finish of a 2400 foot reel of tape?" and I offer a three page answer, only to find a thank you note: Thanks for your fine answer. Later, Baby!"

To those that are such parasites, I say "Your Mother never taught you how to be a decent person!"

Again, I ask for feedback about my plan discribed above.

Sincerely,

Michael McLean

By M.McLeanTech (64.156.158.83 - 64.156.158.83) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 08:11 am:

Oops!

I forgot to include the status.

Sincerely,

Mikie (H)

By Lowell (165.121.214.215 - 165.121.214.215) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 01:25 pm:

test

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 01:25 pm:

Mike,
You have more codes than Guy Costa. However, if this works for you, line them up and I'll monitor them.

By Eli (170.115.179.119 - 170.115.179.119) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 06:10 pm:

Hi Mike,

I genuinely appreciate your fine technical answers to my queries re: noise reduction and echo and various other queries . I am an extremely observant person in the who, what , where, when, why field having been somewhat of a "different" kind of lad growing up in Philly and somewhat of a sponge in absorbing tidbits of info along the road of life. I never gave a f**k about sports and the "normal stuff boys do. I did give a f**k about how records were made and who made them and how certain effects were obtained. I set up a crude "echo" chamber in my hallway in my house when I was barely fifteen. My school lent me a Wollensack tape machine and I got some cheapo knockoff of an RCA 77 and put some bookshelf speaker at the other end. I had the right idea
but was limited in mikes in the actual"studio"
Early on, I was aware of who you were through my various Detroit associates.

Anyway, it was fun while it lasted.
I am a Pisces and I march to my own drummer and I always have and I do not regret it at all.
I became an integral part of the Sound of Philadelphia and a continuation and very analogous to the Detroit sound at that time.
I have always had a close affinity to Detroit growing up and was drawn to Motown from day one!!
Anyway, enough rambling for now.

Bobby Eli--Philly-Detroit-o-phile

By M.McLeanTech (63.209.84.170 - 63.209.84.170) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 09:54 pm:

c:\jpgimages\mclean
mastermotown1.jpg

By M.McLeanTech (63.209.84.170 - 63.209.84.170) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 09:59 pm:

Now that I have sobered up, I think the best thing to do is just continue what we have been doing, but try to be a little more serious, and sober, about making the discussion worth reading, and on topic.

I will try to offer things that I think will be of interest, and try to get off of all this opinion stuff. I think everyone knows me well enough now. I can stop bellowing like a moose.

Sincerely, Mike McLean

By M.McLeanTech (63.209.84.170 - 63.209.84.170) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 10:05 pm:

I am trying to get a picture up. Here I am at Motown in 1965 with a Neumann U67. The U87 was still in the future.

By M.McLeanTech (64.156.155.19 - 64.156.155.19) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 10:40 pm:

This is from the title page of the article about me in the November, 1997 issue of the now defunct AUDIO magazine. The puffed up cheeks of a beer guzzler. I can still put in my own clutch!

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Friday, May 17, 2002 - 11:27 pm:

YOW!!!..Vintage Neumann and vintage Mikie in the same picture. The ultimate ' Hot Set-up ".

By Eli (152.163.197.198 - 152.163.197.198) on Saturday, May 18, 2002 - 10:45 pm:

Great pics Mike! What a transition. The mike actually!!

By M.McLeanTech (63.208.241.254 - 63.208.241.254) on Sunday, May 19, 2002 - 01:09 am:

Eli,

Thanks for the kindness. Did Santa arrive today, as he should have?

My caption for that big B & W picture is: "I LEARNED BY TAKING APART OLD RADIOS THAT I FOUND IN THE ALLEY, AND I AM NOT GOING TO STOP NOW!"

By M.McLeanTech (63.208.241.254 - 63.208.241.254) on Sunday, May 19, 2002 - 01:32 am:

Dear Eli,

I got an answer back from Cal Harris. Here is the exact wording of the questions that I sent:

1. How common was the practice of using a tape recorder, running at 15 IPS, to provide 100 milliseconds of echo send delay? (The record and play heads were 1.5 inches apart. Work the math and it is 0.1 second delay.)

2. What would you say was the most popular reverberation time setting on the remote control for the EMT 140 steel plate? The control ranged from about 1 to about 5 seconds.

Cal is a very serious, deep feeling human being. I feel that he is just a little "depressed" at the moment. In hip talk: He is paying his dues by feeling the blues. Here are his exact answers:

1. As far as tape delay goes, I recall using a Revox with a VSO control, but I can't recall whether it was at Hitsville in Detroit or LA. I know we used some form of TD back then.

2. My best guess is arround 1.5 -2.5 seconds on the EMT 140. It's been a long time.

Can you see, Eli, how hip you were with your 2.0 second estimate?

I'm moving to Philly!

By M.McLeanTech (209.245.74.92 - 209.245.74.92) on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 06:46 pm:

Dear Bob Olhsson,

Thank you for your letter of May 02, 2002 - 06:06 PM. Your kind thoughts are very thought provoking. I appreciate your admiration. Goodness knows that I could use something to cheer me up. Still, there is something very fundamental about the difference in our viewpoints that needs to be made clear.

John McLean, my grandfather, was born in 1848. He was 40 when my dad Archer was born in 1888. Dad was 52 when I was born in 1940. My grandpa died in 1908. He had been dead 32 years when I was born. The US Civil war took place while grandpa was a teenager. Some would look at these facts and say "So what?" I am here to tell you that they have a great bearing on my outlook.

I was close to my dad, and we used to do many things together when I was growing up. It was not hunting, fishing, or baseball games. It was hanging around art dealers, Hi-Fi equipment stores, and record shops, and attending symphony concerts. During all this activity, a "bonding" took place between us. I embraced his outlook on life to a considerable extent. Think about the outlook that my father would have, in light of the fact that when the first Victor Orthophonic electrical recordings were placed on the market in 1925, he was 37 years old. My father was entering his teen years when Emil Berliner was pioneering the revolutionary DISC (as opposed to cylinder) records at the turn of the century.

Over the period of 1900 to 1925, when my dad lived his life from age 12 to 37, all they had were ghastly acoustic records that were played on equally ghastly acoustic phonographs. If you wanted high fidelity sound, in stereo, you had to hear the music live. The thrill of live music was really a serious lure in those days, compared to an acoustic phonograph with a spring motor that you had to wind up with a crank.

There was a well-established procedure whereby musicians would offer their product to the public. They would gather on the bandstand, with their instruments and sheet music, and the bandleader would direct them in a live performance. This was the status quo at the dawn of sound recording.

You say that I "� made one of the most significant contributions to music production of anybody in the past 100 years." I define "music production" as the process that brings about the creation and presentation of music to listeners. In the old days, the songwriter, bandleader, booking agent, and concert hall owner were typical of the primary elements in this process. The end product of their work was sound that the public could hear, live in the concert hall, which was utterly magnificent.

Over the past 100 years, starting with those horrible acoustic recordings, the public perception of "what music is" has been redefined from "going to hear a band play" to "playing a record." Records have big advantages. They are cheap, and you can play them as many times as you like. Because of these factors, the record business has evolved into a huge industry. The never-ending intense competition to "make a buck" has caused every possible aspect of the process to be tinkered with "every which way but loose."

During the first half of this evolution (1902-1952) the horrible limitations of recording technology distorted the sound so much that, over the generations, the very perception of the public, about what music should sound like, was smeared almost beyond recognition. Let me use an analogy to show what I mean:

In 1902, the ideal woman in the mind's eye of the public was a sweet, natural, kind lady. By 1952, a black and white image of Joan Crawford, in "Sudden Fear," with shoulder pads, heavy pancake makeup, and all her eyebrows plucked out to be replaced with pencil, was the latest "ideal." Hollywood did what they had to do to sell tickets. The record business did what they had to do to sell records. The end result is a mauling of the perception of that which is fundamentally of high quality.

The bottom line is this: Today, the technology exists to reproduce in the home the sound of a live performance. If you doubt this, listen to the Sheffield Lab recording "The King James Version" with Harry James and his band. The sad thing is that the public taste has been so jacked out of shape that few know something good when they hear it. Just as the fine dinner of old has been replaced by junk food, the sound of a live performance has been replaced by Spam-like "canned music."

My unusual background, with a very old father and grandfather, is the cause of my intense awareness of the tragic aspects of this reality. It is a bit more difficult for me to be "proud of what I accomplished" (as you say) then it is for you and the others that worked at Motown.

I am not pessimistic. The time will come when the public will get tired of trash, and elegance will return. It has already happened with cars. The bloated chrome covered pigs of the 50's, like the 58 Buick Roadmaster, have been replaced by today's tasteful cars like the Lexus 400.

Thanks again Bob.

Mike McLean

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 08:27 pm:

Speaking of Emil Berliner, I notced a nice little write up today on John Rhys Eddins' fine site Bluepower.com.

By Eli (170.115.179.118 - 170.115.179.118) on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 09:23 pm:

Mike, Thanks for thwe info on Cal "re 20" Harris!!
On liner notes he was referred to that moniker. Did he use re 20's on everything??
I should hope not. Wouldn't they be a bit spitty on a lead vocal?? I wonder if Lioel Ritchie used one on his vocals.
I am on my way back to the ranch and I will look for "Santa" I am sure I will be "Sleighed" by the tunes.

Thanks again mate!!
Eli

By M.McLeanTech (64.236.243.243 - 64.236.243.243) on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 09:39 pm:

Ralph,

Dam'n! When I wrote up that piece this morning, I spelled the name "Emile" but the spell checker said "Emil" and I chickened out. When I checked "bluepower.com" I found that I was right the first time.

Bluepower says that Berliner invented the carbon microphone. This is news to me. I have been under the impression for many years that this was Edison's invention.

By M.McLeanTech (64.236.243.243 - 64.236.243.243) on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 09:46 pm:

Eli,

RE-20 Cal? Wow! I never heard of that. I have a couple of Electro-Voice RE-20 microphones here at work. They are inside a storage box labeled "Old microphones."

Cal wants to go to lunch. I will carefully bring up the subject of the RE-20 and see what happens.

Please let me know how you like the stocking stuffer. I have a "Red Nose" but that's from Budweiser. Poor Rudolph got used for a pun.

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 03:38 am:

Mike, I think our viewpoints are a lot closer than you imagine. It breaks my heart that people can no longer hear the unamplified sound of an orchestra at a Broadway show or in too many cases the unamplified sound of a symphony orchestra or an opera. A couple generations have never even heard an ensemble of musicians or singers performing on chart-topping pop records. Overdubbing and manipulation have frequently gone completely over the top at the expense of the heart and soul of the music.

Obviously the question becomes what role did we play in putting an end to what was good about music. I've wrestled with this a lot. I think what we accomplished was to expand the palate and inspire others. The train was already rolling down the technology track before we jumped on. It's better that we taught a Stevie Wonder and a Marvin Gaye or that we inspired a Beatles than what might have happened if a less caring group of people had first used modern music recording technology. We recorded great musicians and singers rather than spending months trying to buff up pretty rock groups which became the norm only a few years later. We used our technology to spread joy rather than to just impress people. There really is a lot for us to be very proud of because the fact that many of us cared came across to people on the records.

I have high hopes for the future too. It's interesting that rap seems to be very popular because it is HONESTLY synthetic. I understand from a friend who is playing on the tour that kids who are into rap are the big audience for the "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack which is all live acoustic music. I believe in today's kids and hope to contribute to "rebooting" the music industry by supporting the people who are still playing great live music together. I cringe when I hear people talk about synthetic pop music being a "style." The music we love and the music we helped make in Detroit is very real and very special totally apart from any "style," white gloved rich people or other commercial musical trappings.

Anyone having much sensitivity can find plenty that is both good and bad in anything they do. I think a good test is "does it make people feel better about themselves or does it make people feel worse." There seems to be an overwhelming consensus from Motown's fans that what we did made millions of people feel a lot better about themselves. That's quite an accomplishment for a bunch of jazz and classical fans who were making pop records with an utterly commercial rather than any artistic intention.

By acooolcat (61.222.95.58 - 61.222.95.58) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 05:07 am:

Good morning Mike,
Someone once declared that "Amplification is the curse of mankind." Although I can't remember who it was I have a funny feeling that you'll know.
When you first joined Motown I think Berry Gordy had a 2 track recording system. Can you remember when Motown started using 4 track and if this was the industry standard at the time? I would think that the United Sound Studios would have been using 4 tracks at that time.
I'm curious to know if you've managed to hear the Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs yet?
My best wishes, Graham

By M.McLeanTech (63.208.236.252 - 63.208.236.252) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 07:35 am:

Graham,

I am still following the "answering in order" principal. That is why I reference the date so that those who want to understand to whom I am responding, can look up the letter.

Your questions are great! I will answer them in order.

No, I have not looked up your suggestion yet, and frankly I had forgotten it until yesterday, when I was looking through a file that I had copied from the fourum for the purpose of of controlling the sequence of my responses.

I know that you are my friend, Graham. I will get to your questions. Sincerely, Mike McLean

By M.McLeanTech (63.208.236.252 - 63.208.236.252) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 07:47 am:

Graham,

I have been waiting for the library to call me about a 6 CD set (among 60) that will be my last set to complete my set of the complete Bach Sacred works: the Cantatas. I was assuming that when the post card arrived, I would pick up the last 6 CD set, and look into your suggestion.

You sound like another nice guy. I must try to put you on a higher priority.

I understand your frustration. I share it. The time will come where this thread will stand for those that have interest. The others will observe.

Then David will run out of money, and it all will go dark.

By acooolcat (211.72.121.66 - 211.72.121.66) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 08:46 am:

Mike, thank you for the compiliment.
I don't think David, or anyone, need worry about money running out - this site is too important for us to let that happen. Wheels are in motion to ensure it never gets to that point.
I look forward to your reply regarding 4 track recording. It seems to me that this would have had a more significant impact than the develpment of 8 track - but I'm no expert.

Best wishes as always, Graham

By Eli (170.115.179.119 - 170.115.179.119) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 04:17 pm:

Hi Mike,
If you look on the Commodores and Lionel Ritchie liner notes Cal Harris was Cal re-20 Harris!!
I always wondered just what he used that mike on as I always got a spitty response on vocals. I have although used it on kick drum and maybe a narrative voice over or two.
I can't wait to hear the feedback (no pun intended) from the luncheon. Maybe you can tote along an re-20 for a chuckle!!
Havent got a visit from St Nick as of yet . Maybe today.

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 05:53 pm:

I don't know about you guys, but I happen to like the RE-20 and use it in the studio for vocals. According to my brother it was Stevie's mic of choice.

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 07:17 pm:

I can answer about the tracks.

Motown went directly from three track to eight track at the same time that United went from three to four. We used hair clips as tape guides on the eight track machines in order to play a 4 track tape.

By bobdorleans (24.120.26.32 - 24.120.26.32) on Tuesday, May 21, 2002 - 11:32 pm:

Mike

I'm interested in what you thought of the Golden World studio when you went to redo it. Since I put it together I would value your opinion (Good, Mediocre or Bad)
Thanks
Bob d'Orleans

By M.McLeanTech (209.244.73.170 - 209.244.73.170) on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 03:41 am:

Holy Cow! Bob d'Orleans! What an honor!

Do you remember that night when Ken Hammann and his wife, you, and I, went up to that Yamashiro restaurant overlooking Hollywood? What an evening that was!

I must put my priority list on hold and write up a big report in response to your much welcome request.

There is another fellow on this forum who apparantly mixed "Agent Double 0 Soul." However, it was you who built Golden World. In my humble opinion, that was one of the greatest records ever made! If every pop record was as great as that one, I would give up on idealistic recording.

My hat is off to you, Oh great one!

Mike McLean
More to come tomorrow.

By Eli (170.115.179.119 - 170.115.179.119) on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 05:13 pm:

My humble apologies to the voice of electro!!

Now I understand why Stevie always had that beefed up middle(no pun intended)

By BobDorleans (24.120.26.32 - 24.120.26.32) on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 10:27 pm:

Mike

Thank you for the compliments. I feel a little embaressed about "O Great One" and for you to say that it is an honor, WOW. You know, it's funny because all I ever tried to do in everything that I did was to make the best sound for the listener that I could with what I was dealing with (material, musicians, studio, and producer). I spent yesterday afternoon reading your threads before I sent you my message about Golden World. I probably could go into a few threads of my own along the same line that you did about clean sound and distortion. I remember many years ago when doing Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Paul Anka, etc at the old Bell Sound on Eighth Ave that I would often think of the work put into making as good a product as possible and then the 45 went out to the kids who played it on one those old tiny 45 players, that seemed to have a nail for a stylus and no speaker that you would really call a speaker. Talk about distortion.
Enough right now. Thank you for your great thoughts of me. To be honest with you, it brought tears to my eyes, that someone like you thinks of me that way. Can't help it, I'm a romantic, and cry at movies.
Enough already.

By M.McLeanTech (64.156.152.154 - 64.156.152.154) on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 10:50 pm:

Dear Bob d'Orleans,

The following was written before I read your nice letter. I have got to run now. You had better pull out your handkerchief:

Thank you for your request for my opinion of the Golden World Studio, which you created for Ed Wingate.

Recently, I read on the forum that you came from Bell Sound in New York. I was not aware of that aspect of your background. The first time that I went to Manhattan with Berry Gordy Jr., I attended a session at Bell Sound at which the Miracles cut "What's So Good About Goodbye?" As I remember, Phil Macy was the mixer on that date. Dan Cronin was a very progressive fellow at Bell who designed and built the solid-state amplifiers for the Bell consoles. I understand that one of his designs was marketed by Fairchild (the Type 662 line amplifier) in 1962. Did you know Phil and Dan?

When Motown took over Golden World, the Hitsville studios were in full operation with the one-inch eight-track format. As I remember, Golden World had a 1/2 inch three-track Ampex 300-3SS, and (it seems to me, but I could be wrong) a Scully 1/2 inch four-track recorder. The natural tendency on the part of everyone, from Berry on down through all the producers, like Norman Whitfield, Etc., was to consider this lack of eight-track technology an unacceptable limitation that rendered the newly named DAF (Davison Avenue Facility) unusable. Right off the bat, the pressure was on to revise the equipment so as to make productive use of the DAF a possibility.

Here are some specific points:

1. ACOUSTICS. The acoustic treatment of the studio and control room was not as elegant or elaborate as that which we had installed at Hitsville, but it was sufficiently good that we never felt the need to make any changes.

We had been through hell at Hitsville, with several experimental acoustical treatments, when finally RCA Custom Records lent Mr. Alan Stevens, who had supervised the construction of the many RCA VICTOR studios, to Motown. He understood the details of the "RCA design" that had originally been developed by such RCA men as Michael Rettinger, John Volkmann, Etc. As a "moonlight" project, Mr. Stevens, for a fee, prepared a set of construction drawings for Motown that we used to have a new acoustic treatment installed at Hitsville. The result caused a considerable reduction in the size of the main studio room, but the acoustical quality was entirely satisfactory, and remains at the Motown Museum to this day.

I feel that the fact that the Golden World acoustic treatment could hold it's own, in competition with this elegant RCA design, is an indication that this aspect of the Golden World studio design was outstanding, considering the limitations of time and money that existed when it was built.

2. ECHO CHAMBER. We had three chambers at Hitsville: 2644, 2648, and 2652 West Grand Blvd. 48 was the original "funky" chamber. 52 came next, and was idealistic to the extreme. Then we did 44, which was similar to 52, but a little less idealistic. 44 was lost when the building burned down. The Golden World chamber was similar in construction to 44, and worked well.

It took Motown three attempts to reach an optimum design. Golden World built a very similar chamber first time out. I think that this indicates that somebody was doing something right. The DAF chamber was never modified other then to upgrade the transducers, and it seemed to do an entirely satisfactory job.

3. MONITOR LOUDSPEAKERS. When I came to Motown, the monitor was a pair of Altec-Lansing 605A coaxial units. They sounded screechy to me, and I embarked on a horrible journey that included Bozak and Acoustic Research monitors, over the period from 1961 until we took over Golden World in about 1967.

Golden World was equipped with Altec-Lansing 604E coaxial units. These were much more transparent then the old 605A, and at that point I threw in the towel. At my recommendation, Motown switched over to the 604E as the standard monitor throughout the complex. It took Golden World to finally drive the point home, so that I could get my head out of the clouds (to put it politely) and install a "professional" monitor.

Again: There seems to be some evidence that a guy who had some smarts was calling the shots when they built Golden World.

4. CONSOLE. We felt that we should have an eight-bus console to compliment the eight-track recorders that we were going to install. Further, we had some creative ideas about how we wanted to configure the microphone preamps, with a gain control and an adjustable high pass filter on each microphone input. Further, the wiring in the existing console used a special twisted pair wire made out of twisted, fine gauge, non-stranded, "magnet wire" (enameled, instead of with conventional insulation.) The clamping of the cables was not well done, and these wires were being flexed back and forth during normal maintenance operations to the point where we were in mortal fear of them breaking off.

All of this made it a forgone conclusion that we would build a new console, instead of modifying the existing one. However, we reused many of the fine components, such as the Neumann equalizers, the Altec-Lansing 470A plug-in amplifiers, Etc. The fact that we were able to reuse many of the components reflects the fact that the Golden World console was selected by someone who cared about quality.

5. DISC LATHE. The Neumann AM-32B lathe, equipped with a Neumann ES-59 lateral (mono) cutterhead was installed in a very small room in the most northwest corner of the building. I felt that this installation was far too cramped to even consider its use. Further, we wanted to locate the disc mastering activities at the "Motown Center" downtown. Eventually, we set up the Golden World lathe there, with a nice Neumann SX-68 stereo cutterhead and home-brew cutterhead drive electronics. For several years, Motown used this room on the ninth floor, until the Motown operations in Detroit were closed down.

It seems to me that the fact that we were happy to use the Golden World lathe for our new installation speaks well for the fellow responsible for its selection.

Bob, All things considered, I think you did a fantastic job when you built Golden World.

Sincerely,

Mike McLean

By BobDorleans (24.120.26.32 - 24.120.26.32) on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 11:23 pm:

Mike

Yes, I knew both Dan and Phil. Bell Sound was the creation of Dan and Al Wientraub. When people say they visited Bell Sound, I always want to ask "which one?". The orginal was on Eighth Avenue and later on it moved to, I believe, 44th or 45th street between Seventh and Eighth Ave. The studio and equipment were completely different in each of these. The original was very small, one little studio, with mono Ampex machines. The new one had more studios, mixing control room, etc. In fact, in the genre of the site, I did Wilbur Harrison's "Goin' To Kansas City" at the orginal at 3:00 in the morning. There was a lot of 3:00 in the morning sessions there, but that's another story.
Thank you again for your dissemination of the GW studio.
Bob

By Bob Olhsson (68.53.120.100 - 68.53.120.100) on Thursday, May 23, 2002 - 01:18 am:

Hi Bob,

I'm sure you don't remember the one time I showed up at Golden World when I was in high school and got a spontanious tour of the studio.

I know we're supposed to be talking about Detroit and that I'm being utterly selfish but I want to hear all about Bell Sound. I'll start another thread for that but what an incredible thrill to see you here.

By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Thursday, May 23, 2002 - 01:32 am:

WELL HERE WE GO AGAIN.......THIS THREAD IS OFFICIALLY CLOSED. PLEASE CONTINUE ON MIKE MCLEAN 6

By thecount (199.178.209.4 - 199.178.209.4) on Tuesday, August 20, 2002 - 06:11 pm:

mike.send me your E-mail. THE COUNT