By David Meikle (62.252.128.10) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 04:26 pm:

This came via e-mail from William Albert. Can anyone help him?

"I was at Golden World around the time Agent O-O Soul was breaking & remember the control room monitors as being the fancy "A7s" in the walnut cabinets with the lattice work grille (the exact model number now escapes me). There were 4 of these things hanging on the control room wall angled down slightly towards the console--These speakers stick out in my mind because what seemed to be acceptable standard playback volume was absolutely earthshaking, especially in such a narrow room. It was the loudest playback I ever heard in any studio anywhere, and the song being played back, as I remember, had the hook line: "Ooh boy, you bring me so much joy . . . " We were only there for a couple days--the label put us up at the Algiers Motel. I know it's minutiae, but just wondered if anyone besides me remembered these speakers being there--I couldn't find any reference to them on your site."

By Average Arizona Drummer (24.56.1.37) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 09:13 pm:

I remember the volume of those speakers, but had little experience with them. With I do remember is the first time I ever heard studio playback at United Sound. I was playing timpani on Ray Monette and Mike Champions first efforts on a single in the late 60's. We had a large contigent of strings from the Detroit Symphony, as well as a rhythm section. They had 4 dirty gray "Voice of the Theatre's" complete with those hugh multi cellular horns on top, sitting on the studio floor. I thought they were antiques of some sort. After a few takes, Mike Terry had them put what we had to the floor monitors so everyone could get a feel for the progress we had made. The quality was so good, and the volume was so intense, I cried, the kind of tears you have when you listen to the "Star Spangled Banner." I had never heard anything so pure before in my whole life. I remember Babbitt with all his radiant warmth, and understanding, coming over to me and simply saying: "What the Fucks wrong with you?" Bob had a way with words.

By Average Arizona Drummer (24.56.1.37) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 09:24 pm:

"F:\Documents and Settings\Rick\My Documents\My Pictures\Voice of the Theatre.jpg"

By acooolcat (210.200.105.227) on Saturday, March 27, 2004 - 11:00 pm:

Albert - I don't know a thing about the speakers, but the song would have been The Adorables' - "Ooh, Boy!"
Graham

By David Meikle (62.252.128.10) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 06:54 am:

AAD

Please send the image to david@soulfuldetroit.com and I will upload for you.

By brian d. (67.25.216.170) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 02:04 pm:

The SPEAKERS in the control room at UNITED were ALTEC 604-E's, powered by ALTEC 40 watt tube amplifiers. (Not a lot of wattage by today's standards). The same amplifiers also powered the studio speakers (A-7's), a 604 with the cellular horn on top of the cabinet, rather than in the center of the speaker. (co-axial). There was no top end, all mid-range, which is why all of the recordings would be top end heavy if you weren't careful.

The 604-E was the defacto standard for all studios in the Detroit area at the time. Cabinet configurations may have varied, but the speakers were 604's. I would assume that this would have applied at GoldenWorld. 604's were in use at TERA-SHIRMA, and Motown, among others.
A few studios used AR's (Acoustic Research) but they didn't have that loud, bass heavy, in your face sound.

The A-7 "voice of the Theatre" was the defacto motion picture speaker designed to be place BEHIND a movie screen, in a large room setting (Theatre), and its response was tailored to motion picture sound, which at the time was optical, and of limited bandwidth. (Again, no top end, because there was no top end on movie sound tracks back then.) When you got a copy of the record, and played it on a lousy $1.98 record player, it sounded decent. If you played it on a good system, it screamed with top end (Treble) because no one could hear top end while recording, thanks to the not-so-great speakers - but it was there!

Why did it sound so great back then? #1 it was LOUD. #2 It had a lot of bass. #3 you were listening to the MASTER. #4 The speakers were the best available at the time in comparison to anything else you were accostomed to, and finally, it was your record with you playing on it! How could it not sound good?

By acooolcat (210.200.105.227) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 02:38 pm:

Thanks for the great info brian d. -- but I reckon "Ooh Boy!" sounds fantastic, almost 40 years after it was recorded.
Graham

By Ron Murphy (68.42.90.140) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 02:48 pm:

Hi Brian: I agree with everything you mentioned in your post. I still use a pair of Altec 604-E's here in my cutting room along with some JBL monitors.....yeah long live those big and bad 604's

By MagyarEd (209.163.98.8) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 03:26 pm:

Thank's for the remembrance A A Drummer...typical compassionate Babbitt reply from that time.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.10) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 05:11 pm:

From Average Arizona Drummer

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, March 29, 2004 - 05:23 pm:

Right now I'm transferring the Sport Records 4-tracks (the label used United Sound)for upcoming compilations and what AAD and others have said is true - the sound is bright yet warm and God do these tunes sound amazing!

Once I've completed this project I'll fill you folks in with the details.

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Ralph (209.240.205.62) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 12:46 am:

Brian,
You've been absolutely burning up the forum lately with your knowledge and experience. Many thanks old friend.

By Ralph (209.240.205.62) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 12:48 am:

Arizona,
Funny Babbitt story. So typical. Ya gotta love the guy.

By Juicefree20 (151.205.187.47) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 01:06 am:

Man what memories. The Altec A7X were my first Disco speakers, got them in '79 & they were great. I miss them.....a lot.

By Average Arizona Drummer (24.56.1.37) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 10:43 am:

Last thought on "Voice of the Theatre" speakers.
Altec actually published dimensioned drawings for the cabinets, suitable for building your own system. They even included helpful hints on construction. Altec was in the business of selling speakers, not cabinets I guess.

By Juicefree20 (68.161.20.172) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 01:11 pm:

I remember those huge inductors & that huge crossover.

By Eli (68.236.59.174) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 01:27 pm:

When Sigma had their live chamber, it was an A7 on one end with an RCA 77dx on the other end and later an 87.

Stax used A7s for their main playback speakers!

By David Meikle (62.252.128.10) on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 01:42 pm:

AAD provides the undernoted sketch

By brian d. (67.25.207.253) on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 - 09:24 pm:

Bob Babbit now has his own web site. www.bobbabbit.com. You may want to check it out