ABOUT It started with a repair client of mine. He raved about this rackmount tube mic pre he had heard on a recording session that had looked like an Ampex, but was actually something else. Lo and behold, he brought me one such example for service. Behind a tasteful mid-century style front panel and big VU meter was a collection of tubes, eye-wateringly cramped components, and NO signal transformers. This meant that as-is, it would not function properly as a mic preamp. Inste

BUILDING THE EQUALIZER Vintage studio gear and keyboards, my two first loves, are not getting cheaper anytime soon. I hear tales from old heads of hundred-dollar Neumann mics and Yamaha CS-80s for a grand, but those days are long gone. Today, the modern aspiring producer needs to get creative in order to get his/her hands on a piece of iconic recording paraphernalia. With the help of German DIY enthusiasts Analog Vibes, I set out to build a Pultec EQP-1A passive tube EQ; not

THE RESTORATION An unusual posting on Facebook Marketplace caught my eye: a retired film professor selling an assortment of vintage film cutting/editing equipment. One device caught my eye--a small box with an oversized VU meter and chunky knobs & switches. I had no idea what it was, but it looked intriguing. According to the web, Magnasync, its manufacturer, made the Moviola, a popular editing machine for editing 35mm film. There was little to no information about this amp t

It was 2021 when I first heard about the Bell & Howell Filmosound. I was scrolling through guitar amps in an IR modeling plug-in. Among the rock icons like the Marshall JTM45, Vox AC30, and Fender Bassman, there was an entry I was unfamiliar with:"Filmosound." Throughout the 1930's-1950's, 16mm sound-on-film projectors were popular in the professional and consumer market. You could record home movies on your color video camera and sound would be encoded alongside the motion