BBC Engineers - very interesting older man.

[AJB Temple]

I'm a tiny bit nerdy. Who would have guessed. We had a guest in for dinner this weekend at the restaurant who was fascinated by my ancient and nostalgic display of old analogue recording equipment and the mic array over the piano in my music studio. Couple of Nagra (allegedly portable), Revox PR99 (my favourite) and a BBC Studer 2" 24 track. Turns out our guest was an ex BBC studio engineer back in the day and he had forgotton more about these things than I have ever known.

He stayed with his daughter for about an hour after official "home time" and reminisced. Fascinating man with a lot of stories. Not sure how old but maybe late 70's early 80's. Knowledge that men and women like him have needs to be preserved somehow. He was quite emotional and so was I.

 

[Cabinetman]

Seem to remember that our esteemed Roger was a BBC wallah, no doubt we shall find out soon.

 

[Pete Maddex]

A chap I know was given a 24 track desk and tape machine and tapes, he set it up in his lounge.

Pete

 

[RogerS]

Seem to remember that our esteemed Roger was a BBC wallah, no doubt we shall find out soon.

Yup. Broadcasting Engineer TelOB’s. Adrian’s chap sounds more likely to be steam radio than TV. EtV is from that neck of the woods.

 

[TrimTheKing]

Seem to remember that our esteemed Roger was a BBC wallah, no doubt we shall find out soon.

Just what I thought, similar vintage, surely paths crossed...

 

[RogerS]

Just what I thought, similar vintage, surely paths crossed...

LOL…..possibly. The only common intersect would have been the entry Technical Assistant course but if he was in radio ops then our paths would likely never to cross.

Adrian..what was his name?

 

[AJB Temple]

A a guest he is entitled to privacy. It did not occur to me to ask him if he knew you. But I expect they will be back. Nor did I realise there was a distinction between engineers, though it's obvious now I think about it. I got the impression that he worked in a studio. He covered an era when Nagra R2R was being used for roving journalists and by the time he retired Nagra was going or had gone digital. Nagra D presumably or maybe DII. I've never used one but they seem just as bulky as the reel to reel ones! He saw that I am using Zoom these days (H5 studio) which is very capable and pocketable for about £300, which is the fraction of the cost or an antique Nagra. I showed him it recording the piano using the capsules and an XLR input beneath.

 

[Eric the Viking]

The unofficial term for Nagras was "luggable". You could spot a recordist because of the lean when they weren't carrying anything. That said, the audio performance was superb.

I spent many hours, mostly happy ones, as a sprog, cut-editing tape on (1/4") A80s. With a well-marked-up Any Answers script, it could be edited in less time than it took to play through the finished programme. I learned editing on an EMI BTR2 (Beatles vintage), and once had another EMI, a TR90 catch fire under my hand.

I was also unfortunate enough to have to help lug an A80 1" 8-track up the (very tight) stairs to the control room of Bristol's music studio. It's all very well having a cast chassis for mechanical reasons...

If anyone's interested, Roger B.'s site holds many memories, although it's largely metropolitan and I largely wasn't, but procedures and and kit were much the same. When I started in '78, we still had one of these beasties. I don't think the technical description (of a London one) is quite accurate, in that I'm fairly certain it wasn't constant impedance mixing. It didn't matter anyway with ours, as it was so decrepit that you didn't dare move a fader during a recording as the audio would break up. One whole valve per audio channel - what's not to like? Bristol's one lasted until 1979, when the studio it was in was permanently taken out of service.

[edit] I forgot to say, that Peak Programme Meter in the picture isn't broken, it's just off: the proper circuit for all the valve ones drives them 'backwards'. Transistorised PPMs look normal when not powered.

 

[Eric the Viking]

On a point of detail, m'lud, ornery Nagras were not allowed to be used by journalists - too technical. They got Uhers ("and be thankful"), There were a couple of producers in my day who were allowed Nagra 3s, having previously been engineers, and later on we had a Nagra E (i.e. mono) that was bookable from stores (usual tape transport but dumbed-down electronics). They didn't like it because of the weight.

In the early 1980s, during which I spent most time in radio, Radio 4 output was almost all mono, for anything from Talks or the Natural History Unit. Stereo was reserved for music and drama. That said, one useful trick was to actually mix Any Questions in stereo, even though it was output as mono. That way you had a game chance of grabbing the correct fader when someone was trying to interrupt.