Making Records with Eric Valentine - Episode 11 - RCA Refurb Part 1

[@danolivier4899]

I will be referencing this video with my therapist next time we discuss envy

[@johnvcougar]

Watching Sagan touring your gear reminds me of my son on all the knobs in my studio! 😂 No knob goes untouched!!!

[@alastairwain]

You and grace make a great mum and dad! Very wholesome and informative content! Super inspiring ❤

[@sdanis]

Cool stuff! Thank you for sharing! :)

[@HZZKN]

On the topic of the RCA console! : Regarding your assessment that tube circuits sound more pleasant when dealing with transients, I think it's generally worth considering that tubes just might be "cleaner" and truer-to-life than transistors! Here are a few points to consider: Single-ended tube output stages clip under transient conditions as a sine wave, solid state push-pull output stages as a square wave. Russell O Hamm's white paper "Transistors and Tubes: Is There An Audible Difference?" goes into this in depth. Transients are, for an infinitesimally brief moment, exposed to the open-loop conditions in a transistor circuit, just before the negative feedback can kick in. Meaning all the non-linearity and distortion is still present at the very start of every note. Tubes distort generally with very low order harmonics. Transistors distort with higher order harmonics. Higher feedback in transistor circuits lowers the THD spec, but the remaining distortion is even further up in the harmonic series, since it passes through the circuit multiple times. This is why various THD-weighting systems have been proposed, though they have yet to be adopted on a wide scale(the Shorter recommendation, for example). I could go on with I number of conclusion I've made which are more esoteric or philosophical in nature. I'm not an electrical engineer though, so all of this is second hand and many grains of salt must be added. Just have a good amount of experience with recording with tube electronics and thought I would share some tidbits!

[@caffeinastudio832]

I’m really enjoying these videos

[@oceansiderecordingstudio]

That’s a beautiful console Eric. Funny that you did a video on a classic console and I just bought a 1954 Gates 4880 tube console yesterday and it should arrive next week from Montreal. Fortunately the Gates was fully restored but if it ever needs fixing this video will be my inspiration. Thanks for sharing these great moments with us. Cheers and good health to you and your beautiful family.

[@antoniorobbins6768]

Eric Valentine is the coolest person on planet Earth !

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Agreed

[@OnJfeatArnS]

Sooooo Cool!! Love It!!

[@threadjunctionrecordings45]

these videos rule. thanks Eric for doing these.

[@6WireBender]

At least we already know the burn pile didn't include Eric, phew! Thanks for this documentary!

[@Scracnac]

Hi Eric, thank you so much for this series ! I don't understant why you would like to upgrade this console in stereo. Is it because it dosn't have tape outs for each four channel ? Can someone tell me ?

[@thomasrockwell1166]

Hi Eric, Great episode! I’m very curious about the direct outs on the pres Did it come to you with those, or did you add them? In either case, they have output transformers on all 6? Transformers of that era? Any info about this would be very interesting to me. I’ve had similar reactions hearing recordings from the 50s & early 60s as you. Like WTF, why does this sound so 3D and beautiful sonically.

[@Alexherrera183]

I love it

[@blashuvec]

THE VIDEO WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR !!!

[@RipperFromYT]

Off topic, does anyone know if Eric has discussed the recording of his opening theme song in past videos? It is absolutely incredible sounding.

[@Achase4u]

I feel as though he did. I think he mentioned that he could no longer use the Johnny Mercer song or something. Wish I could remember which video that was.

[@mrwev]

I'll do a deconstruction of the theme music at some point :)

[@RipperFromYT]

@@mrwev Thanks Eric! If you end up doing one it would be great to hear just as much about the "producing" side of things as well as the engineering if you care to go down that route. To hear what goes into your thought process for arrangements/instrument choices/ear candy etc when you're producing and "why" would be incredibly cool. Thanks as always!

[@EDEN-LIMINAL]

​@@mrwev Yeeeess!!

[@camshash]

Hey Eric, sorry if i misunderstand, but whats the benefit of combining the master bus+mon bus to make a stereo master if the individual channels lack panning? Would the benefit be just to have a dual mono output into pro tools/tape?

[@davewestner]

Pretty sure those RCA gizmos is what DW Fearn preamps are based on. And if I'm am correct about that, I can appreciate your appreciation for them.....really great preamps. Like exclamatory great

[@chrisdover8507]

Hi Eric could you please do a video on how to build tube traps? Also a vid on the UTA 500 series EQ’s? Wondering if you have any memorabilia from the Slash records I could buy? They’re my fav records besides the gunners stuff Your biggest fan Chris

[@R3TR0R4V3]

I have am Ampex deck very similar to that, which came out of an old radio station.. Is that a model 300? I have 2 power supplies that I need to rebuild first though, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

[@jrmintz1]

I love doing that stuff. Did you use some sort of current limiter when you fired it up? I made a light bulb one for about $5.00. What KZbin can't convey is the smell of old tube gear coming back to life. I don't know that I'd call it pleasant exactly, but it's part of the charm. When it doesn't fry, that is.

[@Studio8Recording]

Hey Eric, you've obviously worked on many desks. I'm really curious what makes this RCA so cool? Also, how the heck do you know so much about electronics?

[@blairyoung2461]

Strangers by Nickel Creek sounds insane! The RCA, Unfairchild and ampex must of had a huge impact on the sound, because the temperature of that audio comes in at 1000 degrees F

[@louiscassis3426]

Nice knobs bud!

[@crankfar]

Make sure you don't disconnect the monitor amp even if you don't use it... common pitfall with those consoles. Your PSU voltage will then rise too high and put stress on the transformers.

[@tortugulaproductions]

man i remember being sagans age when my dad was in the studio. i always wanted to poke the monitors. couldnt keep my hands off them 😂

[@lucianappleton1212]

I favor carbon film resistors in my tube stuff. That monitor amp section would no doubt sound better if the output tubes where driven by a 12AU7 or even a 12AT7 instead of 12AX7. Dropping down the 220K plate and 2.2K cathode resistor to accommodate the better choice of tube as well. The 39K on the phase inverter is fine. I love the pushpull sound, in fact your Unfairchild is entirely pushpull aka differential. The monitor amp circuit is overcomplicated and sloppy but fixable. Too late, it's gone!

[@rtsmnghsueyheishcnvor]

Nice snare room sound 01:50 😂

[@vicesquadpunk]

I'd be happy enough to smell that console as it warms up... 😂 drop me an invite to smell your console Eric. I'm only 2,000 miles away in London 🇬🇧

[@electronik808]

Probably you already know but I'll be careful before replacing all the mustard cap as they are a big part of the sound. What I do is remove the tubes, power through a Variac (when the tubes are not there the village does higher than normal and could go over the rating for the electrolytic) if a coupling film capacitor is leaking you will find DC voltage after a cap -> usually the grid of a triode is referenced to ground thorough a resistor, if the coupling cap is holding the voltage on that resistor would be 0. If the cap are good I'll leave the originals.

[@andYz00m]

There’s another one of these consoles for sale in Brooklyn right now… 6500$

[@FloydAtema]

Which record did you record with it?

[@mrwev]

The forthcoming coming Nuckel Creek record is one. The first song released from it is called "Strangers". It is on Spotify :)

[@ianmcgranaghan9888]

ERIC! Just so you know someone copied and uploaded your old QOTSA deconstruction video. Hopefully you can get it taken down.