Quoting Ed Glick:
If you'll remember, the Ampexes were about the size of a washing machine.
I have no trouble remembering. I can touch an Ampex 351-2 from where I
sit typing this.
The two recordings of the Bach "little" fugue in G minor linked at the
bottom of
http://www.ampexguy.com/horn/rectips/rectips.html
were recorded on an Ampex 351-2 at 15 ips. (Again, you may have to
copy and paste the URL into your browser for it to work.)
W=
e advertised that we had "portable Ampex recorders." They were made portabl=
e by the addition of a large handle on two sides. You'll note that in the q=
uote above, I left out your final words of that sentence, ". . . by yoursel=
f." We always had two of us carrying it to remote locations. I always thoug=
ht that the word "portable" was an abbreviation of the more correct term, "=
transportable."
Yeah, "portable" is sort of an inside joke for anyone familiar with
Ampexes. Even Ampex never offered a portable version of the MR-70, a
two-track version of which is about 450 lbs. of dead weight. Weight
doesn't get any deader than an MR-70, in fact, which I know from the
personal experience of having owned and moved two of them.
The microphone we used for music recordings was usually a "Telefunken" cond=
enser mike (made by Neumann and now carrying the Neumann name, I believe). =
It did an amazing job of picking up a full symphony orchestra by itself.
This would have been the U47, king of the studio in those days, and
still highly sought after.
Just some memories stirred up by your link to a discussion of the relativel=
y new, amazing, miniature pocket size audio recorders.
If you want more of a trip down memory lane, have a look at
http://recordist.com/ampex
another part of my life.
Unlike my esteemed friend Jeremy Cucco, however, I no longer cart
around hundreds of pounds worth of gear. Small and light is the
watchword for me these days. Of course, I think Jeremy's 20 years
younger than I am, too, which definitely has an effect on one's
perspective. <g>
Howard Sanner
hornl...@terrier.ampexguy.com
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