J.Williams Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Hi......I'm a student doing a dissertation on the live mixing console. I was just wondering if anybody knows of any good books available or any articles on the net with info on the history and development live mixing console?! I need to look into the following:where the idea came fromwho came up with the initial ideas (something on Les Paul's pioneering of multi-track might be good)the development of the analogue desk (from valve to solidstate)digital desk - EVERYTHING (major part of dissertation)I think that's about it for a general overview of what I want to do. I'm not asking anybody to do the work for me, but if anybody has any thoughts on suitable material I could use for research, please reply. Thanks Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
live Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Try finding articles on Malcolm Hill (Malcolm Hill assc) and follow the trail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 .....I'm not asking anybody to do the work for me, but if anybody has any thoughts on suitable material I could use for research, please reply. Jonny, I'm not trying to be unhelpful, but surely being able to research useful, verifiable information is a major part of the soft and academic skills needed for your dissertation? As far as "where did the idea come from", I'd suggest you need to consider it as an evolutionary approach rather than a sinlge person having a "eureka" moment... Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Williams Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 .....I'm not asking anybody to do the work for me, but if anybody has any thoughts on suitable material I could use for research, please reply. Jonny, I'm not trying to be unhelpful, but surely being able to research useful, verifiable information is a major part of the soft and academic skills needed for your dissertation? As far as "where did the idea come from", I'd suggest you need to consider it as an evolutionary approach rather than a sinlge person having a "eureka" moment... Simon I have no hesitations about doing the actual research, I was merely looking for suggestions on suitable books/articles to use for research. At the moment, I havn't yet found anything that useful apart from articles on Wikipedia. I'm not a massive fan of Wikipedia as it is, so any other suggestions would be wonderful. Jonny P.S. I'm grateful for all comments on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I'm not trying to be grumpy old man, but just out of curiosity, I've been looking and there is simply HUGE amounts of data out there. Some the usual anecdotal rubbish, but some really good articles on exactly this in a certain long running audio magazine, plus some great stuff from our friend Mr Waldron on analogue development. In fifteen minutes I've seen enough stuff to use as research fodder, and hard copy published material is mentioned all over the place. Do people really have that many problems doing research nowadays? I must admit I always liked that bit the best - learn all that is learnable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Williams Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 I'm not trying to be grumpy old man, but just out of curiosity, I've been looking and there is simply HUGE amounts of data out there. Some the usual anecdotal rubbish, but some really good articles on exactly this in a certain long running audio magazine, plus some great stuff from our friend Mr Waldron on analogue development. In fifteen minutes I've seen enough stuff to use as research fodder, and hard copy published material is mentioned all over the place. Do people really have that many problems doing research nowadays? I must admit I always liked that bit the best - learn all that is learnable. If it's Sound on Sound you're refering to, I don't really have a big backlog of editions. The ones I do have certainly don't have information on early development. I've bought quite a few books but they only really cover modern day mixing for live performances. SOMEBODY POINT ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, PLEASE!!! Regards Jonny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techsupport Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Here are some pointers mostly Brits, Live Sound ex SSL Soundcraft series 1 to 4 ( possibly first 40ch desk without a mother board) IDC buss based Bill Kelsy and Kelsey Acoustics Midas Harrison (USA) Allen and Heath SSL SC and Midas really caputured the market for concert sound in the 70s and 80s. In fact some companies used one board and another used another make. Electrosound was a Soundcraft user and delveloper for many years. Where TASCO used mostly Midas (I think) cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Siddons Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 Have a look at the funky junk website I would be interested to read it once you've finished! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Williams Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Here are some pointers mostly Brits, Live Sound ex SSL Soundcraft series 1 to 4 ( possibly first 40ch desk without a mother board) IDC buss based Bill Kelsy and Kelsey Acoustics Midas Harrison (USA) Allen and Heath SSL SC and Midas really caputured the market for concert sound in the 70s and 80s. In fact some companies used one board and another used another make. Electrosound was a Soundcraft user and delveloper for many years. Where TASCO used mostly Midas (I think) cheers Thanks for your help 'techsupport'. I'll be sure to check these consoles out. A concurrent post has been automatically merged from this point on. Have a look at the funky junk website I would be interested to read it once you've finished! :) Cheers Doug......all help is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 I can remember seeing pictures of a multi-channel mixer for Jesus Christ Superstar. There were no proper desks suitable for such a large count of microphones at the time and Shure made a small 4 input mic mixer. 4 channels, rotary controls and a master. They used loads of these in a frame to get the channel count up. From memory, this would have been the early 1970s? Maybe you can dig up some material on this - I cannot think where I saw the picture. Re: the magazine. Yes, SOS - if you get it, if you take out a subscription, you get access to all the old copies on the website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Williams Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 I can remember seeing pictures of a multi-channel mixer for Jesus Christ Superstar. There were no proper desks suitable for such a large count of microphones at the time and Shure made a small 4 input mic mixer. 4 channels, rotary controls and a master. They used loads of these in a frame to get the channel count up. From memory, this would have been the early 1970s? Maybe you can dig up some material on this - I cannot think where I saw the picture. Re: the magazine. Yes, SOS - if you get it, if you take out a subscription, you get access to all the old copies on the website. Cheers for the help Paul. I was unaware of SOS keeping their old editions online. I'll look into it ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 IIRC http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0879304286.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg has a section on PAs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted October 30, 2008 Share Posted October 30, 2008 worth a read: http://www.wemwatkins.co.uk/history.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stu00c Posted October 31, 2008 Share Posted October 31, 2008 Do some research in to what the large touring companies were building for their own use back in the 70's Clair Brothers had the first live console to feature parametric EQ among other funky stuff (designed by Bruce Jackson and Ron Borthwick) - I was lucky enough to see one in the flesh the other week. Showco had some cool stuff too - the Superboard was quadraphonic! A later Showco product, the digitally controlled Showconsole was developed with Harrison (mentioned above). Don't be afraid to contact manufacturers and tour sound companies for information and interviews; the worst that could happen is that they say no to your requests. Doing primary research for your dissertation will help give your work a unique perspective and hopefully a better grade. A dissertation based purely on secondary sources will not help your work stand out from the crowd; it will no doubt be very much like a dissertation produced by someone the previous year. Anyway, good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Connor Posted November 2, 2008 Share Posted November 2, 2008 With Soundcraft, be aware that they manufactured two consoles called "Series 4" ;) . The original S4 dates from the early-mid 1980's and was popular in the USA with companies such as Electrotech and Audio Analysts. Anything in particular that you want to know about this desk? The more recent dates from somewhere around the late 1990's. Soundcraft's Series 1 was launched in 1973 and was fitted in a flight case as standard. Gareth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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