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ARSCLIST  December 2006

ARSCLIST December 2006

Subject:

Re: Yahoo discussion group for Scully tape machines

From:

Rod Stephens <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:18:14 -0800

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

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text/plain (90 lines)

I purchased a used Scully 280 4/2 track in 1998 for Family Theater in 
Hollywood for use in transferring 1/4" masters to digital.   It came 
with manuals and plug in 2 and 4 track head stacks and a 1/2" alignment 
tape.   The project has finished, so it remains there in the downstairs 
vault.   It worked fine except for a small off speed playback which had 
to be corrected.   It's still there while I've since moved to northern 
California with my own Teac A-6100 "Master Recorder" deck I use for 
remastering.

Rod Stephens

Tom Fine wrote:

> I think another factor is that few Scully machines survived. I've 
> never used one so I can't comment on their reliability or durability. 
> I've only seen two working, and one of them is Steve's.
>
> That said, I can name at least two studios with Scully machines in 
> service for at least part of the 60's.
>
> 1. Stax -- numerous pictures show Scully 4-track in the control room 
> when they were still mixing to mono on an Ampex AG-350. There may have 
> been a Scully or Ampex 2-track elsewhere in the control room in the 
> pictures I've seen.
>
> 2. Fine Recording -- Scully 8-track installed in Studio B in 1967, 
> along with one of the first Audio Design and Manufacturing modular 
> solid-state consoles. Later swapped or upgraded to a Scully 12-track. 
> I don't think the Scully machines were in service very long, may have 
> been leased. Walter Sear's Moog room upstairs had an Ampex AG-440B-8. 
> When Studio A was rebuilt in 1969 for 16-track, it was with Ampex 
> MM-1000's and a huge ADM board featuring early routing automation.
>
> I've also heard of Scully machines in several different radio 
> stations. From what the Ampex veterans tell me, Ampex basically shut 
> down manufacturing for a year or more while moving the facilities to a 
> new factory. Furthermore, the 300/350 type machines, updated in an 
> early solid-state design with AG-300/AG-350, were very long in the 
> tooth by the mid-60's -- and the MR-70 was a bomb in the market due to 
> too-high price. Here comes Scully with a new machine and more modern 
> solid-state designs at a time when Ampex was producing zero machines, 
> and priced competitively with good leasing terms from what I've been 
> told. Zappo, they get a toe-hold, especially in the northeast near 
> their Connecticut base (remember that many northeast studios already 
> had Scully cutting lathes). Then in 1967, Ampex finally gets back in 
> the market with the AG-440, which was a very durable machine with then 
> modern solid-state design, and priced to be in the heart of the 
> market. I believe Scully was out of the tape machine business less 
> than 5 years later. Remember also that in the late 60's/early 70's 
> era, 3M was working hard to sell tape machines outside of the West 
> Coast (they did get a small toe-hold in some northeast studios, but 
> Ampex was still king). Then Studer and MCI came along by the late 
> 70's. Most 80's and onward upgrades or new studios I saw in NYC had 
> Studer tape machines, a few MCI's.
>
> Question for Steve P -- do you have any idea how many 12-track session 
> tapes there are out there? How many studios actually used 12-tracks? 
> It was actually a forward-looking format (precursor to 24-track with 
> roughly same specs), but didn't have time to catch on before 16-track 
> appeared.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bob Olhsson" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 8:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Yahoo discussion group for Scully tape machines
>
>
>> Steve Puntolillo writes:
>>
>>> There is a puzzling lack of information on the web about Scully
>>> professional tape recorders.
>>
>>
>> It's not that puzzling to me. They only had around a five year heyday 
>> 40 years ago in maybe a hundred US music recording studios. Scullys 
>> had mostly been replaced by Ampex and 3M 2" machines by the time 
>> recording studios became a common part of popular culture. Everybody 
>> had to build their own one-off recording consoles back then too and 
>> we see very little about this on the web.
>>
>> -- 
>> Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
>> Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
>> Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
>> 615.385.8051    http://www.hyperback.com
>>
>

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