Ah- I see! The guy who fixed it all for me was an electronic engineer- this included rebuilding cylinders, wiring, lubricating and tightening turntable and all rubber- pretty much everything has been restored- the cutter head was restored by gib at west tech, and the roller by terry's rubber rollers (both in the US). had a lot of help by the people at lathe trolls. Its an EV dynamic mic- we're currently playing around with different kinds- recently tried an omni directional mic, and it made no difference to the recording! Lorna Fulton e: [log in to unmask] t: + 44 (0) 7771 692971 On 18/09/2014 17:25, "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >Hi Lorna: > >Right, but what MAKE AND MODEL for the mic you're using? We're curious as >to its sensitivity, >directional pattern, etc. This all has bearing on how to use it in a >booth. > >In "fixing up" the Presto recorder, what did your friend do? Do you know >for sure that it runs on >speed and to original mechanical specs? What about the electronics? Did a >technician test each stage >to make sure the noise floor is low and hum is not entering the audio >circuits? And the cutterhead, >how was that restored? I don't know enough about these machines to say >for sure, but if there is >mechanical damping and isolation, I think it's a good bet that >70-year-old rubber or plastic is shot >and lubricants probably need to be cleaned out and replaced. You need to >do all of this just to get >the machine running as it was designed to run and as it ran in the 1940s. >By the way, if the >turntable is driven with a rubber puck (sometimes call a puck-drive or >rim-drive design), it's >likely that the rubber has dried out and the platter thus probably has >bad wow and may not run >on-speed. All of these things can be restored, but care and enterprise >must be practiced because >usable original parts probably don't exist. > >-- Tom Fine > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Lorna Fulton" <[log in to unmask]> >To: <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2014 12:13 PM >Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] recording booths > > >> Oh- sorry! Its a 1938 presto Model D: had it all fixed up by a friend as >> it had been sitting in a recording studio for about 40 years and no >>longer >> worked... >> It already has a preamp, so we're using the machine with a standard mic. >> >> My knowledge of the technical side of it isn't brilliant I'm afraid! >> >> >> Lorna Fulton >> e: [log in to unmask] >> t: >> + 44 (0) 7771 692971 >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On 18/09/2014 18:08, "Paul Stamler" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >> >>>On 9/18/2014 2:39 AM, Lorna Fulton wrote: >>>> Its just a standard microphone with xlr/amphenol connector©. >>> >>>I think we'd all like to know the make & model, and what associated >>>recording chain you're using -- preamp or interface etc. >>> >>>Peace, >>>Paul >> >>