From Jim...

"I loved your interview in Tape Op and it came at a most opportune time. My dad, Larry Keyes, was a staff engineer at Columbia for 30 odd years. He passed away in November of 2007. Right now, I'm in the process of going through his gear to integrate into my Mac-based studio."

What a great legacy project.

"One of the most interesting pieces is a 16 channel "portable" console that the CBS techs built for remotes. It's made up of API 550A's and API faders. The mic-pre's and op-amps are housed in a separate rack connected by an enormously thick cable. Both pieces weigh a ton. "

Wow, that must would be perfect starting place. you can't go wrong with those amps and EQs. you most likely have way more amps than you would need, they used to over build like crazy back then, you might want to house the amps inside the console if you have room, on in a rack close to the console.

"In your Tape Op interview, you mentioned the "stupid" amount of headroom that the API A/B cards from the '70s had. My dad talked about this board the same way (although he used a different descriptor)."

You get used to the headroom and take it for granted, until you work on a system lacking it and you keep bouncing up against issues, everything is harder to achieve, nothing seems to sound right... THEN you're really thankful for the headroom...

I've been mixing "in the box" in Logic and running into similar headroom problems. I'm looking forward to breaking out with this console, but I'm a little intimidated by the idea of restoring this board, which has been sitting in storage for at least 15 years. Your article really inspired me. The information is out there and the board is already built, so, by comparison, this should be an easier undertaking."

If the console gives you a headache as it is wired, you might want to cut all of the wiring away and start over.

It would not be that big of a deal, just lots and lots of duplication...  You could use better wire and do a more appropriate format for your needs. PLUS if anything goes wrong, you'll be able to fix it in your sleep!

Also, do you know Avedis? he used to work with Bent Averill.... he would be a good resource for more info... 

"I've started a blog, "Analog Inheritance", about integrating my Dad's gear into my studio. If you're interested, you can check it out at http://jimkeyes.wordpress.com/  " 

Best of luck with this, we'll keep an eye on your progress...   

Cheers, Dan

From Bob...

"I just got my copy of Tape Op today and the article on the console you built was really great to read. I'm slowly teaching myself electronics over the years and have fantasies of the owning my own room and building a console myself to work on. Reading about the design/thought process timeline and how long that took was great for me. The idea of designing and then building a console is a pretty damn big job, but a lot of it can be broken down into smaller elements over a longer period of time. This way of looking at it is inspiring to me to start putting some energy into investigating and evaluating the smaller building blocks of a big project like this."

Thanks Bob... It is true that breaking it down into small steps makes it all possible. The truth is that it is a very simple circuit, over and over. 

"I'm curious about the equalizer circuit you've got in the console. Did you build the whole modules (design the PCB and layout, etc) yourself or are they original circuit boards fitted into your chassis and panels?"

The EQs are 'removed from service' Langevin 251As. I have collected them over the years. I designed the EQ panel to hold the old modules. These EQs are from a Western Electric design from the 1940's, I think.

The pan design reminds me of the Electrodyne console they have at Dub Narcotic here in Oly, there's hard buss assigns for each channel, and you can also assign to either or both of two busses with pan knobs on them.

I've seen some wacky pan circuits out there. I tried to keep  it as clean (aesthetics and circuitry) as possible.

Cheers,  Dan

Li'l Monster

Kids!

i'm going to give this blog forum a try. TapeOp Magazine just ran an article on me building my console. i've been getting some interesting questions emailed to me and i'd like to bring them here so we can all join in. i'm new to the blog world, so let me know if i'm doing something goofy or if there is a better way to share this info. you can find some photos of the process HERE.

peace ~ dan garcia