Fancy a piece of the dark side of the moon?

The Abbey Road Studios EMI TG12345 MK IV console used to record Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is going up for auction in New York later this month.

EMI TG12345 MK IV console - used on Dark Side of the Moon

The EMI TG 12345 MK IV console has been referred to as the greatest console ever constructed due to the collaboration with Abbey Road and EMI engineers, with the production of every component being built to military precision.

EMI TG 12345 MK IV console faders

Abbey Road studios was the recording studio of choice for experimental and progressive artists to use throughout the 1960s-1970s and is still a busy venue today. The sound recording of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon is testament to the superior engineering of this recording equipment.

EMI metering

Due to be sold as part of Bonham’s ‘TCM Presents…Rock and Roll Through the Lens’ event on 27 March, the desk was housed in the facility’s iconic Studio Two between 1971 and 1983, commissioned as an update for the MK II model and one of only two consoles custom-made by EMI engineers for Abbey Road.

I suspect you will need a very friendly bank manager.

Update - it was sold for $1.8 million

Viola Organista

Nearly 500 years after Leonardo da Vinci sketched his plans for a musical instrument he dubbed the Viola Organista, Polish concert pianist Slawomir Zubrzycki spent more than 5,000 hours making da Vinci's idea a reality. This is an amazing instrument.

The first CD album of the viola organista solo recital out on November 3rd, 2015!! More about in English here: http://www.violaorganista.com See also: https://www.facebook.com/ViolaOrganista First performance of the viola organista made by Sławomir Zubrzycki. INTERNATIONAL ROYAL CRACOW PIANO FESTIVAL 18TH OCTOBER 2013, Aula Florianka.

There is a Kickstarter campaign to make a recording of the instrument that you may be interested in joining.

Studio maintenance

It's that time again - clean off the collected grime, service the bad parts, refresh the plugs and inserts.
Allen & Heath System 8 - I like the brown scheme. It reminds me of those early EMI consoles from Abbey Road. It is a warm colour, in tune with the warm sound this console has.

Knob colour scheme

Knob Colour Scheme

While sorting out what knobs and caps are missing I can summarise the colour coding as follows:

  • Green = EQ

  • Brown = Aux send

  • Red = Level/Pan/Gain

Meters

To the VU meters. The SQ-10 meter is still being made by Anders, and is stocked by both RS (code 220-368) and Farnell (code 7758219).

Each one has an incandescent bulb to provide illumination. And they blow. And they're fiddly to replace. Channel 3 and 4 are bad but in view of the effort to change them I have decided that I can live with that.

Faders

Original Alps audio-taper K faders are available from Audio Maintenance.

Knobs, Buttons, Fader Caps

The knobs are non-standard parts it seems these days. So your best bet is either find someone who is parting out an old System 8, or get a similar vintage AHB mixer yourself as a parts donor. Same for the button caps and switch caps.

The faders have 8mm tabs, and you can still find supplies of suitable fader caps (see above).

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Some history

The System 8 mixers have been around for many years, and were there at a critical time in British pop. Some artists that have or still use System 8's in their studios and productions.

  • Mungo Jerry apparently used a System 8 on the classic In The SummerTime hit

  • Martyn Ware of Human League and Heaven 17

  • Both The Devil and The Oscillation: From Tomorrow were recorded on a System 8 (in 128 formation).