Ampex 8-Track History Paper

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
repost.

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Frank Stearns]

Roy W. Rising > writes:

>Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
>development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
>have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
>repost.

I remember seeing this too; probably a 350-8. I think it was on a website somewhere,
perhaps tied in with Les Paul or Tom Dowd.

If that's not the one you mean and you do find the one you're thinking of, let us
know; I'd be curious to see it too.

Best of luck with it,

Frank
Mobile Audio
--

[philicorda[_7_]]

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:51:48 +0000, Roy W. Rising wrote:

> Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
> development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
> have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
> repost.

Do you mean the ASRC Journal document by Ross H Snyder - "Sel Sync and
the Octopus: How came to be the first recorder to minimise successive
copying in overdubs."?

I have a copy, and can email it if you like.

[Frank Stearns]

philicorda > writes:

>On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:51:48 +0000, Roy W. Rising wrote:

>> Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
>> development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
>> have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
>> repost.

>Do you mean the ASRC Journal document by Ross H Snyder - "Sel Sync and
>the Octopus: How came to be the first recorder to minimise successive
>copying in overdubs."?

>I have a copy, and can email it if you like.

I'd like a copy, please... (an email reply to this post should work - email address
has not been masked -- thanks in advance).

Also, Snyder's interviews with Howard Sanner are in mp3 form at
http://recordist.com/ampex/mp3/index.html
(Some film audio and stereo history; setting the record straight about who invented
selsync.)

Frank
--

[philicorda[_7_]]

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:27:58 -0500, Frank Stearns wrote:

<snip>
>
> I'd like a copy, please... (an email reply to this post should work -
> email address has not been masked -- thanks in advance).

That email address didn't work for me, so I've put it up for download:

http://www.filedropper.com/snydersel-sync

(PDF 880KB)

>
> Also, Snyder's interviews with Howard Sanner are in mp3 form at
> http://recordist.com/ampex/mp3/index.html (Some film audio and stereo
> history; setting the record straight about who invented selsync.)

Interesting stuff!

>
> Frank

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

philicorda > wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:51:48 +0000, Roy W. Rising wrote:
>
> > Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
> > development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
> > have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
> > repost.
>
> Do you mean the ASRC Journal document by Ross H Snyder - "Sel Sync and
> the Octopus: How came to be the first recorder to minimise successive
> copying in overdubs."?
>
> I have a copy, and can email it if you like.

That's the one! The title led me to my copy. Thanks so much!

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Sofa Slug[_2_]]

Roy W. Rising wrote:
> philicorda > wrote:
>> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:51:48 +0000, Roy W. Rising wrote:
>>
>>> Sometime back someone posted a link to a 'white paper' about the
>>> development of the 8-track Ampex. I downloaded and saved the file, but
>>> have had a system crash or two and now I can't find it. T.I.A. for a
>>> repost.
>> Do you mean the ASRC Journal document by Ross H Snyder - "Sel Sync and
>> the Octopus: How came to be the first recorder to minimise successive
>> copying in overdubs."?
>>
>> I have a copy, and can email it if you like.
>
> That's the one! The title led me to my copy. Thanks so much!
>


Interesting reading. I had always thought that multi-channel recording
was "invented" solely by Les Paul:

http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf

[Mike Rivers]

Sofa Slug wrote:

> Interesting reading. I had always thought that multi-channel recording
> was "invented" solely by Les Paul:

That's what he'd like you to think. However, he was the first one to put a
multitrack recorder to good musical use. What's kind of sad in a way, or
maybe good in a way, is that by the time he got the 8-track recorder, he
was pretty much out of the hitmaking business. He never made a top charted
record after he got "The Octopus."


--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me here:
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[Scott Dorsey]

Sofa Slug > wrote:
>Interesting reading. I had always thought that multi-channel recording
>was "invented" solely by Les Paul:
>
>http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf

Les Paul certainly popularized it, and he's certainly the first person who
used sound-on-sound ping-ponging for musical rather than radio drama
production, but he did get a bit over the top talking about it.

I think he still gets a hell of a lot of credit for being the first person
to use it in a studio setting and the person who invented a lot of the standard
production techniques we now take for granted.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

(Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> Sofa Slug > wrote:
> >Interesting reading. I had always thought that multi-channel recording
> >was "invented" solely by Les Paul:
> >
> >http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/sel-sync/snyder_sel-sync.pdf
>
> Les Paul certainly popularized it, and he's certainly the first person
> who used sound-on-sound ping-ponging for musical rather than radio drama
> production, but he did get a bit over the top talking about it.
>
> I think he still gets a hell of a lot of credit for being the first
> person to use it in a studio setting and the person who invented a lot of
> the standard production techniques we now take for granted.
> --scott

I'll second that. What a guy ... disc-to-disc overdubbing before he had
tape put him on the map. Close mic-ing was another advance. While "The
Log" might not have been the first important electric guitar, it started
the revolution.

I have the 4-CD boxed set of all his works. 116 cuts in all, some with
multiple tunes. CD #4 presents 34 previously unreleased cuts. I've
re-listened to all since his passing ... truly phenomenal!

--
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Bob Olhsson[_2_]]

On Aug 20, 3:30*pm, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:
> I think he still gets a hell of a lot of credit for being the first person
> to use it in a studio setting and the person who invented a lot of the standard
> production techniques we now take for granted.

The inventing multi-track recording claim is indisputably not true.
The first big hit record with a doubled voice, Patti Page's "Confess"
in 1947, predates Les Paul's first overdubbed Capitol release in 1948.

Radio Recorders, the studio where Les Paul made recordings with Bing
Crosby and numerous others, had been doing overdubs for film and radio
shows since the mid 1930s. (The term "overdub" originated in the movie
business.) The general public was just unaware of the practice before
Les started publicizing his use of it. His name became synonymous with
overdubbing but it had actually been a common practice for over a
decade. Capitol Records worked at Radio recorders before acquiring
their own studio and, according to Voyle Gilmore, one of their
original producers, one of the first things they started doing after
Radio Recorders acquired their second Ampex 200 in 1948 was
overdubbing vocals and editing vocal takes together.

Bing Crosby and producer Mitch Miller are probably the true fathers of
multi-track production for records. Engineer-wise, you are probably
talking about Robert Fine at Fine Recording in New York, Don Thompson
at Radio Recorders in Hollywood and Bill Putnam at Universal in
Chicago.
_________________