I started out in this crazy business by joining Eamonn Andrews Studios in the early 70′s. I was a trainee Sound Engineer but really just a tea boy!! I’ve seen a lot of changes since then. I’ve seen a lot of fads too that came and went, some more successful than others!!
I get asked a lot about the gear we used back then so here goes.
The studio was at the rear of the TV Club (Television Club) in Harcourt Street. The TV Club was a late night dance emporium where you could purchase such fine wines as Blue Nun and Blacktower at exorbitant prices!!
Recording took place during the day and on Wednesday evenings for some strange reason. The studio was equipped with an EMI Redd 51 Console which had the arching faders with the bulbs to let you know when you were full on and full off. Very helpful indeed! I opened one up to have a look and they were amazingingly well built. Instead of a variable resistor or carbon track, there was a series of fixed resistors in a line that the rotor made contact with, one after the other. The console was in ‘public toilet lime green’ and looked like it had been built for the military. It was unbreakable.
I inherited 4 mic-pre’s and the power supplies from this console some time later. My wife threw them into a skip while I was away working on some album project. We didn’t talk for days!!
