Monday, May 23, 2005

Nous sommes du soliel

Been a long time since I...ahem. Sorry.

First, starting last Sunday and continuing through Wednesday evening, I had no phone service, hence no internets. Plus, since then, I've been kinda busy.

Helios was a manufacturer of recording consoles in England from the late '60s into the '70s. Most of the consoles they manufactured, while containing standard elements, were custom designed for specific high profile customers. While not as plentiful as Neve and other legendary British consoles, Helios has nevertheless attained the status of near mythical audio performance.

My friend David Kulka, of Studio Electronics here in Los Angeles, who, like me, is a recording studio technical engineer, contracted me to help him rebuild a small Helios console belonging to Steve DeJarnatt, a respected film director who has a passion for recording and associated hardware.

This console was a section of a larger desk apparently built for The Who, and subsequently found a home here. It was later broken into sections, not an uncommon task with older consoles. Many Neves have found their microphone preamplifiers and equalizers taken out and repackaged, while the less glamorous parts often are discarded. A similar mate to this console can be found here.

I spoke to my friend Eddie Kramer, legendary English producer (Jimi Hendrix, etc.) about Helios consoles, and his only comment was "Ahhhhh!"

More to come. This is a fascinating story, to me, at least.

Update: Broken link fixed.

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