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Sonic Circus Welcomes Spectra 1964
Jul
If you haven’t heard the sound that Spectra Sonics Equipment produces, you should!
In 1964, Spectra began cranking out amazing mic preamps, EQs and the legendary 610 comp-limiter. A lot of the consoles in the mid to late 60’s were built with Spectra Sonics components in them. They were pioneers in creating preamps and compressors that were fast in terms of sonics and transients. The ingenuity of the design handles the transients in a very musical way. If you are wondering what they sound best on… Well we would just say everything! They carry their own tonality in the vast lineup of Mic Pres’s and EQs out now. A very balanced, clear, punchy and warm sound. In the early days they were very sought after because they were very quiet, i.e. extremely low noise floor. This was helpful because you could get more signal over the current tape noise levels at the time. The industry in the mid 60’s was starting to incorporate more solid state designs instead of tube. Spectra was a new more forward sound with low noise and sounded absolutely wonderful. ANY Spectra 1964 equipment definitely belongs next to anything that is considered legendary. They are proven workhorses and are built with musicality in mind.
Stax Recording Circa 1967 Spectra Sonics Recording Console
In the mid 60’s multitrack recording and console development was in its infancy. Consoles were not readily commercially available. Many recording studios and small engineering teams were responsible for designing their own custom consoles. Originally, Spectra Sonics would supply them with individual high quality built components for these builds. Amplifier modules, card frames, power supplies, and equalizers. Auditronics from Memphis built the Stax and Ardent consoles. TTG and A&M Records and others assembled custom consoles. The legendary Flickinger consoles were built utilizing Spectra line amplifiers. Cadco used the Spectra Sonics components to build famous consoles like what were found at Muscle Shoals as well as Tom Dowd’s influence with with Atlantic Records in NYC, Studio C. While the company continued to supported this elite sector of the American recording industry by 1968 Spectra Sonics decided to produce their own consoles and had about a 8 year run. Record Plant NY and LA,
as well as Michael Jackson and The Carpenters were recipients of Spectrasonics built desks. It can be safely stated that during this period, a majority of Gold and Platinum Recordings produced during this time were crafted on Spectra Sonics gear. Today there are a handful of original Spectra consoles in existence.
This top down approach is what makes the un-altered designs of the Spectra1964 outboard line bullet proof, historically significant, and sound amazing.
View products from Spectra 1964
Bill Hawks API 2448 Loaded with 24 STX 600
I’m really pleased with the performance of the STX 600 in the signal chain of my 2448; astonished actually. I’m currently running four STX 600s. I don’t think the importance of first in signal path nanosecond peak limiting during tracking can be overstated. The headroom improvement is significant. The API 212L mic pre is always available. They can be used together if you’re into playing with the gain staging.
I’ve since moved the four 600s I have into the 500 EQ slot of my 2448 channels 21-24. Using Alt Line In engaged I’ve been bypassing the 212L (55dB) mic pre in the board. The 600 has 62dB of gain. They are very easy to dial in; very fast and simple to do, which is why I moved them to the 500 EQ channel slot so I can easily observe in common the relationship between the 600’s LED and the channel metering above.
I then moved the displaced 550A EQs to a 500 chassis and access them through the Insert option in the 2448 channel. It’s a penny or two, but I’m seriously thinking of doing all 24 channels in this config. I lose nothing for the benefits it brings to the API 2448 inline console configuration. When nested in the 500 channel EQ slot, the 600 is switchable between the inline console’s large and small fader paths and would give me nanosecond limiting and compression on every channel if I want it.
The use of the 610 Complimiter circuit as a mic pre is very common. Rarely discussed, this configuration dates back to 1969. When used as the first stage, (prior to a conventional mic pre or console), the resulting performance improvement is readily apparent. The incomparable headroom and low transient distortion performance, as displayed with early Spectra Sonics consoles, becomes a part of the signal chain.
The ultra fast limiter of the Complimiter circuit eliminates transient peaks that reduce headroom, increases distortion and noise. In addition, harmonics that are typically lost during amplifier recovery, (during peak overload), are preseved. A recorded snare, sounds like the original. The compressor side of the 610 circuit does not “pump”, change frequency response, or add artifacts that are not present when refenced to the source. With transient peaks eliminated, setup time is dramatically reduced.
Forget the peak lights, the Vu meter becomes the signal level reference.