Yesterday the technician Yiannis Dimitriou of the demolished Athens EMI studio (arguably one of the best studios and record factories in Europe) was visited. This recording plant-studio was used by many surrounding countries including Arab counties.
He is born 13/3 in 1932 and keeping well by eating tahini.
He is born in Bordeaux - France by immigrant Hellenic parents from minor Asia. He came to Hellas at 6 years old. Was raised in an orphanage where he attended primary school only and started playing with little speakers etc as a hobby. He was very keen in watching the movies while a teenager. And attended a ship repair mechanics school. He then got a job at Orfanidis radio, record stop in Athens where he was repairing radios learning on his own as the other technicians were secretive. His boss was also selling Telefunken, Pathé, Columbia records. He knew the 51% holder of Columbia Athens factory Lambropoulos. (51% to a Hellenic citizen and the rest to EMI was the only way this entity could legally exist in Hellas). Dimitriou asked if they could get him a job at the Columbia factory and studios. He got a job initially on the record pressing plant. Then for short time had been assistant to sound engineer Kanelopoulos and he started being a technician while the 2 new studios, 1 and 2, started to be built. At this time the studio had an 8in mono adding console. And the preamplifiers were the racked EMI RS61 low level amplifiers. Before using the Neunmann U47 some axial moving coil microphones seem to have been used although he does not recall which. He mentions both type of mics were of exceptional quality in sound.
He said he had installed 34km of cabling in the studios.
The studios were box in a box.
He was instructed to make, install the absorbers. These were prepared in the carpentry shop of the factory. They were big boxes, the size of small cafe windows. The front was perforated. Inside was high frequency absorbing material. The low frequencie were apparently absorbed by roofing felt membranes. It is not very clear but this time he said they may had been internaly glued to each wood side, but his not sure. (Roofing felt and linoleum panels have been used by the BBC. see Acoustics for Radio and Television Studios - Gilford). (Mustn't there have been been some constructions with the membrane absorber before the perforated panel and porous absorber between it and the wall? On a precious interview Dimitriou said yes, on this interview he does not remember. See the reference on the use of membrane low frequency absorbers by the BBC).
Gun shots responses of the room (approximation of delta function response) were being recorded on tape and the tapes sent over to England. The acoustical engineers then would instruct how many of these to put in the other wall and so on. All walls were covered with theses wooden constructions.
He mentions the power amplifiers for the control room and also echo rooms were Leak valve or electron tube power amplifiers.
He is not sure about what speaker was used in each of the 2 echo chambers or echo rooms
Possibly it was Goodmans full range , with a small cone in cone and double voice coil for the high frequencies. (They are possibly of the type described on the Acoustical Engineering - H.F. Olson book).
On artists Yiannis Dimitriou had to mention how he was impressed by song writer Manos Hatzidakis. "A gentleman". And when there was a strike he supported the musicians saying let's not record today. After late night sessions Kanelopoulos would take in his car Dimitriou and Hatzidakis. Dimitriou would be left at his house. And the others would go to Pagrati district, to the café Magemenos Avlos.
Reference:Studio Engineering for Sound Broadcasting - Members of BBC Engineering Division - Wireless World
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