At your risk. A suitable fuse must be connected in series with any battery for injury or fire hazard protection.
The Pleiades V1 microphone booster preamplifier using the CV2269 operates with 1.2V for both heater and plate. See other posts for schematic.
Rethinking about it the plate voltage may be too low and the very very low plate current could be a cause of some hiss.
How would the CV2269 operate with grid at space potential (nothing connected to grid except the coupling capacitor after the input transformer)?
The electron tube has an amplification factor, μ=2.
So it should operate satisfactorily with V>2V. One has to be careful while increasing the battery supply volatge as electric field penatration to the grid (which is by default negative due to the electron cloud near cathode) will increase anode current rather abruptly.
(it is funny after a search on CV2269 electrometer tube, AI gives use as batterry operated microphone boosters, and after a search CV2269 electrometer tube microphone booster gives the Pleiades V1. But the schematic given is for the Pleiades V6 which is of the EF183 operated at an low anode poential of 3.6V.)
You are right that the recording of a singer who sings softly enables us to hear a far greater frequency range than that of a “screamer” or “belter” — so there is a level of personal intimacy present.
I was also the arranger for most of this album and I am proud of the use of female voices as a background element. They were all recorded in the same way. The mic in both cases were Neumann U-87s.
I did not produce or record several songs on the album because I had to move on to other projects at the time. For instance I did not record “Stories of The Street” or “Teachers”. But I believe I recorded all the rest.
There is a lot more lore from that era in my book, “Truth, Lies & Hearsay: A Memoir Of A Musical Life In And Out Of Rock And Roll” by John Simon.Available from Amazon and wherever fine literature is sold.
Thanks for getting in touch.
Warmly,
js
John,
Yes the girls sound like angels, don't they?
Is the reverb on the voices including Leonard's an echo chamber?
Warmly,
George
An old EMT “box”. About 6 feet long, 4 feet tall and 18” think. It had a plate in it.
Yesterday in Athens' flee market called Monastiraki under the Acropolis, it was fun visiting the second hand music stores.
On one of them a cassette made in US was found with the title Dick Haymes Sings Irvin Berlin.
It was later played on a Grundig mono CR355.
The sound quality is fantastic. All the treble in the nice piano notes. The naturalness of the voice. It sounds as if the song is taking place inside the room.
I tried a few day ago writing white notes on white music staff.
The background was violet, the staff was white and the notes themselves white.
Erasing can be done by writing with violet.
It looks very nice.
It was fun writing on a tablet with the tablet pen.
I would like to have somehow virtual blank pages with 5 lines so that I could complete my book called The Melody Book. It has extracts of great songs played in the simplest possible way with the best possible sound quality on piano, using Bach's manual for his students rules.
I like the fact that notes can be written in white color. I could either try this way or acrylic white marker on paper.
Raising the pitch of every note after its beginning until it sounds correct.
In other words, ending of each note is higher in pitch so that it sounds correct.
A good record producer such as Tony Swain mentions in the following interview that a producer should guide the singer in good intonation.
https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/tony-swain/
Below is one famous song he co produced, Just an Illusion - Imagination:
Another point may be that the headphone volume should be low as the higher the volume the lower the pitch we hear for the same frequency. A very good book to read is Sound and Hearing - Life encyclopedia - Stevens, Warshofsky. Phil Ramone in his book Making Records mentions that if a singer is out of tune first thing to correct is the headphone mix.
Would smallish holes in a elastomer dissipating panel avoid it reflecting higher frequencies while still converting low frequencies to heat?
Possible use:
Inside loudspeaker boxes together with porous absorber to dissipate the mid, low acoustic energy travelling around due to the rear radiation of the drive unit.
Hung from ceiling pyramids made of perforated material. Such as those mentioned in the book Temples of Sound - Clark, Cogan used in the studio where Jim Morison recorded. Such pyramids are described in the book Audio Cyclopedia - Tremaine. There is a patent of Harry Olson (RCA technical director) describing similar type hung absorbers of various solid shapes made of perforated material.
If such a material is perforated linoleum would it increase low frequency absorption too thereby creating a better broader band absorber?
This information comes directly from the blog of producer Tony Swain:
Hi Frankie
There has been much speculation about this subject but as I also played and recorded the bass lines it is time to put the record straight!
The Bass was played using an early Roland SH1000 made in the late 70's This was originally designed to sit on top of a Hammond organ so it looked like one! This was a monophonic synth but would play two octaves at once so using a combination of square and sine waves an octave apart combined with a lot of wrestling with a portamento switch to get the slides this is how the bass lines were done. No sequencer was used at all on the bass lines just a lot of sweat and keeping time which was helped by me also being a drummer! The synth was recorded through a Boss chorus guitar pedal (blue type) and then compressed a lot through a studio DBX160 a really great vintage compressor.The bass was very high in the mix but cut through because of the compression and the split octaves. Just an illusion bass was the best of two different lines recorded over two days on Analogue 24tk before digital came in. I hope this finally answers the question. Best Tony
Instead of the (R,L) Pleiades filters. (inductor in series with resistor and total in parallel with microphone output) (R,C) filters can be used.
These are capacitor in parallel with resistor and the total in series, that is between microphone and preamplifier. The R can be variable as on the (R,L) filters. Similarly different capacitors or inductors can be switchable.
An (R,C) microphone filter for correcting ribbon microphone bass heaviness at smaller distance than 2-3 ft can be seen on the so nice BBC book, High Quality Sound Production and Reproduction, - H. Burrell Haden, page 63.
Listening on YouTube to an interview of producer Tony Swain (Just an Illusion - Imagination) where he used as a youngster a G36 for bouncing.
Then searching with the title keywords, AI found me someone who explains how it was done, with listening examples:
https://www.davidstanhope.com/cortettes.html
How would recording with a Tascam porta 07 sound if the erase heads are disconnected so that as many as needed sounds could be rerecorded on the same part of magnetic tape (cassette) without generation loss?
The above example is very interesting as it is one of the very few compositions in history where the bass stays the same for a very long time.
Bass E, harmony E G B (E minor)
Bass E, harmony D #F A (D major)
Bass, harmony C E A (A minor)
It sounds very nice. A fine example of The Principle of Least Change in music.
Pedal Bass is one way of doing least change.
Other examples of Pedal Bass:
Us and Them - Pink Floyd
Against All Odds - Phil Collins at 1:02
Prelude in C minor - Chopin at beginning of chorus 0:40
Tocatta and Fugue in D minor - J. S. Bach at 0:26 to 0:38, 1:18 to 1:31, 6:49 to 7:04
One day we had a nice conversation with songwriter Mimis Plessas. He explained that pedal bass can be generalized to a constant melody while other parts are changing.
For example from the beginning, Just an Illusion - Imagination
And here is a great example having pedal bass at a low part at 0:45, and at a high part at 1:22 (the synth melody at the right side of the stereo image).
One day there was a book on sale. Opening in random it said do everyday a little thing that makes the environment better. I did not buy the book but I strongly remember just this one thing so everyday if I see something that I do not like, for example a foreign object in the forest it is removed.
Shakespeare in a play says something like, do less harm.
In the play Merchant of Venice:
"And I beseech you, / Wrest once the law to your authority. / To do a great right, do a little wrong..."
At your risk. Any battery must be in series with a transformer for safety.
Today buying from Vangelis Stefos shop in Athens 1mm, and 1.4mm wire. About 200g for some experimentation.
But before this the 1:1 bifilar output transformer will be tried on the Pleiades BD650 power amp but this time operating with just 3 AA 1.2V batteries. So 3.6V and if at 500mA it sounds nice output power should be of the order of 1 watt. In Class A (electrons flowing all the time).
Adjusting bias is very amusing as a sweet point is very easily found by listening. This should take account even subconsciously of the Impedance with respect to Frequency curve of the loudspeaker.
Inspired by watching with interest a few moments ago outside their premises ('Ενωση Ποντίων) in Kallithea district the unremoved name label sticker on the letter box.
It was played today on the Pleyel upright piano after listening it on the radio. The introduction sounds very nice on piano for example playing the G minor 7th, left hand G bB D and F on the melody or the F minor 3rd major 9th, left hand playing the inversion bA C F and right hand playing the 9th ie G in the melody.
Perhaps it should be possible to use step up output transformers on both Darlington or MOSFET amplifiers so that primary is of lower impedance with a few turns of thick wire.
In this way the 8 ohms impedance of a speaker would be converted to say 2 ohms or less and power output would be higher at the expense of course of higher power consumption.
At your risk. Please take all safety precautions. A suitable fuse must be in series with any battery for injury or fire hazard protection. Please keep volume down for protecting your precious hearing.
Ο Άλμπερτ Κετεντζιάν είναι ο μόνος που έχω γνωρίσει με εξαίρεση τον Μίμη Πλέσσα που διδάσκει ότι η μουσική οκτάβα (π.χ. οι 2 τελαυταίες νότες του Εθνικού Ύμνου) είναι λίγο μεγαλύτερη απο την μαθηματική οκτάβα (διπλασιασμός παλμικών δονήσεων ανά μονάδα χρόνου) για να ακουστεί όμορφα στον ακροατή.
Αυτό αναφέρεται μόνο στα καλύτερα βιβλία ακουστικής όπως αυτό του ιδρυτή του εργαστηρίου ψυχοφυσικής στο πανεπιστήμιο Χάρβαρντ, Σ. Στήβενς [1]. Η μετάφραση του βιβλίου Ήχος και Ακοή στα Ελληνικά έχει γίνει από τον Δρ. Εμμ. Τιερρή, πρώην διευθυντή χειρουργικής στον Ερυθρό Σταυρό και είχα την τύχη να είμαστε με τον γιό του Γιάννη διπλανοί στην Λεόντειο.
Όταν το 1993 αποφoiτησα από το Αγγλικό πανεπηστήμιο Warwick με τίτλο B. Eng. Engineering Electronics, o Άλμπερτ που ήδη τον γνώριζα με ξάφνιαζε με θέματα όπως το παραπάνω και δεν μπορούσα να πιστέψω τι μου έλεγε.
Μου τ' αποδείκνυε όμως στο πιάνο και μετά με ηλεκτονική μέτρηση. Έψαξα και μόνος και ακόμα κάνω και από τότε έγινε δασκαλός μου και στην ηλεκτρονική αφού γεννήθηκε, εκπαιδεύτηκε, στον Καναδά και ήρθε σε επαφή και με πλήθος synthesizers και ενισχυτές που από τότε ήταν στην αιχμή της μουσικής παραγωγής.
Πάντα με την ακούραστη γυναίκα του Μαρίνα μου συμπεριφέρονταν με αγάπη και σεβασμό και είναι τόσες οι όμορφες συζητήσεις στην αίθρια υποδοχή του εργαστηρίου στην οδό Βάρνης, βράδυ καθισμένοι κάτω από όμορφα δέντρα. Σχεδόν ακούραστα τελείωνε ο Άλμπερτ την εργασία για να συζητήσουμε πάλι για τα ίδια με καινούργια οπτική γωνία. Λίγα απο τα τελευταία έτη χαθήκαμε αλλά ερχόμενοι πάλι κοντά διαπίστωσα ανακαίνιση στη μονοκατοικία, εσωτερικά και εξωτερικά. Μια πανέμορφη μονοκατοικία από τις ελάχιστές πια στην Νέα Σμύρνη που ασφυκτικά δεν θέλει άλλη μια πολυκατοικία. Είναι ωραίο να υπάρχει μια αναφορά στο παρελθόν, έμπνευση στο μέλλον και για τις επόμενες γενιές σε μια Ευρωπαική πια Ελλάδα που σέβεται την ποιότητα ζωής, τον άνθρωπο και την ιστορική πολιτισμική κληρονομιά.
Στο εργαστήριο μουσικής της Βάρνης, στα στούντιο ηχογράφησης και στις συναυλίες για τον συντονισμό πιάνου που με έπαιρνε μαζί του ο Άλμπερτ γνώρισα από κοντά τους σημαντικούς καλλιτέχνες της μουσικής δισκογραφίας και του θεάτρου.
Το εργαστήριο αυτό βοήθησε και μένα αφού ο Άλμπερτ απλόχερα πραγματοποιούσε οποιαδήποτε ιδέα μου και είχαμε και οι δύο την περιέργεια να δούμε αν θα λειτουργήσει ή όχι.
Είμαι λοιπόν ευγνώμων στον Άλμπερτ που απο τότε που πρωτοσυντόνησε το πιάνο μου και για τουλάχιστον 30 έτη στο εργασήριο του με την θέληση μας μου δείχνει τον μαγικό κόσμο της μουσικής και της ηλεκτρονικής.
Συνεχίζει στο εργαστήριο του ακάθεκτος και η γνώση και η μετριοφροσύνη του που χαραχτηρίζουν κάθε αξιοπρεπή άνθρωπο τον κάνουν να είναι σε πρώτη ζήτηση όταν έρχεται μεγάλος καλλιτέχνης από το εξωτερικό σε συναυλία, όπως αυτό το καλοκαίρι του 2026 στην Πλατεία Νερού με το πιάνο του Nick Cave επιμελημένα από την αρχή της ημέρας και συντονισμένο απά τον Άλμπερτ.
Στα χνάρια του ο γιος της Μαρίνας και του Άλμερτ, Αλέξης που ανεξάρτητα στον επάνω όροφο έχει φτιάξει στούντιο ηχογράφησης. τον βλέπω από λίγο μετά το 2000 να το βελτιώνει συνεχώς. Και η κόρη τους Άννα είναι ανεξάρτητη και δημιουργική στο Λονδίνο.
Τους ευχαριστώ όλους πολύ που κάνουν στην πόλη που συνίδρυσε ο παππούς μου Γιώργος Τσακίρης από την Σμύρνη να αισθάνομαι ακόμα πιο άνετα. Και να είμαστε όλοι λίγο πιο υπερήφανοι για την Νέα Σμύρνη.
Η μουσική όμως λειτουργεί στην ψυχή μας με την ακρόαση, έτσι ας ακουστεί για παράδειγμα το Λιμάνι του Γιώργου Ανδρέου ερμηνεία Μουτσάτσου με τον χαρακτηριστικό ήχο του ακορντεόν από τον δεξιοτέχνη Ηρακλή Βαβάτσικα, πελάτη από τότε του Άλμπερτ στο εργαστήριο της Βάρνης στην συντήρηση και τον τονικό συγκερασμό.
Εύχομαι στον φίλο μου Άλμπερτ ευτυχία, ηρεμία και ακόμα περισσότερη δημιουργηκότητα.
Γιώργος Τσακίρης
Αναφορά [1] Ήχος και Ακοή - Ενκυκλοπαίδια Time, Life
Music deals with vibrating molecules. for example of the metal piano string, or the vibrating molecules of air which will also hit the ear drum of the listener to create the sensation of hearing in the listener's mind.
Electronics deal with the corresponding vibration of electrons. For example inside the copper wire of a cable which carries the music of a symphony or a beautiful song.
A microphone converts the vibration of air molecules to a corresponding vibration of electrons in the cable at the output of the microphone. The microphone preamplifier will magnify or amplify these vibrations.
The cause of making the air molecules to vibrate in turn travels at the speed of sound in air, the speed of sound in air. The cause of making the electron vibrate in turn inside a wire travels at the speed of light in the metal of this wire. The speed of the light or electromagnetic wave in this metal.
It would seem correct to assume that a perfect sound system would convert exact replicas of the molecule vibration to the electron vibration.
More than often this is not true especially in popular music where the sound reproduction is louder than the moment a singer sings to record.
A reason for this is that the sensitivity of the human mind to frequency is also a function of intensity. For example for soft sounds a bass guitar needs to be as much a s a million times, that is 60db more powerful than a flute (mid range note) in order to sound as loud.
But when higher intensity is involved the sensitivity of the listener's mind to bass frequency becomes much closer to the sensitivity to mid frequencies for a similar sensation of loudness.
The curves that describe this phenomenon are called Equal Loudness Curves.
Due to the fact that the frequency response curve of the human hearing mechanism depends on intensity it may be trivial to assume that for perfect recording and reproduction we need flat frequency response from microphone of singer to the loudspeaker of listener.
It is more appropriate to consider flat frequency response from record producer mind to the listener's mind.
For example a singer reproduced at higher level than while recording will sound bass heavy.
In addition the frequency spectrum of a singing voice depends on effort when singing. For example when a singer sings softly the bandwidth of the voice is much higher with an increase in bass and high frequency content than when singing loud where most energy is concentrated on mid frequencies.
This would make a softly sung melody sound even more bass heavy when reproduced at a higher level.
To make such a situation sound correct to the listener's mind is not only a great work of engineering but also a great work of art.
For example Suzan - Leonard Cohen
(A loudspeaker or headphones convert electron vibration back to air molecule vibration so that we can listen to the beautifully made example below):
Further Reading:
Sound and Hearing - S.S Stevens, F. Warshofsky - Time Life Encyclopedia
Sound Picture Recording and Reproduction Characteristics - D.P. Lowe, K. F. Morgan - Journal of the society of motion picture engineers
The key is A minor, that is the first bass note is A. In the key of A minor all notes are natural, the white keys of a piano keyboard.
At chorus bass becomes F so using the simple rule 1 3 5 or 1 3 5 7 the chord is F A C or F A C E so the bass code is F or F7.
Then the harmony is G7 that is G B D F, using the Principle of Least Change in Music since the previous chords is F A C E we can play F G B D (the same trick used by Bach on the 1st prelude in C Magor from the Well Tempered Clavier for example at 1:02-1:04. The code is different but you can see the similarity of keeping the bass the same (pedal bass) in order to get from one chord to the next with the least possible note changes.
Then bass becomes A so harmony is using the simple harmonic triad code 1 3 5, that is A C E.
Then bass becomes a step down that is G. If we play harmonic code that is G B D it sounds trivial and wrong as we have parallel fifths (as Bach calls it the error in music). So again using using the Principle of Least Change in Music the composer plays G B E (E is kept from the previous chords), that is the code is G6. WIth the 6th or 7th or 9th (with respect to bass) as Bach says in his manual we add the 3rd/ So we have G B E which sounds fantastic.
It is the same chord progression as the first 2 chords of Old and Wise _ Alan Parsons Project:
So the 4 chords at the chorus are:
F A C E
F G B D
A C E
G B E
If these are played on the left hand at the middle the keyboard of a well tuned piano and we the right hand the melody, it should sound very nice.
This is how it will be scored on The Melody Book.
Further reading:
Instructions for playing thorough bass by her Johann Sebastian Bach for his scholars in music
(It can be found at the appendix of Bach's Biography by Spita)
