I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
I was interested to find out what he meant.

Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,
I noticed a number of Reslo ribbon mics, and a
Premier drum kit. Was that what he meant by the
"classic British sound"? The answer was in the control
room - a pristine pair of Lockwood Major monitors
driven by a Quad 520f amplifier.

Lockwood (a firm of cabinet makers in
Harrow, UK) built speaker cabinets which they
fitted withTannoy 15 Golds, for studio use in the
days before Tannoy had its own professional division.

The Quad 520f (f = floating) is a studio version
of the type 606 current dumping amplifier, with
a sturdier PSU, balanced line inputs on XLR,
and output protection to prevent DC reaching the
speakers in a fault condition. Aparently the BBC had
some but otherwise they don't seem to be very
common.

We listened to some material currently in production,
and I complemented the owner on his excellent choice
of monitoring.

He told me that he had gone to an audio auction
to buy some large mic tripods. There were four
of these, 2 K+M mic stands, and a teachest full
of assorted mic cables, most of which had original
"saddle" Cannon connectors. He bought the job
lot for a very modest sum. When he got back
to base and took out the cables for testing and
closer inspection, he was surprised to find at the
bottom of the teachest a pair of Koss Pro4 headphones
(not working) and the Quad 520f amp.
Quite a find!

Iain

On 19/03/2017 12:32, Iain Churches wrote:
I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
I was interested to find out what he meant.

Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,


I once bought a 7'6" Bluthner. When it was installed the wife decided she
didn't like the tone so we replaced it with a 6 foot something Steinway,
which was put in a different room.

I suspect the problem was actually the room rather than the aliquot strings
or anything about the piano itself, as it sounded OK in the shop and the
dealer agreed that it didn't sound right in the house.

But the pianos, wife, house and fortune are all gone so none of it
matter any more. :-)

--
Eiron.

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
On 19/03/2017 12:32, Iain Churches wrote:
I was on my way to a studio in Stockholm.
The owner told me had a "classic British sound"
I was interested to find out what he meant.

Acccess to the control roon was via the studio.
In addition to a good selection of new and vintage
German mics, and a fine model B Bluthner grand piano,


I once bought a 7'6" Bluthner. When it was installed the wife decided she
didn't like the tone so we replaced it with a 6 foot something Steinway,
which was put in a different room.

I suspect the problem was actually the room rather than the aliquot
strings
or anything about the piano itself, as it sounded OK in the shop and the
dealer agreed that it didn't sound right in the house.

The Bluthner, addition to the aliquot strings has a
cylindrical sound board which makes it sound like, erm,
a Bluthner. I can appreciate that it might not play well
in some rooms. It also has a light touch which many
sessions musicians prefer.

But the pianos, wife, house and fortune are all gone so none of it
matter any more. :-)

Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Iain

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...
The Bluthner, addition to the aliquot strings has a
cylindrical sound board which makes it sound like, erm,
a Bluthner. I can appreciate that it might not play well
in some rooms. It also has a light touch which many
sessions musicians prefer.



Just for clarity, the term "cylindrical sound board",
although widely used, is something of a misnomer.
The board is of course flat, or rather tapererd.
It is the crown of the soundboard which has a
cylindrical form.

Iain

On 3/20/17 2:35 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Debussy also owned a Bluthner.

Stephen

"MiNe109" wrote in message
news
On 3/20/17 2:35 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Debussy also owned a Bluthner.

It does have a very distinctive sound, which lends
itself well to the music of the late romantic period.

Eiron mentioned the Aliquot system where a fourth string,
not struck by the hammer is added to the higher octaves.

I wonder what the Americans thought when Rachmaninov
took his Bluthner to the USA in 1918. They had their own
American piano sound with the Baldwin.

Iain

On 20/03/2017 16:24, Iain Churches wrote:
"MiNe109" wrote in message
news
On 3/20/17 2:35 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Debussy also owned a Bluthner.

It does have a very distinctive sound, which lends
itself well to the music of the late romantic period.

Eiron mentioned the Aliquot system where a fourth string,
not struck by the hammer is added to the higher octaves.

I wonder what the Americans thought when Rachmaninov
took his Bluthner to the USA in 1918. They had their own
American piano sound with the Baldwin.


Don't know about their pianos but they made some damn fine locomotives.


--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On 3/20/17 11:24 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
"MiNe109" wrote in message
news
On 3/20/17 2:35 AM, Iain Churches wrote:
Russian composer Serge Rachmaninov wrtote: "I took only two
important things with me to America, my wife Natalja and my
precious Bluthner piano".

Debussy also owned a Bluthner.

It does have a very distinctive sound, which lends
itself well to the music of the late romantic period.

Eiron mentioned the Aliquot system where a fourth string,
not struck by the hammer is added to the higher octaves.

I wonder what the Americans thought when Rachmaninov
took his Bluthner to the USA in 1918. They had their own
American piano sound with the Baldwin.

He adapted! Steinway had a near-monopoly on concert instruments.

https://www.steinway.com/artists/sergei-rachmaninoff