A gorgeous 1960s Brüel & Kjær type 2112 all tube stepped 1/3rd Octave band pass filter in action shortly after being returned to life at Hideaway Studio and modified for creative studio use.  The filter is simply being fed with a single sustained Solina like string pad and a series of quite haunting harmonically related pads result as the frequency control is moved between 5 different settings.  The filter has around 60dB per octave slopes. The resulting audio sounds very different to the original source material!

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

1960s Brüel & Kjaer type 2112 in Action - Harmonic Pads

Two late 1960s Brüel & Kjær type 2112 all tube Band Pass Filter sets with >80dB/oct slopes at the crest modified for studio use being tested as a stereo pair for the first time shortly after restoration at Hideaway Studio.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

Two 1960s All Tube Brüel & Kjaer type 2112 BPF Run As Stereo Pair

Another random science fiction sound effect. I made this one using the iVCS3 synthesiser app, with heavy reverb added in Garageband. The same sound loops round several times, with slight changes on each repeat.

Alien beacon (Sci-Fi Sound Effect)

The second of a pair of gorgeous 1968 Brüel & Kjær type 2107 all tube swept band pass filters originally built for laboratory use awakening for the first time during resurrection, major overhaul and modification for creative studio use by Dani Wilson at Hideaway Studio. Originally designed for frequency analysis, these majestic hand cranked beasts can achieve selective audio filtering up to 50dB/octave in tube regenerative circuits covering the full audio spectrum split over 6 frequency bands with mechanical auto-selection between them.

Part 1: The unfiltered source sound from an Alesis Micron
Part 2: The 2107 harmonically disassembling the sound at 40db/octave as the huge tuning control is hand cranked through three frequency bands nicely exposing the harmonic content of the source.

The sheer build quality of these units is remarkable - the enamel painted front panel consists of a giant aluminum casting on which those chunky Bakelite controls are mounted and have a wonderfully solid and reassuring feel to them. Definitely a fine example of classic industrial design!

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

1968 Brüel & Kjaer type 2107: All Tube Swept BPF Awakens II

A pair of gorgeous 1968 Brüel & Kjær type 2107 all tube swept band pass filters originally built for laboratory use in action following restoration and modification for creative studio use by Dani Wilson at Hideaway Studio. Originally designed for frequency analysis, these majestic hand cranked beasts can achieve selective audio filtering up to 50dB/octave in tube regenerative circuits covering the full audio spectrum split over 6 frequency bands with mechanical auto-selection between them.

This test recording was made simply by firing a narrow pulse wave of approx 400Hz to one 2107 and approx 800Hz to the other recording from them as a stereo pair whilst hand cranking the tuning controls with the filters set to over 45dB/oct.  Both units were recorded directly dry with no added effects - just pure vintage tube goodness in action!

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

1968 Brüel & Kjaer type 2107: Pulse Sweepers

Testing All Tube Phasers 01, 02 & 03 after a bit of a tricky birth...

Designed and Built by Hideaway Studio into the chassis of classic Brüel & Kjær analysers these units are based on largly forgotten 60 year old phase-shift technology.  These highly unusual prototype phasers have genuinely 100% tube based signal paths with only their LFOs being solid-state in order to permit a number of modern features such as clockable modulation with complex waveshapes.

By pushing the regen into self-resonance the phasers can also be used as bizarre SFX generators creating everything from water drops to mad lab sounds to water effects thanks to the array of LFO shapes available.

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2018.

Prototype All Tube Phasers: Awakenings

Twelve Talks on Melody by Sir Walford Davies - a series of music lectures transferred from 12 sides of rather worn acoustically recorded 78 rpm records first released in 1922.  

The now 102 year old raw recordings were digitally cleaned up in iZotope RX5.

HMV C1063-C1068

Transfer from original 78s and Audio Restoration by D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

Melody Lectures

Sir Walford Davies: Twelve Talks on Melody (1922)

Delia Derbyshire Day 2018 – online edition – Friday 23 November

Explore www.deliaderbyshireday.com for further information about the piece and how this work was inspired by the Delia Derbyshire Archive.

Image Credit: Andrea Pazos

Dreaming Waves - Exclusive binaural version prepared for Delia Derbyshire Day 2018 [online edition]

A gorgeous late 1960s all tube Bruel & Kjaer type 1024 Sine-Random Generator in action....  originally designed for acoustics analysis it is an eerie sounding beast to say the least!..

Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio.

Brüel & Kjaer type 1024: Sine-Random Generator in Action

A selection of test recordings that came out of an experimental sound design project initially called Thermionix.  The project resulted in a very significant amount of sample material which eventually formed the basis of what was to become The Blue Zone sound library for Kontakt.  
The project made use of a significant amount of vintage and experimental tube equipment and circuits - hence the original name...

All Compositions & Recordings Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio 2011.

Discrete Tube Synthesis

Thermionix: GM751 Sustained Phase Shimmers

With some intrepidation I decided to have a go firing up Novachord 346 for the first time in what turns out to be 8 years since I resurrected and partially restored this 1/4 ton behemoth!...

To my great relief, this now 87 year old quarter ton 163 tube beast came out of slumber with all 12 of her master oscillators in action and pretty much in the same order she was in last time I hooked this monster to the power!...

After some initial tests I made this recording consisting of one overdub of a plucked Attack setting over a slow sustained Attack setting whilst occasionally moving some of her triple L/C formant resonator controls, the Bright/Mellow control and the Vibrato Depth.  

The source is 100% Novachord and the recording was made directly from the line output of the pre-amplifier into basic delay and reverb but with no form of added modulation processing such as chorus/ensemble/flanger.  Any natural chorusing you hear is due to the Novachord's 6 free-running vibratos acting on pairs of her 12 master-oscillators.

It still truly astounds me that an all electronic instrument originally on the drawing board in the mid 1930s can sound like this.. and even moreso 85 years after she left the factory!!

We are so used to hearing muffled scratchy recordings from the 1930s – but that is not to say its what it sounded like on the day of the recording – the HF the NC produces is amazing for its era.

Composition & Recording Copyright D.A.Wilson, Hideaway Studio, 2020.

Alien beacon (Sci-Fi Sound Effect)

David J. Huggins