Plate Echo - The Greatest Studio Effect Of All Time

Yea... I know the Hal Blaine story - and I'm sure he did that - but when the producer actually mixed the recording, I am sure they just pumped it through a plate with the vocals!

Fran Blanche

Awesome to see an old plate reverb. When I worked at a studio in the Midlands in the UK we had an Alesis Quadraverb (amongst many other effects rack items) that did the same thing. Although the nicest sounding rack item we were lucky enough to have was a Drawmer valve compressor, which really wouldn't fit in today with the loudness war. Anyway - on the Plate Verb you referenced the boxer - Hal Blaine once explained how they got the plate verb effect on the snare on Simon and Garfunkel's 'The Boxer' - they set the drum kit up in front of the lift shaft of the CBS building in NYC one quiet weekend and wedged the lift doors open into an empty lift shaft. From 'Studio Stories' - "There we were with all these mic cables, my drums, and a set of headphones," says Blaine. "When the chorus came around - the 'lie-la-lie' bit - I came down on my snare as hard as I could. In that hallway, right next to this open elevator shaft, it sounded exactly like a cannon shot! Which was just the kind of sound that we were after in the first place."

Mark Wayt

Wow! Thanks for that!

Fran Blanche

In a previous life, as a trainee engineer at the BBC, in 1971 I was working at Lime Grove Studios (the building had previously housed British Gaumont Pictures who made "The Cruel Sea"). There was a room in the basement with two plates of similar design, though with just one pick-up as they were only mono. They were much bigger, about 10 or 12 feet long and 5 feet high. One day I was sent down to this "dungeon" to replace one of the drivers. It took two of us to take the side off. The driver looked very much like yours. I can't remember whether these were commercial units or had been made in-house. Back in the day the BBC made a lot of stuff in-house. The drive amplifiers were Quad Series 2 valve units. Most of the time one plate was assigned to the TV Studio that made a kids show called Jackanory, where actors read stories with cartoon illustrations. The other was used by the Sound Studio, which was used to record backing tracks for "Top of the Pops". Back in the 70s nobody played live, and there were regulations about using the records to mime to, so bands would come in and record a backing track just for TOTP and mime to that. The sound guys would use tape delay as well as a plate. The Sound Studio also had a Mellotron and one of my jobs was to go in once a month and clean all it's heads! But that's another story. Keep it coming Fran. I love this old retro tech.

Sadiq Mohamed

That is an interesting piece of kit and thanks for explaining how it was used in songs. I hear the ambience and reverb very well but sometimes it sounds a bit like a cave.

MrMobodies

You don't see real plate verbs much these days. Nothing sounds quite like them. Some pedals come close but there's just something about a real plate that can't be duplicated.

Very cool - thank you for educating us. Love the wall of sound genre.

Woow! Beautiful! I'm lost for words. I knew when i signed up to be a Fran patreon that this is going to be a great ride. 😊

That was super interesting Fran! You've gotta LOVE stuff that just jumps out of left field like that....I'm really chuffed.

Bill Rule

Delightful!

Kendra Akin

Super! Thanks for hauling it around all these years! Thanks so much for sharing!

WOOOOHOOOH...oooH...oHoH...oh

Frantastic Fran, I love it.

That's really awesome! Both the plate and your singing. 😃

Jessica McIntosh

Now that was interesting!!! It also illustrates your need for storage. :-)

Howard Simons

"Let the plate reverberate." Words to live by, and listen to! Brought to mind Todd Rundgren's "Sounds of the Studio" intro track. More please!

BobC