Shaker Desk - A/B Path Vinyl Mastering Console

[fazer]

Congrats on 12 years of work.  Very impressive .    The wiring and stacked switches and 4 stereo paths for preview and program.  Daunting amount of work Paul.

 

[Gold]

Excited to see your use of din rail gear too... I never seen it before in diy audio and always wondered...why not?

I'm glad I found the terminal block connectors. Both the DIN rail style and the PCB mounted style. The original plan was to make everything a solder connection. 99% of the time when something breaks it's a connector or connection failure. The terminal blocks when used with ferrules make an excellent connection. It seems to me it would be an oxygen free connection like a crimp. Once the screws are tightened down they don't come loose. I'm not even using thread lock.

The patch bays were made before I discovered the terminal blocks and had enough experience with them to trust them. I made turret boards for solder connections. If I was to do them over I'd use DIN rail terminal blocks. The faceplates were the first ones I tried my hand at. They suck and are mostly unreadable. I'd like to redo that but it's a big job and some things will just have to be as they are.

 

[L´Andratté]

Thanks for posting!
Amazing desk!

Apart from the thought and work that has been put into this on engineering level
the sheer aesthetics of it catch the eye. I am of the opinion diy can look better than
only copying industrial commercial product look. This is proof of it. This is unique.

The question that had to be asked: why "shaker"-desk?

 

[Gold]

The question that had to be asked: why "shaker"-desk?

It has a double meaning. My business is called Salt Mastering so salt shaker is what comes to mind first for most. The other meaning refers  to a religious group called the Shakers. They were at their height in the late 19th century in Upstate New York and New England. They are most famous for their furniture. It has a modernist aesthetic. Form follows function. It's very austere with no adornment. The design objects of the Shakers are of the stature collected by museums. The Museum of Modern Art in NY has a lot of it.

I thought it was appropriate. My thought process and analysis in designing this was that there should be the necessary  number of controls. Not one more and not one less.

 

[Gold]

The wiring and stacked switches and 4 stereo paths for preview and program.

The Shallco  attenuators were made by Shallco.  I couldn’t have figured out an H pad with a 10K input impedance and 5K output impedance.  Thirty position 1.5dB per step.  They said it’s the only one they’ve ever made like that.

As it happens one of the bridged  T attenuators had an error.  Luckily I didn’t get to that attenuator until a year or so ago when I knew enough to be able to fix it. If I had gotten it early in the game I would have been stumped.

Hillary Johnson did the patch bay wiring. That was something I could draw out so I could farm it out.

 

[Studio Mollan]

Wow! This is amazing! Good luck completing it and thanks for posting!

 

[gato]

Beautiful!

I'm looking forward to hearing the work you do with it. I was listening to Some Say Leland's Brought Low, and I thought, man what a deep natural sheen this has, and then I checked the credits to see who mastered it. Fantastic.

 

[Gold]

Hoping you get new clients eager to cut direct from tape to lacquer.

If possible, I'd like to hear some A/B.

Glad to hear that it worked the way you intended it to work.

I already do a fair bit of tape to lacquer mastering. This should make it less harrowing than changing settings between songs.

What do you mean by "hearing A/B"?

I've been working on faceplates for the last couple of weeks. I should have some new pictures soon.

 

[Gold]

Good stuff.
I just want to hear and see more about it.  By A/B I don't mean the normal comparative type of thing but I'd like to hear some stuff you do with it, and am curious about how it might change your masters

so I would really like to hear audio or some descriptive summary after you've logged some more time on it.

So would I! I’ve had a few projects I thought I might be able to do with the new rig but I’ve chickened out.

I’ve been using the Transfer Path for a few years now so changing over isn’t entirely new.

 

[home_listening]

Very nice.

Your posts came up a bit when I was doing research on letter stamping - its nice to see the whole effect en masse.

 

[Gold]

Very nice.

Your posts came up a bit when I was doing research on letter stamping - its nice to see the whole effect en masse.

I don’t know if I posted this before but I got all the hand stamping equipment from  Columbia Marking Tools http://www.columbiamt.com/store/Handy-Andy-X.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkt_1r7fo6QIV3QiICR2VqwBtEAAYAiAAEgIuxfD_BwE

 

[Gold]

This is a cross post from another forum but I think it belongs here too.

Here are some shots of the faceplate fabrication process. I start with 1/4" thick 6061 aluminum sheet. I use this small track saw to cut to size.

Here are some shots of laying out the second DAOC faceplate.

Milling the meter cutout. The first shot is using a center punch to make sure the workpiece is parallel to the cutter. These are the Pico compressor faceplates.

Now laying out dots. This is a BPEQ faceplate.

Stamping the faceplates. I made tool holders for the stamp holders. I have three sized stamp sets. 1/8", 3/16" and 1/4". They are in the wooden cases on the bench. I have some different sized special characters as well. Everything was bought new from Columbia Marking Systems. I use a dead blow 5lb mallet to make the impressions with.

I use a wax paint crayon to infill the impressions.

Here is another tool holder I made for the 3/16" single number stamps.

Here is a stamp set. I have three of each letter and number

Here are the templates I had made for the dots.

Here are the tool holders I've made for the different stamps and stamp holders.

 

[Fuzz Face]

Thanks for sharing those pics!! I never thought of using the track saw to make panels but it’s a great idea.

How did you make the rectangular cutout? Jigsaw?

 

[Gold]

How did you make the rectangular cutout? Jigsaw?

On a Taig micro mill.  Sometimes I use a cutoff wheel and then clean it up with the mill.

I’ve never had much luck with a jig saw. The blades aren’t stiff enough to do a straight cut IME. The blades always twist on me.

I use the track saw for the long  dimension. I use a chop saw for the short dimension . It took a long time to find but I have a  small one with a 7” blade  and a 1HP motor. Most smaller saws have a half or 3/4 HP which isn’t enough for 1/4” aluminum.

I also have a 14” chop saw meant for a cut off wheel. I was able to find a 12” blade for aluminum that was good up to the 3500RPM  of the saw.

 

[Fuzz Face]

On a Taig micro mill.  Sometimes I use a cutoff wheel and then clean it up with the mill.

I’ve never had much luck with a jig saw. The blades aren’t stiff enough to do a straight cut IME. The blades always twist on me.

I use the track saw for the long  dimension. I use a chop saw for the short dimension . It took a long time to find but I have a  small one with a 7” blade  and a 1HP motor. Most smaller saws have a half or 3/4 HP which isn’t enough for 1/4” aluminum.

I also have a 14” chop saw meant for a cut off wheel. I was able to find a 12” blade for aluminum that was good up to the 3500RPM  of the saw.

That micro mill looks fun.. now I see you’ve shown that process in the pics

Thanks for the info 

 

[Gold]

That micro mill looks fun..

The Taig I have is manual. At one point I put it up for sale because it’s really too small for most things I want to do.  I’m glad no one bought it. With some brain power I figured out some work arounds. Like cleaning up the 19”  dimension of a faceplate after the track saw cut. I have to do it in three sections but I’m able to line it up reasonably well so the break points aren’t painfully obvious.

I don’t have room in my shop for a larger machine. So I’m  going to keep at this. It is a good solid feeling machine and you can pick it up and move it.

I think the machine is stiff and accurate enough to do engraving but too small to do a 19” panel in one pass. You  can’t  get to the whole panel on  anything  larger than 3RU. Even at 3RU you have to flip the panel upside down and do it in three passes.

I think it would be a good machine to learn engraving on. I like having a manual machine though.  I’d hate to have to fire up a computer to drill a hole which I do all the time. For 500 series faceplates it would be perfect for milling and engraving.

 

[scott2000]

The Pico is the single rack space unit in the top position on the bridge. The other one is on the other side of the console.

Those were the first things to get done. They have been done for years. Although they will get new faceplates.

I wanted a clean compressor and the Pico fit the bill. The way I built it is that it’s permanently in variable attack and release mode. The controls from left to right are Attack, Release, Ratio, Threshold.

This was planned out 12 years ago. There weren’t as many projects around. I’ve never regretted my choices. A THAT VCA compressor is what I would choose today.

Same with the DAOC. It’s a one trick pony but I need that trick.

Are you saying that in lieu of these things, given the advancements, you would opt for a THAT VCA compressor?  Can you elaborate a bit more on this?
...those are some beefy face plates...Am I seeing that right?

Sorry if I missed it but, what is that input/output amplifier if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Gold]

Are you saying that in lieu of these things, given the advancements, you would opt for a THAT VCA compressor?  Can you elaborate a bit more on this?
...those are some beefy face plates...Am I seeing that right?

Sorry if I missed it but, what is that input/output amplifier if you don't mind me asking?

I’m saying I still like the sound of THAT VCA’s and I would still use them. The Pico will probably be retired when Abbey  and I finish the multiband compressor he so generously offered to design. It uses THAT VCA’s.  I’ll still use the DAOC.

The Pico uses a THAT 1246 line receiver which feeds the detector and VCA without another active stage. The output is a  1646.

The faceplates are 1/4” aluminum. They have to be that thick to stand up to the hand stamps. 1/8” aluminum becomes a twisted mess .

 

[scott2000]

Thanks...I thought the thickness was in relation to that....  Have you experimented with infilling those at all? Like just covering with paint and wiping the surface??? Just curious.....

Yes I was curious about the separate gain stage box....I see you mentioned the Dingos looking back.....

Thanks!

 

[Gold]

Thanks...I thought the thickness was in relation to that....  Have you experimented with infilling those at all? Like just covering with paint and wiping the surface??? Just curious.....

I infill them with wax crayon paint. Since the hand stamps don't make impressions of even depth the infill isn't even or the same for different impressions. After I infill with wax crayon I let it dry overnight. Then I use alumibrite with a tiny bottle brush and a million cotton swabs to clean up the surface.