Brian Bennett - Shadows Legend!

[drakula63]

Just found a facebook page dedicated to Mr Bennett.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/BrianBe ... owsLegend/


Also, on the page there's this great picture of Brian in his studio - I'm guessing one of his earlier ones - taken in, I would imagine, the mid 1970s. Never seen it before and perusal of it gives an insight into what he was using at the time. Looks like a Clavichord or Harpsichord behind him.

[Uncleboko]

And a Teac 3340 reel to reel tape recorder on the shelf behind him!

[jim w]

I have the original photo thanks to my wife it was pinned on a wall in the foyer at the London Palladium during their one off Sunday night concert in the early 80s I stopped some young boys from taking it then I asked my wife to take it for me. Brian signed it for me at one of the Shadowmania weekends

[Fenderman]

I've been a member of that page for a couple of years now.
There's loads of Facebook pages celebrating the Shadows and the individual members.
I'm also a member of a Fender Strat players page, the person that set it up is a massive Hank fan - anyone who insults Hank is immediately banned

[RayL]

And a Teac 3340 reel to reel tape recorder on the shelf behind him!

Along with the Teac, there are two Revox reel-to-reel tape recorders. Just visible on the left of the Teac and on a higher shelf is a valve G36 from the mid-1960s. On the right is the follow-up to the G36, the all-transistor A77, which appeared in 1967. Both could handle professional 10.5 inch spools and were available as 'high-speed' versions (15ips / 7.5ips). To get recording studio quality It seems likely that Brian would have had the high speed versions.

The Teac (which offered 4-track simultanious recording on quarter-inch tape) did not appear until 1972. Until then, Brian would have created multi-track stereo by bouncing between the two Revoxes. By the mid-seventies (my guess at the age of the picture) he was not using the G36, which is on a high shelf out of the way with no wiring. He would have been using the Teac for individual instruments and finally outputting a stereo mix to the A77 (both have cable connections going to them). The mixer (also possibly made by Teac) has master faders for four outputs. Brian would have needed to keep recording levels as high as possible since the 3340 did not have Dolby noise reduction.

To the left of the 3340 and on the same shelf is a sine-wave tone generator. Directly below it and to the left of the mixer is what appears to be a Teac cassette recorder.

Fascinating picture! It brings back a few memories because in the 1970s I also had a high-speed G36 and a high-speed A77 plus a couple of Alice mixers (made in Windsor by Ted Fletcher who had recorded for Joe Meek). Nobody really famous ever asked me to record them, but I recorded a lot of very interesting singers and musicians.

[cockroach]

Fascinating picture! It brings back a few memories because in the 1970s I also had a high-speed G36 and a high-speed A77 plus a couple of Alice mixers (made in Windsor by Ted Fletcher who had recorded for Joe Meek). Nobody really famous ever asked me to record them, but I recorded a lot of very interesting singers and musicians.

Yes! me too!

From around 1969/70, I was using two reel to reel recorders to make my own homemade multi track recordings- bouncing back and forth and playing lead, rhythm and bass and singing lead and harmony vocals etc...

I managed to find buy a cheap crude Japanese early drum machine as I didn't have real drums nor was I good enough to play them! Later on I found an old Hammond rhythm machine which was an extra for organ players-it had lots more beats, rhythms etc!

Ah! The joys of prehistoric pre-digital home studios!

[Uncle Fiesta]

... Ah! The joys of prehistoric pre-digital home studios!

Tell me about it! I started with an Akai 4000DS with 'sound-on-sound' bouncing back and forth between the two tracks. I used to try to cram too much on, so everything disappeared into a much of distortion and tape hiss. The results were so bad I couldn't possibly play them to anyone - but I still did.

Then I went to two tape decks so although it still sounded awful, it was at least awful in both ears instead of one. Then I got a Fostex 8-track (on tape) and eventually progressed to a 16-track digital.

When I listen to my earlier recordings, I wonder how the hell I managed.

[Uncleboko]

I remember in the 1980s having a problem with my Teac 3340, which a phone call to a very helpful tech told me that I needed to replace a special diode in one of the switching circuits, which could be bought from the UK agents for Teac. I visited the agents in Slough - Harman UK I think, who refused to sell me the diode, and would only replace the part if I went through an authorised dealer first.

Very annoyed, I asked to use their phone, When asked why, I said that I would call Teac head office to find out why I could not be supplied with said diode - within 5 minutes I was given the diode for no charge, which took me minutes to install in my machine!!