Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings - Sony 36-CD box-set - November 11th 2016

This is the first I've heard of this Biograph pre release tape. It's really just a home made cassette?

 

Completely agreed. I think there is either some misremembering OR something else entirely going on that we have no idea about.

 

Well, he left out the true identity of the "phantom engineer", and whether it took a lot to make him laugh...

 

Some info on the Altec 1567 mixer, including 2 user reviews.



Operating instructions, description, etc.:
http://alteclansingunofficial.nlenet.net/proelectronics/rackmixers/1567a.zip

User Reviews:
http://en.audiofanzine.com/tube-preamp/altec-lansing/1567A/user_reviews/:

07/04/2010

The Altec Lansing 1567A is a vintage tube preamplifier. It's a five to one channel mixing amplifier. We've got it in the studio where I work, and most of the time it gets used to get a sort of vintage, garage band type of sound. It is a rackmountable piece of gear and will take up three spaces in a traditional style rack casing.

UTILIZATION

There isn't all that much to know about using the Altec Lansing 1567A, as it's generally pretty simple. Each of the five channels have their own leveling knobs, and then there is a master volume knob as well. There's also both treble and bass equalization knobs, and a knob for setting the VU range, which goes from 0 to +12. If you want to access the guts of the 1567A, it's pretty easy as the whole front panel can be tilted down. I doubt you'd be able to find a manual for the 1567A since it's so old.

SOUND QUALITY

The sound of the Altec Lansing 1567A is definitely a vintage sounding one! It's got a lot of grit and bottom end to it, making it great for recording a little drum sub mix or something similar to it. If you're looking for a clean tube preamp, this isn't going to be it, but if you're looking on the opposite ends of things and want something with a really warm and thick tube sound, the 1567A will be right up you're ally. It's definitely a little strange that it's a five to one channel mixer, but if you use it in the right situations, this can definitely work to your advantage...

OVERALL OPINION

I don't know that the Altec Lansing 1567A is for everyone, but when it works, there's no denying that it works. It isn't the type of thing that you'd want to use on an everyday basis, but for getting a vintage tube kind of sound, it's awesome. It's definitely most useful in a professional studio where you'd want to have every type of sound possible on hand, just in case a client is looking for it. I don't think you'll find too many of these around anymore since this is from the 1950's, but those who do have it around should definitely enjoy using it.

04/20/2010

This is a tube pre-amp, one of the best products of its era. The only way this could be hooked up to a modern DAW would be through the patch bay, as those are the only connections. There aren't any effects on this pre-amp, just a simply great tube sound. It is a rackable pre-amp but it works best as part of a console or in a similar position.

UTILIZATION

The impedance levels for this pre-amp are pretty high, so make sure you know how to solve this problem before you blow something up! Other than that, it's not a difficult pre-amp to use, it has your basic functions. It has an input gain knob, an output knob, and a 3 band EQ. It isn't really the most complex piece of equipment around. You will never find a manual for one of these machines, considering that the machines themselves are almost impossible to find nowadays.

SOUND QUALITY

This being an old pre-amp, it is really not transparent at all. I happen to think that this is a positive, rather than negative, trait. The color that this pre adds to vocals is pretty much unparalleled. It grew out of an era where there really wasn't any such thing as a transparent pre-amp. This is part of the reason that rock and roll records used to sound much better. That's really where the best use of these pre-amps comes from. You certainly wouldn't use these on a classical recording, or for foley recording. While the pre is limited in it's applications, there really aren't many better pre's for getting that warm, vintage vocal sound (Think Beatles, Buddy Holly, Elvis). Considering that I love this sound passionately, I am thrilled that the studio I work at owns one of these.

OVERALL OPINION

These are probably only worth getting if you are fanatical about vintage tones, like I am. I think that in general, most people wouldn't want something so expensive that is so limited in its application. I'm usually the same way, however, with a good vocal mic, you can't really top the sound that you can get with the combo. It's so warm and dynamic, and even when the instrument clips it still sounds OK. I think that most old-school engineers would find much to love here. Just be careful again with the impedance.​

 

Wow, some in-depth Altec 1567A discussion!

How the machine works seems to exactly describe what Alderson remembers.
Regarding the tape mix, he's said:
"I could only use what was being fed out into the house, I couldn’t mix the tapes separately."
"The tape feed would have been the tape outs of the mixers, again combined with an audio transformer. The 1567 has five main channels and a tape out which bypasses the volume and eq."

This site has a bunch of pictures of the back of the 1567A - there are no separate controls there, so the volume is only controlled by the knobs on the front:
http://c-nelson.com/1963-altec-1567a/

One user for the machine said, "There is a recorder output and a line output. I hooked it up to the recorder output, but the master volume and 2 Eq's don't do anything."
Which is how the machine was designed - the manufacturer info states that "the second [tape] output is provided for supplying signal to tape recorders and is unaffected by the master gain and tone controls."
http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/vintage_altec/1567A_amp_spec_sheet.pdf
http://www.greatplainsaudio.com/vintage_altec/1567A_amp_oper_inst_Part_1.pdf

The second document has a diagram showing the path from inputs to outputs - you can adjust the individual mic volumes going into the recorder output, but the bass/treble EQ and the master volume only go to the line output (the PA system).

So it looks pretty certain that, as Alderson said (and as subtr, Ray S, and My Echo agree), there was no separate mix for the Nagra - what you heard on the PA was what was going on tape. (The two 1567 signals could be balanced a bit differently on the Nagra vs in the PA, and of course the PA could receive some additional EQ'ing or 5-channel volume changes, but I think any difference would be minimal.)
Any notion of a separate "audience mic" being mixed in for the tape is an invention.

 

I think you summed it up very well. You wouldn't want the level being sent to the tape recorder to be higher when you were amplifying what was being sent out into the house. And you could adjust the two recording levels on the Nagra, if that was your desire. And who knew that back in 1973 when I had my first "stereo" that a treble and a bass knob qualified as having an "eq"?

 

That's great, thank you! That clarifies it then. He can control the overall balance between everything as the front of house is, but no EQ and no master volume of all the channels together. Makes a lot more sense.

 

Has anybody yet pointed out that the April 19 Melbourne audience recording of Desolation Row on CD 35 is incomplete? It's missing the, er, penultimate and antepenultimate verses ("Now at midnight.../Praise be...") but includes the last verse.

At 9:27, it's shorter than any other version listed as 'complete'. The join occurs at about 6:53, suggesting that a 30-minute tape had run out.

 

Of course, this is wonderful, vintage tube equipment, but given the lack of control over the overall mix - and the fact that it's a mono mix occurring in real time with the performance, it's simply miraculous that Alderson was able to come out with usable and for the most part good sounding recordings with this setup. Which underlines the overall importance of mic selection and placement, and also sound checking individuals levels prior to the performance.

I would be interested to know how much was done to each recording mastering-wise prior to this release. Any added compression, tone-balancing, etc. (I don't hear anything I would believe is artificial added ambience anywhere)? Frankly, a few of them could probably use a little touch of tone balancing, but I'm not complaining.

 

off subject but something that I have been wondering for years..........Yes I received your letter yesterday about the time the doorknob broke. ....Is it.. Dear Bob , How are you? I am fine but I have a broken doorknob ....or is it ... Hey here come the mailman, Dammit, the doorknob just broke ...? Your thoughts?

 

Option "B"

IMO, he got her letter about the time he lost his mind (and his ability to go out and interact with the world). In his altered state, he took all the mundane details about the boring people she wrote about, and blew them up into the 10 minute narrative filled with famous folks that we just heard. I always think of the ending of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".

 

Sound right to me. Thanks!!

 

Hmm. I always assumed the letter was about broken doorknobs, but now I agree. The narrator's doorknob is broken, preventing him from leaving Desolation Row.

 

I believe this is the source, yes.

Several songs that appeared here were edited for the Biograph release (Abandoned Love has a few seconds of studio chatter at the start, for example) and several songs ended up not being on Biograph at all.

 

It is remarkable the recordings are as good as they are. Recording live rock music was hardly state-of-the-art in 1966. (Columbia's engineers blew it in Sheffield!) Often in the first songs of the electric set you can hear some instrument levels being adjusted (like piano or organ). Of course Alderson had already done the Australian tour, so he had some shows under his belt and knew what the sound should be by the time he got to Europe. And I'm sure his background of touring with Belafonte and others also gave him the experience to be able to set up band mixes quickly.

 

What? Really? I never heard it that way. While the song does seem to be the people in the letter 'rearranged and given another name,' I figured the broken doorknob was just a trivial event in the letter-writer's life (and why "her?"), and Dylan's kind of lashing out at their mundane world - "was that some kind of joke?" "don't send me no more letters" - and saying they can't understand him unless they're on "desolation row" like he is. But that's a fairly literal reading - of course it could have your metaphorical meaning too (the "doorknob" being his mind, although then it doesn't sound like he's recovered since!). Still, "right now I can't read too good" could imply that he's in an 'altered state,' but to me it suggests that the world he's in is so crazy he can barely deal with it - the whole song implies that "how I was doing" is not very good at all. It depends whether you see the rest of the song as representing the phantoms of his mind, or kind of a cartoon version of the outside world going to hell. (There's a very menacing, end-of-the-world feeling in the song to me, although it's not openly apocalyptic, just hinting at it.) Or it could have other meanings besides...

Oh, and to stay on track, beautiful versions of Desolation Row on this tour. I couldn't even pick a favorite, but 10 minutes feels all too short when the song ends! I wonder how it would have sounded if he'd done an electric version with the Hawks....

 

I make no claim whatsoever that my interpretation is "right" or that I have any more insight into what Dylan intended than the next guy (at least the next guy who's heard the song a whole lot). There is no significance implied in my using "her" - I generally use "her" and "his" interchangeably because "their" used as a singular offends my senses. I absolutely agree that he is in dire straits - mentally, emotionally, hence questions about his status seeming to be jokes (although it's very doubtful that's what the writer intended).

 

I've always wondered about that line myself. I like that its meaning could go either way. Kinda like "I hate myself for lovin’ you, but I should get over that" in Dirge. (Does he mean "I really need to get over that" or "I inevitably will get over that"?)

 

I always thought he said "I'll soon get over that"....anyway, years ago I had a theory about the doorknob but I've long forgotten what it was!!! I was damn convinced I was right, though.

 

It's also not exactly clear whether the singer's hoping to get over (i) lovin' you, or (ii) hating himself for doing so...

 

My personal opinion - both "A" and "B". In fact, you'll be lucky if he even remembers you tomorrow morning. It's a bit of snarky bluff ("Most of the Time"'s attitude with an extra dose of bitterness). Reminds me of the end of Leonard Cohen's "Chelsea Hotel". I've just written this whole song about you, but "That's all - I don't think of you that often".

 

For me, the "I received your letter (...) some kind of joke?" line always was related to isolation, certain mental disorder and feeling obviously bad ("How do you think i'm doing? It's bleeding obvious! Is that question a joke?"). Of course, it's opened to almost endless interpretations.

 

No denying, though, that "the circus is in town" was a demonstration of Dylan's prescient knowledge of parking lots of the future.



But seriously folks - it's my impression that "Desolation Row" has a framing device, a la "Brownsville Girl" (the narrator standing in line for the movies framing the rest of the story, told in flashback(s)). Except in the case of "DR", Dylan left the front frame off, leaving only the end frame. This leaves the song open to wider interpretation (as if it needed that!), but my impression is the slightly deranged narrator is reading the letter he received right from "They're selling postcards of the hanging", rearranging faces, names, and events as he goes. By the time we pull back to the framing device near the end, he is already penning his response (starting with "I received your letter ...").

 

I'm still wondering which side of the door the broken doorknob was on.

 

Either way, the mail slot is clearly still functional. Or maybe the mail carrier slips the mail under the door.