Scully Acoustic Wax Lathe on "American Epic" TV Show

This is where record cutters raise questions about cutting, and trade wisdom and experiment results. We love Scully, Neumann, Presto, & Rek-O-Kut lathes and Wilcox-Gay Recordios (among others). We are excited by the various modern pro and semi-pro systems, too, in production and development. We use strange, extinct disc-based dictation machines. And other stuff, too.

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Deke Dickerson
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Location: Los Angeles
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Scully Acoustic Wax Lathe on "American Epic" TV Show

Post: # 47064Unread post Deke Dickerson
Thu Jun 08, 2017 12:11 am

I'm surprised and a little shocked that nobody here has mentioned the PBS recording lathe-meets-rockstars documentary "American Epic." Anybody here catch the episode last night?

Deke

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markrob
Posts: 1623
Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:14 am
Location: Philadelphia Area

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47066Unread post markrob
Thu Jun 08, 2017 9:34 am

Hi Deke,

Totally missed that! Thanks for the heads up.

Mark

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Ben
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Location: Montreal, Canada
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Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47068Unread post Ben
Thu Jun 08, 2017 12:01 pm

Wow, that looks super interesting .... I missed that too.

Thanks Deke

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emorritt
Posts: 517
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:03 pm
Location: Tennessee

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47069Unread post emorritt
Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:06 pm

Already have my copy on BR from the PBS store. :) The machine is a John Scully (not Larry, his son) unit designed specifically for acoustic recording. Don't know where they found this extremely rare machine.

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markrob
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Joined: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:14 am
Location: Philadelphia Area

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47070Unread post markrob
Thu Jun 08, 2017 1:32 pm

Hi,

You can watch the full episode with the live sessions online here:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/american-epic/video/american-epic-sessions/

Mark

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2bitcomputer
Posts: 68
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:53 am

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47075Unread post 2bitcomputer
Fri Jun 09, 2017 12:57 am

What an amazing machine,
Look ma, no motors...!!

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fredbissnette
Posts: 383
Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2016 5:38 pm

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47130Unread post fredbissnette
Fri Jun 16, 2017 10:24 pm

not available in my country of canada lol

fuck you internet i got pirate bay

asshats
Instagram @styluspressurerecords

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Matt
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Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47264Unread post Matt
Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:51 pm

I have been watching. I thought I heard him say it took him a decade to assemble everything. Such a beautiful machine.

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tragwag
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Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47276Unread post tragwag
Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:38 pm

LOVE it! This is incredible. haven't had a chance to watch it all yet, am I right to assume they're running at 33 RPM, using heated stylus and suction?
sounds really really amazingly great, and I'm guessing most of the artifacts come from the use of that microphone? (I don't know the type, maybe they'll explain later)
thanks so much for posting the link!!

EDIT: the suction system is a BELLOWS, how cool?
it's definitely 78 RPM, looks like heated stylus still though, sounds amazing.
D Spec head on there, I think? From the looks of the dampening. though I might be wrong, they usually only show the front view of the head, whereas I'm used to seeing aerial photos of the D spec for whatever reason.
making lathe cuts on a Presto 6N, HIFI stereo cuts on vinylrecorder
at Audio Geography Studios, Providence, RI USA
http://www.audiogeography.com

Babooino
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:24 pm

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47566Unread post Babooino
Tue Aug 15, 2017 10:06 pm

are they really cutting on wax?

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Matt
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Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2015 11:21 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: Did anybody here watch "American Epic?"

Post: # 47568Unread post Matt
Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:48 pm


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timinbovey
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2017 11:31 am

Re: Scully Acoustic Wax Lathe on "American Epic" TV Show

Post: # 47591Unread post timinbovey
Fri Aug 18, 2017 5:32 am

Deke --

Not only did I see it, but I immediately purchased the DVD set AND the set of CD's with 100 songs recorded back in the day on those machines that have been painstakingly restored from original shellac 78's. The sound is amazing.

But there were things that bugged me about the show, and I finally managed to contact the producers, and Nick himself (the man who built and runs the recording system in the show) and he took time to answer all my questions in great detail. I'm heading out the door for work so don't have time to post more, but I'll share the info later.

Color me very impressed with this show.

Tim in Bovey

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