Plate Echo - The Greatest Studio Effect Of All Time!
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- Опубликовано: 22 апр 2019
- Get out your good headphones and prepare to experience the awesome sound of plate echo through this 1980 vintage Ecoplate II! Thanks for watching and enjoy!
Ecoplate II Manual: mpe.berklee.edu/documents/stu...
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A monolith? _"it's full of stars"_
2:30 - "...a cathedral tiled in gold - a mile long."
That is one well-turned phrase.
Please explainx, How is it turned? It seemed a pretty apt description of the sound to me.
@@jaredloveless well formed. Turned as in formed. I.e: On a lathe.
I was waiting for "NOW FALL THROUGH THE FLOOR"
I actually built most of the Ecoplates 1, 2, and 3’s. I was production for Studio Technologies. The plate was a non magnetic stainless steel alloy. The pickups were Barcus-Berry piezoelectric hot dots, that were glued to the plate with rear view mirror adhesive. I built most all of those plates, for approximately 4 years, until digital reverb finally became more affordable. If you were to dust that plate for fingerprints, mine would be all over it. The Ecoplate 1 originally used Columbia Scientific accelerometers for the pickups, but they were very expensive. Jim Cunningham, who designed the plates, experimented with various replacement pickups until he found that the hot dots would work. The slogan for them was “The Brightest And The Best”
That is impressive! What a great effect! Thanks for hauling it out for us.
Fran is definitely one unique and special person. :-)
Yes she is and has been around the music business a really long time if you know who she is.
maybe so, but she might want to get someone else to sing to demonstrate the echo, hahaha
@@davinderc - I think she has a great voice.
Really cringe to watch though.
@@davinderc She has a really nice voice.
I'm guessing improvised song just isn't for everybody!
I worked in a studio in the early 80's that had a plate echo. It was the best thing going at the time. The fact that the studio had a plate echo and a Synclavier was definitely a major feature of this studio (this and twin syn locked 16 track MCI recorders) and drew lots of producers and artists. We had the Ecoplate in the basement and they had to come up with an isolation stand because the studios toilet facilities were also in the basement and if some slammed the bathroom door or walked down the wooden staircases to heavily it would vibrate the plate. Not much but enough that if you isolated the recorded tracks you could hear the vibrations. I haven't seen one of these in about 35 years. Digital reverbs with a "plate echo" setting are ok but there is nothing like the real thing that I have heard. Nice score. This is one of the great things about your channel. You dig up stuff that I have either heard about but have never seen or stuff I just never heard about but find it interesting.
No, nothing compares to the real thing. That sounds awesome.
@@simontay4851 Agreed. No amount of DSP can produce that depth.
Apparently some places suspended them for that reason.
@@simontay4851 Ummm the real thing would be a canyon or cathedral -- plate echo is a cheap imitation.
@@MisterRlGHT
Yeah, let's record in a cathedral or canyon.
That noise when she taps it is straight out of the Blade Runner scene flying over the city, love that music and this device!
Thank you for showing this fine piece of sound equipment.
I'm going to need a much bigger pedal board.
I genuinely laughed out loud
and a bigger stronger roadie 😎
you win the comments today..
@@LukeBass1000 ^^^
You need to keep the plate isolated. I am building a special closet-sized shed for my plate to live in.
Cool toy! I didn't know about that device. Thanks for setting it up.
It's very famous in the audio engineering world.
It's definitely not a toy. There are thousands of plate "emulations" out there ever since the first DSP based reverb.
I’d love to see Fran on Beato’s show. Aside from being a fascinating conversation, it would help expose her to a wider audience.
@@sirchtheworld Excellent idea!
The coolest thing I’ve see in a long time…. Thank you for posting this! I’m now going to rethink all of the patches in my rack gear.
This is awesome. Thanks Fran. A bit of history but also inspirational. So much left to explore.
You definitely need to do more videos like this one!
What a fascinating bit of kit, I love the old mechanical effects since I first took the lid off a Fender header amp and discovered a real spring reverb line.
What is so great about old technology is that it had to understand, and manipulate, and utilize the physical characteristics of matter, real stuff in the real world, in order to achieve the desired result. Now everything is virtual. Something like reverb has been reduced to a mathematical equation, encoded and compiled into a string of zeros and ones that exist only in a cloud somewhere, accessible at the click of a mouse. I miss technology that we can see and touch.
That's hilarious. Understanding, and manipulating, and utilizing the physical characteristics of matter is what gives those 1's and 0's something to do. What, do you think electronics technology just magically and suddenly appeared out of nowhere and is made of nothing? Guess what: Electronics technology has come about (and continues to improve) thru the understanding and manipulation of the physical characteristics of matter. And guess what; you can actually see and touch electronics.
@@SomeDumUsrName You missed his point. Analog, physically percussive, volumetrically or massively resonant objects played without electronic augmentation or any kind. That's the instrumentation that he's referring to. Nothing hilarious about it. You seem to assume he's somehow missed the bigger picture.... he's obviously seen the whole picture, as he is contrasting one shrinking side of that picture against the more recently predominant side of it.
@@1SqueakyWheel lmao y'all are f'k'n' hilarious.
there is an unpredictability in analogue stuff that purely electronic users will never understand. the same way you can never fully predict the result of a hand-spliced tape loop - and therein lies the beauty of real world studio equipment.
I always wondered how that haunting echo effect in 'Riders on the Storm' was done, thank you for showing it.
In a former life I worked as a sound operator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and I had access to a few plates. What a fantastic sound. Envy Envy Envy!! :D
*[ Fran Blanche Plate Echo ASMR ]*
Oh yes, please !
If she talked about the magic of AM and shortwave radio in the delivery of asmr, i would fall asleep with my heart full and a smile every night. ahhh
another day another thing I never knew existed and am now absolutely fascinated by. Thanks Fran!
Thankyou Fran, superb video, love your channel!
Hadn't a clue about this... truly brilliant! I love audio Fran :-)
I'd heard of plate reverb , but never seen one. Thanks so much for sharing and showing !
@ No, this is absolutely reverb. The delay time is way too short to be echo.
I wonder if it's different with circular, elliptic, triangular, etc plates
@@YaDingus Yes, this is reverb. Echo was done with a tape loop.
You have a great singing voice
Wow, that's fascinating! It has a very distinct sound to it. I love this kind of vintage stuff.
That's neat as heck , Thanks for showing us this Fran :)
I used "plate echo/reverb" effects for years when I had a little recording studio, but I never had any idea what an actual plate echo/reverb was. Extremely cool!
Wow, I’ve never seen one of those!
My Uncle was in a band back in the mid 70’s, and he had all kinds of cool gear, like a tape echo, an early synth, and a Leslie cabinet that was almost as big as your echo plate.
The fact that you know the history of the device as well as how it works, instead of just showing it off, is what makes this such a great channel.
Thanks Fran!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Your singing at there end sounded so beautiful.
Thanks for all the "Good Vibrations" Fran!
This is awesome! :) Also the singing was awesome!
Sounding like Laurie Anderson ... which is a good thing !
That's amazing. Thanks Fran, keep it going!!!
Hi Fran, this is REALLY cool! Thanks for sharing.
plate reverb is the best reverb although spring comes pretty close. some impulse responses would be neat
You'll probably still find those DIY electronic circuit projects using a cheapo earpiece with a couple of silver wire coils soldered to a pickup at the other end. That was another effect one could get from an EMS Sythi A if you tapped it.
No not really
I'm old enough to know about these but never thought I would see one in use! Wow, cool is not a strong enough concept.
Very Clever Fran thanks for putting it up.
Never seen one of these up close - thanks! You have a good voice, Fran!
You always have the most interesting stuff, Fran :)
Agreed!
The original was made by EMT in Germany in the late 50's. So that was the studio sound we all got used to.
Thats right. Thats what Beatles Pink floyd and others at Abbey really used. An EMT Plate reverb. Dave Gilmour still owns and uses one of those, in his studio.
bruce swedien used the ekoplate on the thriller album
The Ecoplate was a knockoff of the EMT plate, when the patent rights ran out, Jim Cunningham created the Ecoplate for half the price of the EMT big plate. We eventually drove them out the big plate business. The only plate they continued to was the gold foil plate.
Thank you Fran. I loved this.
That Was AWSOME Thank you Miss!
The transducers appear mounted in accordance to the golden mean. (1:.618)
Steven Seim Do you think so? They look a bit close to the side. I guess they must be over an resonant anti-node to get good signal response but I imagine that, since different sounds (frequency distributions) will produce different resonance patterns in the plate, the placement during the design phase took some trial and error. Are there mathematical models to predict the shape of Chladi patterns given the initial conditions? Anyway. Thanks mate, that was an interesting observation.
Our three piece rock band recorded in 1971 and a plate echo was used. This is the first time I've seen one. THANKS Fran!
this was such a lovely and informative video!
Thanks for the demo!
Nice video, they have four of these in a special room at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.
I work in professional audio... These things have become a rare sight indeed. Excellent!
They've been disappearing since digital reverb arrived in the early 80s.
Bring it back
Amazing! Thank you for this video.
This is wonderful! How cool!
Thanks for the video!
Fran, you are way out there. So Frikkin cool. :)
Not gonna lie... Watched this on my phone while working. Was wondering which "pedal" this would be... Then you pointed out the "crate" behind you and I was like... "Oooohhhh". At least I know now! LOL
Awesome video!
Back on track with an amazingly educational video. Thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this with us!
Wow! I thought this kind of effect had always been done electronically.
The real thing will ALWAYS sound better. Computer emulation can never match this.
Dave likes music, who knew? xD
You could buy a "reverb" for your stereo back in the day. It was a metal box roughly 3 x 4 x 18 inches with a couple of lengthwise slightly stretched springs inside. The input drove one end of the springs and a pickup at the other end. The mechanical behavior of the springs caused the echo effect similar to the plate echo device. It was fun to shake the thing and then you got all this raucous noise of the springs thrashing about.
Can't be done with analog electronics
@@RijuChatterjee When I was with a company manufacturing some pretty sophisticated electronic instruments, we needed something novel and our smartest electronics engineer (a very, very smart guy) said it "can't be done". The CEO brought talked to this engineer and said "Maybe it just can't be done by you." So the CEO brought in a consultant he had experience with to further bruise that engineer's ego.. And it COULD be done. Our smart electronics engineer learned a valuable lesson that day.
I know these things look large, but they sure did save a lot of real estate. Before these we had to lacquer up a room lol. Thanks very much for the tour of your plate!! Very cool!!
Todays digital reverb take up even less room.
@@duaneantor9157 Ya, a lil bit! Modern software verbs are almost imaginary lol Cheers!
@@glenesis OK you got me there. I totally forgot about Plug-Ins for digital consoles.
@@duaneantor9157 Plugs make a 480L look totally massive by comparison
I discovered this as a kid our garage door was a one piece section of stamped steel it was fantastic! Always wondered what the studio ones looked like thanks 😃
This is the reason I've subscribed to this channel! Absolutely best and unique content!
Wow, that's really awesome! (some, some, some some ...)
hahahahaha, nice one !
Wow, I need this, didn't even know it existed. Thanks for this vlog
Hi Piper! Nice to see you here! Fran has some pretty amazing trinkets, doesn't she?
Totally @@mikecowen6507
Piper follows Fran. How awesome for them both!
nowadays i can use my laptop and get superior sound and manage everything, just digitally. its truly amazing. i can create just about any sound and manipulate it an infinite number of ways just about. can make every genre of music or movie sounds
Unfortunately too much "music" is made on nothing more than a computer nowadays.
brilliant. knew a lot about music of the 70s and recording desks but was totally unaware about this device . So thanks so much for this vlog.
Go Fran! Love your videos, always learn something new.
"Mom, Dad, I've decided to quit school and follow my lifelong dreams of playing pencil eraser."
Eddie Haskell Actually I think a young person could stay in school and do this sort of thing - it's called Sound Sculpture and is a branch of modern composition when studying music. Is it a good way to spend your years (and money) at university? Well...
Lov3 that thought!
Riders on the Storm .... Riders on the Storm .... :)
Definitely one of the coolest videos I’ve seen on YT.
It sounds beautiful.
Awesome video Fran! Really enjoyed all the info. Just subbed!
Excellent score Fran. A major piece of music history. Not familiar with that brand, But I know EMT well.
What an amazing artefact of that era of music! Great video Fran thank you
Thanks, Fran! I never knew such a device like that existed! Really cool!
Over 50 years ago when I was fourteen I created an echo record player. I am building another and plan to put it on youtube when it's done.
Nothing at all like this.
Sound sync --- *whack* :D
I really dig the post-credit scenes of your videos, Fran ^^
Anyway, awesome rig, would have loved to see how it's hooked up and stuff ^^
When you knocked on the plate, it reminded me of V'Ger's sounds at the end of Star Trek I
Also Vangelis used that noise in Blade Runner soundtrack
that was COOL Fran ...THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for demoing this and showing it off. I saw plans and a description for this effect in the 80s and did not understand how it could work. But work it does!
Brought to mind Todd Rundgren's "Sounds of the Studio" track. More please!
5 of us so far know this track!
ISS is the OUND of AD editing
Just doing my part to help build your female viewership...! Great video too, Fran!!
So very cool! Always wondered what a real plate reverb looked like. Thanks Fran!!
Fantastic vid, thanks for sharing 😀
Ah! Possibly my favourite Fran video yet! I've used one of these before, but never seen the inner workings. Thanks, that was fun!
That plus a vocoder would be interesting
thanks Fran, very nice bit of hardware, so close to 100k now, keep up the good work :)
Fascinating! Thanks for this!
I feel like everytime you sign off, you should always end it with this effect while shouting "IN THE FUTURE!"
You should speak to Rick Beato im sure hed love to talk more about the ecoplate and possibly do an episode on it...
This dude LeoMakes ...uh, made one. He used ikea shelving :]
/watch?v=CZWAntOnrx4
/watch?v=5OcRMA2FNUE&t=1s
Doesn't sound as good as this one. But it's far more practical/obtainable!
Beato already has a full sized one...of course.
Good to see you having fun again.
Wow Fran. Thanks for showing us this. Too amazingly cool.
That was totally awsome, when you starting the solo singer channel using the plate echo?
Is it possible to reproduce these sounds with modern electronics on a budget, would be an awsome multi episode vid set?
Thanks for sharing.
On a budget? It's there a storm drain within a few hundred feet of your gear? Run power and line to a $5 speaker. Take line from an old tape deck listening to a few electret condensers in the pipes.
You should be teaching at MIT or Harvard.
Or both!
......i mean that's flattering and cute but I'd rather a more realistic and sense nautical response
Thoroughly enjoyed this video! Good job.
Amazing! I love you Fran! I did not even know about that thing. That was a good video.
Fran ASMR Channel Coming Soon? Think of the different sounds you can make with that, magic in a BIG box. What else are you hiding that you have?
I thought about the same thing! :) Still laugh with Fran's video about ASMR
@@Vbeletronico Yeah, and being she knows a lot about audio, she can create some of the most clear and unique sounds out there, better than most ASMR videos/channels.
It's reverb, actually.
You are just the sweetest person Fran ! Love your videos !!
Amazing!!
Just got turned onto you, Fran. Really nice work.
"Line level vs balanced" is a false dichotomy.
Mic level, instrument level, and line level can be either balanced or unbalanced.
Like she said, it is unbalanced because it was geared for prosumers. This is because they wouldn't have the equipment to utilize a balanced signal anyway, so they left out the additional components needed to send out such a signal.
Michael Miller I posted a comment similar to gantmj's explaining the same thing. Can you please elaborate your point? Because I think you have no clue about what you are talking about. I'll copy and paste my comment down here so you can read it if you want to.
"At 5:20 you say "it is line level rather than balanced". Which is nonsense, because a line level signal can be both balanced or unbalanced. Signal level refers to voltage across two terminals(input/output). Balanced or unbalanced are transmission methods for said voltage. Both of which depend on the number of conductors in each cable and the input and output stages of the devices the cables connect. In a balanced setup you would tipically have two conductors carrying a differential signal, opposed to a single-ended one in unbalanced.
Hope this clears thing up.
:)"
"Balanced" in opposition to "Line level"? That sound wrong, Fran. Did you mean the output is designed to be microphone level instead of line level? I'm pretty sure if a line is balanced or not doesn't have anything to do with levels, or am I missing something?
@Osama Number5 absolutely correct. But does that make a balanced cable a microphone-level-only-cable?
Actually line signals are best transmitted using balanced cables as well due to the fact that unbalanced cables are more susceptible to picking up noise than balanced ones, no matter what signal you put through.
I see a logical problem when stating unbalanced in opposition of line signal. Like stating glass bottles are better than apple-juice containers :P
I though there might have been a change of meaning, maybe these terms were traditionally used a bit differently
mic level is to line level, as balanced is to unbalanced, pro line level is different than consumer line level, mic level is always -60db, wolfcrow.com/what-is-the-difference-between-line-level-and-mic-level/
Cool Bees! Great video! That reverb sounds frantastic!
Sound are fantastic! Thank for that demo Fran :)
As great as it sounds and it does sound great, my instinct would be to sell it to a pro-studio because I don't think you'll get the use out of it. It is the type of thing people will only get to see on a channel like yours though. Its a substantial bit of audio engineering history. :-)
Robert Payne These are obsolete. Notice her song list ends in the 80s. In the 80s, digital reverb units were invented, and over the next 30 years they grew in power while shrinking in size and cost. Today they are inexpensive (sometimes free) software.
@@TetzFiles Even in the 60's, spring reverbs were becoming more commonplace. Studios used plate reverbs for their bigger sound, typically on final mixes. By the mid 80's most studios were using spring, and by the mid-late 90's plugins had become the defacto in digital studios. That said, even plugins were made that simulated the plate and spring reverbs, even today. But even today, most musicians would prefer a quality spring reverb over digital, even though digital has come a long way in simulating reverb (and many other effects).
@@ctyragdoll I can't think of a single recording in the 60s that used a spring reverb on the mix. Show me a single one! They all used plates or echo chambers.
How long before this video gets demonetized by RUclips's over-zealous copyright content ID? Apparently the music labels are getting really tough creators and there are many, many reports of videos being claimed just because someone hummed a few bars of a well-known tune. Crazy!
Cool! I love learning about new old things.
Best Fran Lab video EVER!!!