Plate Reverbs

[reasonable_guy]

Julian:

This seems like the best place to post this.

First I want to thank Recording .org for the banner, and the readers for the click thru's to my web page. I have seen a lot of interest in various forums for a plate reberberation system / kit. I have a company, Reasonable Alternatives that I resurected from ananimity to offer components for such systems. I have made over 100 full size plates in my time, and I am renewing my relationship with my vendors. I saw there is a guy calling himself plate boy and I'm trying to figure out who he might be. I know of 3 or 4 other people that made plates in the 80's like Steiner, Echoplate and Audience. I don't think he's any of them. Maybe he's a guy who made a few in his basement or something. Anyway, I think I can save your readers a lot of "experimentation". I did all that years ago, and know all of the pit falls. One of the items that I developed is a "response shaper" that tailors the drive signal so that you get a very pleasing reverb. It pretty much takes the "mud" out. So judgiging from the click on my banner ad, there seems to be some interest here. If anyone wants to contact me, they can email me at reasonable_guy@mindspring.com. They can view my site at http://www.reasonablealternatives.com. Remember it is still under construction and the pricing listed is subject to change. Thanks for the post.

 

[anonymous]

Good luck with it!

 

[MadMoose]

I know Randy Blevins makes new plates from Gene Lawsons specs. They're based on an EMT 140.

 

[reasonable_guy]

I'm not quite ready to start to distribute my components yet, however, I am willing to offer any readers of this forum a 10 percent discount if they post their interest on my web page. This will not obligate you to purchase anything! Just fill in the form, and when I am ready to distribute, I will send you an email at which time you can visit the site again and order. Just click on the link. [="http://www.reasonablealternatives.com/ten_percent_discount.htm"]Reasonable Altermatives Discount Page[/]
My way of paying RO back for the free banner!

Thanks again

 

[anonymous]

I would like to reserve this forum for real questions on gear or tips on new gear.
I will leave this up for a little longer, but then delete it. It just seems like an ad, and now you have a banner, you don't need it here.

 

[anonymous]

Originally posted by reasonable_guy:
Anyway, I think I can save your readers a lot of "experimentation". I did all that years ago, and know all of the pit falls. One of the items that I developed is a "response shaper" that tailors the drive signal so that you get a very pleasing reverb. It pretty much takes the "mud" out.


Well that's quite fascinating. I met one of the designers of the original EMT plate. He said the most difficult part of the plate was picking the actual piece of steel used in the plate. It seems that the metallurgy is the most difficult part of building a plate...he seemed to feel that if you don't have the right piece of sheet steel, no amount of tuning or tweezing would help the tone.

So...how do you go about choosing your steel? Is there a 'selection and rejection' process?

 

[reasonable_guy]

Fletcher:

That is true. The best sounding "artificial" reverb by far is produced by using a full sized (1meter x 2 meters in Germany or 3' X 6' in America) sheet of cold rolled steel that is stretched in a sturdy steel frame. Cold rolled, while producing the smoothest reverberation, is subject to manufacturing tolerances in excess of +/- 004 inches in plate thickness. Plus it is shipped covered with oil to prevent rusting. There is no real way to tell sheet by sheet if you have a good one until you clean it shear it to size and suspend it in a frame. At that point, tapping it with a screwdriver and listening closely will let you know if ypu're on the right track. The final test is to attach the driver and a pickup and listen to it with some discrete tracks. I like to use a gated snare drum and a vocal. If the sibilance on the vocal is smooth and the snare doesn't sound like it's been recorded in an oil drum, I know I have a piece of steel that will work. In my experience with cold rolled, it may take 10-20 sheets before you find one you like. (Reverb like anything else is subject to ones taste.) The other route is to use stainless steel. The highs while still present, are not quite as transparent and "shimmering" as cold rolled, however, the sound quality is relatively consistent from sheet to sheet. Stainless is manufactured to +/-.0005 inches tolerance in thickness. If you are making a plate reverb for "budget conscious" customers, stainless produces a generally good reverberation. You may get a bad piece, however, the chances are less likely. What I did for my first couple, is bring a couple of friends to the sheet metal distributor, have them hold up the sheet while I tapped it and listened to it. Because stainless doesn't have all the oil on it, you can get a relatively good idea of the quality.

 

[anonymous]

The thread lives...