With a number of delectable consoles making it onto the Experts’ ever-growing list of favourites, here Luke talks about a rack-dwelling console channel to guarantee anyone a very retro Christmas: Chandler Limited’s TG Microphone Cassette.

Once Upon A Time

Although modern engineers with deep enough pockets can go out and buy anything they desire, things were very different back in the 1960s and 70’s, before the collision between studio gear with consumer electronics-like availability. This was a time of record labels who owned studios with their name over the door, making gear in-house that could not be bought over the counter by anyone calling themselves a recording engineer!

This led to different studios quite often developing their own distinctive sounds, melding unique gear pieces with the talents of particular engineers who had been trained under House Rules. One such address was London’s Abbey Road Studio, home to countless seismic recordings, with a gear inventory to match its legendary status as one of the mantels of modern recording.

What Is The TG Microphone Cassette?

At the end of the 1960’s, EMI had developed their TG12345 desk. The records made through this board certainly have a more vivid, finely-etched sound as compared to the softer valve flavours coming out of Abbey Road during the monochrome era, and the Chandler Limited TG Microphone Cassette is one of the closest things you can get to a single channel out of one of these consoles.

This transistor channel consists of mic pre into an externally-patchable opto compressor with a Limit knee setting designed to mimic another revered resident at the studio, Fairchild’s 660. From there the signal hits a three band Curve Bender EQ whose output knob serves as the fader for the whole strip.

Why Do I Want It?

If I were speccing out a studio from scratch (and I had a lot more budget to play with!) having a few of these would do very nicely, although at around £3300/$4100 in 2023 I don’t think I could justify more than just a modest handful of them!

Obviously there’s the sound, which I’m hoping would impart the same rich authoritative hue as its half a century presence on record. I’m sure I could lose many happy hours trying to cook those sounds as well as some of my own recipes for some full-on shameless retro revisionism…

Back in May 2023 I took Chandler Limited’s RS660 for a spin and loved its high quality build and simplicity which the TG Microphone Cassette will undoubtedly share. With subjective beauty as well, I even love its utilitarian lines that would look entirely at home on the bridge of a cold-war era nuclear submarine… Looks aside its mystical associations should make it pretty client-friendly as well.

Perhaps the TG Microphone Cassette has something even more important that transcends desirability. This box epitomises and supports the idea the gear should be simple enough to stay out of the way of the real star of the show: the music.

There are countless amazing tools out there offering razor sharp tranparency; this thing is totally at the other end of the scale in a place where what you put in enjoys an unashamed transformation that I just love. OK it might not be the cleanest but that’s the point, and if the Pristine Police have problem with that then hey, arrest me…