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VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!
Where A.I. is a four-letter word.
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Mike Harrison
M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 2029
Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
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 Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:13 am Post subject: |
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| Deirdre wrote: | | I remember the... smell of cigarettes in the acoustic tiles and drapes. |
Add to that (during the late 1960s) the distinct aroma of hot vacuum tubes in consoles and tape machines, and of hundreds of carts and record album covers, all sealed inside the nearly-actually soundproof studios by the doors that made that familiar 'thump' when closing.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
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Mandy Nelson
MMD
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 2896
Location: Wicked Mainah
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| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| Mike Harrison wrote: | | f studios by the doors that made that familiar 'thump' when closing. |
Mine does that!! We had a door like that into the studio where Dan and I met. When he built this booth he took magnets out of old computers and they make the door "thump" when it closes which is such a satisfying sound.
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006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.
Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?
Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband |
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SoundsGreat-Elaine Singer
King's Row
Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 1055
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Oh all right - not vo or radio related - my first job was operating teletype and telex machines in an investment firm. Once added a 0 to a message - did wonders for everyone's blood pressure  .
My first computer a decade later was a Kaypro 4 when I ran an office services company in the early to mid 80s. I am still amazed at what I was able to produce on that computer with its 9 inch screen and two floppy drives (no hard drive).
Ah yes, those were the days
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Elaine
The Youthful Mature Voice (Emeritus)
Senectitude is not for the faint of heart. |
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Mike Harrison
M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 2029
Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
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| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| SoundsGreat-Elaine Singer wrote: | | my first job was operating teletype and telex machines in an investment firm. Once added a 0 to a message - did wonders for everyone's blood pressure |
Hilarious!
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
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Scott Pollak
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
Posts: 1903
Location: Looking out at the San Juan mountains
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| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:45 pm Post subject: |
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| SoundsGreat-Elaine Singer wrote: |
My first computer a decade later was a Kaypro 4 when I ran an office services company in the early to mid 80s. I am still amazed at what I was able to produce on that computer with its 9 inch screen and two floppy drives (no hard drive).
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Oh my gosh! I remember that name! And no doubt those two hard drives were 5 and 1/4" floppies (TRUE "floppies").
I remember when 3.5" "Floppies" came out and we thought they were so damn cool!
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.
www.voicebyscott.com |
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Mike Harrison
M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 2029
Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
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| Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Scott Pollak wrote: | | We also had a little Travler III if you remember those. Ran off a cued cassette tape that you had to use a special Tascam 133 to record onto. |
I'd completely forgotten about the Traveler III until you mentioned it. We began using it just shortly before I moved on. I remember that my boss didn't like it because of the need for a special recorder. He was fussy that way. And I think the company was an AMI member, but I wasn't, personally.
| cyclometh wrote: | | Dude! Always nice to meet another typesetter. That was my first job in high school and after. I drove a Compugraphic optomechanical typesetter for years. |
Back then, I'd only heard about the Compugraphic. But the term 'optomechanical' struck a nerve. I was amazed at how 'my' machine, Itek's Quadritek 1200, worked. The machine – which used cassette tape for the operating system and storage, and was pre-WYSIWYG – was about 3.5 feet wide. (more under photo)
Inside the little door on the right, was a device called a spider wheel, where four fonts (see one below) were loaded. The spider wheel spun (I forget at what speed) while the unit was running and the operator was keying. As it spun, a laser read the bar codes of the fonts, which corresponded to each character on the fonts.
A strobe, under the spider wheel, pointing up, would flash at the instant the called-for character was in position. The image of that character bounced off a tiny mirror over the spider wheel and reflected it across the entire width of the machine to the left-hand side, where another (servo-controlled) mirror bounced the image downward to expose it onto photo paper. The process would repeat until the line length was reached, the paper would advance based on the leading that was called for, and the next line would get set, one character at a time, although it was as fast as most good typists.
When the job was done (and you hoped you remembered to cancel any character attribute commands you initiated; otherwise, if you'd switched to bold but forgotten to turn it off, the rest of the job would be in boldface and you'd have to re-do it all), the end-job commands advanced the exposed paper into a cartridge, and you then pulled a drawstring, which dragged a spring-loaded X-acto blade to cut the paper. You'd bring the paper cartridge into the darkroom and feed the paper into the processor (which often jammed).
Here's a Quadritek font. Made of acrylic, about maybe 3/8" thick. Maximum (and minimum) of four online at a time. To change them, you pushed a key and waited for the spider wheel to stop spinning before the door would open and allow you to lift a font out and replace it. Type size ranged from (I think) 6 to 36 points, all done optically.
http://www.professionalreports.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Font.jpg
In the mid-late 80s I was one of 36 typesetters (split among three shifts) producing newspaper ads and coupons for Pathmark, one of the supermarket chains in the mid-Atlantic area. That system was far more advanced (can't remember the name at all), but I learned it very quickly. So quickly that, following the test I had to take to be hired, the Typesetting manager accused me of cheating because I finished long before the other applicants. There was no way to cheat; no one could see anyone else's screen clearly enough. I miss typesetting of days gone by. The Mac and good software make it so easy.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
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Diane Maggipinto
Spreading Snark Worldwide
Joined: 03 Mar 2006
Posts: 6679
Location: saul lay seetee youtee
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| Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 8:47 am Post subject: |
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is anybody still saying "all one word" when giving a web address? :O ha ha!
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!
www.d3voiceworks.com |
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Scott Pollak
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
Posts: 1903
Location: Looking out at the San Juan mountains
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| Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:22 am Post subject: |
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I dunno, Diane, but it DRIVES ME NUTS to hear any radio ad still saying the "www" prior to giving a url.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.
www.voicebyscott.com |
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Mandy Nelson
MMD
Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 2896
Location: Wicked Mainah
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| Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 9:25 am Post subject: |
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It drives me nuts to have to say it!!! And around here you hear it "doubleya doubleya doubleya."
_________________
006 member of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Mic. Bonded by sound.
Manfillappsoc: The Mandy and Philip mutual appreciation Society. Who's in your network?
Have you seen my mic closet? ~ me to my future husband |
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Bailey
4 Large
Joined: 04 Jun 2005
Posts: 4336
Location: Lake San Marcos... north of Connie, northwest of the Best.
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| Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:02 am Post subject: |
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... and then there's WWWA, 95.3 FM, Winslow Maine.
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"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo." |
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Scott Pollak
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 01 Jun 2010
Posts: 1903
Location: Looking out at the San Juan mountains
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| Posted: Fri Sep 27, 2013 10:25 am Post subject: |
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Bailey, the oldies station I worked at in New Orleans was WWIW (The "Way it Was" station).
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.
www.voicebyscott.com |
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Bruce
Boardmeister
Joined: 06 Jun 2005
Posts: 7924
Location: Portland, OR
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| Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 5:47 am Post subject: |
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Gosh, you folks are going to be a lot of fun in the nursing home!
OK, I'll play.
I remember when URLs first came out in radio ads they also had us say "Http://".
Side note: I had a client just this week try and insist on his URL ending with "dot com forward slash Halloween". Sheesh, I had to politely explain that 99% of America knows nothing about the "back" slash key and there's no need to differentiate.
Back in the mid 80's a writer I knew got a "deal" on a used Royal "dedicated word processor" computer and printer for $5,000, half its list price. That's all it did. Word processing on a green screen with floppy discs. That's $10,000 in today's dollars. Today you can buy the equivalent, used, for close to lunch money.
My first cell phone came in a leather carrying bag the size of a shoe box.
My first stereo system in my (folk's) car was a 4-track tape player from Mad Man Muntz. Yes 4, not 8, track. The cartridges were the same design as the carts we used in radio.
B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005
I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. . |
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Mike Harrison
M&M
Joined: 03 Nov 2007
Posts: 2029
Location: Equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia, along the NJ Shore
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| Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 6:49 am Post subject: |
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| Bruce wrote: | | I had to politely explain that 99% of America knows nothing about the "back" slash key and there's no need to differentiate. |
{sigh of relief} Thank you, Bruce. I wish more copywriters would go the extra mile to see if they can cut unnecessary stuff to wind up with more coherent commercials. But heaven forbid we wind up with an extra second or two of 'air' in the spot.
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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.
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Lee Gordon
A Zillion
Joined: 25 Jul 2008
Posts: 6844
Location: West Hartford, CT
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| Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 9:59 am Post subject: |
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| Bruce wrote: | I had to politely explain that 99% of America knows nothing about the "back" slash key and there's no need to differentiate.
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At least this client knew the difference. I hear way too many (i.e. any number greater than zero) commercials that give a web address that includes "back slash" when, in fact, a URL can only include a forward slash, or, as we like to call it, a slash.
And while we're on the subject of needless verbiage in commercials, can we please rid ourselves of "located at?" It is almost never necessary, but somehow, almost always appears.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice
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ricevoice
Cinquecento
Joined: 28 Dec 2007
Posts: 532
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| Posted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 10:30 am Post subject: |
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| Lee Gordon wrote: | | And while we're on the subject of needless verbiage in commercials, can we please rid ourselves of "located at?" |
Ah, but is it "CONVENIENTLY located at"? That's the crucial question!
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Chris Rice - Noisemaker
www.ricevoice.com |
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