In Search of The Lost Chord

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Pictured, a Coles - actually an original STC - 4038 ribbon microphone [blog posts passim], designed by the BBC in 1953, and which has featured and still does feature in innumerable recording sessions and live music performance over the years and to this very day, over seventy years on. This particular example is a very low serial numbered version, so I would guess is at least as old as I am, which is not young [ahem!].  These things have a storied history, having been used in countless BBC radio broadcasts for both voice and music: in the old days, orchestral concerts were broadcast live from single examples of these microphones slung by wire over the orchestra pit at many venues throughout the UK and beyond. I still remember the one flying solo above the stage at Birmingham Town Hall back in the 1970s, probably out of use even then. These venerable devices are still prized amongst recording engineers across the industry today for their transparency and transient response and their capability to deal with pretty much any sort of input. A timeless design, they're about as simple a construction as you can imagine, which guarantees easy repairability and therefore longevity. If anything can record a chord - even the lost chord, should it be re-discovered - it's this chunky little beauty...

Comments

  1. Anonymous2 January 2026 at 12:31

    Nice theme to the titles over last two days but will it continue..........

    ReplyDelete

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