Comments for 3M M79 ALIVE

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Mikie G

Mikie G — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:11:28 +0000

14′ reels are use for live remote recordings. to set it back you need to take the top off and move the motors in by unscrewing 4 screws on each motor plate. be careful to note the orientation of the plates and the cables and as always make sure the machine is off. I have never done this mod but have taken motors off several times. The motors should be almost vertically aligned with the selonoids for the shield plates. If you need a new transport cover with holes to match the new settings I believe I have a spare for sale.
best regards
M G

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Matthew

Matthew — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:54:08 +0000

Does anyone know if a machine set up for 14″ reels can be modified to work with 10″ reels? Thanks!

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Mikie G

Mikie G — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:35:02 +0000

There has been a lot of “talk” but none delivered. Doug weeks if you can find him. Also check Matthew Allen in Nashville. He may be able to help. His link is @ 3M79.com

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Greg Walsh

Greg Walsh — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 03:51:33 +0000

Hey! Coolsite & blog.

It’s hard to find someone to entrust your beloved M79’s to. So I’ll put my two cents in so that others may get the help and parts they need.

I have 4 M79’s. two 24 tracks, one 8 track and one 2 track. Just as an FYI. I have had all four machines rebuilt from top to bottm by GRS (grssystems.com). They also have a lot of parts and they do individual rebuilds of cards and most other stuff. Great techs and service. Reasonal as well.

About the only thing that remains a problem for us 79′ers is locating replacement capstan belts! Anybody have a source???

Cheers!

Greg
AnalogStudio7

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Mikie G

Mikie G — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:06:37 +0000

Thanks Glenn. that is the most comprehensive history on 3M i have heard to date. Please feel free to drop in any time. Also check out 3m recorders group at Yahoo and 3m79.com where many of us dwell with our various technical challenges. Hoping someday Dale Manquen drops by for some history lessons as well. We love to romance over the the 3M and keep them alive.

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Glenn R. Phoenix

Glenn R. Phoenix — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:12:31 +0000

In response to Kevin K’s question about the unit he came across that pre-
dates the M79; that would be the M23 that was manufactured from around
1966thru about 1971. It was offered in 1/4″mono and stereo,1/2″4track
and 1″8track. It had a separate signal cage for each track that could also
be configured for the special”Dynatrack”version that used two tracks for
each signal channel to create one Super Wide Dynamic Range System. It
sounded great but suffered from channel reduction,which in the face of the
noise reduction system being introduced by Ray Dolby, was a fatal flaw.
There were only about 20or30 machines sold with the “Dyna-track cards
some of which pre-dated the M23 and came out of the St.Paul plant rather
than the Camarillo Ca. plant where I worked from 1966to1972.
I was the project engineer for the M79 along with Clive Ross who did
the signal card and capstan servo design,and John Bristow who did much
of the mechanical package dwg detail including offering up the infamous
“M79 Blue panels”. I was overall system jocky including pushing for 24trk
capability when local sls mngmt was a bit asleep at the wheel. I had been
in field service before Jack Mullin asked me to join the engineering team
and knew first hand from working with people like Wally Heider and Bruce Botnick that more tracks was more desirable and marketable,
especially if you believed in Dolbly”A”. There was supposed to be enough
space in the bottom of the machine below the signal cage to fit 24 Dolby
cat.22cards but this never got completed.
I see another post by Val Garay. For those who don’t know, Val is one
of the industries standout engineers who recorded much of Linda Ronstadt and James Taylors early hits. The M79 was also used by Jim
messina(jimmessina.com)to record Aerosmiths “walk this way”. Neil
Youngs early albums,Jackson Browne,Men at Work and the “Boston album by John Boylan(producer). Of course Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall,Victory and Thriller albums were(as noted elsewhere on this site)
recorded or mixed on the M79’s. The list goes on.
Much of Neil Diamond’s early hits were recorded on the M79’s predecessor the M56 16trk or previously mentioned M23 1″8trk which
was done by The team of Dale Manquen,Don kahn and of course
recording pioneer John(Jack)T.Mullen(1913-1999?). The M23 had a
pretty good acceptance in the film industry;Universal had quit a few
as I recall. Early on in my Westlake Audio days we placed a lot of M79s
around the world, often with our monitor systems and studio packages
including consoles from Auditronics,API and Harisson. We did a complete
studio for The Moody Blues in London(3M M79&API) and a multi-room
facility for Lagab in Mexico city(M79/Auditronics). I made my first trip
to Japan in 1974 to install several M79s. We opened our Nashville and
Montreux Switzerland offices around the same time. Although Tom Hidley championed the European marketing we were not successful at
selling very many 3Ms.By then Willy Studer had a pretty good hold on the market there. Nashville was a tough sell as well except for a few
machines at RCA which had bought some for L.A and New York as well.
MCI and Ampex were the staple in Nashville along with Scully. We did
Place some M79s down in Macon Georgia for the Alman Brothers studio
we did and at Bill Evan’s Studio-in the-Country in Bogalousa Louisiana
just outside of New Orleans. One Local sale that we did I have fond
memoris of at Ray Charles’ studio. Ray mentioned to me that he particularly liked the layout of the remote on the M79 as he could just
run his fingers down the track selector buttons and feel the ones selected(depressed)for record and sense the status of the machine by
the heat from the light bulbs in each button including the transport con-
trols. Less fond are my memories of service to Ike Turners studio
where he let it be known that no one left his studio without their equip-
ment working (or words to that effect). We had one of those Iso-Loop
tracking problems as I recall.
All in all it was a lucky day when I spotted the help wanted add that
3M had run in “The Valley Green Sheet”. I jumped at the thought of
working for the company that made my favorite possession; a Wolsensak tape recorder. I was only there for a few days when I found
out that the wolensaks were’nt made in Camarillo but in Chicago, my
birth city. But even though I’d spend the first years working on instru-
mentation tape recorders used for the security agencies and research
facilities, I soon met Jack Mullin and my opportunity to pursue my true
passion was presented. Thank you Jack,3m and Bing(Bing Crosby
Electronic Enterprises was purchased by 3M and became The Mincom
Division that I went to work at in 1966).
Well I see I’ve over stayed my welcome. I’m not in the recorder
service business any longer, but if any one has a question I’d be happy
to answer it if I can.
That’s 40!
Glenn Phoenix President, Westlake Audio

“Good Sound…It’s not Rocket Science…But it’s close!”

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by David L

David L — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:44:52 +0000

I’m thankful for the 3M site and blog, as resources are very scarce for these machines. I own a 3M M56-16 which needs restoration. Just keeping my fingers crossed that the heads still have life after relap. Also don’t like the fixed guides in the tape path and want to modify these to rolling guides. I was a little disppointed to hear that GRS systems is a marginal source for 3M support. As FYI I have spoken with Analog Domain in Arizona and they are not only very reponsive but also actually will work on 3M machines. To answer a previous question, no I do not believe the M56 and M79 cards will interchange. The M56 is completely discrete electronics and the M79 has ICs.

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by Eric Malmstrom

Eric Malmstrom — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:04:10 +0000

I have a 3m-m79 w/ audio kinetics locator,selectatake ,24/16 head stacks, spare logic card, spare belt. I sold my belove trident console ,now it’s a museum piece!
I put 200 hours on it 98-2000 , moved three times in hopes of setting it up again.never went commercial, wife says it’s got to go. powers up,
logic cards are broke,i think. too much moving. emalmstrom@msn.com
really? almost went for it.

Comment on Welcome to the 3M M79 ALIVE Blog by kevin k

kevin k — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:46:30 +0000

Hello everyone, I stumbeled across an old magnetic tape recorder. Its in a giant cabinet about the same size as the m79 but a totally different design. There is a plackard underneath the recording unit that says mincom div 3m model #23013A100 then 83-5920-0821 then 00033 on the next line. On the top of the cab there are four seperate units with levelers and recording parameter selections. There is also a board with 4 xlr inputs and two rca style stero outputs. I can’t find anything online that even distantly resembles this unit. It does say 3m professional recorder on it but there is no other information listed on this cabinet. Can anyone out there possibly identify this recording machine, it seems to be a little older than the m79. If anyone has any idea of what this is please email me kakoattacko@gmail.com I also have pictures that might help. Thank you.

Comment on “FOR SALE 2″ Analog Recorder”, Consider this: by Brian Kehew

Brian Kehew — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 08:55:22 +0000

I agree a tech is critical. I also think MOST Studers don’t sound as good as 3M or Ampex. They have some odd circuitry but with a great transport. There are early Studers that sound better, but they have punching issues, etc…

3M and Ampex sound the most amazing, but Studer is “reliable” (true) so easier for a commercial enterprise to use…