Neil Young

"The next button is for a master loop that switches any of the top devices in and out, except the tube reverb. The next one is for a real strange unit, a large very old Boss flanger in a blue cast metal box. He hits that only when he wants to get totally crazy. The next one controls an Alesis Microverb that's in a strange setting that's 100% reverb."

Lot #31 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A Sony DMR - 4000 Digital Master Recorder.

17 by 21 by 9 inches

This Guitar World interview says, "Across the top panel are switches for, variously, a Mu-Tron octave divider; an old, AC-powered MXR analog delay; a Boss Flanger in a “blue, cast-metal box”; and an Echoplex."

"A pair of Studer A800 Mark III master recorders known as 'The Twins' and previously used together in Neil Young's studio. Included are two remotes, one 16-track 2” head, two 24-track 2” heads, two tape reels, and two boxes of miscellaneous spare parts and manuals. They also come with a road case for the remote/cables and spare heads, and covers for each tape machine (covers and road case not shown in pictures).

These tape machines powered up last time they were turned on, but are untested and sold 'as is'."

Used to record A Letter Home, as featured in this May 13, 2014 YouTube video by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Jack White walks Jimmy through operating the 1947 Voice-O-Graph recording booth where Neil Young recorded his album, A Letter Home.

The unit is futher discussed by producer Jack White and recording engineer Joshua V. Smith in this October 2014 Sound on Sound interview.

“Some people get caught up in emulating albums or artists from the past, and trying to make what they are doing sound exactly the same. I have never done that. I have never tried to make something sound like a record from 1962,” says Jack White, and his music certainly is forward– as much as backward–looking. There is, arguably, one exception in his oeuvre, which is Neil Young’s recent album A Letter Home. Recorded at Third Man, A Letter Home is marked down as Young’s 34th ‘studio album’, but it barely deserves to be called this, because it was not recorded in a studio but in a Voice–O–Graph.

Also called the ‘Third Man Recording Booth’, the Voice–O–Graph looks very much like a telephone booth from the outside, and it was widely in use in the US from the 1940s to the 1960s. The coin–operated machine allowed people to record up to two minutes of extremely lo–fi audio, full of crackles, scratches and wow–and–flutter, onto a six–inch phonograph disc. White says that he’d been “looking for one for 15 years” and he finally managed to acquire a Voice–O–Graph a couple of years ago. “We spent a year and half restoring it and getting it in tiptop shape. It sounds really incredible now. People used it to send audio letters to each other. People in the army, in wars, sending messages home, it was pretty amazing."

The Third Man Recording Booth was officially opened on April 20th, 2013, and the Third Man web site states that it is “the only machine of its kind in the world that is both operational and open to the public”. Neil Young recorded 11 cover songs in it, and one spoken message to his deceased mother. Because the message and the music sound like they’re coming straight from the 1940s, they are strangely affecting and emotional — which, explains White, was exactly the point. “If, say, his message to his mother had been recorded on Pro Tools, it would have been like, ‘So what?’ There would have been no beauty in it. Recording Neil in the booth gave us a certain vibe. It’s what Neil would have sounded like in the 1940s, recording himself.”

The recordings, lo–fi and scratchy as they are, posed significant challenges for the engineers, as Joshua V Smith explains. “Kevin Carrico, a wizard from Detroit, and I worked on getting Jack’s Voice–O–Graph to function properly between February to August 2013. It’s still a work in progress, but as long as it’s working, we’re scared to touch it! Kevin and I thought of ourselves as ‘electro–mechanically’ engineering the Neil Young album. We had less than a week to modify the booth to Jack’s instructions for Neil’s album project. Some of the modifications included converting it from 45rpm to 33rpm to get more recording time, adding a Nixie tube countdown timer, installing fans in the ceiling, installing a camera and monitor inside of the booth so Neil could watch the disc–cutting process and knew when to start and stop, and installing controls on the back of the booth, so Kevin and I could remotely start and stop it without getting in the way.

“All the records we cut were made of polycarbonate. The original records were made of plastic or a cardboard composite sprayed with acetate or covered in some kind of plastic, and they had grooves cut into them with a steel needle. The grooves in our discs were embossed in them with a tungsten carbide needle. We tried cutting into the polycarbonate but all we got was noise, so embossing was the way to go. We also originally used steel needles and actual acetate master discs cut down to six–inch, but they were $10 per disc! The polycarbonate discs sounded better for our applications and were way cheaper.

“After the discs were cut, we transferred them to one–inch two–track with a 1953 Scully lathe at Third Man that was previously used by Cincinnati’s legendary King Records. We later found that the lathe had induced some noise into the transfer, but by the time we realised this, there was no time to do something about it. Because each disc could only hold 2:27 of audio, I had to do some splices on tape. The tricky part was having to varispeed the two takes before editing them so they were roughly in the same pitch. I did this with discs on which the pitch jumped dramatically in the middle of the take. I ended up having two varispeed boxes, and Richard Ealey at Blackbird Studios made me a switching unit to go between the two boxes. For something that was done with one mic in a phone booth, this project ended up being pretty complicated!”

Lots #8, #9 and #10 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

Lot 8

A rackmount Yamaha SPX90 reverb, serial number 45292, marked with tape "Aux. #1."

19 by 10 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot 9

A rackmount Yamaha SPX90 reverb, serial number 43141.

19 by 10 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot 10

A rackmount Yamaha SPX90 reverb, serial number 26232.

19 by 10 1/2 by 2 inches

Neil Young's use of the Korg SDD-3000 digital delay is documented in Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017, "Neil Young Online Auction." The item is listed in lot #18 of the second group (#3198), highlighting its dimensions as 19 by 2 by 10 inches.

Lot #25 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A Sony PCM-601ESD Digital Processor and remote. A sticker says "Analog is out."

17 by 12 1/2 by 3 inches

Lot #48 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A Tentel Tentelometer tape tension gauge, serial number B8278.

8 1/2 by 7 by 3 inches

Specified on the official Millennia artist page.

Neil Young, Redwood Digital (Origin, NSEQ, HV-3)

Specified on the official Millennia artist page.

Neil Young, Redwood Digital (Origin, NSEQ, HV-3)

Lot #3 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount Yamaha Graphic EQ.

19 by 11 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches

Lot #4 and #5 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

Lot 4

A rackmount TC Electronic 1128 Programmable Graphic Equalizer/Spectrum Analyzer, 28 band.

19 by 11 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot 5

A rackmount TC Electronic 1128 Programmable Graphic Equalizer/Spectrum Analyzer, 28 band, marked with tape "Frap 2."

19 by 11 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot #6 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount TC Electronic 1128X Programmable Graphic Equalizer/Spectrum Analyzer, 28 band.

19 by 11 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot #7 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount Aphex Studio Dominator marked with tape "Organ Left" and "Organ Right."

19 by 2 by 2 inches

Lot #11 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction". It was later listed on eBay.

Julien’s Auctions

A Motu Micro Express.

8 1/2 by 7 by 2 inches

eBay

NEIL YOUNG Personally Owned MOTU Micro Express Interface neil young collection.

Interface has been used, but remains in excellent working condition!!

This MOTU Micro Express comes directly from Neil Young’s personal collection.

It looks to have been rack mounted at one point and came from Neil Young’s collection of gear that he used while touring and also from Neil Young’s Redwood Studios ar Broken Arrow Ranch.

A lot of touring artists use these interfaces for demo recordings and also for recording tracks and overdubs for final studio albums, especially when on the road.

Easy USB interface for tuning accuracy and plug and play connections.

Handles all MIDI functions with ease.

Really nice piece of recording equipment from one of Rock ‘n’ Roll/Folk/Americanas most famous and gifted songwriters/musicians.

Comes with proof of authenticity, including all paperwork from original sale, which includes an image of the item. Item is photo matched and the proof that comes with this item is irrefutable. And Neil Young Collection auction hang tag.

Guaranteed 100% authentic, this is the real deal.

Don’t miss this chance to add a piece of Neil Young’s personally owned studio equipment to add to you studio or recording rig.

Would also make a great display item.

Please message me with any questions.

Shipped with insurance.

Lot #12 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount Digidesign 002.

19 by 12 by 3 1/2 inches

Lots #13, 14 and 15 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

An MIT Z-isolator high current power conditioner.

16 1/2 by 11 1/2 by 5 inches

Lots #16 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount Yamaha SPX-900 multi-effects processor.

Neil Young's ownership of a Roland SDE-3000 digital delay is documented in Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017, "Neil Young Online Auction," listed as Lot #17 in the second group (#3198).

Lots #20 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

An AMS RMX 16 digital reverb.

19 by 4 by 10 inches

Neil Young's ownership of the Digidesign 192 Digital I/O audio interface is documented in Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017, "Neil Young Online Auction," listed as Lot #23 in the second group (#3198).

Lot #29 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A Gretch-Ken Industries sound isolation booth featuring poly acoustic foam, wall to wall, with windows in both the booth and the door.

98 by 98 by 85 inches

Part of lot #32 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction". It was later resold on Reverb.com.

A rackmount Studio Technologies Central Controller, model 68, with a Control Console remote, model 69.

19 by 8 by 1 1/2, 7 by 5 1/2 by 2 inches

Part of lot #32 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction". It was later resold on Reverb.com.

A rackmount Studio Technologies Central Controller, model 68, with a Control Console remote, model 69.

19 by 8 by 1 1/2, 7 by 5 1/2 by 2 inches

Lot #33 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A rackmount Aphex 2 Studio Aural Exciter.

19 by 9 by 4 inches

Part of lot #38 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A group of 12 Direct In boxes.

Various sizes

Lot #44 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A MIT Z Series power conditioner.

17 by 11 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches

Lot #46 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A pair of Tektronix oscilloscopes, model 212, 2 channel, serial number B201406.

9 1/2 by 6 by 5 inches

Lot #49 in the second group (#3198) of Julien's Auctions' December 17, 2017 "Neil Young Online Auction".

A BK Precision 100mz frequency counter, model 1803C.

7 by 6 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches