A monolith? _"it's full of stars"_

I'm going to need a much bigger pedal board.

I actually built most of the Ecoplates 1, 2, and 3’s. I was production for Studio Technologies. The plate was a non magnetic stainless steel alloy. The pickups were Barcus-Berry piezoelectric hot dots, that were glued to the plate with rear view mirror adhesive. I built most all of those plates, for approximately 4 years, until digital reverb finally became more affordable. If you were to dust that plate for fingerprints, mine would be all over it. The Ecoplate 1 originally used Columbia Scientific accelerometers for the pickups, but they were very expensive. Jim Cunningham, who designed the plates, experimented with various replacement pickups until he found that the hot dots would work. The slogan for them was “The Brightest And The Best”

2:30 - "...a cathedral tiled in gold - a mile long." That is one well-turned phrase.

I worked in a studio in the early 80's that had a plate echo. It was the best thing going at the time. The fact that the studio had a plate echo and a Synclavier was definitely a major feature of this studio (this and twin syn locked 16 track MCI recorders) and drew lots of producers and artists. We had the Ecoplate in the basement and they had to come up with an isolation stand because the studios toilet facilities were also in the basement and if some slammed the bathroom door or walked down the wooden staircases to heavily it would vibrate the plate. Not much but enough that if you isolated the recorded tracks you could hear the vibrations. I haven't seen one of these in about 35 years. Digital reverbs with a "plate echo" setting are ok but there is nothing like the real thing that I have heard. Nice score. This is one of the great things about your channel. You dig up stuff that I have either heard about but have never seen or stuff I just never heard about but find it interesting.

In a former life I worked as a sound operator for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and I had access to a few plates. What a fantastic sound. Envy Envy Envy!! :D

That noise when she taps it is straight out of the Blade Runner scene flying over the city, love that music and this device!

Over 50 years ago when I was fourteen I created an echo record player. I am building another and plan to put it on youtube when it's done. Nothing at all like this.

What a fascinating bit of kit, I love the old mechanical effects since I first took the lid off a Fender header amp and discovered a real spring reverb line.

You have a great singing voice

OMG. I'm so used to seeing "plate" as an option on digital effects, I had no frickin idea how big they were. And, then in the manual: "space saver". How funny. What fun. Thank you Fran.

I always wondered how that haunting echo effect in 'Riders on the Storm' was done, thank you for showing it.

Fran is definitely one unique and special person. :-)

Cool toy! I didn't know about that device. Thanks for setting it up.

I discovered this as a kid our garage door was a one piece section of stamped steel it was fantastic! Always wondered what the studio ones looked like thanks 😃

I had the exact same model in my basement for years, it’s in Montreal now, such a nice, dense sound! 😻

You definitely need to do more videos like this one!

*[ Fran Blanche Plate Echo ASMR ]*

I had some friends with a studio, in 1981 or so, that made their own plate echo for their studio. I never examined it in detail, but they bought a normal steel plate, hung it in springs, mounted transducers etc.

Our recording studio at Syracuse U’s Newhouse School had a DIY plate reverb made using a with a large piece of sheet metal suspended from a rectangular frame made from 2” pipe. There were two transducers on one end that fed the sound into the plate and two transducers on the other end collecting the “wet” reverb signal. It certainly wasn’t the equivalent of a commercially-made plate reverb but it really sounded great, the idiosyncrasies gave the sound some character.

What is so great about old technology is that it had to understand, and manipulate, and utilize the physical characteristics of matter, real stuff in the real world, in order to achieve the desired result. Now everything is virtual. Something like reverb has been reduced to a mathematical equation, encoded and compiled into a string of zeros and ones that exist only in a cloud somewhere, accessible at the click of a mouse. I miss technology that we can see and touch.

I used "plate echo/reverb" effects for years when I had a little recording studio, but I never had any idea what an actual plate echo/reverb was. Extremely cool!

Wonderful sound! Back in the '90s I was asked to service a small plate reverb. I believe it was made by EMT and used a gold foil for the plate. The case was only about 3' x 3' x 14". The problem turned out to be bad pickup transducers. These were a piezoelectric and were over $100 each (there were 2). The bigger expense was going to be labor, because removing the old ones ran the risk of tearing the foil and ruining the entire unit. I was in touch with EMT and received a thick folder of documentation (service manual and how to remove and reinstall the transducers). In the end, the studio owner decided not to risk destroying the unit and still have to pay a substantial fee. The studio had a working EMT 140, so I did not get to tear apart the little gold one.

While it's called Ecoplate II I think it's really more of a plate reverb than an echo device. An echo device repeats a sound unchanged (for the most part) multiple times at a certain speed of repetition whereas a reverb gives the impression of being in a large room. A reverb gives the illusion of sound bouncing off walls and ceilings increasingly altering the sounds as the various waves move out from the source bouncing back and recombining with other waves bounce off of other walls. The sounds becomes more of a hum in a reverb instead instead of the staccato beat of an echo. The classic echo device was the Echoplex which used a tape/feedback loop. From my point of view echo vs reverb are not strictly interchangeable. Now a days all these effects are all done pretty well digitally. But those old plate reverbs have a certain charm. It was so great to see inside of one. Never knew how special the plate metal was. Thanks! Another much more common reverb is the spring reverb most commonly built into guitar amplifiers. They are very different sounding and have a somewhat springy sound to them. You hear them a lot on surf music songs like the ones by Dick Dale.

Thank you for showing this fine piece of sound equipment.

That is impressive! What a great effect! Thanks for hauling it out for us.

It's amazing how far effects have come. That thing is a "Boat Anchor!"

I worked at a radio station where there was on at the transmitter. This was in the 1970s. AM was still king. We must have had the original because the tubes needed to be replaced every so often. Ours was mounted out of the way hanging from the ceiling behind the racks of equipment. The goal was to drive it with program and then mix it back into the program air chain. This was to give the air signal a fuller sound. I don't know much about it. Echo Plate just worked the way they desired. Other Engineers described ways to develop a somewhat similar effect. One was to use a horn driver threaded into a long plastic hose. A microphone was mounded at the other end of the hose. This signal was mixed back into he audio air chain. The amount of delay was determined by the length of the hose. I suppose a good starting point would be 100 feet. Our station was a larger market. Smaller market stations who could not afford the EchoPlate still wanted the sound and would use the Driver, tube, and Microphone system.

I'd heard of plate reverb , but never seen one. Thanks so much for sharing and showing !

another day another thing I never knew existed and am now absolutely fascinated by. Thanks Fran!

Back in the 70s, I was working at a TV and music production studio. They had four of these units made by Siemens. Back then the ones they had were using tube amplifiers for processing the in and out of each. During the late 80s they invested in to solid state ones using microprocessor circuits. The pickups you are mentioning on the ones I worked on were magnetic as like used on a tape head. The amplifiers had to have proper EQ to make the sound flat.

WOW! never knew such a thing existed. Amusing to see it called the space saver! Fun fact, the drum echo on Paul Simon's The Boxer, was achieved by setting a drum kit up In front of the open door of a lift shaft, one false move 80 foot drop!

The coolest thing I’ve see in a long time…. Thank you for posting this! I’m now going to rethink all of the patches in my rack gear.

plate reverb is the best reverb although spring comes pretty close. some impulse responses would be neat

this is such an analogy for a room when viewed from above, which begs the question of transducer placement and pickup placement as well as plate shape.

TRUE STORY TIME: As a kid in the 70s with a Fender Reverb amp and guitar, it didn't take long to discover that a kick or bump to the amp would get those reverb coils and the house a rocking! It was with great joy I would demo this to my uncool friends who would instantly gain coolness, then followed by my Dad screaming from the bottom of the stairs to "Turn that BLEEP BLEEP thing down before I take a shotgun to it!". Aw shucks, Dad, you really do love me.....[not!] I learned all demonstrations should be held before the old grouch came home from work (typically marked by the front door slamming). Old Billy really hated those 3 rug rats he brought into this world, and that state of adoration introduced him to an early grave. And THAT friends, is why I never had children. Best to all, and thanks Fran! You're the best! THanks for THinking! Mr. Brown (a young 60)

Wow, that's fascinating! It has a very distinct sound to it. I love this kind of vintage stuff.

That's neat as heck , Thanks for showing us this Fran :)

I used to work a lot with drives that used the 14" drive platter you have on the wall. Fixing hard drives was a lot of fun. No Internet search for answers back then. Just a lot of hard work reverse engineering circuits till you understood them and figured out how to fix them. But of course everything was standard of the shelf IC's back then. Setting zero on the heads, maintaining the bad the sector map, analog power supplies that would send a high current arc to the chassis when they failed. Back when you could smell drives that fail. Good times!Your content is awesome Fran, thanks for sharing.

I used to have a HUGE plate echo from an old studio in md. Was a bit larger than 4x8 feet. Sounded very nice.

Hadn't a clue about this... truly brilliant! I love audio Fran :-)

I'm old enough to know about these but never thought I would see one in use! Wow, cool is not a strong enough concept.

Back in the 1970s I worked for an organization that had a similar device. It was originally intended for a very sophisticated sound system for an auditorium, but the organization's recording studio latched onto it and a smaller digital delay system was used for the sound system. I was told the expensive system used a golden plate because of the gold's natural damping properties and it could be smaller. I have no idea who built that one. The entire sound system was engineered by the fellow who developed the technique of tuning the sound system to the room it was used in. As I recall he was a Dr Charles Boner. He actually came onsite to tune the sound system. It was very interesting to see him work. Google his name for more information.

Brings to mind the vintage reverb boxes used in 1960s cars. As I recall they used long springs anchored in a box to generate a stereo effect in the pre-stereo era. Might be an interesting tear-down project.

The original was made by EMT in Germany in the late 50's. So that was the studio sound we all got used to.

Thanks for all the "Good Vibrations" Fran!

Wow, I saw 'plate echo' and knowing your penchant for classic electronics, I just assumed it was some sort of electron tube device. Like somehow getting reverb from the 'plate' (anode) of an old tube system. But lo and behold, actual, metal, plates! Very cool. :)

"Space Saver" = So retrofuturistic 😂 Thanks for the video, take care

Nice video, they have four of these in a special room at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.

The transducers appear mounted in accordance to the golden mean. (1:.618)

That is so cool. I didn't know they made an at home version. I am a big spring reverb fan myself. Accutronics "assembled by beautiful women in an air conditioned environment" I think is what the labels used to say. They don't say that anymore.

Ok. Now that's friggin' cool. You've outdone yourself just having the foresight to own such a thing. Bravo.

I know these things look large, but they sure did save a lot of real estate. Before these we had to lacquer up a room lol. Thanks very much for the tour of your plate!! Very cool!!

Riders on the Storm .... Riders on the Storm .... :)

"A cathedral, tiled in gold...a mile lonnnng." Effects poetry! Thanks, Fran!

Cool Bees! Great video! That reverb sounds frantastic!

Wow! I thought this kind of effect had always been done electronically.

I work in professional audio... These things have become a rare sight indeed. Excellent!

That's amazing. Thanks Fran, keep it going!!!

Wow, I’ve never seen one of those! My Uncle was in a band back in the mid 70’s, and he had all kinds of cool gear, like a tape echo, an early synth, and a Leslie cabinet that was almost as big as your echo plate. The fact that you know the history of the device as well as how it works, instead of just showing it off, is what makes this such a great channel. Thanks Fran!

This is awesome! :) Also the singing was awesome!

"Mom, Dad, I've decided to quit school and follow my lifelong dreams of playing pencil eraser."

Thanks Fran once again. Growing up listening to Phil Spector this little toy has blown me away. You love your toys....and so do i. Keep it coming.

I can’t believe you got an plate echo box. So awesome!!!!

Fran, you are way out there. So Frikkin cool. :)

Our three piece rock band recorded in 1971 and a plate echo was used. This is the first time I've seen one. THANKS Fran!

Founded 1978! The german company EMT had these patented from the late 50’s and for 20 years. Then for about 3 years, everyone and their brother, echoplex included, made plate reverbs, then digital reverbs happened and killed the market. I have owned a few original EMT 140s. This one looks about half the size, never seen one of these before. Sounds very nice, and quite different from an EMT! Riders from the storm, though, famously is a echo chamber;-)

Fascinating! Thanks for this!

You always have the most interesting stuff, Fran :)

Not gonna lie... Watched this on my phone while working. Was wondering which "pedal" this would be... Then you pointed out the "crate" behind you and I was like... "Oooohhhh". At least I know now! LOL Awesome video!

Back in the day recoding locations were chosen for their accoustics. Want reverb? Record in a big hall. Devices like this changed all that. Now you want a clean room, no echo, no odd reflections, and you add all that in post. This echo plate is now a preset in lots of reverb units and software.

We used to have two EMT plates. There was an effect for live sounding rock. One plate was set short decay and the input got extra bass. The other plate was set to a normal length of delay and the send was delayed 150 milliseconds before it went to the plate with a 400 HZ cut of maybe 4 db. So; The snare hits... and the 1st effect is like the stage monitors heard from behind. The second effect is the drum seeming to bounce off the walls of the arena. Arena rock! Boom!... followed by the more distant reflection.... Your unit had a big knob marked in seconds this effect could be made in two passes on two 4 tracks. Left right stage monitors and left right back wall.

Wow, that's really awesome! (some, some, some some ...)

When you knocked on the plate, it reminded me of V'Ger's sounds at the end of Star Trek I

Thanks for demoing this and showing it off. I saw plans and a description for this effect in the 80s and did not understand how it could work. But work it does!

This is awesome. Thanks Fran. A bit of history but also inspirational. So much left to explore.

Wow, I need this, didn't even know it existed. Thanks for this vlog

Brought to mind Todd Rundgren's "Sounds of the Studio" track. More please!

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this with us!

The word in Hollywood in the mid-80's was "its a skin material from rockets, pressurized, but was used for a couple other purposes". I worked for a studio equipment/camera/prop/rental furniture company, and we moved these E2's and E3's. The one at Cherokee Studios died, and they got an E3, didn't like it, got parts for the E2 twice..and fixed it. The E3, we moved to Sound Factory, and later (I swear it was the same one) got moved to Buzzy's, which makes sense since that joint was TINY. When we moved it, it was 4 guys, standing in one of our cube trucks, with the unit sitting on our feet, and two guys against the wall, and the other two with an arm out to the other wall....the boss wouldn't let us have it touch the floor, and we drove slowly on Fountain.

Just doing my part to help build your female viewership...! Great video too, Fran!!

That plus a vocoder would be interesting

Thank you Fran. I loved this.

hi, i have been watching a lot of synthesizer and drone / synthwave stuff and its so funny that youtube recommends this, i realize now that there is a niche for analog/electronic music hardware and I love this stuff because of the cultural links this technology has to our society. so I am very happy to find your video. I am so happy to see you happy doing what makes you happy. Wishing you much success and happiness.

I feel like everytime you sign off, you should always end it with this effect while shouting "IN THE FUTURE!"

Excellent score Fran. A major piece of music history. Not familiar with that brand, But I know EMT well.

Thanks for the demo!

That Was AWSOME Thank you Miss!

Sound sync --- *whack* :D I really dig the post-credit scenes of your videos, Fran ^^ Anyway, awesome rig, would have loved to see how it's hooked up and stuff ^^

What an amazing artefact of that era of music! Great video Fran thank you

Very Clever Fran thanks for putting it up.

Very amazing piece of tech. Thanks for showing this to us!

You should speak to Rick Beato im sure hed love to talk more about the ecoplate and possibly do an episode on it...

"Line level vs balanced" is a false dichotomy. Mic level, instrument level, and line level can be either balanced or unbalanced. Like she said, it is unbalanced because it was geared for prosumers. This is because they wouldn't have the equipment to utilize a balanced signal anyway, so they left out the additional components needed to send out such a signal.

Amazing! Thank you for this video.

This is wonderful! How cool! Thanks for the video!

It's reverb, actually.

Ah! Possibly my favourite Fran video yet! I've used one of these before, but never seen the inner workings. Thanks, that was fun!

Used one but a software version. I had imagined it was a bunch of square plates configured all around the inside. Thanks for showing this.

Thankyou Fran, superb video, love your channel!