More photos from Graham Thirkell’s albums.
This set concentrates on Magnetic Drum Recording/Playback Devices from the Rola and Plessey/Rola period.
Rola AVAE Exchange Interceptor 24 lines Front View
AVAE Rear View
Auto Announcer
Auto Announcer – Front View – cover removed
Auto Announcer – Rear View
At one point in his long & illustrious career, Graham Thirkell was at Rola. These photos are from Graham’s personal collection, courtesy of Katherine Thirkell who passed them to the AES Melb Section for safe-keeping. They have been scanned (at 300dpi) and form part of the Graham Thirkell tribute on aesmelbourne.org.au.
Comments and contributions are welcome.
If you know anyone who worked with Graham or at Rola at that time, and who can contribute captions (and context) to these photos please put them in touch with us.
Rola head office in Richmond
– recollections from Graham’s colleague at the time Ian Jackson:
“The head office in the Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, just south of Bridge Road (Mel 2H H8). It contained the office of Rola’s owner (Mr Webb), personnel, the office, the canteen, assembly floor for loudspeakers, transformers and TV yokes, a large home-designed machine to produce loudspeaker cones, the anechoic chamber for testing speakers, the small area where Graham, I and Alan Rowlands designed the products, and the assembly and test area for all the magnetic recording products, and an encapsulation facility.”
Source – Ian Jackson email 25 July 2014
Rola manufacturing plant.
Again from Ian Jackson:
“… located in Browns Road, Harrisfield (Mel 80 G10). It contained the manufacturing plant for magnet winding wires, and I believe plant for manufacturing magnetic tape. Apparently the latter was not a successful exercise.
At the back there can be seen the sawtooth roof of a building. This used to contain the areas that manufactured ceramic permanent magnets (we used them in our speakers, and I understood that at that time they manufactured 90% of such magnets that were used in Australia. I believe that Plessey sold it off as it did not fit into their business model.) It was also where we manufactured all our sheet metal parts, including speaker frames.”
The 66 Mark II – a basic recorder. Though it had 3 heads, the one set of electronics was switched from replay to record – making it impossible to “confidence-monitor” during recording. At 45 pounds (20kgs) it is called transportable.
The 33B – I don’t know it but it looks to be an early replay-only unit with 10.5″ reels.
The 77 Mark III – it replaced the 77 Mark II as the radio station workhorse. Still called “transportable” – but it weighed 55 pounds (25kgs).
The Rola 777 (“Three Sevens”) – a console recorder.
777 deck
777 electronics
This photo show interior view and demonstrates maintenance access
777 again.
Melbourne City Council – Proceedings Recording System – Chambers Recording Console.
Note stereo Byer 77MKII recorders.
High Speed dubbing equipment.
77MKIII in test.
The Rola Auto-Q. From memory this was a 25Hz pulse encoder/decoder to permit auto-cueing multiple tracks on a tape sequentially.
The caption describes as “Auto-Station Equipment” rudimentary radio station automation perhaps??
Here’s a Rola brochure (PDF) describing a case study of a radio station using this for programme automation.
Courtesy: Ian Jackson
These three photos are from a trade display somewhere. IREE Convention perhaps?? The Plessey name is prominent. It had become Plessey/Rola.
This is an apparently earlier trade display booth (pre-Plessey). Caption says “Menzies Sydney – AFCB Convention Oct 1964” I think it was the FACB Convention (Federation of Commercial Broadcasters). The 777 and the 77MKIII are prominent.
High Speed Duplicator manufactured for ABC Melbourne.
Rola P12 12″ Transcription Turntable. 4-speed. Whatever happened to 16 2/3rpm?
Tape head and internal components. For 77 Mark III?
MarkIII Capstan Motor
MarkIII Capstan Motor – disassembled view.
Time announce equipment.
The second page at http://www.aesmelbourne.org.au/thirkell2/ concentrates on the magnetic drum equipment (auto-announcer, variable message repeater etc).
Members and guests of the AES Melbourne Section connected via Zoom to hear Ross Cockle recount his days at the Bill Armstrong and Armstrong AAV Studios in the seventies and eighties.
Following an introduction by Section Chair, Graeme Huon, Ross started by recounting how he had started at Armstrong Studios in Albert Road, South Melbourne in 1973 as part of the workforce needed for the transition to the new Armstrongs Studios in Bank Street.
This was just after they had taken delivery of the first Australian-built Optro 16-Track recorder. Ross joined as Armstrongs was bolstering staff numbers to handle the move into the “old butter factory” premises that Bill Armstrong had just purchased in Bank Street. He told of how he started as a “gofer” fetching cigarettes and “recording fluid” (alcohol) for the producers and engineers – not an issue at all in those days, despite being only 15-16 years old. We then got a rundown of the microphones being used at that time, lots of EV RE20s, Neumann U67s and some FET U47s, as well as a classic valve U47 that was kept for special sessions. He went on to tell us how he graduated to dubbing duties, where he had to make multiple copies of radio commercials for distribution to stations, and how recording radio commercials and jingles was the money-making enterprise that subsidised the music recording operation, and how jingles were being recorded during the day, and bands being recorded at night at a lower studio rate. He described the Ampex 351 and Rola 77 tape recorders used for dubbing.
Continue reading “Meeting Report: 10th February 2025 – Ross Cockle – The Armstrong Studio & AAV Years”The First Regional Convention with the theme “Digital Audio in the Eighties” was held in September 1984
In the 1970’s and 1980’s the primary Convention for Radio, Television, and Recording technology, as well as the general Electronics Design and Manufacturing industries, was the biennial IREECON mounted by the Institution of Radio and Electronics Engineers (IREE). On the IREECON exhibition floor audio manufacturers and distributions displayed their products alongside radio transmitters, wave soldering machines, and industrial electronic devices. In the papers presentations, the audio-related papers shared the schedule with all the other electronic engineering disciplines.
The AES Melbourne Section made the brave decision to mount an AES Regional Convention to meet a perceived need for a local audio-specific event. With the permission of the AES New York headquarters, and working to their specific guidelines the first Melbourne AES Regional Convention became a reality in 1984. This was the first AES Convention held outside of the United States and Europe.
It was held in September 1984 at the Melbourne Hilton Hotel. Over 700 attendees were able to walk the exhibition floor where 34 local and international companies showed their audio industry-specific products, as well as attend 22 paper presentations across 7 streams, and participate in 3 workshops.
The full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1984ProgramBrochure.pdf
The 1984 Convention Committee and staff prepare for registrations to open
With pre-registrations on the Monday (24th September 1984), the Convention started in earnest on at 10am on Tuesday with a brief official opening, where Convention Committee Chair Brian Horman (Klarion Enterprises) and Section Chair Graham Haynes welcomed the delegates.
Section Chair Graham Haynes and Convention Chair Brian Horman welcome the delegates
The AES President (and founder of KEF Electronics) Raymond E Cooke attended the Convention and was welcomed at a banquet on the first night by Convention Committee Chair, Brian Horman. In his remarks at the banquet, Cooke said “During the last two decades, Australasian engineers have made important contributions to the knowledge and understanding of audio (that) has been out of all proportion to the population of their region”. He went on to specifically mention Cherry, Small and Thiele who were at the time as renowned in Europe and North America as the local contributors to the technology. All three mentioned would be later presenting papers at the Convention.
The guest speaker at the banquet was the well-known technology journalist and editor (recently retired) Neville Williams. Neville gave his overview of the audio industry, its characters and important developments.
During the banquet, a special award was made to Max Byer (Byer Recording Services, Byer Industries) for his contribution to the industry, especially in his encouragement of students and young people.
The Exhibition floor covered most of the ground floor of the Melbourne Hilton, and provided delegates and other attendees with the opportunity to see the latest developments in audio technology and speak to the experts, and often the designers as well.
The papers program was extensive, covering a wide range of topics.
Ed Cherry presents on the topic of “Amplifier Distortions-Audible and Inaudible”
Overseas authors presented more than half the papers and the workshops featured the world’s leading technology and techniques.
In keeping with the Convention theme, Digital Audio in the Eighties, two streams on Digital Recording, and one on Digital Education sat alongside streams on Psychoacoustics, Transducers, and Microphone Techniques.
Many of Australia’s leading audio researchers presented papers, as did some distinguished international visitors. Ed Cherry (Monash Univ) presented on Amplifier Distortions-Audible and Inaudible. Richard Small (Univ of Sydney) presented two papers, one on Total Difference Frequency Distortion, and another on Loudspeaker Large Signal Limitations. Neville Thiele (ABC) presented on the topic of The Three-Level Test Tone. Graham Thirkell (Optro/Sontron) presented on Audio Control and Editing Using Time Code.
International presenters included Raymond Cooke (KEF Electronics) who presented on The Design and Manufacture of Studio Monitoring Systems and Kent Duncan and Tom Hidley (Tom Hidley Design/Sierra Audio Acoustics) examined the more stringent demands of digital recording’s greater dynamic range in their paper Acoustic Design Considerations for Digital Recording Studios.
Raymond E Cooke (KEF Electronics) presents on The Design and Manufacture of Studio Monitoring Loudspeakers to a large audience
The three Workshops also had a decidedly digital leaning. “Computers and Music” was conducted by Peter Vogel of Fairlight – the Australian company that had turned the music creation business on its head with the Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument). Another workshop “Experiences in Multitrack Digital” was conducted by Ross Cockle and Bill Tauschke of AAV Australia and covered experiences using the Sony PCM3324 (DASH) digital multitrack recorder. The other workshop “Audio Production Techniques for Major Motion Pictures” was held at the Russel Street Cinema and was conducted by international visitor Tomlinson Holman of Lucasfilm, a leader in modern film production. It was a masterclass in the current film sound techniques using examples from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Special mention should go to the Convention Committee. This event could not have happened without their hard work.
The full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1984ProgramBrochure.pdf
Following on from the success of the 1984 Regional Convention, another Regional Convention was held in August 1988, again at the Melbourne Hilton Hotel.
The theme of this event was “Countdown to the 3rd Millenium”
Twenty-three technical papers, workshops, and technical tours were arranged for the 800 delegates. Delegates and visitors were also able to check out the products and services of 44 exhibitors.
Convention Chair Wulf Gray and Section Chair, Graham Haynes welcomed the delegates to the 1988 Regional Convention
Once more leading Australian audio designers and practitioners presented at the papers sessions along with many prominent international speakers. Neville Thiele (ABC) presented on filter design, Donn Werrbach (Aphex Systems) presented on radio broadcast audio processing, Greg Cambrell and Robert Bywater (Monash Uni) covered subwoofer configurations, Peter Crossley gave insights into the new Jupiter Casino’s audio systems, and K Matsudaira (Sony Japan) spoke on new trends in professional digital audio.
The workshop sessions were particularly groundbreaking. Amek presented their APC1000 console retrofit of the George Massenburg moving fader automation system.
Another workshop highlight was Tomlinson Holman (Lucasfilm) and Ioan Allen (Dolby Labs) demonstrating the “Evolution of Stereo Optical Tracks” with their workshop on Dolby Digital and THX Audio at a local city cinema. Excerpts from Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark were used to demonstrate this major breakthrough in cinema sound capture and playback.
This demonstration offered the first opportunity for the local cinema industry to experience this technology and has been credited with being the catalyst for its early adoption in Australian cinemas.
The exhibits floor presented opportunities for delegates and visitors to experience the latest technology trends and talk to the experts in their field. Many major international professional audio companies exhibited, including Sony, Ampex, Teac/Tascam, Yamaha, Roland, National Panasonic, Bose, and Robert Bosch.
Alongside them were leading local manufacturers such as Sontron, AWA, Southern Broadcasting Systems, The PA People, and JNS Electronics. Alongside these were the major importers/distributors such as Amber Technology, Syntec, Techtel, EAV, and Maser.
As in the first Regional Convention, an Awards banquet was held on the opening night, where Chris Brammal of the Wesgo Radio Network presented a keynote on “The Radio Broadcasting Industry as It Stands within Australia”. The Special Achievement Award was presented to Harry Mauger, recently retired Chief Engineer of Astor Records, for his special dedication to the recording industry.
The AES President-Elect Stanley Lipshitz was in attendance and was able to observe another successful Regional Convention mounted by the Melbourne Section.
Again the Convention relied on a hard-working Convention Committee to ensure a high quality and smooth running event.
The 1988 full papers program and exhibitors’ listing is available at:
https://aesmelbourne.org.au/wp-content/media/1988ProgramBrochure.pdf
1991 – Audio Automation Future Directions
The successes of the 1984 and 1988 Regional Conventions meant that they had outgrown the Hilton Hotel, so the 1991 Convention was mounted at the Moonee Valley (Racecourse) Convention Centre.
The theme was “Audio Automation Future Directions”
As well as providing increased space for exhibitions and rooms for workshops and paper presentations, the new venue provided outdoor opportunities leading to an innovative loudspeaker shootout and blind comparison firing sound from the grandstand onto the racecourse proper.
The Convention Committee welcomed AES President Marshall Buck, Vice-President International Richard Cabot, and Sound and Vision Contractor magazine editor Fred Ampel as guest speakers. Marshall Buck performed the official opening on Tuesday 20th, being introduced by the Convention Chairman Brian Horman.
Exhibits: Forty exhibitors were displaying their latest products on the exhibition floor, and the added space allowed for several of the larger companies to expand their displays. There were a mixture of local Victorian, and Australian manufacturers as well as international brands via their local offices or distributors. Local stalwarts like Editron, ARX, DEX Audio, Creative Audio, Jands, and ART were showing Australian innovation, alongside international heavyweights like Sony, Tascam, Ampex, and Mark IV Audio (EV, Altec Lansing etc). The full range of international pro audio products were being shown by importers like Amber Technology, Klarion, Syntec, Synchrotech, and the like.
The Papers Program featured both local and international presenters.
Roland presented their recently introduced Sound Space Processing which generated a 3D sound space from a stereo signal. Yamaha dug into the weeds of the R&D efforts for the development of a digital console. An Ampex representative discussed the stability issues of archived audio tapes and recovery methods. On the local front, Spencer Lieng of the ABC introduced us to their revolutionary new networked audio storage and playback system D-Cart, Lance Milne of Bay-FM discussed the latest technology trends in radio broadcasting, Gary Wetherall of Creative Audio gave his insights into the design of DSP for digital audio recording and playback machines, and David Murphy spoke on computer modelling and simulation of loudspeakers.
The Convention provided the opportunity for old friends and colleagues to catch up.
Here John Smyth and Peter Liddlelow catch up on what’s happened since they last saw each other.
A wide range of Workshops were offered on topics ranging from multitrack recorder alignment to hard disk recording and audio editing, as well as surround sound and music composition.
The Loudspeaker Shootout was a unique event, only made possible by the size and configuration of the venue. A range of loudspeakers were set up undercover at the front of the racecourse grandstand on stage risers and trusses, and participants had the opportunity to do blind testing of a wide range of different high-powered loudspeakers.
An important part of these Regional Conventions has been the Technical Tours.
This time several radio stations were featured. Delegates were able to tour two commercial FM stations, Fox-FM and TripleM, which had both recently moved into new premises incorporating state-of-the-art broadcast technology. There was also a tour of the volunteer-driven 3RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped), where the special requirements of a “reading radio” service were highlighted. Recording studios Gothic Studios and Platinum Studios also opened their doors for tours. Gothic was in a rural setting 40km from the CBD, featuring an SSL console and Sony, Studer, and Tascam analog recorders – all housed in a mud brick building complex. On the other hand, Platinum was an inner-suburban studio featuring an impressive equipment lineup, including a Sony DASH 48Track digital recorder, as well as advanced acoustic design. Delegates also had the opportunity to tour the recently opened World Congress Centre on the banks of the Yarra River at Spencer Street. Another tour highlight was the recently restored Princess Theatre, which was then hosting The Phantom of the Opera production, which was to run for another two years at the venue.
Tuesday evening was the time for the banquet, where all delegates, authors, and exhibitors could come together to honour industry luminaries, listen to a keynote address, and generally socialise. AES V-P International Richard Cabot was the keynote speaker, who discussed trends in audio and automation.
Among those honoured was Kym Ryrie of Fairlight, who was awarded the AES Certificate of Appreciation. Fairlight significantly disrupted the music and recording industry with the release of the locally developed and manufactured Fairlight CMI (Computerised Musical Instrument), which was the first electronic instrument capable of sound sampling.
A new and popular feature this time was the Audio Museum, where examples of early recording equipment were on display, including a Blattnerphone which uses quarter-inch steel tape, an Ampex 300, and some of the best examples of early Australian-made recorders like the Byer 77, and Rola 100.
Another very successful Regional Convention had firmly positioned the AES Melbourne Regional Conventions as the pre-eminent Australian convention for audio professionals.
1993 – Audio – The Spectrum
The 4th Australian Regional Convention was held in the World Congress Centre, Melbourne – a convenient inner-city location well served by public transport, and within walking distance of most city hotels.
Unfortunately, we have almost no material on this event. There is nothing in our archives and for some reason, it is not covered at all in the Journal of the AES, either before or following the Convention.
The only proof I have that it even happened – (apart from my fallible memory) is my personal Delegate Badge.
I didn’t imagine this, did I?
If anyone has any material covering this event, like a programme booklet or promotional material, or can point me to where I can find it, please contact me here
April 1995 – Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour
September 1996 – World Congress Centre, Melbourne
By the time the 1996 Convention wrapped up, it was obvious to the Committee that the business of trade shows and conventions was changing. Professional exhibition organisers and trade publications were joining forces to mount and promote purely commercial trade shows that were fragmenting the market, affecting both the exhibitor income streams and attendance numbers for volunteer-based incumbents like the AES Melbourne Section.
Most of the Section Committee officers and members had pulled extra duty serving on the Convention Committees, which added significantly to their workload.
Judging that their Regional Conventions could no longer be self-sustaining financially, the Committee made the tough decision to stop mounting Conventions.
The 1996 one would be the last AES Convention to be held to date in Australia.
We are always looking for stories and photos from the Australian Conventions.
Please contact us if you have information or photos we can use to better document our history.
Peter Smerdon
Secretary, AES Melbourne Section.
December 2024.
