PHOTO : BRANDON WALLIS PHOTO : BRANDON WALLIS
Rolling Stones Mobile Studio Interior
RSM Exterior
can ’ t be messed with . But what ’ s really fantastic is that it ’ s Dante enabled . We ’ re using it analog right now , but our entire building , including the recording studios , is Dante enabled .”
Eventually , the Eddy will be as well , he adds : “ Which will allow us infinite possibilities for digitally routing signal throughout the facility . For instance , if we had a performance happening in the Eddy , we could stream it in the Performance Hall or other spaces in the museum .”
For monitors , there are four PK SW 215 powered wedges , as well as a Klarity 12 and Klarity 18 subs for drum fill .
Both FOH and monitors are mixed on a Yamaha TF5 digital mixer . “ I really wanted this to be a modern approach , so I was focused on powered speakers and a digital console and making the FOH experience as seamless as possible for the different techs working in there .”
The console , mic pack , and related cabling and hardware were provided by Long & Mc- Quade . Other gear includes two Yamaha Tio1608-D stage boxes providing 32 mic inputs , 14 aux outs , and one 12-channel and four four-channel sub snakes .
Tawkin and PK Sound designed the system , and he and Dolby programmed the UNO . After that , it was up to NMC staff to get the project to the finish line . “ We wired the stage , the split , the sub snakes , everything . All the sub snakes are running a threeway split , one to FOH , one for recording , and a third for anyone bringing in their own monitor console or IEMs .”
THE ROLLING STONES MOBILE ( RSM ) TIMELINE 1968 – Conceptualized by Stones pianist / road manager Ian Stewart , the RSM comes into being as a state-of-the-art mobile eight-track recording studio consisting of an aluminum trailer mounted on the chassis of a BMC truck and equipped with a Helios Electronics console 1969 – Used to record the Stones live in Hyde Park 1970 – Used to record Sticky Fingers at Mick Jagger ’ s country estate , Stargroves 1970-1990 – Used for live and studio recordings by Led Zeppelin ( Led Zeppelin III , IV , Houses of the Holy , Physical Graffiti ), Fleetwood Mac , Bob Marley and the Wailers ( Live !), Bad Company , Deep Purple , Santana ( Moonflower ), Simple Minds , Dire Straits , Iron Maiden , Queen , and many others
1971 – While parked in Montreux , Switzerland , prior to the recording of Deep Purple ’ s Machine Head , the RSM narrowly escapes destruction when a fire breaks out at the nearby Casino during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention show , thus inspiring the classic tune “ Smoke on the Water ” 1972 – Used to record the Stones ’ Exile On Main Street in Nellecote , France 1987 – The Stones sell the RSM to bassist Bill Wyman , who founds AIMS ( Ambition , Ideas , Motivation , Success ) and uses the RSM to provide free recordings for British artists 1993 – The RSM is retired following a recording at Pinewood Studios by Mick Jagger ’ s brother , Chris , and his band , Atcha ! 1996 – The RSM is auctioned off and purchased by Loho Studios , shipped to the U . S ., and made available for hire in and around NYC 2001 – Cantos Music Collection , the forerunner of the NMC , acquires the RSM
THE “ MIGHTY MOBILE ” While the RSM is a decidedly smaller space than the King Edward , its restoration was also highly complex , much like an archeological dig in some ways .
The RSM was created specifically to allow the Stones to record anytime , anywhere . To say it ’ s an important acquisition for NMC is an understatement ; it ’ s a one-of-a-kind example of a high-fidelity analog recording system drenched in rock and roll history . “ We ’ re super lucky ,” Tawkin says . “ In the 1990s , it was bought by an American , who brought it over to the New York / New Jersey area , but it fell into disrepair and out of style and became kind of an analog grave that wasn ’ t going to be converted to digital at that time .”
An NMC employee attempted to drive it back from Jersey , Tawkin adds , but only made it to just outside of Chicago before the truck gave out and it finished the trip on a flatbed . “ I ’ m told it took half an hour before its systems were firing enough so you could move , and even when it was moving , it spewed black smoke and the max speed was 50 miles per hour .”
Tawkin and late NMC Electronics Technician John Leimseider spent 18 months restoring the recording gear and console . “ There wasn ’ t a lot of component failure ,” Tawkin recalls . “ We had some transistors and line cards die , but the majority of the restoration was trying to piece together what had happened as things changed . Quite often when people were working on the console , it was 10 minutes before the show and they just had to make it work .”
“ The truck is not going to move again ,” Leimseider puts in . “ It ’ s built into the building and the engine is shot . Besides , where could you leave it , even for an hour , where it ’ s safe ? Nowhere . Whenever it was anywhere else , I was worried about it , as everyone else was and should have been .”
The Helios console is the “ heart and soul of the mobile ,” Tawkin says , and had been substantially modified over time , going from 20 inputs and an eight-track format to 32 ins and 24 tracks . As a result , the restoration process involved uncovering and interpreting layer upon layer of previous modifications – like audio paleontology .
Helios created the first transistorized desk comparable sonically to a tube version , Tawkin explains . “ And because of that technology , the facility of the desk was that much greater and , being a remote truck , everything had to be compact so transistor technology was perfect .”
Sadly , the original mic pack and outboard pieces were long gone , but the truck and console did come with a lot of great stuff .
“ Twenty-five of the ins have the 0011 EQ preamps , the Type 69 modules , a Lustraphone transformer with passive EQ . We have the original complement of tape machines . We only have the two-track head stacks , but it is a four-track . In 1973 , because they anticipated the next big thing was going to be quadraphonic sound , they converted the console and monitoring to quad . Then there ’ s two M79 24-tracks that the motors have
36 • PROFESSIONAL SOUND