[quote name=\'WorldClassRob\' date=\'Feb 9 2004, 06:36 PM\'] Randy, does NBC still have their own bells/buzzers/effects at their studios (e.g. game shows like Scrabble, Hit Man, $ale of the Century, etc.), or is this equipment stored at Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters like the other sound effect equipment? [/quote]
Sadly, NBC's Sound Effects Department in Burbank was finally shuttered with the beginning of the new millenium. And it was a sad day indeed.
Since construction of the Burbank facility in 1952, NBC's sfx department had its home in a deep and narrow pair of rooms just 25 feet from Studio 1 (Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, etc.). For those who roamed the halls, it was between the "Supermarket Sweep" 2000 / 2001 production offices and the ladies room. There resided the history of broadcasting sfx in various incarnations:
1. Many of the practical effects from the golden days of NBC radio, moved from Sunset and Vine in the 1950s (coconut halves for hooses' hoofs, slide whistles, etc., etc.).
2. An extensive library of over 100 78rpm discs containing every imaginable sound - the official NBC library of sounds. I was told that some were from the respected BBC library, and others recorded and compiled by NBC over the years. Each disc had an NBC label. I believe these were "lock groove" discs - each cut ending with a continuous groove that stopped the needle from proceeding to the next cut on the disc - to simplify playback "live" during programs.
3. A small assortment of surviving chime, doorbell and buzzer devices.
4. On one wall of shelves were over 1,000 MacKenzie loops stored in hundreds of clear plastic trays. Many of the trays still bearing the names of individual game shows taped at NBC Burbank (WOF, Hot Potato, Battlestars, etc.), each tray still holding the loops from those shows. Other trays were labelled with descriptive words such as "car effects".
5. On the opposite wall of shelves were hundreds of reels of quarter-inch tapes. Most were labelled with NBC show names including individual game shows, as well as "Bob Hope ", "Peacock Chimes", etc. (remember, this was the sfx department; the music department was elsewhere).
6. Only a handful of NAB tape cartridges (NBC never invested heavily in the format - the only cart machines still on the premises were in the basement editing and sweetening suites).
7. Finally, about a dozen commercial sfx CDs
Hardware included two turtables, one reel-to-reel machine, several MacKenzie 5-decks, 2 DAT machines, and a small audio setup with a board and various rack mounted black-boxes (Dolby, compression, reverb, oscilloscope, etc., etc.).
The whole operation was pretty well unwound since most NBC shows were produced at outside facilities and many of the game and talk shows inhabiting the studios were from outside production companies. The occasional sfx needs of "The Tonight Show" and "Days of Our Lives" were handled by the shows' individual audio crews. Sound effects for promos were added in the state-of-the-art audio suites in the basement. Curiously, there was a rack of about 50 NAB carts with old effects and a small library of sfx CDs in that suite.
Of the three or four game shows on the lot around that time, most were just renting facilities (Sweep, FF, TTTT) and "Weakest Link" came from Britain with its own music and sounds. Of the final 2 employees who manned that room one was reassigned and the other offered a retirement package when the department was finally closed. One of those employees was sufficiently disgruntled with the situation that he allowed me about an hour to load and play MacKenzie loops while a DAT machine rolled in record mode. I have yet to load, edit and burn CDs from the 2 DATS.
Much of the hardware remained intact when the rear room was outfitted with an on-line Avid editing suite first used to handle the overflow editing needs of simultaneous network and syndie "Weakest Link" production. At last visit only the remaining plaque on the door reading "Sound Effects" held a clue of what was housed behind that door for almost 50 years.
Randy
tvrandywest.com
