Where has Stephen Paul Audio gone?

[duskb]

Originally Posted by swankdoc

Still, why do the mics have to sit on the shelf during the extended waiting period?

Somebody tell them for a mere $10,000 consulting fee, I'll fly down there and within a week I'll set up an automatic software program that sends out mailings as to when people are to send their mics in. I'll have their waiting list and mail-in in system running like a Klaus Heyne modified U67.

An SPA modification.......$1400, a much happier set of waiting clients......priceless.

So I happened onto this post today and had to respond to it since, logically, if I find it others will too. First off SPA has settled into their permanent digs in Burbank. While I do not have their address handy they are a few doors down from Charlie Bolis' shop and their website is still active.

Secondly, to ask "why" stuff sits around just shows your ignorance with vintage gear. The "why" is simply answered by the fact that it can take upwards of 3-4 years to find the parts you need to fix it. You have to literally spend years hunting down old parts and waiting for opportunities to scavenge stuff off ebay, old studios going out of business, or whatever. In the meantime it sits on the tech's shelf till they can deal with it. This is called "reality". If you don't like it then don't buy old gear. There are plenty of reliable good sounding new mics that will not bring you these issues.

Regarding the negative posts against Tony Merrill and SPA. Not that they need my defense but I have been dealing with them for well over 10 years now. Granted during the "move" period 05-07 they were hard to get a hold of but in my years of dealing with them I have only had one experience that left me unhappy (for brevity I'll leave it out). Eventually I realized after using Toby Foster, David Bock (who never even touched my mic after Lord knows how long...), and the other mic gurus that they were either too hard to use for simple repairs (like cleaning up an 87 or changing a transistor) or were just unreachable. I'm not saying they were BAD, to the contrary they were respectable, but just not for everything. Since then I have brought Tony not just my mics but my clients mics as well, very expensive stuff too, not just because he is affordable or does good work per se but because sometimes he is the only guy who will return my phone calls. In this business that's important.

Moral of the story? Business are run by humans and humans are prone to making errors and poor judgement calls. To add insult to injury, most "specialty tech shops" like SPA are not just run by humans but rather eccentric ones at that whose gifts are not tied up in business admin but craftsmanship and attention to detail. I've seen their workloads and frankly I'm shocked they can get anything done...

Anyways, I'd be careful throwing too many rocks at glass houses....you'll begin to realize what I did....they might fall in on you at one point. Since there're few techs left to service our aging mic's there's no sense in pissing them off.

Cheers,

Dusk Bennett

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by duskb

So I happened onto this post today and had to respond to it since, logically, if I find it others will too. First off SPA has settled into their permanent digs in Burbank. While I do not have their address handy they are a few doors down from Charlie Bolis' shop and their website is still active.

Secondly, to ask "why" stuff sits around just shows your ignorance with vintage gear. The "why" is simply answered by the fact that it can take upwards of 3-4 years to find the parts you need to fix it. You have to literally spend years hunting down old parts and waiting for opportunities to scavenge stuff off ebay, old studios going out of business, or whatever. In the meantime it sits on the tech's shelf till they can deal with it. This is called "reality". If you don't like it then don't buy old gear. There are plenty of reliable good sounding new mics that will not bring you these issues.

Regarding the negative posts against Tony Merrill and SPA. Not that they need my defense but I have been dealing with them for well over 10 years now. Granted during the "move" period 05-07 they were hard to get a hold of but in my years of dealing with them I have only had one experience that left me unhappy (for brevity I'll leave it out). Eventually I realized after using Toby Foster, David Bock (who never even touched my mic after Lord knows how long...), and the other mic gurus that they were either too hard to use for simple repairs (like cleaning up an 87 or changing a transistor) or were just unreachable. I'm not saying they were BAD, to the contrary they were respectable, but just not for everything. Since then I have brought Tony not just my mics but my clients mics as well, very expensive stuff too, not just because he is affordable or does good work per se but because sometimes he is the only guy who will return my phone calls. In this business that's important.

Moral of the story? Business are run by humans and humans are prone to making errors and poor judgement calls. To add insult to injury, most "specialty tech shops" like SPA are not just run by humans but rather eccentric ones at that whose gifts are not tied up in business admin but craftsmanship and attention to detail. I've seen their workloads and frankly I'm shocked they can get anything done...

Anyways, I'd be careful throwing too many rocks at glass houses....you'll begin to realize what I did....they might fall in on you at one point. Since there're few techs left to service our aging mic's there's no sense in pissing them off.

Cheers,

Dusk Bennett

To add to this... Tony has been great with us, even coming to our studio to figure out the problems we were having with our U87's. Every mic that we've sent to him to cleaning or repair has come back in pristine shape and he always goes above and beyond the call of duty. We sent him a U67 to clean and find a replacement tube for. When we got it back he also tweaked the power supply for us because he noticed it was about to crap out.

All I have to say is, if there is a wait, or a long turn around time, Tony is totally worth it.

[skylabfilmpop]

I have had some mics at SPA for only a few months and recently realized hey is so slow because he is so thorough. Still I think SPA and Tony would be in a better place if they could engage an employee or intern, even part time to deal with the less skilled aspects of his business and use an appointment or placeholder system to manage the repair flow.

[duskb]

Originally Posted by skylabfilmpop

I have had some mics at SPA for only a few months and recently realized hey is so slow because he is so thorough. Still I think SPA and Tony would be in a better place if they could engage an employee or intern, even part time to deal with the less skilled aspects of his business and use an appointment or placeholder system to manage the repair flow.

Well if you are in well with him you can certainly suggest it but the minute Tony brings on anyone else his overhead will go up and will turn a $200 mic repair into $275. Basic business sense, sometimes growth isn't worth it.

I'll also add this, Tony has had at least two assistants working with him since I have known him so he is not really short handed, the real issue is probably finding young talent that:

1. Understands old technology well and is capable of developing a better understanding of it.
2. Is capable of being trained to work in a technical environment.
3. Is trustworthy enough to leave in charge of dismantling a mic worth more than a down payment on a home.
4. Is trustworthy enough to give a key to an inventory worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Having worked at a University I can tell you out of the student staff I have trained to help me in audio related disciplines less than 10% have a shot at a career in this gig and out of them 10% have all of those qualities. At that point those that meet that criteria are either more concerned about paying down their debt or pursuing a career in music, not tearing into a $20,000 mic.

YMMV but IMHO I honestly don't see that ever happening. It's the nature of the business and you just learn to work around it.

Dusk

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Etch-A-Sketch

To add to this... Tony has been great with us, even coming to our studio to figure out the problems we were having with our U87's. Every mic that we've sent to him to cleaning or repair has come back in pristine shape and he always goes above and beyond the call of duty. We sent him a U67 to clean and find a replacement tube for. When we got it back he also tweaked the power supply for us because he noticed it was about to crap out.

All I have to say is, if there is a wait, or a long turn around time, Tony is totally worth it.

Tony is the man...amazing work. Yes, there is a wait..but this isnt fast food..not a drive in drive out sort of deal.

his attitude is what gets my business. there are others out there possessing of great tech skills.but who also have terrible personalities and come off as extremely arrogant and condescending... so Peter Drefahl and Tony Merill it is, for me, anyway..two great, class acts.. both do amazing work.

[BillyCobb]

Back in early '97 I had Stephen and Tony take my AKG "The Tube" mic and replace the capsule with a vintage C12 capsule and install one of their .9 micron custom diaphragms, as well as other mods to mic and power supply. It is such a joy every time a new vocalist walks up to the mic, to hear what comes out. No eq necessary, is so open and silky in the high end. One of the best investments I believe I've ever made.

[hank alrich]

Originally Posted by kevinc

That makes me mad just reading it.

Who does this asshole think he is ?

Playing Police or (or God even) indeed. What gives him the right to do that when you spent $2,000 on the mic ?

The guy you bought it from or the guy HE bought it from is the thief and the one who should be penalized. Not you.

I`d take him back to court and demand my money immediately if I were you. I`m glad I`m reading this because I`ll never do business with these guys now.

Whatever. I'm glad someone helps other people find stolen gear. How about the guy who purchased it for two grand sues the guy who sold it to him? How about we all put some responsibility into clearing the provenance of any mic we buy used?

Neumann keeps a registry of stolen mics, and do a few other places that help log makes, models, and serial numbers of stolen goods.

I wouldn't worry about it unless you're in the habit of buying expensive mics a little too cheaply. Know what you're buying and from whom.

[faeflora]

Originally Posted by BillyCobb

Back in early '97 I had Stephen and Tony take my AKG "The Tube" mic and replace the capsule with a vintage C12 capsule and install one of their .9 micron custom diaphragms, as well as other mods to mic and power supply. It is such a joy every time a new vocalist walks up to the mic, to hear what comes out. No eq necessary, is so open and silky in the high end. One of the best investments I believe I've ever made.

You're lucky you got yours back. I never did. That was 6 years ago.

[skylabfilmpop]

So my previous post nearly two months ago was forgiving Tony for his workload and methods. I disagree about the effectiveness of an assistant, he would benefit from a skilled assistant repairman, effectively doubling his output if he found the right person, but an unskilled scheduler, phone answerer would free up loads of time too. And these skillset people are available for free through college internship programs, and this path provides a basis for teaching someone his craft as well. Lets face it this problem of repairing mics, guitars , amps etc will get worse in the next 10 years as repairmen of all stripes are a dwindling breed. About a week after my post he contacted me letting me know he had fixed my mics but wanted to try a component swap for the output cap (one component). This was six weeks ago, and hes had the mics for about six months at this point. He's gotten to the point that he won't return a phone call or email although my calls have been of the "look I don't care about the repair, just please return the mics" variety. Personally I don't believe there is any way these mics can sound that will justify this poor service and arrogance on his part. Its additionally frustrating in that I know at least two other clients of his that get turnaround that varies from immediate to reasonable leaving me with the impression that a component of the long repair times is favoritism to certain clients, and not just availability of parts.
In the end anyone's client deserves the information before dropping off a repair that the service may take an unreasonable amount of time, and with that reason opt to forgo it. Additionally all of us on the engineering, producing and composing side know that no matter how good our work if we cant make a deadline we are sunk, and out work worthless. I'd say the same goes for SP audio.

[PDC]

Originally Posted by skylabfilmpop

So my previous post nearly two months ago was forgiving Tony for his workload and methods. I disagree about the effectiveness of an assistant, he would benefit from a skilled assistant repairman, effectively doubling his output if he found the right person, but an unskilled scheduler, phone answerer would free up loads of time too. And these skillset people are available for free through college internship programs, and this path provides a basis for teaching someone his craft as well. Lets face it this problem of repairing mics, guitars , amps etc will get worse in the next 10 years as repairmen of all stripes are a dwindling breed. About a week after my post he contacted me letting me know he had fixed my mics but wanted to try a component swap for the output cap (one component). This was six weeks ago, and hes had the mics for about six months at this point. He's gotten to the point that he won't return a phone call or email although my calls have been of the "look I don't care about the repair, just please return the mics" variety. Personally I don't believe there is any way these mics can sound that will justify this poor service and arrogance on his part. Its additionally frustrating in that I know at least two other clients of his that get turnaround that varies from immediate to reasonable leaving me with the impression that a component of the long repair times is favoritism to certain clients, and not just availability of parts.
In the end anyone's client deserves the information before dropping off a repair that the service may take an unreasonable amount of time, and with that reason opt to forgo it. Additionally all of us on the engineering, producing and composing side know that no matter how good our work if we cant make a deadline we are sunk, and out work worthless. I'd say the same goes for SP audio.

Stop it please. You are destroying my world. You almost have me convinced that some of these guys do not have the market cornered on great services. I almost stopped thinking that they had some divinely inspired audio mojo.

[noexitrecords]

Originally Posted by duskb

Well if you are in well with him you can certainly suggest it but the minute Tony brings on anyone else his overhead will go up and will turn a $200 mic repair into $275. Basic business sense, sometimes growth isn't worth it.

Are you suggesting that his customers are willing to wait years for a repair to be completed, but not willing to pay an additional $75?

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Plush

I would never wait 4 or 5 years for a guru of anything to finish the work.
Absurd voodoo dung!
I cannot believe you guys are buying it!

In that amount of time one could earn an EE degree and a master's of business administration. Then you could do it yourself or then earn enough money to pay SPA and wait another 4 or 5 years.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[skylabfilmpop]

Originally Posted by PDC

Stop it please. You are destroying my world. You almost have me convinced that some of these guys do not have the market cornered on great services. I almost stopped thinking that they had some divinely inspired audio mojo.

Just a follow up, Tony called, I got my mics back, Tony was apologetic, and no charge. Nice fellow but definitely overbooked. My advice (not being facetious) would be to tell clients hes backed up a year and wow them with an eight month delivery. That would place everyone's expectations n the right place and dissuade less patient types from leaving their gear.

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

In that amount of time one could earn an EE degree and a master's of business administration. Then you could do it yourself or then earn enough money to pay SPA and wait another 4 or 5 years.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

yeah, but you couldnt do it like SPAudio.

noone can. Not Klaus Heyne, Korby, or anyone else.

Stephen Paul was a genius....Tony learned from him(the best) and now has the keys to the kingdom. the wait time is well worth it...

[Rick Sutton]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

yeah, but you couldnt do it like SPAudio.

noone can. Not Klaus Heyne, Korby, or anyone else.

Stephen Paul was a genius....Tony learned from him(the best) and now has the keys to the kingdom. the wait time is well worth it...

Teddy, just curious, what mic(s) have you had worked on by SPA. What has been your experience with the repair/mod including length of time involved?
Thanks,
Rick
(for the record my mod took a year, during which I was very nervous, but turned out great)

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Rick Sutton

Teddy, just curious, what mic(s) have you had worked on by SPA. What has been your experience with the repair/mod including length of time involved?
Thanks,
Rick
(for the record my mod took a year, during which I was very nervous, but turned out great)

AKG 426B, took about a year. Tony was hard to contact, but he always contacted me eventually, and was very interested in getting the mic exactly how I wanted it.

a friend of mine has a Stephen Paul Audio mod AKG c33e and it took around 6 months or so.

[Amadeuz]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

In that amount of time one could earn an EE degree and a master's of business administration. Then you could do it yourself or then earn enough money to pay SPA and wait another 4 or 5 years.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

LMAO!!! Very true...
Hey Jim, whats your turnaround time on a U87 for modification?

[Rick Sutton]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

AKG 426B, took about a year. Tony was hard to contact, but he always contacted me eventually, and was very interested in getting the mic exactly how I wanted it.

a friend of mine has a Stephen Paul Audio mod AKG c33e and it took around 6 months or so.

yeah, I sent my U47 "basket case" (it had been neglected and ended up in a flood, full of mud with dead capsule, dead tube and destroyed supply) to Stephen way back in the "dim dark past" and I'd call him about every 6 weeks and he'd say things like " I tried a new skin on the capsule and I just wasn't thrilled with it that much so I took it off and I'm gonna put another one on it next week....." After about 11-12 months I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to see it again (this was back before he was such a known entity and was working out of his apartment) but I eventually got the call to come and take a listen. It sounded absolutely great! I was one happy camper to get a working 47 back.
Anyway, over the first few years it made a couple of trips back to SPA for some power supply/tube tune-ups and Tony took great care with it. It's been stable and lovely for the last 10+ years and is really loved by my clients.
Cheers,
Rick

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Rick Sutton

yeah, I sent my U47 "basket case" (it had been neglected and ended up in a flood, full of mud with dead capsule, dead tube and destroyed supply) to Stephen way back in the "dim dark past" and I'd call him about every 6 weeks and he'd say things like " I tried a new skin on the capsule and I just wasn't thrilled with it that much so I took it off and I'm gonna put another one on it next week....." After about 11-12 months I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to see it again (this was back before he was such a known entity and was working out of his apartment) but I eventually got the call to come and take a listen. It sounded absolutely great! I was one happy camper to get a working 47 back.
Anyway, over the first few years it made a couple of trips back to SPA for some power supply/tube tune-ups and Tony took great care with it. It's been stable and lovely for the last 10+ years and is really loved by my clients.
Cheers,
Rick

Yep! My experience exactly... Tony is great!

there are two guys and two guys only that will ever get my microphones for service.

Peter Drefahl and Tony Merill.

both top notch!

(Peter has his own modifications but I Mainly use him for bringing up to spec, tune-ups, etc and use Tony for mods)

[Rick Sutton]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Peter Drefahl and Tony Merill.

Interesting that you would mention Peter also. I bought a KM56 from him that I am very happy with and later had him go through another KM56 that needed work and he was really a treat to work with. I agree with you completely on both guys.....nice to know they are around when you need them!

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Rick Sutton

Interesting that you would mention Peter also. I bought a KM56 from him that I am very happy with and later had him go through another KM56 that needed work and he was really a treat to work with. I agree with you completely on both guys.....nice to know they are around when you need them!

Yes, I met Peter in 2002 while living in Germany, and have been a fan ever since!

[Weepit]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Yes, I met Peter in 2002 while living in Germany, and have been a fan ever since!

2002? Really?

Late 2004 you joined TS with zero recording experience so I wonder if you might just have the dates wrong?

[rufus13]

Originally Posted by johndough

huh?

I dont understand how does it take 4-5 years to fix something? I mean even a high rise... I dont get it can someone explain please

I worked in a lab where an "average" item cycled through in about 7 days. The reality was that about half of those items processed in before 9AM and were sitting on the outgoing shelf before 4PM ^the same day^. The half that turns around quickly are the ones that need a calibration that an FNG with 2 months on the job could do in about 30 minutes, or 10 identical items in about 40 minutes. QA would check 12% of his work and the rest go back to the owner if they show up before close.

This mythical item (a Simpson 260 or Fluke 77A) went from In-processed, to In-Work, to Awaiting Pickup. All good, checked, batteries changed, wiped off, sticker updated, put on outgoing shelf.

Where the waiting kicks in is a status called Awaiting Parts (pronounced A-WoP). This can add a day or 17 months, depending on what it is or what hell-hole you happen to be at. The customer still owns the unit. If they have money and no time, they might have us condemn the unit as unrepairable and send it to scrap (red tag, NRTS9). Buy a new one.

With vintage gear, you can't do this. AWP can last forever. A vintage Neumann microphone is too valuable to scrap, unless the same customer needs the parts or agrees to sell parts to another customer. More likely, some custom work is done to repair/replace/re-make parts to make the unit functional again. The problem is that almost no one does the making any more, and they never did it in English or in California. So, if we are motivated enough, we re-invent the wheel.

Start with the documentation, if any. Compare it to the actual part. Are they the same? Restore or repair? Both? Cost and time go up.

Klaus is right about not wanting a big inventory of Other People's Property sitting on shelves not actively being worked or with parts on the way. It's a liability that is hard to insure, a valuable space to keep secure, and certainly would be difficult to replace at any price (assuming that an insurance co. adjuster would believe that vintage microphones are worth HOW MUCH?) if there was a disaster.

I miss my Schedulers, Supply, and TODO folks. They were nice and did their jobs so that I could be a full time bench monkey. Small shops and one-man operations are lucky to put in 30 bench hours a week, because they have to keep up with the business end of answering the telephone, ordering parts, finding parts, organizing manuals, organizing parts, contacting customers, getting lunch, talking to spouse, getting deliveries, shipping stuff, collecting money, cashing checks, paying taxes, drumming up business, scheduling business, listening to the finished product for quality, etc.

Organization and good note-taking are essential. What if someone working on a stack of gear dies suddenly? A co-worker needs to be able to reconstruct the plan of action, install the parts when they come in, or at very least return the reassembled/complete unit to the owner.

A numbering/ID system for gear helps a lot. What shelf was it on? What does the computer say? How long has it been AWP? Are we calling every 6 months, at least, to let them know that we have their thing and are they still in business?


Cheers.

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by jcruz1066

i think SPA needs to seriously consider their customer service - it sux ass.

SPAudio has plenty of customers(like myself and Mr. Sutton above) and many, many others...so they are doing just fine. If you want the best, the unique approach to modification that only THEY provide, you go to SPAudio. If you don't, you take it somewhere else. that simple, really.




oh yeah.

might want to avoid using "cellphone text" language (ie SUX)...... unless you are a 6th grader and typing from a cell phone...

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by jcruz1066

This isn't about the quality of the mod, which I know is stellar. This is about the simple fact that a professional company performing a service comes to an agreement with their client on how and when the service will be completed, and they keep their word.

Tony doesn't come to an agreement, nor do I expect him to. Mics show up in varied states of disrepair...not to mention, Tony approaches each microphone differently depending on the needs of the customer. He asks what the customer would like from a microphone and tailors his work to accomplish that goal... he doesn't give a length of time because it is impossible to do.

doesn't give a f#ck where you had your mic modded, Teddy

luckily for me I dont give a damn about the average joe.... I record first and foremost for myself. it is the entire reason I got into recording( to save myself money because I was tired of getting raped by German engineers for a 3 minute voice demo for Opera auditions.....)
secondly... I record for the people that use my services. that mass market commercial nonsense/must have pro toooooolz/gotta be loud/compress the fvck out of it , dude/ stuff is for the birds... i care about quality and quality only. not units sold. just sound....so I dont get mods for "customers" i get them for my damn self.

[hank alrich]

Originally Posted by jcruz1066

I've never dealt with SPA, but I love getting stuff moded. I think the waiting times for some of this stuff is absolutey insane. I understand that some of us search for the absolute best, and that there's no lengths we won't go to in order to get the best sound on the face of the planet, but just think about all the hours of lost productivity that could have come from these mics. And you're not talking about mic's that one uses once in a blue moon.

47's and 12's are the type of mic's that your Clients will be constantly asking for, and to pay an arm and a leg to obtain one, and then go 5 years without it - that's just insane. i think SPA needs to seriously consider their customer service - it sux ass.

That's a bold statement from someone who has never done business with them,

Tell you what: you let them know where to get those parts, the ones they need to fix the mics quickly.

Oh, wait... you don't even know what those parts are.

So carry on, talking about shit of which you know less than nothing.

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by hank alrich

That's a bold statement from someone who has never done business with them,

Tell you what: you let them know where to get those parts, the ones they need to fix the mics quickly.

Oh, wait... you don't even know what those parts are.

So carry on, talking about shit of which you know less than nothing.

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Amadeuz

LMAO!!! Very true...
Hey Jim, whats your turnaround time on a U87 for modification?

About a week. If it took months it would require me to stare at each component for weeks before doing anything. I work faster than that.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

[Teddy Ray]

Originally Posted by Jim Williams

About a week. If it took months it would require me to stare at each component for weeks before doing anything. I work faster than that.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades

Jim, that is a slight at Tony, I guess?? You do stir up things a lot...... it isn't really cool to down a competitor.
also. you have a set modification for each microphone model, correct?


well...Tony doesn't. He tailors his modifications to suit the needs of the client.
if the client says "hey, I want a bit less top end on this or a bit more fullness in the low-mids" he works towards that goal. When he was working on mine, for example, he had me send in a lot of my favorite cds and asked me a whole slew of questions about EXACTLY what I wanted...

[Jim Williams]

Originally Posted by Teddy Ray

Jim, that is a slight at Tony, I guess?? You do stir up things a lot...... it isn't really cool to down a competitor.
also. you have a set modification for each microphone model, correct?


well...Tony doesn't. He tailors his modifications to suit the needs of the client.
if the client says "hey, I want a bit less top end on this or a bit more fullness in the low-mids" he works towards that goal. When he was working on mine, for example, he had me send in a lot of my favorite cds and asked me a whole slew of questions about EXACTLY what I wanted...

I don't know what they do nor do I care. I do what I do as I'm sure they don't care either. That was a statement of fact. Reading imaginary intent into other's statements when presented clearly isn't really cool either. You guessed wrong.

Jim Williams
Audio Upgrades