Eliminate the Cause; Don’t Minimize the Effect

One of the true companies that would usher in the modern era of professional music recording began creating products based on solid state, discrete designs in 1964. In fact, from 1965 to 1969, Spectra (as it will be referred to in this article at this point in its history) developed some of the greatest products in the history of professional music recording at a time when technological innovation in the field was quite rapid. One has to just step back a moment to remember what the professional audio world was like in the period from 1965-1969. Brand names in the professional audio world that people associate with vintage or classical consoles either did not exist, or as companies were actually in their infancy during the period from 1965-1969. A bit of a history lesson is in order— especially to understand the crucial significance of Bill Dilley’s work at Spectra during this period. Though Rupert Neve had also started his company at about the same time, his products were mostly targeted at the professional broadcast industry and it was not until the early 1970s that it would make significant inroads into the professional music recording market. API and SSL both began as companies in 1968 and 1969 respectively, but neither of them gained a foothold in the music recording market until the decade of the 1960s came to a close. Trident— another name associated with vintage or classical consoles and products from this period, did not yet exist, at all (it started as a company in 1970). So, if Neve, API, SSL and Trident were not behind the hit songs from the Golden Age of Music during the mid-to-late 1960s, the question really becomes— who was? The answer is actually quite simple— Spectra was one of those companies that was truly behind the creation of the Golden Age of Music.

Bill Dilley brought the same non-nonsense attitude that had made him a success in the US Air Force into the world of professional music recording. In the beginning, the company created amplifier modules, card frames, power supplies and equalizers for those who wanted to build custom consoles. During that time, a number of small firms built consoles for recording studio facilities using Spectra components. In 1964, the company created its first preamp— the 101. The 101 preamps created by Spectra were technological marvels— then and now. Due to the fact that the preamp did not overload due to transient peaks, it eliminated the need for overload indicators or even for VU meters. With their fabulous preamps and equalization units, the company began to branch out and to manufacture consoles for the first time beginning in 1968. Using Dilley’s exacting standards for reliability, quality and performance, the company would manufacture console for some of the greatest artists and recording studios of the period, including, but, not limited to models for both the Record Plant in New York City and Los Angeles and for artists such as Michael Jackson and The Carpenters. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find a hit record in America from this period, that at some point during its creation did not benefit from the use of Spectra equipment. In 1969, Dilley introduced another marvel of electronic engineering for the benefit of the music recording community, the 610 Complimiter, which became an industry standard and is still the quickest reacting device of its type and one of the smoothest sounding in the world, even today. This Complimiter would be strapped across the mix buss for a number of hit songs and used in mastering facilities throughout America during the late 1960s and into the 1970s. The equipment that Dilley designed at Spectra was so technologically advanced, that even today, none of the circuits have had to be changed, altered or updated in any fashion to work flawlessly in recording studios in the modern era.

Without a doubt, Spectra was one of the leading players in the professional audio world, manufacturing preamps, equalizers, amplifiers, Complimiters and consoles, but as the 1970s dawned, new brands and competitors appeared just over the horizon. When Spectra first started the process of making consoles it was in an era where consoles were custom made for studios by small firms or by engineers who actually worked in the facilities themselves. In America, first Electrodyne had been a formidable competitor that had also introduced some of the greatest technological breakthroughs in this early era in modern recording, as well. But by the late 1960s, it had given way to an off-shoot company, Quad Eight, that was a rising competitor to Spectra. Another company that was established in 1968 and built its first console in 1969 for a commercial recording studio facility was Automated Processes Incorporated, simply known around the world as API today. Plus, there were still individual engineers who were constructing custom consoles such as Daniel Flickinger. However, during the period, the first pair of companies in the United Kingdom to construct custom consoles, Helios and Sound Techniques were also great competitors (a number of Sound Techniques consoles found their way into studios in America during the late 1960s, such as the famed Sunset Sound Studios in Hollywood). But, by 1973, Neve and Trident had supplanted Helios and Sound Techniques and had started to make great inroads into American recording studio facilities. At the end of the 1970s, a new company, Solid State Logic (founded in 1969, though it did not produce consoles at that time), would emerge as one of the leading companies in the field of professional audio product and large-format console production. Spectra was a company in the forefront of this sector of the industry, but by 1978, that had changed.

With its amazing products being used in top-flight studios across America throughout the 1970s, it appeared that Spectra would continue to be one of the top companies in the field, but it was not to be. As automation began to change the landscape for large-format console manufacturers, Dilley did not wish to foray into creating consoles for this process— in large part, because he feared it would compromise the integrity of the quiet, but yet high-gain, electronics that he had created for his consoles. To put it simply, he did not want to raise the noise-floor with his equipment. Rather than compromise the standards of his equipment, Dilley quit manufacturing consoles in 1979, but continued to create high-performance audio products— power amplifiers and Complimiters for the professional broadcasting industry. And thus, a mighty chapter was closed in the story of Spectra, one of the greatest professional audio manufacturers in the history of music recording. Interestingly enough, the business continued its post-1970s manufacturing scheme until 2007, when two former employees— both from the twilight of the glory days of the company, Bill Cheney and Jim Romney, decided to resurrect one of the most legendary companies in the history of professional audio recording. It would not be an easy task.