Created August 24, 2023

Jay and Amy read and discuss an article in the Clovis News Journal written on Sunday, December 20, 1959. The article was written by Norma Jean Berry who was Petty’s personal secretary. The article discusses Petty’s beginnings, growth, and directions late in the year that Buddy Holly died. This article is a fascinating insight into the Petty’s business, art, and life and its impact on city of Clovis, New Mexico and music worldwide. The origin of Nor-Va-Jak studio, rockabilly, Tex-Mex sound and Buddy Holly as well as the Fireballs are discussed. Petty’s business operation and discovery of new talent is detailed, and information about his Clovis studio and the New York studio is described. The original echo chamber of the studio is merited as is the sale of sheet music. Vi Petty’s professional input and guidance is described. Norman Music and Dundee Music originated in the Studio in Clovis. The Norman Petty Foundation is initiated in Clovis in 1959, fostering benevolent missionary charitable work.

Songs and albums mentioned in the article:
Mood Indigo
Almost Paradise
Party Doll
That’ll Be the Day
Peggy Sue
Sugar Time
Since You Went Away to School
Compromise
Fireball
Torquay
Bulldog/ Nearly Sunrise
Moondreams
Songs for Christmas

Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher

Created August 17, 2023

Jay and Amy return after a protracted interval to explain and reveal some of the inner workings of building an analog recording studio with vintage vacuum tube equipment. Studio electronic noise issues explained and corrected, as well as mismatched impedance, loading by various amplifiers and interactions explained. How analog photography is similar to analog audio and sound recording. Debugging multi-track recording is underway. Overview of the podcast and rebuilding of the recording studio equipment. Vocal balance and audio compression is described. Rebuild complete of the mastering recorder, the Ampex 351 reel to reel, considered by many to be a “holy grail” of vacuum tube recording. Calibration test magnetic tape alignment and adjustments were made. Location and use of this mastering recorder is revealed. Debugging, testing, and arrangement of the multi-track capabilities of the Scully 280 eight track recorder has started. Discovered several Canadian musical groups that had recorded on the Scully, and master tapes were left with the recorder. Groups “The Happy Feeling” and possibly “The Guess Who” masters were found. Passive mixing of multi-tracks, track mixing, effects addition are explained. Discovery and rebuilding of a Langevin AL-4A mixer is detailed.

Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher

Created April 21, 2023

Discussion of the equipment upgrades, getting ready for the music festival and interviewing a large group of people. TRS/TS Input/Output panel wired into Control Room Patch Console from Studio A, with cable marking and identification discussed. Monitors, cabling and Altec speaker rebuilds described: taking a pair of poor 605A Altec monitors and rebuilding them to extremely fine high fidelity monitors with incredible sound. History of Altec monitors and use in recording studios.

 Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com 

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher 

KC Messick, Tres Morgan, Robyn Snowberger, and Marcy Anaya  and other members of the Clovis Music Festival committee met together to discuss the Clovis Music Festival, to be held April 14-15, 2023 at the Curry County Events Center. The event will feature Uncle Kracker and the Eli Young Band on Friday, April 14. Los Huracanes del Norte will take the stage on Saturday, April 15. They discuss the event with Clovis Connections Podcast Host Jay Fisher.

Click Here for the Clovis Music Festival website 

Engineered by Amy Fisher

Created March 2, 2023

Part 1: Guest Bryan Ellis with High Plains Sleep Disorder Center in Clovis, New Mexico interviews with Amy and Jay Fisher. Overview of legislative session and the Chamber of Commerce and upcoming bills and grants. Energy, taxes, oil and gas revenue in New Mexico are discussed. Planned obsolescence in manufacturing and long term durability are examined. Speakers, sound reproduction, and modern products are compared. Bias, information technology, and scientific method determines modern development. Personal productive drives and knowledge are related to success. Sound waves, pink noise, white noise and sleep stages are detailed by Bryan. 

Part 2: Bryan and Jay discuss electricity, its origins, usage, and applications in the modern world. Power generation with fossil fuels, solar, and wind energy along with their limitations are examined. Jay describes the massive foundational bases of concrete and rebar that wind generators are built upon and their damage to the soils, drainage, and longevity. Bryan describes technology interests fostered in education and the philosophy of learning. Bryan details the Clovis Music Festival and organization, the week after Easter, starting April 10, through April 15. Musicians Eli Young Band, Uncle Kracker, and Los Huracanes Del Norte are the main event performers with other groups every day of the week. Visit the Clovis Curry County Chamber of Commerce website for more details at www.clovisnm.org 

Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com 

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org 

Engineered by Amy Fisher 

Created February 14, 2023

Part 1: Bryan Ellis with High Plains Sleep Disorder Center in Clovis, New Mexico will return next week for a follow-up podcast. A new digital-analog interface is being used, hardware settings and glitches in electrical equipment, patch jacks, and TRS plugs are revealed. Five podcast mics are now in use, and an advanced interface. Vintage microphones in the studio are described and detailed. Volunteers with STEM and STEAM interest are requested. Blue collar opportunities and needs are examined during the computer revolution. DIY YouTube videos are humorously described.

Part 2: Studio building update: Studio monitor rebuild and repair is described, sources for acquiring vintage electronic equipment are identified. Jay describes reason and type of rebuild of vintage Altec recording broadcast monitors, and crossovers, frequency controls, and dividing circuits are briefly covered. Baffles, grill cloth, and tweeter operation are detailed, and the refinishing of the speaker cabinets is revealed. Cannon plugs, XL connectors, XLP, XLR, plugs, receptacles, designations and identification quirks are discussed.

Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher

Created February 02, 2023

 Part 1: Bryan Ellis is a Respiratory Therapist and a Registered Sleep Technologist with decades of experience, operating a physician and primary care-referred sleep diagnosis and therapy center. Bryan discusses insomnia of several types, sleep related breathing disorders, and sleep apnea. He  identifies mechanical problems with sleep, and the many issues that we have with quality of sleep, causes, and remedies. Bryan describes the process of sleep study and related care, and the sleep study environment as well as insomnia vs. respiratory and mechanical sleep issues. Sound and memory come into play. Bryan describes sleep onset insomnia and sleep maintenance insomnia and the distinctions of sleep cycles and stages as well as sleep paralysis. Brain wave frequency responses and ranges determine sleep stages, in extremely low frequency wave patterns, determined by EEG (electroencephalogram). Bryan describes how sound wave research is being done related to memory retention and access, using low frequency sound and pink noise input to the human brain. This fascinating research is leading to memory improvement and may play a role in the treatment of brain disorders of aging. Further discussion details acid reflux and its role in sleep apnea, as well as diabetic related sleep disorders. Bryan will return for a second part at a later podcast.

 Part 2: Amy and Jay Fisher discuss the Clovis Music Festival with future guests and information. Old, vintage electrical test equipment is described, and the need for testing, analysis, and repair of the analog studio equipment. Jay describes repairing and re-coning of early 1950s Altec 602-B monitor coaxial speakers. Altec 604 speakers were a recording studio standard, the basis of Altec’s most popular monitor speakers. Jay details linear air motors which are the basis of speakers, and basic electrical theory. The role of air movement is critical to sound reproduction. Voice coils, magnets, signal, and vibration reproduction creates the sound we hear. Jay describes alignment of the voice coil, magnet clearance, spider, cone, and speaker rebuild and assembly. Hybridization of the vintage analog studio with modern digital equipment is critical for operation.

 Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com 

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher

Created January 25, 2023

Amy and Jay Fisher discuss the restoration and operation of a 1950s-1960s high fidelity analog recording studio. Volunteering and the importance of offering service to others is unique and priceless. Time management and community service critical needs are revealed, and the Clovis Sounds Studio is asking for musicians and technicians helping in the studio build. Drive and internal motivation is essential to learning and teaching others. Inventory details, equipment, origin, source, schematics, and operation guides are required in the vintage studio. Sam’s Photofacts repair journals are mentioned; documentation importance, provenance, and scheduling is described. Comparisons to Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) are examined, as is training through Eastern New Mexico University’s communication department. The process of local music is briefly detailed and submissions by aspiring musicians are described. Early Buddy Holly failed recordings, prior to his involvement with Norman Petty are revealed. Importance of a sense of humor and play in musicians is examined. Jay’s and Amy’s musical history is explained.

 Further information, photos, and history of the project is available at www.jayfisher.com 

Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce (and the Clovis Sounds Studio): www.clovisnm.org

Engineered by Amy Fisher