This mini conversation with Wade from Chandler LTD really sheds some light on the fact that he is just like you or me: a FREAK that likes gear and audio and Brad Pitt. Thats why I love his designs and support his super cool company!
Chandler LTD stuff really has the right personality to hang with the vintage stuff without seeming like it is trying too hard to be "vibey" or "vintage-ey". It just screams quality, and we have a bunch of the stuff at Studio G... The Curve Bender EQ, the Germanium compressors, The Zener Limiter, 4 channels of germanium mic pre, and I am probably forgetting something else in the rack... It is great stuff, made by a great guy. Check him out !!
Questions:
Who the heck are you? Well mostly Im just a kid from Iowa who has always liked music and sound. I started playing guitar in 7th grade and my parents bought me a Tascam Porta One 4 track in 8th grade (I big investment at the time!) and I have been recording and playing ever since. Nearly 30 years. I thought it was amazing that I had the "same setup the Beatles used"....a Four track! haha! Ah to be that bright eyed again.
Why do you make gear? What made you start making gear? I make gear because I love sounds and gadgets. As a kid I was fascinated by the guts of an old radio and that was multiplied when I started looking inside Neves and Pultecs! They were works of art in both the build and sound. What really got me into building was when I had saved enough money to buy 1073s. It was a life changer for me. I NEEDED more of them and just did not have the money to get them, so I searched the planet for as many spare parts as I could and started making my own modules from them. It was pretty crude but they worked and sounded great. I even hand etched circuit boards when I could not find certain ones that I needed. Drawing the traces out by hand and dunking them in acid. Was quite fun! The first TG1 circuits were done this way as well almost 20 years ago. It is a very dense circuit and I drew the circuit out by hand on copper board and hand etched them as well.
What piece of gear would you make if all the usual parameters were removed... like price point/physics/reality. Remove all reality and what would you want chandler to make? I think this is why I am now pursuing guitar pedal designs. Working with them seems to remove some of the restrictions life and physics put on us. Price becomes less of an issue because the circuits are simpler. Even some of reality is removed because with pedals even sometimes a wrong or terribly designed circuit can be amazing! In fact some of the things you would do to a guitar pedal are ideas that would never fly with a high quality mic pre for example. It brings me back to the feeling of being a kid and being amazed by gadgets and how even these smple circuits can be very effective and creative.
Would you rather be a unicorn or brad pitt? explain. Thats a tough tough questions....Im gonna have to go superficial on this on and choose Brad Pitt. Having been recently divorced I could use some of his luck with women! hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
What single piece of gear, new or old, do you think defines the word "quality" in pro audio? I dont think I could choose just one. There would have to be at least one per catagory! Like and old EMI for eq or pre. Or a 1073. For a mic I would say an RFT7151 or KM53 or 54. Guitar amps....A marshall 69-71, Watkins Dominator, Selmer. Quality has many meanings...Sound, build, thoughtfulness in the design. If I was to pick one thing that shines in all ways for me it would be the EMI TG compressor. The design is light years ahead of its time, thoughtful, intricate but elegant. The sound is like nothing else there is...For me THE prime example of what we all mean by vintage and colored. Im lucky enough to be involved in the circuit in some way.
Thanks, Wade. You rule.
Sincerely,-Joel
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