Lyrics

Time, unimportant
Subject, Samuel Brown
Place, South West Institute of Mental Health

The subject, Samuel Brown suffered a loss of mental and physical capability after an accident at Magnetic Research Centre 2201

The face he now wears has a cold vacant stare of undue concern
You'll always see him staring; staring at the walls, and at the lights
A brain probe will be required

[Required?]

Survival probability will be low

[A door, yes, it's closed. Through sunlight I reach for darkness]

Begin the operation

[I remember, remember my wife (Samuel!), my life. Before, before 2201]

Brain probe now engaged

[I'm fishing; Released, I catch a clock. The time.My hand filled with ever escaping sand; knuckles white, yet I cannot keep a grip. Who, and where am I. Footsteps. Jenny's footsteps. I must retrieve her ring. No, it's somewhere in 2201]

Samuel! Samuel Brown. Can you hear us?

[What's the use? I want joy, not life, and problems, and 2201. A door, it's open, it's light. So much. I can't. A face? Jenny? No. Help. Help me! Help me!]

Follow me!

It's that time again - clean off the collected grime, service the bad parts, refresh the plugs and inserts.
Allen & Heath System 8 - I like the brown scheme. It reminds me of those early EMI consoles from Abbey Road. It is a warm colour, in tune with the warm sound this console has.

Knob Colour Scheme

While sorting out what knobs and caps are missing I can summarise the colour coding as follows:

Green = EQ
Brown = Aux send
Red = Level/Pan/Gain

Meters

To the VU meters. The SQ-10 meter is still being made by Anders, and is stocked by both RS (code 220-368) and Farnell (code 7758219).

Each one has an incandescent bulb to provide illumination. And they blow. And they're fiddly to replace. Channel 3 and 4 are bad but in view of the effort to change them I have decided that I can live with that.

Faders

Original Alps audio-taper K faders are available from Audio Maintenance.

Knobs, Buttons, Fader Caps

The knobs are non-standard parts it seems these days. So your best bet is either find someone who is parting out an old System 8, or get a similar vintage AHB mixer yourself as a parts donor. Same for the button caps and switch caps.

The faders have 8mm tabs, and you can still find supplies of suitable fader caps (see above).

Some history

The System 8 mixers have been around for many years, and were there at a critical time in British pop. Some artists that have or still use System 8's in their studios and productions.

Mungo Jerry apparently used a System 8 on the classic In The SummerTime hit
Martyn Ware of Human League and Heaven 17
Both The Devil and The Oscillation: From Tomorrow were recorded on a System 8 (in 128 formation).