R/E/P > Terry Manning
Please tell me about Daniel N Flickinger
compasspnt:
Dan Flickinger was to me a very odd duck. He was two things at once: 1) a brilliant audio technician who was in some ways quite ahead of his time (or at least he had someone somewhere who was); and 2) a snake oil-selling con artist.
At least one of his consoles was installed at Stax for some period; I don't remember if it was more than one, and for how long it stayed. One may indeed have been at Fame, but I'm not actually sure about that. They did have a pretty decent sound, as I remember. But there was always something too showy and odd about them for me.
Then Dan came to our old, original Ardent Studio on National Street, probably in about '67-68 or so, and cornered me privately. He offered me a large bribe if I would go to John Fry and talk him into buying one of the Flickinger consoles to replace our SpectraSonics/Auditronics. I was quite taken aback by this; and it left a very bad taste in my system. Of course the money would have been great to have, especially back then as a very young, struggling musician/engineer/producer. But I threw him out, and went to tell John the whole story. This then "got around" in the Memphis community, and Dan's presence there diminished somewhat. I heard a few years later that he was sent to prison for some fraudulent activities. Now this whole offer thing may not have been as bad as I thought at the time; I guess a "finder's fee" bonus might not have been such a bad idea, if everyone knew all the facts, and made their decisions based upon them. But that wasn't how Dan approached it. He was secretive, and implored me to be so, and to lie if necessary for money.
So since then, I have kept the same thoughts; I don't care how good his equipment is, or was, I wouldn't use it.
Terry
Fig:
Hi there,
I saw the name Flickenger and had to read the thread.
Just wanted to note that I grew up on a Flickenger 20X20X44 at 9 East Huron in Chicago. I really enjoyed learning on it and using it.
The equalizers were quite amazing (even if the detents pointed down - toward the operator - pan knobs were like this, too).
It was built in the days of 2" 16 track and was very proud of the fact that it had 20 inputs (four more than you need). Of course, the 2" 24s came out and then you were four short.
The tape return section (which had 24 returns, BTW) had panning for quadraphonic and gates on the inputs. Even the input, selsync/repro selections per track were avaialble on the console.
Its my understanding he made 'em one at a time and would custom config them as the buyer wished. I guess that's true of many a console maker, though.
That device got moved to Fulton Market, in Chicago, where it still resides - if I'm not mistaken. Its been a while since I have visited.
Here's a pic of the beast:
fclayton:
Just curious.... does this sort of thing happen often?
And what about simple endorsements?
BTW Although it's belated.... hope you can stick around as moderator.
electrical:
I will go to my deathbed claiming Flickinger consoles are the best sounding mixing desks ever made. Period.
I have worked on several, and in good repair, they have the best bass and the best high-end of any desk of their era. They crap all over anything built since. Slightly noisy, but that's a small price to pay.
There is a perfect-condition 24x8x24 at Black Box, a remarkable studio near Angers, France. I have made several dozen records on it, and I would gladly make all records on it.
The best.
RMoore:
Funky looking console - very 'Star Trek', 60's style..
Gotta love that push button routing matrix off to the side!
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