The first stereo analog recorder in Nagra’s range. An icon among sound recordists, film and record producers. The unique texture of a Nagra IV-S is still unparalleled and some demanding customers still use it today. The Nagra IV-S is the recorder of many sonic reference recordings like the iconic: “Jazz at the Pawnshop”. Once the microphones were set out, all that was needed was to connect them all up.
In those days there were no multi-cables, so Gert Palmcrantz had to lead all the eight cables from the stage, past the bar and through the kitchen to a little nook between a refrigerator and a pile of beer-crates where he had built his makeshift studio: a Studer mixer, two Dolby A 361 noise reduction units and two Nagra IV-S recorders which he used alternately since the seven-inch reels only lasted for 15 minutes at 38 cm/second. He rose the U47 microphones slightly in the treble. The audition was made through two old Ampex monitor loudspeakers with built-in amplifiers.
Gert Palmcrantz has described how it sounded when he later listened through the first test reel.
Jazz at the Pawnshop recording story: link.
Video about the IV-S:
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