Description
This Dolby 361 is out of stock. I have a similar Dolby 360-1 here
There is a setup guide for using this hardware here
The Dolby 361 was ubiquitous throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s. It was the standard single-channel Dolby mother unit, compatible with the original 1965 Cat 22 Dolby A card and the later Cat 280 Dolby SR cards. Every studio had a couple of 361s but they are now surprisingly rare on the secondhand market
As a double-ended noise reduction system, Dolby A encoded the signal and applied reciprocal decoding on playback. If the tape machine was aligned correctly the system was pretty transparent and gave a significant noise reduction, particularly at higher frequencies
Post-digital, Dolbys are obsolete except for archiving and for doing the Dolby Trick. Dolby A splits the audio spectrum into four bands, applying varying amounts of compression to each. Compression is level-dependent so, as levels rise, compression backs off. At higher frequencies, where tape hiss is more obvious and average signal levels are relatively low, a fair amount of compression could be used, resulting in a dramatic perceived reduction in tape noise & hiss
The Dolby Trick
The Dolby Trick uses the high-frequency compression of Dolby A as an audio effect. By encoding the signal, but not decoding it, it lifts the harmonics & airiness of sounds in an attractive way. It works like a charm on backing vocals but it’s also useful on guitars, drum ambience & etc
Used with standard Cat 22 cards the effect is most pronounced at high frequencies. By modifying the cards to bypass processing on each frequency band it’s possible to create different effects
I’ll have modified cards for sale soon
