XQP BC22 Monophonic Recording Console

Under Construction

The XQP BC22 Monophonic Recording Console finished apart from wooden enclosure, 2-23-23.

The XQP BC22 Monophonic Recording Console is a custom, one-off contraption not for sale in stores and likely never again repeated. It was designed and built for the recording of audiobooks in a purist environment, which is to say with only one microphone, no mixing whatsoever, and not in stereo.

The major significance of this console is its imaginary great-ancestor was the forerunner of the Dane #31 Optical De-esser and all subsequent XQP modules. The idea was conceived back around 1994 while casting about for a console that would be appropriate for a studio having only one mic (or using only one mic at a time), no mixing, but with a full compliment of control room and studio monitoring, talkback, slate, alignment oscillator, and so forth. The full collection of this stuff was not available on consoles less than $10k at that time. These days it is probably not available for under $100k. It is not really available on monitor controllers for that matter - not to the extent it is on large-format consoles.

The XQP BC22 internals, minus modules. The power supply is in the center flanked by two motherboards that support the modules on either side.

For years the idea of the console was never taken beyond the occasional incomplete block diagram and napkin sketch until May, 2022 when Dane began in earnest working on it, having suddenly felt the urge to proceed with conviction. Nine months later (about the usual time frame for new people to be produced, as I understand it) the BC22 was complete except for a wooden enclosure and legs. Once the new woodworking shop was completed, the enclosure, made of red oak and some plywood, was built.

The XQP BC22 jack panel temporarily attached to the old trunk on which the console was sitting before the oak case was constructed.

The BC22 is modular in a way not generally considered typical. The right-hand bucket holds the channel input, beginning with a mic preamp that allows for quick comparison of two mics, a 4-band EQ, an optical compressor, a de-esser, and a fader. The left-hand bucket is the master section including 1kHz oscillator, cue mixer, monitor module with CR and studio outputs, and a talkback/slate module. A 41-segment meter resides in the top center panel, along with a small VU meter, an ammeter reading the main power supply (excluding phantom power), and a shockmounted talkback mic. The lower center section is a script panel, designed to hold an iPad or equivalent tablet, thus the USB jack.

The BC22 does not yet have a studio home, but that is planned...