What do you want to see in a recording studio ?

T_Kauff

Member
Hello to all,

For those here who record often, I'm curious as to what drummers would like to see in a recording studio that is geared up, just to track drums. What creature comforts, drums, cymbals and recording gear would you want to see? And please sugest anything that adds to your experiance during tracking. I'm serious about recording drums, and am looking to take things to the ultimate level. Thank you for your thoughts, and suggestions.
 
Engineers with 20 or more years experience placing microphones and making things sound good, along with microphones I couldn't hope to afford at the home studio.

Secondarily I look for interesting rooms that might add to the sound in a good way.
 
An engineer who's able to turn my sound into reality, speaks the language, and gets a great sound without having to compromise how the instrument plays or feels.
 
I want to see what very few actually have. A really good room - high ceilings, properly designed acoustics, lots of space.

Also - high end mics, a control room with a high end console and some nice outboard gear.
Pro staff with years of experience with many styles of music.

Anything less is just another home studio, which I already own, and almost every other musician I play with also own.

I have high expectations; I am an audio engineer , working in post production for TV and Film for 25 years.

But that's what makes a pro studio to me.
 
I want to see what very few actually have. A really good room - high ceilings, properly designed acoustics, lots of space.

Also - high end mics, a control room with a high end console and some nice outboard gear.
Pro staff with years of experience with many styles of music.

Anything less is just another home studio, which I already own, and almost every other musician I play with also own.

I'm with Neal on this. I miss the days when "going into the studio" was an event, where there was something very special about the space, equipment, engineer, etc., and the idea was to capture a performance, not just record parts and pieces to be manipulated later.
 
I want pretty women running their fingers through my hair as we lounge on the couch, saying, "That sounded so good! It makes me wanna dance!", and a producer with fat stacks of Benjamins he humbly offers me after each take.

That and a full flight of API, Audient or Neve pre-amps, funneled into an Orion 32 ADC without outboard affects, so the ladies and the producer can hear the exact sound of the drums in the room.

And microphones? Geez, that's a whole new thread.
 
Plenty of blow.


As for music related stuff.

Good room.
Good mics
Goos outboard
Good people who know how to use it from a musical standpoint.
 
The most important thing in any studio is the staff working in it. Almost irrelevant of the equipment. As long as it has a basic level of quality equipment and a half-decent room, I'd be happy.

I'm in charge of a very, very nice small studio with an Audient Desk, Pro Tools 12, etc. and I know it's very capable of a fully professional result. Not the biggest room, not the best microphones, no outboard to speak of but a highly capable studio nonetheless. I can get good results out of it but I know there are people out there that could get absolutely stunning results out of the studio. The difference? Experience.
 
Yes, experienced people who know how to get the most out of the gear is crucial. I recorded bed tracks for an album once with a guy using just a couple of ADAT's, some good mics, a nice board in a great sounding warehouse space. His results were absolutely amazing considering our budget. When it was sent in to get mastered before going to disk, the guy who mastered it completely mangled and squashed the recording. A real shame.

A great sounding room is key too, especially for drums.
 
In a studio it's about the room first, then mics and pre's. I don't care what the house engineers have done. I'm most likely bringing in an outside engineer. Most guys freelance so it's not really an issue. Also, I wouldn't care if they are well versed in many styles. If it's an aggressive Band I would want Kurt Ballou and I'm pretty sure hasn't made any jazz or classical recordings but for heavy music he can't be touched. I like engineers to be somewhat specialized.
 
For me it's an engineer who can get the most out of their equipment and knows their arse from their elbow.

Whilst a good sounding room is nice, some of the greatest songs ever recorded were done in lifeless dead rooms and had a genius engineer and producer behind it.
 
For me it's an engineer who can get the most out of their equipment and knows their arse from their elbow.

Whilst a good sounding room is nice, some of the greatest songs ever recorded were done in lifeless dead rooms and had a genius engineer and producer behind it.

Yeah, but not very inspiring to play in a room like that...
 
I miss the days when "going into the studio" was an event, where there was something very special about the space, equipment, engineer, etc., and the idea was to capture a performance, not just record parts and pieces to be manipulated later.

This is perfect.

I used to love recording and capturing music as opposed to just recording "parts."

I told the guys that I'm recording with that I want to do a live recording in my living room this fall. A big, wide open room, wood floors, high ceilings (11.5 feet), and we all record at the same freakin' time. None of this overdub BS. Let's just lay it down on a good take and be done. We should be able to do a whole record in a weekend without any issues.
 
I don't think I'm man enough to handle that.

i aint wasnt wernt wont isnt wlllbe neither either nor ... but the guys with the cajones big enough to do it are what i like to see in a studio ... <grin>

edit: cojones not cajones ... sheesh
 
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Yeah, but not very inspiring to play in a room like that...

Agreed but look at Abbey Road studio 2 (as was) in the 60s and 70s. Don't think The Beatles or Floyd suffered from lack of inspiration.

Fleetwood Mac had a different kind of inspiration in the 70s :)

Hitsville is a basement and Sun is a shop.
 
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