studio update 8.2.2010

so it's time for another studio update. i know it's a couple weeks late, but in mid july i went into the studio with a band from Illinois named The Ashland Project to start tracking drums. I usually go to Darkhorse, but they were booked out for the weekend. I actually ended up getting a rare treat by being able to track at the Quad Studios (www.quadstudiosnashville.com) A room. the room is outfitted with an 80 input SSL 9000 J console and what's even more impressive, an incredible tracking room. it's been a couple years since i've been at this place, but i've always remembered how great the drum room sounded. i've changed the way i do things since then so i was excited to come back and try some new things out.

Here's the console....mission control.



what's ironic is that this console has 80 channel strips. that's 80 channels. and theoretically, you can bring in another track on the small fader so really, 160 channels. even with all my drum mics and scratch tracks i was only using about 15 of those. overkill? yes. but it still feels good. haha

They had a bunch of neve 1073 mic pre's so of course i had to use them.



although i used these for mic pre's, on some of the channels i ended up using the console EQ just because it's a lot more precise and better for carving out the sound. those neve's only have one sweepable band and two shelving EQ's as opposed to the SSL's fully parametric EQ.

The rest of the pre's i used were console pre's and this vintage API unit.



i don't know much about the history of API, but apparently this was one of the first incarnations of the famous mic pre's according to the studio.

and of course, some distressors. this will be my next purchase.



but like i said earlier, the most important element to a good drum sound (other than the drums and the drummer) is a good sounding room. this studio actually has a vaulted ceiling with adjustable acoustic paneling to control how live the room gets.



as you can see, the whole room is covered in wood paneling which has acoustic properties much more palatable to your ear than typical drywall. that curtain on the left isn't there so much to keep light out as it's there to deaden that wall when closed. the room mics in the foreground are Neumann u67s in an XY pattern as i've been using them lately. what you can see are the Coles ribbon mics behind the camera. i've only use those mics one other time and i really love their smooth sound.

and speaking of those mics, i've been messing around with compressing room mics lately. i've had some success with the Amek 9098 stereo compressor at darkhorse. Quad had a Neve stereo compressor. Rupert Neve also designed all the Amek gear so i figured it would be similar...



maybe i was using it incorrectly, but i couldn't get the same sound. i mean, it sounded fine. it compressed, but not the same crunchiness from the 9098.

monitors at the studio are always tricky. i never really know how the drums turned out until i get back to my place. and they actually turn out pretty good. that's all for now! talk to you all later.