Studio Build

[JDA]

Knock Knock..
" Hi. I got lost do you know where I could find " Sinclair's Rock Roll Recording Studio's?"
"Yes I was told it was down this street but...is there a sign out front?"
"was it the Madame Trudeau's Card Reading knock before entering door?"
"oh Ok I'll try that thanks'..

 

[Sinclair]

Hey Joe.
First..."knock knock"...smile you're on camera. Secondly you'll need to scan your retina using the scanner to the right of the studio door. Anyone not recognized by the retina scan, AND not on the daily recording ledger will be considered an intruder and dealt with swiftly by my crack security staff...UNLESS...
1) you have a bag of pot confirmed by drug sniffing dogs OR 2) carrying a bag of Old Stamp K's confirmed by cymbal sniffing dogs. In these two cases only you'll be escorted to the artists control room entrance in back.
BTW, my drones have detected you've parked in a spot on the street used by my neighbors son. You'll have to move it.

Actually we've finally started the test recording phase. My son who designed the wiring, patch bays, and integration of the analog board with the 8 track tape machine with the computer is now working full time at the studio for a composer who writes for TV and film. He's engineering at his very substantial home studio, playing guitar, bass even drums on some ques ...he's even written a few things and been in on meetings with the director and producers of these projects. Basically he's getting paid to learn how things really work. It's a great opportunity for him resulting in our timeline being pushed back substantially.

 

[Fat Drummer]

"Old Stamp K's confirmed by cymbal sniffing dogs"..... what a breed!!!

 

[Sinclair]

Attached overhead rails to the beams today. Two more to come. These make it possible to place any overhead mic for drums, a horn section or even vocals anywhere in the room without the need for a mic stand. The corresponding cables run up and over the beams instead of cluttering the floor. Really makes a somewhat small room feel much bigger.

 

[nomsgmusic]

Sinc,
That looks really good, it's been a long haul! I did a much lesser version of that overhead idea, but very helpful nonetheless. In the appropriate places above the drums I attached goosenecks to the beams above my drop ceiling in the drum room (I decoupled the goosenecks from the beams with foam) and poked holes in the drop ceiling , brought the gooseneck through the holes, and ran the cords above the ceiling. It does make the room much "bigger." You can see one of the Shure 81's in this picture "just hovering."

Anyway, congrats again, the room is looking great!
How do those dogs react to Monk's Ale and SCDR's?
MSG

 

[Sinclair]

How do those dogs react to Monk's Ale and SCDR's?
MSG

Not following ya here pal. Those cymbals are old A's.

 

[Houndog]

This is very cool studio . Hot Dang man !!

 

[nomsgmusic]

Not following ya here pal. Those cymbals are old A's.

1) you have a bag of pot confirmed by drug sniffing dogs OR 2) carrying a bag of Old Stamp K's confirmed by cymbal sniffing dogs. In these two cases only you'll be escorted to the artists control room entrance in back.

Sorry Sinc,
I was referring to this hilarious reply of your to Joe!
Pot... Monk's Ale
Old K's... SCDR

MSG

 

[bassanddrum84]

Any new update?

 

[Sinclair]

Any new update?

Well wall treatment is up. We got a rail system attached to the beams to hang boom arms for recording drums, horns or vocals, anything really. No large mic stands on the floor. Much less crowded and makes the room feel much larger.. Will be getting the Behringer headphone system so you can mix your own headphones to your liking. I've used it in other studios. Pretty cool and a big time saver.
Having a studio you quickly discover that thing are always evolving. Looking for used theatre curtains to draw across one long wall to quickly dry the room out even more or leave them hanging in the corner to brighten things up.

Have a solo acoustic bass player coming in Saturday. Putter Smith. Putter is 80 and played with Monk, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Art Farmer, Blue Mitchell and many more. He's decided to do a solo record. I've gigged with Putter many times and am excited to have him in. After that a French band I work with will finally be recording in February.

 

[Sinclair]

Recorded the great Putter Smith today. 81 years young and sounds like he's 35. Thirteen tunes one after the next for his solo bass record. Used his RCA 77-D ribbon mic from the 40's and some of our in house stuff.
A great day.

 

[TPC]

Awesome. Are you doing the mixing/mastering? I’d be curious to hear what mic’s/mic placements are in the final mix and why.

 

[Sinclair]

Awesome. Are you doing the mixing/mastering? I’d be curious to hear what mic’s/mic placements are in the final mix and why.

Probably mixing, not sure about mastering. He might do one more two hour session.
Here's a crop of the above picture. Four mics. The RCA 77D ribbon in front of the F hole. This mic by itself sounded fantastic. Two Shure KSM44 in front and a Neumann TLM103 on the black mic stand out of view. No direct out of the amp. Probably should have but... The amp was very low volume so it didn't really bleed into the other mics much.

My son had recorded acoustic bass only a few times before and had an idea about how he wanted to record it. What we heard in the control room was sounding pretty darn good. Will keep ya posted. Thanks for the interest.

M

 

[TPC]

The RCA 77D ribbon in front of the F hole. This mic by itself sounded fantastic.

Very cool. I always wanted to try one of those original “radio era” ribbons. They’re way out of my price range, for one, but …

99% of the time I record bass it’s live with drums, and the whole band, so I’m kind of forced to go direct, but that definitely loses something. Naturalness/immediacy?

Thanks for posting.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

Probably mixing, not sure about mastering. He might do one more two hour session.
Here's a crop of the above picture. Four mics. The RCA 77D ribbon in front of the F hole. This mic by itself sounded fantastic. Two Shure KSM44 in front and a Neumann TLM103 on the black mic stand out of view. No direct out of the amp. Probably should have but... The amp was very low volume so it didn't really bleed into the other mics much.

My son had recorded acoustic bass only a few times before and had an idea about how he wanted to record it. What we heard in the control room was sounding pretty darn good. Will keep ya posted. Thanks for the interest.
View attachment 598249
M

I got my mits on one of those 77d beauties and it does pure magic on pretty much anything I use it for. I am mainly a singer and have a high-register voice for a man, the 77 does a great job of rounding off any top end harshness.

I pretty much always have it on kick out and sometimes in mono room duties. I love the way you can exagerate some EQ moves with some "color/flavor adding units' and it always yields some useable and interesting sounds. Granted, I shoot for mood more than purity/accuracy, but still, AWESOME microphones...

Bet it works wonders on the double bass...

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

Edit:deleted useless/already answered question...

 

[TPC]

Two Shure KSM44 in front ...

^ I believe these are what you're referring to.

 

[DamnSingerAlsoDrums]

^ I believe these are what you're referring to.

Ooops sorry, I read a bit too fast I guess.

 

[Tyro]

Attached overhead rails to the beams today. Two more to come. These make it possible to place any overhead mic for drums, a horn section or even vocals anywhere in the room without the need for a mic stand. The corresponding cables run up and over the beams instead of cluttering the floor. Really makes a somewhat small room feel much bigger.

View attachment 593645 View attachment 593646

Looks great! Where is the rail system from? Been looking for something like that for my humble recording space too. Very smart!

 

[Sinclair]

Where is the rail system from?

I bought the raw materials (1/2 inch pipe and the connecters) painted it and installed it. Bought some Gibraltar drum clamps to hold longer mic stand tops.