x
anonymous 6 January 2005

Is it possible to open up a new section that is dedicated to pictures of studios? I saw in another thread people asking for pics of Kurts studio... Not only would I like to see his studio, but everyone else who has some pics handy. Or maybe we could just start posting pics in this thread, i dunno. I dont have any pics yet because I still dont have anyhting set up, but as soon as i do, Ill post up a pic. What do you guys say?

Comments

LittleDogAudio Thu, 01/06/2005 - 21:46

Yep, that's an old MCI 636.
I mostly use it to monitor Protools and setup headphone mixes, and also heat the room.

The big monitors are Tannot DMT-12's. I've had those since they first came out years ago. I love them.

Did you go to the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe Ohio? I know they still run an MCI.

Btw, Mci's make great boat anchors.

Cheers,

Chris

bobbo Fri, 01/07/2005 - 08:52

re recording workshop

Did you go to the Recording Workshop in Chillicothe Ohio? I know they still run an MCI.

Yeah, I went about 3 years ago, they had 2 of those consoles in two of their studios. I really enjoyed using those consoles, I liked the eq. and the built in patch bay. Theres nothing like mixing on a board without going through different pages for input faders, track fader, aux send, etc.

Bobbo

JoeH Fri, 01/07/2005 - 10:37

Chris, that's a great set of pics, and a great looking studio! (I remember MCI gear, and that console, too! I've worked with JH-110 1/2 track machines, 1" 8 track, and the big monster, the 2" 24track as well. HATED those internel molex connectors that were always intermittant!)

But the name of you studio is the coolest. (Magnetic North....) Is that taken from a line in a RUSH song (from the "Hold Your Fire" CD) or does it just refer to the compass point?

In the 80's, I worked at MagnetiK Productions in Center City Philadelphia. (Spelled with a K, deliberately.) My own studio was in my home, much farther north of the area, and we dubbed it "Magnetik North". But by the time I went indie, it was a different name for different reasons (Weston Sound), but I always liked the idea of calling a place "Magnetic North"

Glad someone is using it! So VERY cool, indeed! ;-)

JoeH Sat, 01/08/2005 - 09:15

Don't go away MAD, Sidhu...... :twisted:

Actually, one could learn a lot from this collection of wizened geezers. (that means ME too... hehehe)

My first live sound gig was for Ray Charles in 1976, although I'd been doing stuff right out of HS in 1973, so that makes me FIFTY this coming July. (Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggg!!!! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?!?!?!? I remember Lava lamps the FIRST time they came out! I look upon Henry Winkler now in horror, remembering what he USED to look like! Dont' even MENTION Farrah Fawcette now....Linda Ronstadt??? Aieeeeeeee!!!!!!)

Actually, it's really not that bad. My ears have survived intact, I'm in better shape now (Atkins & excercize) than I was 15 years ago, and I've got gear that no one dared DREAM about 10 years ago. I can work out of my home studio and do things even the best record labels couldn't do 20 years ago. (oops, there are NO MORE RECORD LABELS now anyway....)

Like a lot of guys on here, one of my strengths is having worked in BOTH the analog and digital worlds. And THAT, my young friends, is something we'll always have, that Sidha should hope for: EXPERIENCE. Heheheh....

Keep on rockin', all us old farts out there! 8)

Sidhu Sat, 01/08/2005 - 13:28

In America, "Blow Me" is a way of saying "i really like you"

But ofcourse ! :D

We have similar expressions of fondness here too.. only there in hindi and i wont bother...

but to tell you ppl. the truth, I record and mix in this small 2 room place that i rented mid last year. No acoustic treatment. No great pres. No great converters. No great mics. Nothing actually. But shit loads of stuff that you guyz teach me. And im already building a reputition.

Thank you.

AudioGaff Sat, 01/08/2005 - 14:04

Well, us old farts might not no longer have our twenties, but we have had our twenties, our thirties, and our fourties for some us and that just gives us that much more experience, skills and old school education that make us and what we do now have a higher value.

You poor youngsters are not very likely to ever know the joy and thrill of what great analog sounds or sounded like, or how the many hours of intensive labor that we put into getting the right sound at the source without having to over process something to death after the fact is what makes us laugh and cry as we pitty the young and the clueless alike stumble their way through the recording process hell bent as well as obsessed on having to buy and or use the"magic" piece of gear that is gonna make it all perfect..

Davedog Sat, 01/08/2005 - 14:30

Well said old gaff-fart....

The 2" spinning off those notes in a (usually) insanely loud and yet pristine way....Ah yes...the Westlakes kranked up to pain level...distortion? not on your life! The old Urie 813's bouncing around in the soffitt....The hours spent trying to get the 16 track heads to align....The holes in the 2" from the edits....The smell of the Ampex shedding....the HEAT from the console and rack...

Yeah.....you young farts will never know this stuff....Daddy digital has made it way too easy for you...

Hey Don....sempatico?

JoeH Sat, 01/08/2005 - 14:39

Ah yes, Dave! I loved the smell of oxide in the morning. Or warm tubes, as they radiated in hot bakelite-sockets - as well as heated the room.

I'll never forget (unfortunately!) the hours spent aligning two track mastering machines, or last minute bias tweaks when a client brought in an a tape from another machine, or another formulation. I'll never forget discovering CAIG tech spray, and how just a molecular-sized coating did miracles on bad switches and pots.

And how 'bout getting nicked and cut with straight-edged razor blades and editing blocks? Grease-pencil markings on the back of Ampex 456, rocking it back and forth to find the edit points?

Ooooh, or waiting around for REAL TIME transfers, instead of 2-minute CDr burns at 56x. (Hey, wait a minute, this isn't sounding all that GREAT anymore! Hahahaha)

I totally embrace digital and all its done for us, but NO WAY would I ever trade what I've learned from analog, the first time around.

Sidhu Sat, 01/08/2005 - 14:50

AudioGaff wrote: Well, us old farts might not no longer have our twenties, but we have had our twenties, our thirties, and our fourties for some us and that just gives us that much more experience, skills and old school education that make us and what we do now have a higher value.

You poor youngsters are not very likely to ever know the joy and thrill of what great analog sounds or sounded like, or how the many hours of intensive labor that we put into getting the right sound at the source without having to over process something to death after the fact is what makes us laugh and cry as we pitty the young and the clueless alike stumble their way through the recording process hell bent as well as obsessed on having to buy and or use the"magic" piece of gear that is gonna make it all perfect..

:(

We try too, u know. I had a guitarist loose his temper the other night cause i wud not stop fidgiting with the mics... I told him to leave if he soo pleased. :evil:

and he wasnt paying by the hour either...

bobbo Mon, 01/10/2005 - 15:09

re

I've played around with 2" tape, and I used a tascam 4 track for about 2 years (when i was 15) before I went digital. It was a good learning experience and I know all of you older folks have lots of experience, but when I'm your age it will be the same thing. There will be some new format for recording, like to air or something crazy like that. then all of those young kids wanting to record will be like, you what you used to record on a harddrive, or better yet they will say, what the hell is 2" tape.

I don't care what format I use, I just use the best in my budget. I don't want to have to realign tape heads and clean them before use, and calibrate each tape input every so often and buy expensive tape reels that only hold about 15 minutes at 30ips, just to get that little bit extra harmonics. I am kind of glad I missed out on the tape days, the new digital realm lets me spend more time on mic placement and preamp compressor setup and cutting and pasteing and punch ins and such. Even though punching in is not looked upon as good, but hey it is easyer now and if someone hasn't practiced it enough yet to do it right each time then we have an easyer and clean way of punching in. Plus a room size issue, I can have a 24 track recorder and mixer in a smaller space than having the reel to reel and a huge analog mixer with patch bay, and in some cases having a whole seperate room just to isolate the tape machine from the cr. That is old technology that is being upgraded with quieter, smaller, cheaper storage formats, less cr space needed, etc. Thats my take on it and I know some of you are going to say "well 2" tape sounds way better than digital, and digital is steral sounding and this and that", but hey I've heard old recordings from like the 20s-60s and such, they sound good FOR THERE TIME but this is now and we have to make the sound for our time, plus I have heard recordings on digital that I like waay better than something recorded analog, just has that cleaner neater sound.

just my opinion

bob

x

User login