Posts Tagged ‘recording studios’
Radiobu
Feb.24.2010
A beautiful personal recording space designed by Russ Berger Design Group. Radiobu is an 1,100 square foot production space that supports multimedia.
The studio consists of a main control room, a large glass recording booth, a machine room, kitchenette, bathroom and lounge. It houses a Digidesign Icon D-Control console along with a large collection of vintage recording equipment and instruments.
The Mixing Room
Oct.13.2009
The Mixing Room is a facility that features two identical — except for the color — 5.1 surround sound audio post-production suites. Designed by Wes Lachot, the rooms feature Pro Tools HD3, C|24 consoles and monitors by Blue Sky.
Love the design work by Wes Lachot.
Charleston Sound
Jun.20.2009
Charleston Sound is a high-end studio located in Charleston, South Carolina. The studio was designed by Wes Lachot Design. The control room features a custom API recording and mixing console that features 56 API 500 series slots, 32 channels of API equalization, 32 API microphone preamps, 40 mix down inputs, and extensive patchbay and routing capabilities.
Eastwest Studios
Apr.19.2009
An impressive renovation of this landmark recording studio. Located in Hollywood, the Eastwest Studios have worked with artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to The Rolling Stones. The live recording rooms were built by legendary engineer Bill Putnam in 1961. The front desk is a very cool design. I hope those were not vintage instruments. More photos of the renovation here.
Chalice Studios
Apr.08.2009
Chalice Studios in Los Angeles houses two SSL 9000 J Series consoles in Studios A and B. I really like the look of the live room in the last photo. Very relaxing atmosphere.
Grayson Matthews
Jan.18.2009
Grayson Matthews is an interesting facility in Toronto. The studio has a nice look and feel. Another great design by Pilchner Schoustal.
Home Studios
Feb.12.2007
Always interesting to see how some people set up recording environments in their home. Most home studios are pretty poor places to record music. The biggest issues are inexperience and acoustics. The gear is a factor but talented engineers can do some pretty amazing things with very limited resources.
I came across this site. The control room looks like a typical basement recording rig. Not sure how I would mix in such a space. Hard, reflective, square spaces are quite unfriendly. I guess the main speakers on concrete blocks provide some level of acoustic decoupling.
The drumset is pretty impressive. I suppose I am old school. The cables, although colourful, are a mess. If I ever laid cables like that in a commercial facility, I would be fired.
Best Recording Studios in the World
Dec.28.2006
At the request of many folks who follow this blog, I have created a photoset at Flickr with pictures from some of the recording studios profiled in this blog over the years. The photoset can be found here.
Types of Recording Studios
Nov.23.2006
I was talking to a friend of mine last night about recording studios and rate cards. He was trying to figure out what a reasonable rate card would look like for someone’s home studio.
Recording studios can be divided into 4 categories:
- Top-tier
- Mid-tier
- Project
- Home
Top-tier studios are easy to identify. The rate card is typically $100/hr and higher. You are generally paying for world-class acoustics, design, personnel, equipment and related services. Cherry Beach Sound in Toronto is an example of a top-tier studio.
Mid-tier studios can offer similar capabilities to a top-tier studio. However, some elements of the studio, usually the equipment, are not as expensive as the top-tier studios and the rate card goes down accordingly. Rates might be in the $60/hr and higher range. Lydian Sound in Richmond Hill is an example of a mid-tier studio.
Project studios are usually independently owned and may or may not operate as a commercial facility. Producers, engineers, and some artists may establish such project studios. Generally they can compete well in terms of capabilities with the mid-tier studios. They are often located in a home. The rate card, if applied, may be similar to a mid-tier or even a top-tier studio. They are significantly different from a home studio in terms of construction, acoustics and equipment. Some of them look and perform very similar to a top-tier studio. Tim Mosley’s personal studio is an example:
Home studios are odd beasts. Some are very rough. With very limited budgets, there is little if any consideration given to acoustics. Equipment is very low-cost and the range of equipment is usually quite limited. Recording experience is random. A home studio is set up as a hobby but some people try to make money with their low-cost home studio. Here is an example of a home studio:
What is a fair rate card for a home studio? Personally, I would buy a computer, some recording software and hardware, and a dynamic mic rather than pay someone to work out of their home studio. I would wind up spending about the same amount of money and probably achieve a similar quality of recording.
I have collected pictures of some of the most stunning recording studios in the world and you can travel through the set by clicking 
