My New All '70s Analog Basement Recording Studio w/Pics and Audio !!!

SongJohnn

New member
:)
Hey there everybody couldn't contain myself, had to share. Finally moved into a house that has a basement so my gear finally has a home and I can finally start building a studio.

The tape machine is Teac 80-8, the mixer is a Teac M15, and the tape is Scotch 203, all three items from the '70s no doubt. That is the heart of the sound I'm getting here: I slapped this together yesterday to see how the gear sounded: (please fast-foward 10 sec...takes a while to get started).



Track list:

8- Vocals micd by vintage Shure 545L)
7- Guitar (run through 1975 GK 250, micd by vintage EVRE16)
6- Flute (Micd by vintage Shure 545L)
5- Vocal (micd by vintage Shure 545L)
4- Acoustic guitar (60s Goya micd by vintage EV RE16)
3 - Bass (run through 1975 GK 250, micd by vintage EV RE16)
2 - Drums (1 overhead....vintage Shure 545L)
1 - Synth wind sounds ('76 Octave Cat)

The effect loop is through a 1977 Univox Echo Chamber


CONTROL ROOM:

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LOOKING OUT INTO THE MUSIC ROOM

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This is how the control Room looked 4 days ago!!!!

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STILL a work in progress. Any tips? I've never set a studio up before....I'm finding myself overwhelmed by all the instruments....cable runs.....placement etc etc. It's harder work than I thought!!!!!!
 
Wow! Sadly, no basements here in Texas, so my stuff is in the closet until I can rearrange my "office" to accommodate.
 
Cool basement! I'd probably "shellac" the walls or something like that. Hope it's not too dusty down there.
 
wow .... an old Shure Vocalmaster ....... haven't seen one of those in a while.


Nice room ...... it looks like it's gonna be great so congrats.
 
The comment about sealing the walls is a good idea.
Concrete ( and grout and mortor, etc) does something called "dusting" which means that it never stops shedding fibers.
You will have an unending level of dust in there unless you seal.
A simple acrylic sealer designed for concrete will do the trick.
It might be a good idea to power wash the walls and ceiling first, but that would involve taking everything out. You would also have to wait a few days for it to dry before sealing. If you rub your hand on the wall and it comes up chalky, you will need to wash.
 
I already have a two-track mixdown deck, I'm just still in the process of unpacking: (the serial number on this machine dates it to 1974!!!)

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As for the dust, It's true....but since I havent bought this home, I'm simply throwing tapestries over all of the stone walls (as you can see I've already started in the first picture). Thanks for the advice tho.....
 
Re: Basement walls. I have drainage issues, so I used some masonry sealing stuff. On another wall I just used some 'killz' as a sealer/primer coat then mixed a bunch of paint I had on hand which settled into a decent green color. Paint makes a big difference ont he overall "dampness" as well as the dust problem. I.e. the basement "feels" much better.
 
Here's a new recording I slapped together today , me on all instruments ...sounds much better than the first one I posted here....a little homage to seals and crofts:



1 bass drum
2 snare
3 two mounted toms
4 bass guitar (mic)
5 bass guitar (mic)
6 acoustic guitar (mic)
7 vocal (and toy piano)
8 vocal
 
That's a neat song there, mate. Nice tempo changes and I love the dreamy bit that just floats off into the ether.......
 
I like the vibe of your studio man! Very cool. I'm in the process of something similar myself; while I plan to sheetrock the main room, my control room is going to remain concrete on three sides. I think it creates a more creative atmosphere than 4 bland walls...
 
It actually does sound like a 60's/70's recording man, very cool.

I do think the overall sound can do with a little bit more deffenition though.
 
I just used some 'killz' .

not the killz..anything but the killz..LOL..

if it was the oil base version...


then man, the last time I used that stuff, I had on a POS mask, and ended up inhaling a fair amount of the fumes...when I realized I was getting goofy, and made a break for the door..i got outside and emediatly did a face plant to the sidewalk..LOL

good stuff, but dang the fumes are ROUGH....if it was the oil base that is..

that said..good work on the tune!!
 
Thanks a lot for all of the nice compliments. ChrisGhost - you're probably going to appreciate this: I made a new recording this morning with the gear and found myself with loads more definition:



Quite incredible really if you compare it to the sound clip I submitted in my very first post.

1 bass drum (vintage shure 545L)
2 underneath snare ('60s Electro Voice 664)
3 second rack tom (effect loop through 1978 MXR phase 100)
4 above snare (effect loop through 1977 Univox Echo Chamber)
5 blank
6 guitar (through 1978 MXR Distortion plus direct in the board)
7 synth, '76 Octave Cat (effect loop through 1977 Univox Echo Chamber)
8 bass (through 1960s Bogen Tube preamp out directly into the board)

Merry holidays to all!
 
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