Going to a studio to try out some gear...

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XLR

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Bear Creek Studios is in Woodinville, near Seattle. Anybody know of the place?

I'm going to try out some hardware EQs, maybe compressors and limiters also, just for comparative listening on files I've tracked of nylon and steel str ac gtr. Just educating my ear since I've really only used Waves-level plugins and never found an EQ I like. They've got some nice gear.

My main plan is to EQ files in several particular ways that I often do (or imagine I would do if I had better EQ :( ) And along with listening there, burn the processed files to CDR for listening on my home system where I can compare to EQ's I'm familiar with already. Any suggestions for the comparison process?

Tim
 
Love the studio in a barn idea. Don't step in the horse dung.

Edit:All it looks like these guys have are Orban and UREI EQs. For the hourly rate I assume you're spening on auditioning these eq's, you could just buy them off ebay, and sell them if you don't like them.

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chessrock said:
Edit:All it looks like these guys have are Orban and UREI EQs. For the hourly rate I assume you're spening on auditioning these eq's, you could just buy them off ebay, and sell them if you don't like them.
Click to expand...

I agree with this completely. They don't have a big enough selection of eq's to really make it worthwhile, in my opinion--unless you are specifically considering those eq's for your own studio. If you are just looking to get an idea of what a range of eq's sound like, this would probably not be the place to go.

If you are not paying for the time, then I say go ahead and check out their place. But if you are buying time, then bring an instrument (or voice) and use the time to record for a couple hours, then put in another couple hours with the eq's and compressors. This way you actually walk away with recordings, something for your money.
 
Thanks Albert and Chessrock. I actually am interested in those particular EQ's. I also realize I understated my interest in compressors/limiters of which they have some nice ones, and I'm taking a couple elec gtr tracks too. Sorry to be misleading, was in a rush. I'm getting what I think is a very low per hr cost and just going in for 2 hrs.

Tim
 
I should also say that I think it is an excellent thing you are doing. Nothing beats listening to gear in person, and by auditioning the gear you will be way ahead when it comes to knowing if it right for you.
 
Thanks Albert.

I just got back from Bear Creek studio. It was very much worth the visit. They have a lot of gear not mentioned on their site. The EQ's I used were the Neve 1064, Trident A range, Focusrite ISA 110 and the EQ built in to their Trident TSM board. I also ran a couple of elec gtr tracks through an LA-2 and Urei 1176.

I processed 12 tracks in just 2 hrs - the staff was very efficient, patching gear in and out and explaining to me the features of each unit. And their Genelec monitors and control room acoustics were top notch. A great experience. I'm looking forward to comparing the files on my home monitor system tomorrow.

Tim
 
Tim, I am interested in your thoughts after you review the files. I am about to go down the LA2A or 1176 road myself. Plugins are just not getting there.
 
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Right, so what are you going to buy? Do you really need to compare on your own monitors? I usually know within seconds if a particular piece of gear appeals to me, if it will help my sound. I'm sure you must have had some first impressions while you were in their studio.
 
This is really one of the best ideas I've seen in ages.

You're contemplating taking the plunge and buying some serious outboard gear, but you don't know for sure what it's going to bring to the table, and what kind of benefits you'll get out of it compared to what you're currently using.

So to make sure you're comparing apples to apples, you bring in some of your own tracks and have them processed with their gear ... so that you can take the tracks home and compare them to what you could have done yourself.

Makes absolutely perfect sense. Timothy, if I could, I'd give you a medal.

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