Studio without a control room.

[domjohnson]

Hi there,

First off, I'm a complete noob - please bare with me!

Later on in the year, my band are going to begin recording in our rehearsal space, which is a garage that's separate from the house. Because of the size and other practical limitations, we will not have a control room of any description - everything, including the mixing desk, will be in the studio.

Is there anything that is very different from a setup with a control room that we need to know? Anything we need to be aware of?

Thanks,

Dom.

 

[Sky Blue Lou]

I would say no. Obviously if you guys are your own engineer/recordist/producer you don't need to be concerned about a non-player having to be in the room all the time while you play. Are you going to try to record "live" or will you be doing individual parts and overdubs and such?


lou

 

[c7sus]

Turn the monitors off before you hit the record button and turn the mics down before you hit the playback button.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Visual Studio Express (VSE) is a freeware version of Microsoft's Visual Studio development environment toolset.

Spare me Mr. Clueless.

 

[stevieb]

Visual Studio Express (VSE) is a freeware version of Microsoft's Visual Studio development environment toolset.

Yeah, so? Really, why are you telling the OP this? He does not even say if he is using digital equipment- for all we know, he's using a Cassette PortaStudio.

OP, it is perfectly possible to have the console and the band in the same room. When we recorded bands last summer for the Rock n Roll summer camps, limitations of the facilities at the colleges we were at was such that we had to do that- and it worked out just fine. Here are some of the things we did to deal with it:

Csus is right- not gonna repeat what he said, only say that we did that, too.

Use more dynamics with narrow pickup patterns, to minimize bleed.

Go direct with bass and keys.

Put bass and drums fairly close to each other, and accept the bleed from one to the other as just the way it is.

If you have 2 or more guitars, put the amps/cabs right next to each other, but as far away as reasonable from bass and drums. Accept the bleed from one guitar amp to the other as just the way it is.

Track the whole band at once, EXCEPT vocals. Have your vocalist almost whisper during instrument tracking, just to help everyone know where the song "is."

KICK EVERYBODY OUT OF THE STUDIO, except the vocalist(s), yourself and your mic tech (if you have one.) Then, track vocals separate, with headphones and a condenser mic.

These recommendations are based on having a dedicated engineer- frankly, I think it is well worth it to go that way, rather than someone trying to play both musician AND engineer, if you possibly can. Reading between the lines of your post, it seems to me that you are not in a crunch to record, and probably know someone who will serve as engineer for you. Keep practicing while you find him/her. And, really, a seasoned engineer may well be worth his salt, as he/she will know how to keep you moving forward- a BIG mistake studio noobs often make is "composing in the studio-" even if the pay clock is not running, that sort of thing can bring a session to a grinding halt. A seasoned pro will not allow that to happen- or at least, remind you that you are paying him by the hour...

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Is there anything that is very different from a setup with a control room that we need to know?

Absolutely.

1. In a one room studio, the engineer, be it one of the musicians or a non musician, must monitor the sound in the room over headphones. In a separate control room, the engineer monitors over speakers. The whole point of monitoring over speakers in a separate room is so the engineer can hear the COMB FILTERING(amongst others) that is occurring in the studio. Also, monitoring over headphones is difficult because headphones will bleed the actual sound in the room into the headphones. Once the tracks are laid, you get what you get. And the only way you will know what is on the track is when you playback the tracks. It can be a very hit or miss proposition. Especially with bass and drums.

2. A room that is designed for Control Room acoustics is entirely different than the live room. That's not to say it can't be done in a one room studio. It's just very difficult to get a recording that will TRANSLATE to other systems/rooms when monitoring over headphones, especially if you are playing music and engineer at the same time.

The fact is, MOST home studios are one room affairs, and this is done all the time. It just takes time to learn how your room affects the recordings, and adjust your monitoring judgements/mic placements, treatment placement etc. until your recordings translate like you want them to. One word of advice. I would build some gobos, and portable treatment devices to change the room from a live room affair, to a control room affair when it comes time to mix. Unfortunately, every room/setup is
different and without the luxury of testing your room or even knowing room dimensions and your monitoring setup geometry when mixing, it's impossible to give you any feedback on how to do this for your room. Maybe if you post a plan with dimensions, we can offer some other advice. Until then, the only advice I can give you is read this:

RealTraps - Placing RealTraps

RealTraps - Ultimate Home Studio


In fact, I suggest reading everything on Ethan's site. BTW, Ethan Winer is a member here too.

 

[domjohnson]

Hi everyone,

Thanks very much for the kind responses.

Unfortunately, we won't be able to afford an engineer (though it would be good!)

I'll try and post dimensions and a rough plan etc ASAP.

EDIT: It will be done as a live recording, though we'll certainly experiment with StevieB's suggestion of doing the instruments and vox separately.

 

[jhbrandt]

+1

You will probably want to add isolation into that mix... Do you have neighbors near? How quiet is your neighborhood? The answers to these questions can help you determine how mush isolation you will need. There are other helpful articles on my publications page.

Cheers,
John

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

You will probably want to add isolation into that mix

John hit it on the nail head. But just to keep from wasting a bunch of time...what is your budget? And do you own this place?

 

[Supercreep]

Hi there,

First off, I'm a complete noob - please bare with me!

Later on in the year, my band are going to begin recording in our rehearsal space, which is a garage that's separate from the house. Because of the size and other practical limitations, we will not have a control room of any description - everything, including the mixing desk, will be in the studio.

Is there anything that is very different from a setup with a control room that we need to know? Anything we need to be aware of?

Thanks,

Dom.

If the room is treated, the only thing you'll have to worry about is taking a little longer to audition sounds before you commit to them. Record a little, listen a little, move a mic. Rinse, repeat.

I get very good results from a single room.

 

[Jeff_D]

If the room is treated, the only thing you'll have to worry about is taking a little longer to audition sounds before you commit to them. Record a little, listen a little, move a mic. Rinse, repeat.

I get very good results from a single room.

Me too. If you're the musician AND the engineer like a lot of us are around here, a single room can be very practical.