What the hell did they do at Abby Road studios ??

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gilwe

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A very strange fact is that every record I heard so far that has been recorded at Abby Road studios has an awesome and exceptional sound ! whoever engineer it was.

I can notice a great similiaruty in sound character for example between Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Renaissance's "Scheherazade".... I mean they sound very different of course, but both sound very gentle in sound character, don't knoe how to explain... there is something in the sound of both record that is very exceptional, all sound "silky", so clean and warm. In short - different... I find those recording sound's superior. Do you know what I'm talking about and how do you explain it ? This studio has made the best sounding recordings I heard so far !
 
Take a look...

http://www.abbeyroad.co.uk/

They've been at it a really long time... they have an insanely cool microphone collection (perhaps unmatched, or at least unsurpassed)... They have recording secrets and techniques that were developed before I was born. They have BIG BUCKS to work with.
 
There is no secret or trick to it. They have really well designed rooms, really well designed equipment, and really great assistants. Most of the people who are assistants in rooms like Abby Road and AIR are world class engineers in there own right. Add to that the fact that no one who can afford to make a record at Abby Roads is going to use an inexperienced engineer, and then all you need is good material and musicians who can play. No secrets, just a lot of work, and a lot of experience.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Most of their Engineers have Physics degree's........ Weird.

Thats what I'm studying.....
 
I dunno - the album Jackie Lomax recorded there - Is This What You Want? - was very interesting, and very Beatle-esque, but I didn't find it of particularly great sonic quality. Mebbe another listen is in order.
 
Light said:
Add to that the fact that no one who can afford to make a record at Abby Roads is going to use an inexperienced engineer
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That pretty much nails it. If you're doing a project at Abbey Road, then chances are, it's got sufficient financial backing. Not that having a lot of money to throw around will guarantee a good sound or anything, but it can't hurt.

Aside from that, technically speaking, what really seems to set Abbey Road apart from the others is their large, well-designed accoustic spaces -- which is what makes it so popular for orchestra and film scores.

I imagine they do a lot more of that type of thing than they do pop/rock, don't they?
 
Floyd and Abby Road

I just read something interesting about Pink Floyd and Abbey Road. Apparently they did every album up to Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road, but then built their own studio (based on AR's setup) for Animals and The Wall.

Now I can't really hear the difference in quality between them. So I would have to agree that it is the quality of booths, equipment and the band.

It could also be that the requirements for perfection in recording existed in the engineers at AR, and Floyd carried those perfectionist ideals with them.

All I know is every album from Abbey Road is killer on headphones.
 
i've heard that radio head did some of their recordings at abbey road, specifically the bends and ok computer. i don't know if that's true or not, but if so it adds to what's already been said about great albums being made at abbey road.
 
You guys should read George Martin's book called All You Need Is Ears. It's a great book, and will give you a ton of insights as to how a lot of the things were done.

For example: The original recordings that were done on Lacquer Masters....they had a WEIGHT that they had to crank up into the top of the building, and it fell at a certain speed that turned the turntable at exactly the right speed for recording! Gravity was the only thing stable enough at the time to guarantee that the turntable turned at exactly 78 RMPS!

Who in the hell would have thought of that except a physicist?

He said that you hoped that you got it right the first time, because nobody wantedto have to crank that weight up again! Hahahaha


The book is great...I've had a copy for years, and I love it. I don't know if it's still in print, but if it's not- it needs to be.
It's got some great pictures of Abbey Road.

They had a ton of space...it looks like the ceiling in the main recording room is about 30' high.
They had the whole band just in one room, with gobos all around separating everything.

That's the kind of studio I want to build. The converted garage served it's purpose - but I think Instead of just buying or building a house - I'm going to build a studio with a kitchen and a place to live behind it.


Tim
 
Re: Floyd and Abby Road

Senorklein said:
I just read something interesting about Pink Floyd and Abbey Road. Apparently they did every album up to Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road, but then built their own studio (based on AR's setup) for Animals and The Wall.

Now I can't really hear the difference in quality between them. So I would have to agree that it is the quality of booths, equipment and the band.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that Floyd's sound had a whole lot to do with whatever studio they might be using at the time.

Keep in mind who these guys were; a bunch of aspiring architects and art students, basically. Had they not gotten in to the whole music thing, they would have been designing buildings and other types of structures.

It's that mentality, actually, that I think has defined their sound through the years. And it definitely spilled over in their approach while in the studio. Given their background, the natural tendency would be to approach their projects from a structural standpoint -- starting with a foundation, filling in the gaps, etc. The whole idea of the 3-dimensional soundscape they strove to create with it all existed in their heads regardless of where they chose to record.

The Beatles were actually very much influenced by bands like Floyd in that regard, and I think it was one of those things that a lot of bands were trying to emulate at the time. And coincidentally, Abbey Road just happened to have a lot of those bands booking time around that particular era.


From that point on, I think the studio just sort of developed a reputaion / mystique do to the fact that those types of bands were recording there at the time . . . and a lot of it just happened to be some pretty legendary stuff, so people just kind of hope to have that "magic" rub off on them, I guess.

A lot of other factors might come in to play, also. You never know. Perhaps the more creative, 3-dimensional, abstract-type musicians are naturally drawn to and inspired by large, wide-open spaces. It seems like it would make sense. I know I think, work and even sleep better since I moved in to this rather "open" loft I've been living in over the past 5 years. :D


Willovercome -- As for Radio Head, I heard they recorded OK computer at that "Haunted Mansion," didn't they?
 
Good preformer + Tube mics, +anilog reel to reel + good engineer +good engineer = Good sound.


thats how the beatles did it anyway......
 
I always thought it was John + Paul + Ringo + George + George.
 
Neil Ogilvie said:
Most of their Engineers have Physics degree's........ Weird.

Thats what I'm studying.....
Click to expand...

Not all that weird... when you stop to think that it's the engineer who decides where to place deflecotrs, mic placement etc... they probably put the majority of their physics study into sound and acoustics and the like....

Tell ya one thing, I wish I knew more about acoustics. I'd probably be able to get a much tighter sound out of some of the acoustic stuff I'm playing with now...

- Tanlith -
 
ZEKE SAYER said:
Good preformer + Tube mics, +anilog reel to reel + good engineer +good engineer = Good sound.


thats how the beatles did it anyway......
Click to expand...


Say... speaking of the beatles, wasn't it one of them who invented the first multi track recorder?? I seem to remember hearing that somewhere...

- Tanlith -
 
tanlith said:
Tell ya one thing, I wish I knew more about acoustics. I'd probably be able to get a much tighter sound out of some of the acoustic stuff I'm playing with now...
Click to expand...


That's a great statement.

Can I use that ?
 
tanlith said:
Say... speaking of the beatles, wasn't it one of them who invented the first multi track recorder?? I seem to remember hearing that somewhere...

- Tanlith -
Click to expand...

I think it was Les Paul that invented multi track.

John Lennon invented the chours/flange effect, I recall.

Al
 
Couple of things. The main work for OK Computer was done at The Church and not Abbey Road.

Second thing. Here we come into the key area's of "disagreement" regarding recording and the use of acoustics. I grew up recording in places such as the old Polygram / Philips studio in Holland, Abbey Road, Island, The Manor, the Church (altough the latter was later), and grew to love those places. At the same time I grew to hate most "new" studios build after the mid '70's and in particular ones on this (the US) side of the ocean.
Why? Very simple. I learned to record in LARGE rooms with a live acoustic sound. You achieved the sound quality you wanted by means of listening to the instruments / amps, positioning them carefully within a room, choosing and positioning your microphones carefully.
THAT is what you hear in, for instance, Abbey Road recordings. Good recording techniques, in a sound acoustic environment.
Unfortunately, since then, people thought they could do "it" easier / cheaper by creating dead spaces, recording dead sounds, and creating ambiance later. The result? Nothing sounds natural.
The above is exactly the reason why the studio here has been built within a "dutch barn" structure, which provides a good balance between space / volume and uneven surface to record sound naturally.
If you are interested I could post some MP3 samples of the effect you can create through recording in a good sounding live room.
 
tanlith said:
Say... speaking of the beatles, wasn't it one of them who invented the first multi track recorder?? I seem to remember hearing that somewhere...

- Tanlith -
Click to expand...

i think it was john that was the first one to use a 16-track multi recorder.
 
If you are interested I could post some MP3 samples of the effect you can create through recording in a good sounding live room
Click to expand...


Interested !
 
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