Recording studios. Some studios make you feel warm and cosy. Others feel like hospital operating rooms. Either way, they’re designed with one thing in mind. Recording noise. EMU is no exception. From my early observations it’s not only designed to record noise, but it’s designed to encourage the recording of great noises. It’s very well laid out with computer labs with M-Boxes and G5’s lined up, several smaller recording rooms, a large control room decked out with ProTools HD and a Control 24, top quality microphones and a large floating room for use as the main recording space all just crying out to be used creatively. Speaking of the floating room, it is completely isolated except for the roof. Since the roof is not isolated, the stomps of dance practice leaks down to the studio from Floor 6. (Mental note to self. Check the CASM timetable for their dance rehearsals.)
A problem I see is not wanting to ever go home. Well, maybe not that extreme, but I’m sure the alocated studio time will just fly by when the recording session is underway. Since I can’t comment on the acoustics of the room as of yet I’ll comment on the aesthetics. My first impressions of the studio spaces were clean lines, openess, but a little sterile. Some nice wood panelling would warm it up, but it is a class environment after all and the small nitpick on my behalf is probably unwarranted. Especially since I haven’t heard any sounds recorded in there yet. One area that may be problematic is the focus on primarily digital recording. Yes, digital recording has taken over everywhere in the world although I think it might have been nice to have the opportunity to learn a little bit of the old analogue skills. I'd just love to record through an old Neve one day. After saying that though, I do have a lot to learn about digital recording so I should probably shut up now. It’s unfortunate for current students that a lot of EMU’s analogue gear has been put away for historical reasons, but it is good that these pieces of equipment are being put away for future generations to appreciate.
Another thing I did notice is that I keep stumbling on an incline leading into the doorway of the main recording space. Even though I know it is there, I keep tripping on it. Perhaps some sort of marking like yellow tape could be put in the corners on the floor. Perhaps that has been considered. Perhaps it is not needed. Perhaps I’m the only idiot that has managed to consistently trip on it. Who knows. Recording studios. Here’s looking forward to recording some noise that makes me feel warm and cosy.
1 comment:
Great first blog, Freddy! I suggested CASM timetable be displayed outside Peter's office where the booking sheets are. And good points about the analogue equipment. EMU caters for other things outside being a recording studio, one of those being as a repository for rare analogue (and digital) equipment it seems, and tis indeed regretful we can't make noise with it (or not often).
I not used Neve gear (familiar with name) but get a warm and cosy feeling when I think of splicing reel to reel tape (the Revox actually had a splicing block on the face of the player so you could splice when the machine was lying down, straight off the active reel). And the Nagra portable reel to reel recorder was industry standard and may still be in use here and there on some film locations because of their reliability and durability (guaranteed to operate in temperatures subzero to subtropical and you could just about throw one against a wall). They started to disappear from film when portable DAT became more reliable in the field (less than 20 years ago), but still a fantastic machine.
Check out the beast in the bottom right corner of this link to get an example
http://www.nagraaudio.com/
click on the pro link and they still have a whole range of reel to reel for radio! Well, blow me down! But plenty of digital - I guess it was that or downsize or go bust at the time.
Might have a look at the Neve site and see what they're up to.
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