What do YOU like to see in a studio?

[crying1986]

Vibe, high end gear, great instruments, console, plugs, rare mics, amazing room, clean work environment, easy patching, intelligent house engineer...?

I know all these things would be preferred, but what makes you choose one studio over the other?

I look for vibe and an easy layout of some decent gear. There are so many places that have such strange wiring that it makes it a pain to try and use anything other than what they have "patched" in at the time.

[thepilgrimsdream]

The room is 1. It is the biggest factor when the right talent is involved.

Of course the environment has to be somewhat inspiring too.

I also love to see that there is a beautiful console with some sweet outboard knobs.

Of course classic tube and ribbon mics.....

I don't care what instruments most studios have besides maybe a Hammond b3 and some classic keyboards. I, as a guitarist have my tone that I get out of my rig. A nice snare drum collection is always nice. And an ampeg svt or fliptop is expected

[George Necola]

Good coffe and accurate monitoring in the control room.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Gearslutz.com

[nspaas]

+1 on the good coffee.

[robertshaw]

analog tape preferably an A827 or ATR-124
lots of good converters to bounce the analog to Nuendo
a nice iso booth big enough for drums
lots of API312s for drums a couple Neves for room mics/oh
mics I don't care I bring my own
lots of Nice eq.... GML, Pultec, Neve, focusrite

NO DIGI DESIGN HARDWARE!!!!!!!!!
NO RME CONVERTERS!!!!!

[Yetti]

1) Most important is an experienced engineer.
2) Then affordable rates.

Great rooms, great gear, but when it comes with a young staff engineer who "has a great ear" did keep my bands looking for an affodable option with an experienced engineer who knows what he's doing.

[PdotDdot]

A 9 Foot Concert Grand - preferably an old Steinway or a new Yamaha.

[VT-MHE]

A big ass console!

[crying1986]

Haha wow...quite the array of answers. I dig it.

[Slikjmuzik]

For me to go to the studio and track as opposed to mine, it would be better pres, which would be hard as I have Daking, Neve, Burl, etc...better outboard(more high end comps/EQ), better conversion(I have Lynx), better computer(strong/faster), better monitoring(using Adam here). Lastly, the engineer or the person mixing has to be better than me, but also not too much more expensive than what I charge. I think James Lugo is doing an awesome thing with the mixing online service he provides and will offer it to clients quite a bit in 2012.

I feel I'm at a point where adding anything nice puts me at the short end of the spectrum with regard to the law of diminishing returns as it's completely possibly to create a mix that is completely professional with what I have.

[erikdrink]

I like wood on the equipment and green plants plus a retro chair!

[craig9045]

I look out for lots of things.

Room
Basic Equipment
Engineer (whether he/she is a nice person)
and continual hot drinks is a key!

Calenders of attractive females allways seem to go down well in some of the studio's i've visited lol. A little random i know but anything to lift morale!

[psycho_monkey]

Good assistants.

The gear that is in the room works ie good maintenance.

Accurate monitoring.

Good sounding live rooms.

A solid computer rig.

Anything else I can live with/work round.

[Slipperman]

A sea of paying clients.

SM.

[Atak]

No cellphone reception. Nothing to take me away from the studio vibes

Sent from my MOTWX435KT using Gearslutz.com

[andrebrito]

Good acoustics

Relaxed environment and a nice sofa !

[robstercraw]

Originally Posted by craig9045

Calenders of attractive females allways seem to go down well

i used to work for this studio where anytime a big name client would come in, the owner would hire a bunch of hot chicks to just sit around in their underwear. I never complained!

[dualflip]

A well treated room and an analog console. Doesnt have to be the best console, i just hate it when studios dont have a console....

[Salivan]

Originally Posted by robertshaw

analog tape preferably an A827 or ATR-124
lots of good converters to bounce the analog to Nuendo
a nice iso booth big enough for drums
lots of API312s for drums a couple Neves for room mics/oh
mics I don't care I bring my own
lots of Nice eq.... GML, Pultec, Neve, focusrite

NO DIGI DESIGN HARDWARE!!!!!!!!!
NO RME CONVERTERS!!!!!

Man, seriously, why do you hate RME so much ?
I mean, it looks like whenever you have a chance you want to destroy RME reputations, I've seen a lot of threads that you are saying RME sucks..

I really want to know why, would you mind telling me ?

[Pies]

Good sounding room, good converters and good mic locker!

[CJ1973]

Cubase 6, AMS RMX-16, Publison Delay. )

[fastlanestoner]

I'm all about the vibe! You can really push yourself/your talent better when the vibe is there. Everyone feels it, and it definitely transfers to print.

[Ernest Buckley]

Originally Posted by crying1986

Vibe, high end gear, great instruments, console, plugs, rare mics, amazing room, clean work environment, easy patching, intelligent house engineer...?

I know all these things would be preferred, but what makes you choose one studio over the other?

I look for vibe and an easy layout of some decent gear. There are so many places that have such strange wiring that it makes it a pain to try and use anything other than what they have "patched" in at the time.

Having been around an assortment of studios, I would say that the space is usually a reflection of the person running the show. So for me, its really important that the head engineer/owner have a tidy space. Knowing that things are where they need to be and that sessions are run in an orderly fashion tells me a lot. The studio can be a daunting place at times so its really, really important to me that the place is clean, tidy and ready to go at a moments notice. Digging through drawers for the proper cable is big no no and mojo killer.

[crying1986]

I'm happy to see that i'm not the only one who cares so much about the vibe of a place.

[Janne19691]

In addition to the obvious nice things in the studio i would like to see comfortable lighting.

I remember many years ago i was recording a local band's CD release and the studio had small pointy halogen spots in the control room above console and racks and nothing else. Now, that kind of lighting is a trigger for me to get migraine attack and i had it almost every day there. Luckily my attack doesn't bring headache, only the visual harassment and i usually get over it within 30 mins.

Probably, in addition to lighting the studio had I would prefer some reflected and even lighting in the working area.

[sonick909]

1) talent/ vision
2) charisma / knowledge of engineers/producers
3) environment
4) gear

I'd rather have someone using average gear very well, than wonderful gear in an average fashion.

[Ernest Buckley]

Around two years ago I was looking for a studio to record drums in but also needed enough room to fit my band because I was going for a live sound. Anyway, I trek over to Hoboken, NJ to visit this studio (not mentioning any names). So I get there. Really nice place and the smell of fresh coffee was so inviting! They had good gear so I was pretty sure this was going to be the one!

Anyway, the engineer welcomes me to the space, invites me into the control room and we start chatting while he proceeds to sip some of that fine smelling coffee. I was there for a good hour(!) and not once did he offer me a cup of coffee.

Anyway, I left and never went back. The point is that a studio can have the greatest vibe, great gear but the engineer is clueless in the hospitality department. Running a studio is first and foremost about service and many people forget that. Its really not about gear.

[toneguru]

A great room, a wide variety of instruments and some cool amps, and very short clean cable runs (no patch bay).

I can bring my own gear in.

[Kessler_Audio]

A warm and welcoming atmosphere. A place that pretty much says you're in good hands working here. The engineer is professional and friendly, the gear works great and if and when it craps out the engineer or another member of the staff knows how to fix it. Being a musician and an engineer I like to know that when i'm recording something with my band that the engineer(s) will know exactly what to do.

[Croaker]

Originally Posted by Ernest Buckley

t. Running a studio is first and foremost about service and many people forget that. Its really not about gear.

service #1...by far. Although service with nice gear can be fun too! oh yeah and somebody that knows how to use the gear they do have.