Revitalizing a Studio from 1965!

[Jules]

Holy sh!t that looks great!



Good luck with it

Change as little as possible - thats my advice

Are the live areas permanently available to you?

Can you track drums without disturbing anyone?

[babooino]

wow! great place! i would keep it all original! but maybe a 8tr 1" ?

[loopy]

Originally Posted by Jules

Holy sh!t that looks great!



Good luck with it

Change as little as possible - that's my advice

Are the live areas permanently available to you?

Can you track drums without disturbing anyone?

You just ain't whistling Dixie!!!
I agree a zillion percent.

[PRobb]

First of all- YIKES!!!!! THAT IS FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!!
I'm with Jules, don't touch it. The whole point seems to be that you are offering something unique, and people who want it will be drawn to it.
My concession to the 21st century would be a pro tools rig so people can take the work they do there elsewhere, and bring in projects for overdubs.

[Greg Dubuis]

What a great place!
Change as little as possible.

How is it possible to have a place in this state after 47 years?
Everything looks like brand new...

[Ostrong Audio]

Thanks for the ultrafast responses!

We want to leave it as original as possible but we need to make little updates to make the studio "workable", still I have installed 16 channel direct outs using original non-used connectors to make the update as soft as possible. We have 16 Channels but only 9 channels are fitted with the Line-Inputstage (I do have Original WSW Linestages from a other WSW desk), there are no permanent cables for bringing a headphone-mix into the recording hall, there are 16 inserts but only 2 at a same time are selctable, for drumtracking we only have the max. of 4 tracks,....
This are some limitations that bringing us to some problems.

@ Jules: The live room is more or less permanently available because we are also the lessors of the rooms So when the recording hall is not rented by somebody we have full access
...and we dont disturb anyone when tracking drums but actuall the room is too big for drums, we are thinking of a curtain (was installed in the 1960-ies) for making the room smaller or for making a second room for this. Of couse we dont have more than 4 tracks for drum tracking.

@ PRobb: Protools was also our plan to make us compatible to the world

David
In house technician at Casino Baumgarten

[nnajar]

yeah put in DAW facilities so people have them, but do not change the room at all! There are so few rooms like the old days. That live room is unreal fabulous.

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Ostrong Audio

... the room is too big for drums, we are thinking of a curtain (was installed in the 1960-ies) for making the room smaller or for making a second room for this.
In house technician at Casino Baumgarten

What about tom height sound baffles "gobos' / screens to go around the kit?

the signal into the mics in some large old rooms sounds 'close' (not much room sound)

If you just put a mic on the snare and one in the kick

Do you hear much "room sound" in those mics? Or do they sound 'nice and close'...

Have you seen the drum umbrella?

Drumbrella.

[Philip S Bova]

It must really feel like going back in time machine being in that control room. Please never change anything. Amazing! How could this studio remain unchanged for almost 50 years?

[Ostrong Audio]

@ Greg Dubuis: The Fairchilds weren´t powered since 30 years, the other gear was also less used for their age,.... The studio was built when the Austrian Schilling was cheap for the US-technicans. And the studio was fully book by US-Producers, the Austrian currency becomes less cheap and the studio becomes less booked. The original owner sold it in 1978 (I think) and the new and still owner Preiser Records used it since than. More at the beginning and less at the end. The last in house technican was retired many years ago and the studio was less and less used. There was also some home occupation of the live room but as a fortune they dont access the control room.

Now we try to bring a quite unique studio back to life

David
In house technician at Casino Baumgarten

[Ostrong Audio]

We have a big amout of Gobos but all in very very poor condition (some are dangerous for musicians), we are at the beginning of our work. We think about "Overhead" Gobos to place over the drumset.
The retired in house technican has said a loud/fast drumset isn´t recordable in the recording hall, he work their since end of 1950ies. Also some other engineer had problems in the last years (they recorded with their own gear). I need to make some test recording, the first C37 is working proper since a few days, all at the beginning

Never heared of Drum Umbrellas?

Never change anything is a good idea but this is impossible, this means also not to change the broken selen rectifiers against silicium, tubes needs to be changed,....... we need to make little changes to keep the studio alive, without making the studio earning money it will become a big not working rusty piece of iron......

David
In house technician at Casino Baumgarten

[Unclenny]

Ooohh......

Whoa!!!

I think I just.......never mind.

[Drumsound]

A 16- or 24 track deck would be nice. Don't let anyone turn on Pro Tools until after tracking to make digital backups! Build a munch of movable gobos to "tune" the room as needed

[babooino]

hmm i think i posted about that studio before! is it the same one?

Analogue Studio of Preiser Records - YouTube

[Dpro]

I have to agree with Jules as well. Keep that place as original as possible. That is just amazing its like a time capsule.

[Ostrong Audio]

Yes, its the same room, I havent seen your thread before. If you have any questions on the desk just ask.
In your started thread there is a post with an error, the summing IS germanium transistor on the groups/masters but NOT at the aux-summing, this is tube summing in this particular desk.
All this desk where custom modified at the factory from a standard scheme. Because of this our desk has no PFL but it has "meter follow audio" switch, meter +20dB switch and off-tape-listening possibilitys.

David
In house technician at Casino Baumgarten

[rocksure]

Wow amazing! Like stepping back in time. Love it!

[Red Mastering]

live recording room is really impressive

[Herc]

that looks fantastic!!! - Casino Baumgarten looks like the studio dream come to life

All you plans sound great - cosmetically I'd remove the table at the back of the control room and the cupboard on the side wall, a lick of paint on the walls and some hangings / mood lighting / floor covering and some fancy chairs.

But hide your PT rig and have a flat screen with curtains that can hide it - that place is too beautiful to corrupt with modern gear in one's face.

thankyou for the tour

[monkeyxx]

wow.

wowowowowOwOwOWoWoWoWow

[DavidChampoux]

Wow... My dream studio!! Love your 7x M269!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just add a 2" 16 tracks recorder and you're done! (modify the console in order to be able to use inserts and line ins on every channels). The studer could be used at mix down for additionnal FX, etc...

Congrats man!!

[Bob Olhsson]

You would not be able to work 16 track with that console but it would be wonderful for Pro Tools with 16 channels of top quality converters.

We used C37s at Motown. Beware that the transport buttons are very fragile even when they were brand new. You can remote control the machine which will extend their life considerably.

[Makinithappen]

That place incredible. Thanks for sharing....

[Rolf Fiesel]

oh my God !!! time dose stand still...sometimes its worth checking facebook
speachless !!!!

[radiovoiceone]

Beautiful studio, fabulous gear.
If you're going to add digital stuff, put it in another room or in a closet.
The only things I like about digital audio is editing (beats the hell out of splicing tape) and the fact that playing the recorded product doesn't cause sound deterioration such as occurred with tape or disks over time and in making dubs.
As for the sound, it's getting better but there's still nothing like good old analogue gear with tubes.

[Rikharthu]

Originally Posted by Herc

a lick of paint on the walls and some hangings / mood lighting / floor covering and some fancy chairs.

Nooo...don't make it into a modern 'moody' studio. Keep it clean and professional, just like it would've been back in the day. That's a large part of the charm, I think. But yes, keep that ProTools rig out of sight! And definitely go for a multitrack and some gobos-on-wheels. It's very inconvenient to not be able to move things around.

But by all means, don't pander to a modern audience. A PT rig is already pushing it, but I understand that it can be useful now and again for overdubbing and such. This is a niche. Exploit the **** out of it.

Look at us, telling you what to do with your studio. But seriously.

[Makinithappen]

Tear all that old garbage out and turn it into a HD6 + ICON room. Put a bunch of big screen TVs on the walls too!

[GPl]

Nice! Good luck and have fun....

[Bob Olhsson]

Originally Posted by Rikharthu

Nooo...don't make it into a modern 'moody' studio. .

Indeed, studios took a giant step backwards with that stuff in the 1970s. Recording should be a real occasion for people to rise to.