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really small control rooms???

Although we seem to be outnumbered by a margin of at LEAST 100 to 1, there are still some of us who prefer to record bands "live in the studio," often directly to two track. Because of the way I work, the modern trend towards a huge control room with a small vocal booth is not an option. But financial constraints limit our ability to lease enough space to provide for two large rooms.

The obvious alternative is to layout our studio similar to 1950's era recording studios: a very large, open, live sounding room with a tiny control "booth". However, this is so totally opposite of any studio design that I have encountered over the past 20+ years, that I' m concerned that there might be valid reasons as to why there are no modern studios like this. (If it is only due to the fact that no one else wants to work this way, no problem. My concern is that there are some actual technical reasons why this "reverse" layout won’t work.)

I understand that a very small (+/- 100sf) control room will have limited monitoring capabilities; but a well thought-out nearfield system should work reasonably well. (Hell, they managed to make some great records in the 50's and early 60's when monitor systems consisted of Altec 604/612 cabinets nailed to the walls of closet-sized rooms.

From my perspective, it is the sound of the live room ends up on the recording, not the sound of the control room. Therefore, the majority of available resources should go towards creating the best sounding live room possible. I also understand that merely adding square footage to a room will not guarantee that it sounds good. But I think that everyone will agree that, all other things being equal, it is easier to record a live band in a larger room.

A couple of questions:
1. does anyone out there have any experience working in an old studio with this type of setup? comments?
2. does anyone know of any recent studios built with these kinds of proportions?
3. other than monitoring impacts, are there any other technical reasons why a very small control room wouldn’t work? (I’m NOT concerned about not having enough room for the whole band to hang out in the control room)
4. any other comments on the viability of this layout?

If there are solid reasons why no one has built a studio in 35 years with these room ratios, I'll have to come up with another plan. But I would hate to ignore this potential solution just because it is not fashionable.


Thanks.
steve
lex125@pacbell.net
digital? I'm still not sure about transistors....


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Topic - really small control rooms??? - hollywood_steve 18:37:06 03/04/02 (3)


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