Ok so where the heck to record drums in Sydney

[aside]

Electric Ave - gone
Megaphon - gone
Festival - gone
Paradise - long gone...
Rhino - longer gone......

Looking for:
- somewhere with a large live room, on the more lively side that is. I guess in the vain of the four deceased above
- good console (a real one with knobs and stuff) or plenty of outboard pres and eq, maybe even a working and labelled patchbay
- Pro Tools HD
- don't wanna have to bring half a studio worth of mics and outboard
- stuff works
- not 301

Any ideas guys? Looking a bit dire in Sydney these days

[Manning]

Mine is acoustically finished but not cosmetically (ran out of cash). So it sounds great but looks like a construction site. Hence we're not "officially" open until I find the cash to finish it off. (As many know, I got sidetracked building a home studio).

The main room is 8 x 5 metres with 3.5m ceilings.

Beautiful early 80s Auditronics 740 console (RIck can vouch for it, he knows it well), working patch bay, loads of good mics (8 Bees Neez, Neumanns, etc) and lots of valve goodness (Fearn pres, pultec eqs, that sort of thing).

All runs into a PT9/HD2 rig (24 physical inputs) on a 2010 Mac Pro.

Downside - we're as far from the Sydney CBD that you can get while still technically being in Sydney. Also, we're in a converted duck barn (hence the name). It's a great building, but from the road it looks like... well, a duck barn.

[Chris H]

Chris V at Linear? :
http://linear-recording.com.au/

[Drumstruck]

sounds like a good incentive for someone to build (finish?) a drum room in their Sydney complex

A guy near me has a really nice sounding drum room (well, my drums sounded nice there) but he's about 2.5 hrs from the city..... has a sony desk and PT I think, but I'd have to check what outboard and mics he has now. I can send his details if you're interested.

[Linear]

How about Blackfoot sound? Or Origami? Rancom St Studios?

There's also The Brain and Jungle studios, Gigpiglet or even Trackdown.

I think the state of studios in Sydney gives you some indication of how difficult it is to keep a large recording space open in one of the most expensive cities in the world (and not be half way to Canberra). I for one cannot believe how many days I need to be booked per month to cover expenses (rent/public liability/electricity/maintenance).

That's why most studios are smaller, owner/operated, smell-of-an-oily-rag types.

I wished I had a bigger space - but the numbers just don't add up.

Chris

[gigpiglet]

hi anton.

yes gigpiglet is certainly available..
(thanks for the shout out chris)

we have two fairly large rooms (though not HUGE!)
one is a bit more on the classic dead side, and the other is much more lively, where our piano sounds great, and many engineers have been doing drums (even though thats not what the room was intended for)

big desk 56 input DDA console
plenty of outboard (neve, UA, distressors, dbx etc)

ive found the "niche" we usually fit into is people coming to track their bed stuff (drums etc) and then doing to do the rest in their home studio
or having done everything at home, coming to "finish" and mix at our place

we arnt 301 and dont pretend to be.
but we do have great rooms and great gear.
current/ recent clients include the likes of Boy and Bear, Josh Pyke, Boyz Noise, Passenger, RUFUS and many more.

please shoot me an email if you would like more details or pop in and have a look
gareth@gigpiglet.com.au

[peat]

Don't forget the humble DGS:
www.damiengerard.net

The room has been there near 30 since it was built by Phil Punch.

[aside]

ok thanks boys, am chasing up a few leads I wasn't aware of before

[Clay]

Happy to help.....
www.thebrainstudios.com

[ChrisW]

Let us know what you go with.

[rick]

Err
Well I have all that stuff you mentioned in your
First post sitting in my shed waiting for sanity
Or insanity to say f@#$ it just do it Rick.

Plus I was at festival plus I used rhino alot and electric ave and megaphon
And .. And .. And

Plus ... Plus .. Plus

So I know exactly what your are talking about Anton
And I lament and dream about the studios of days
Gone by

But

My drum room isn't even started little lone finished
The 40 channel neve isn't plugged in little lone
labeled on the patchbay for its new home

And for the record .. Rhino was $2500 a day in 1990
And they still had to close shop because they could Not
Turn a profit !
and inxs just wanted to record the next record
In Milan which made owning a studio that loses money
Not a good idea ( they owned it )

So here is an idea

Lets get a group of say 8-10 producers to guarentee
They will track drums at my place next year on let's say half
Of their projects .. At ..

I dunno $1500 a day ?

And I will put some walls around my stuff
And open a tracking room with the best classic neve
Australia has ever had
And a mike stand for each microphone in the studio !
And everything will work and sound right ..
..
I promise
--
Until then I think we all have to work on reality

.. I don't think the big studios have gone to open
Up a great oppurtunity for anybody

.. Running a big place in Sydney or anywhere
Is actually just about too hard .. It always has been
Now I am wondering if it actually is too hard

.. Well .. Just about

[obutcher]

At Jungle we have a pretty decent size live room, that can sound VERY live if needed.

Updated gear listing at http://junglestudios.com.au/
I just noticed it still says there is an SSL on the front page, which isn't there anymore, but the list under 'Gear List' is accurate.

[Drumstruck]

..... a tracking room with the best classic neve
Australia has ever had .....

See - that's why I thought of you sir - imagine how good this would sound in your room:

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/9910326/NGR%20side.jpg

[rick]

Looks like a wooden space station to me

[Drumstruck]

haha - touche - and too heavy to achieve liftoff ... spruce goose is already taken, let's say newguinea rosewood goose

[aside]

ha, cheers Rick - of course we all want a big room, but want it to be available for peanuts! To the posters here and the PM's, thanks, I am chasing you all up albeit slowly.

Hey while I'm at it, what are the general opinions on what a 'large drum room' means to you guys. For me, I guess over 50 sq metres and > 3m ceiling, and something happens after you clap your hands. Trackdown and 301 main rooms are way too big, seems there's nothing in between?

Maybe "I'm dreamin" ...

[NathS101]

hey rick, I'm in

[Chris H]

.........

Hey while I'm at it, what are the general opinions on what a 'large drum room' means to you guys. For me, I guess over 50 sq metres and > 3m ceiling, and something happens after you clap your hands. Trackdown and 301 main rooms are way too big, seems there's nothing in between?

Maybe "I'm dreamin" ...

For the home studio side of things, the open plan lounge / kitchen area of my former mud brick home ( dang, wish i didn't sell it) was a great example. Bay windows, high timber lined gable ceilings, jarra tramway blocks on a sunken floor, with a step up timber floor of the lounge and timber floors in kitchen/dining area. Natural / neutral sounding, with reasonable diffusion provided by the variety of surfaces ie; mud bricks timber lining, curtains, carpet rugs, tramway blocks etc.

For a professional studio then the Thirkle designed rooms for me are an ideal to aim for. A short reverb time of the room is designed to be flat, frequency wise, and the room has hermoltz resonators built in to tune the room. No parallel surfaces, good diffusion with selection of wall linings etc.

[aside]

by obutcher » Mon Mar 18, 2013 9:03 am

At Jungle we have a pretty decent size live room, that can sound VERY live if needed.

Hey Owen - your place looks nice, roughly what size is the main room?

[The Tasmanian]

..............

[chribble]

Chris, there are also some great swimming pools in Sydney.

[ChrisW]

Next.......
Which is the best commercial studio space for small room or drum booth kit recording?

[Kurt]

Somebody's project studio/spare bedroom?

Next.......
Which is the best commercial studio space for small room or drum booth kit recording?

[Drumstruck]

Somebody's project studio/spare bedroom?

Next.......
Which is the best commercial studio space for small room or drum booth kit recording?

Now you're gonna start a landslide of offers

[ChrisW]

Somebody's project studio/spare bedroom?

Actually no. There are several factors at play here.
You still need an outstanding mic cabinet, and great mic/pre's or console.
The main factor in our small room drum sample product was an amazing EMI TGI console and a few of the standard 'go to' drum mics, like D12's, U67's, Coles and 421's.
With a project desk and project mics it would have been a completely different sound. Not necessarily worse, but likely not 'the best' imo.

[Kurt]

Going by the gear that people on this forum talk about I think there'd be a few that would be close that level.

Mine's not!

Somebody's project studio/spare bedroom?

Actually no. There are several factors at play here.
You still need an outstanding mic cabinet, and great mic/pre's or console.
The main factor in our small room drum sample product was an amazing EMI TGI console and a few of the standard 'go to' drum mics, like D12's, U67's, Coles and 421's.
With a project desk and project mics it would have been a completely different sound. Not necessarily worse, but likely not 'the best' imo.

[jkhuri44]

TR-808
....

sorry, couldnt help myself, carry on

[ChrisW]

Going by the gear that people on this forum talk about I think there'd be a few that would be close that level.

I agree. Which is why I asked.

[blackfoot]

Ok , I'll take the bait. Blackfoot has 2 rooms we use for drums. Our larger room (35sqm) is my favourite but David Nicholas ( he's recorded Diesel & Baby Animals here) likes the smaller room (25sqm) which has a tighter , brighter sound. The Quad Eight desk loves drums! It sounds great when it's idling & fantastic when it's driven hard. We've got a classic mic selection with all the usual suspects. The monitoring is a hearback system with isolation headphones. In the control room we use the large Tannoy Ardens for punchy tracking . Our secret weapon is Billie the Malamute. She loves drums & acts as an infinite baffle. Sometimes she resonates but not very often.

[ether]

I definitely thought I heard some Resonating Malamute on the last Baby Animals record