What "makes" that big studio sound?

[daxliniere]

What would you say is the one, singular thing that makes the difference between a small studio sound and a big studio sound?

a) Analog tape (well maintained or otherwise)
b) Great mics
c) Great preamps
d) Analog summing
e) Good mastering


Perhaps someone would be kind enough to convert this to a real poll?


All the best,

Dax Liniere

[Martinez]

A great engineer!

[PeterR]

good sounding rooms

vibe

[PRINCETOWN]

a band or artist that can play

[norm]

MONEY! and lots of it.

[Mark Bassett]

You see the problem making a 'real poll' out of the one up the top. You're deciding for people (to some extent) what their answer will be.

Making people choose one thing when in fact it is most likely that a combination of things (ie engineer, band, gear) is responsible is a problem - the phpbb polls don't allow multiple choices and if they did, you'd need more than 5 options as demonstrated by the replies - none of them are on the list!

If you'd like to put up a poll ask me via email and 9 times out of 10 I'll put one up for you, no problem. I think we need some more anyway.

[michael]

assuming the band are great

in order -
room
preamps
mics

[Kris]

yeah, I'm with Norm. You reckon Avril Lavigne would sound so huge if they didn't drop a million dollars on her?

[Linear]

What would you say is the one, singular thing that makes the difference between a small studio sound and a big studio sound?

a) Analog tape (well maintained or otherwise)
b) Great mics
c) Great preamps
d) Analog summing
e) Good mastering


Dax Liniere

How about all of the above? But you forgot good power and grounding, good cabling and connections, having a selection of great mics and pres (so you can match them to the job at hand), good monitoring for both for the talent and the control room, good mixdown deck, good coffee etc etc.

I don't think there's one single thing that gives 'that sound', but a combination of everything. Analog tape by itself with crap mics and a crap pre's is nothing special. And a great signal chain is nothing without a good room and decent talent, it's all cumulative.

Chris

[timo]

one shit hot band
thats got the IT NOW & WOW factor

[tonymite]

I can not believe some of the questions posted on these forums.

[smash]

Come on guys (and gals)

Everybody knows the difference between an average album and a great album is...

1) Who Airbrushes the Album cover,
2) Which tv network your talent was previously on, and
3) How cute her Chihuahua is.

[lynxmotor]

hi guys n girls, just signed up. interesting question. given the fact that we still love the old stuff where they recorded using a stick, a rubber band and a shared peice of chewing gum, the answer must not be in the money, gear or prestigeous recording rooms. i would hazard a guess that its more likely a great set of ears and also equally important a dogmatic vision of the outcome, sure the musos need to be able to play but even a very average band can sound good if the bloke in charge of the recording isnt a defeatest. i hope so anyway, cause im still trying to make stuff sound good.
..ooooh, just thought of something else, isnt the big studio sound just another fashion statement anyway?? :OP

[Martin]

im finding out more and more lately that the room has a massive amount to do with it...

how can you possibly get a great sound with your $$$$ gear if the room is full of noise and standing waves etc

[lynxmotor]

good point, you have to have a decent room if your recording very loud instruments eg drums.. but theirs plenty you can do without fancy rooms besides, consider what a bad room has to offer before ripping into it with a sledge hammer and $$$$ budget. are you gonna be adding reverb or delay to the mix later??..why slap on a fancy effect if you already have the real thing??..im not saying go on and record in a crappy room...all im saying is with a bit of forethought it could be cool. the old guys had it right in the first place before hitting record i reckon...and if it wasnt right they moved things in and out until it was..as in hard and soft surfaces.
this is only my point of view and it could be very far from reality...but its worth a fleeting thought. :O)
mind you if i had the money i would go all the way with the gear and the designer rooms....but can you learn the craft if you have it all at the start?and what would we blame if we couldnt pull a sound then?

[JustinS]

The quite old dudes (think BBC / EMI, think engineers in lab coats) worked out the "best" place to put the microphones in the room and they weren't allowed to be moved... you moved the instrument to the microphone!

Justin.