Audient Zen

[mark rachelle]

good on you guys

thats the ticket

its a shame that most of times we have to have a life threatening/ altering situation to find a bit of real perspective.

lets hope for us all that we can get a great level of happiness and clarity without something as serious as cancer or surgery happening to us.

[rick]

now about that audient "zen" desk
certainly got us talking ... very zen indeed

this next recording studio i am getting together will be my forth "recording studio" (and 5th mastering studio)

they go unseen in the press and to most guys but i always have one , i dont just grab all that stuff i have and shove it under the house you know
(err well i do but i digress)

in my time i've produced a couple of minor "hit" records, engineered several platniums, mixed some absolute dogs and a few radio hits :)
travelled half the word as a " producing sound engineer" and of coarse mastered a zillion tracks

i have also written and recorded a big pile of my own stuff that you may never hear and made some records for my friends that are as good as anything done by anybody ... so good they make me fall over when i play them .. usually those ones sell nothing !

however since i had the kids and took over the milkbar complex i havent pressed record on a track - life has gotten in the way and i have been mastering just so i can stay mastering if you understand

the new place is having another go at getting what i tried to do when i first went freelance , and the recent run of sound guys doing it hard with their health has only made me surer about that

to be a music man


i am building a really amazing mastering room , bigger better then i have now , better then anything on the planet is the goal,
with a "project recording studio , live room " attached
well as "project" studio as i can allow myself to go .

i am also putting in a "day room" for the kids so if one of them is too sick to go to school or has a half day/ school holidays or whatever they can come to work with dad and "live their life " not just be told to sit in the corner and shut up .. like i see in studios all the time , so thats a priority more so then anything

and of coarse ....the shed i am building the woodshed into the studio as a means of actually building the studio
but i will lay you a 10/1 bet after the dust settles months / years ? from now my shed stays put .


so in essence i am build a 2nd "home" into my studio as distinct to a home studio , so i can look after the things i need to look after mentally as well physically and maybe a make a buck or two as well

there will be no ongoing photos , no construction diary , just drop in when your ready and see how its going

i am in no hurry , i have a life to live
it all sounds very zen doesnt it ?

[DwaneHollands]

it all sounds very zen doesnt it ?

Sounds very Ideal to me!

I love the idea about the day room too! I grew up in a print factory. As a baby my parents would put me in a cot in between printing presses. (no danger of course). I would sleep all day with the humming and hissing of the presses. But when I got home they couldn't get me to sleep at night, because I needed the sound of the equipment. lol.

When I got older I ended up working during school holidays. Made money which was cool.

Maybe the kids when they're old enough will do mastering for daddy on their days off. lol.

[rick]

i hope by the time my kids are older enough i will be retired early and sitting on my marlin boat talking about the good old days
( when there were fish in the sea and musicians without day jobs )

[DwaneHollands]

i hope by the time my kids are older enough i will be retired early and sitting on my marlin boat talking about the good old days
( when there were fish in the sea and musicians without day jobs )

Ha ha.

[Chinagraf]

Hey Dwayne, I spent a day at associated press or some name like that where they print all the big mags, sampling all their printing presses and sorters etc. I have a couple of hours worth on dat somewhere. Let me know if you have trouble sleeping...

[DwaneHollands]

Hey Dwayne, I spent a day at associated press or some name like that where they print all the big mags, sampling all their printing presses and sorters etc. I have a couple of hours worth on dat somewhere. Let me know if you have trouble sleeping...

Ha! Seriously, they let you in to do that? What was the inspiration behind it? Or was it sound effects for a film?

That's awesome man!

[heathen]

I don't get it Rick, you're turning the woodshed at home into the new studio with a 2nd home built into it orrrr you're building the studio elsewhere with a sort of 2nd home in it?

Anyway doing it on your own property would save a fortune each year in rent. I remember going pale when you told how much the rent on the existing place was.

When you mentioned "project studio" as well I had a vision of 12 Maya lined up next to each other as the outputs to your console. :) My imagination runs wild some days.

Are you putting in a 24 channel tape machine or just staying digital?

[rick]

funny you shoud mention a 24trk
i am tyre kicking a studer a800 mark 3 24trk at the moment heath , i dunno , space will be at a premium in the control room
maybe to much other stuff to handle the beast , i am still thinking about it.

i dont want my studio at home thats for sure - the new one is in leichardt (it was in camperdown again but the wheels fell of that truck in a bad going to get em sued deal )

i tried the home thing once its not for me i need to go to work .
but i can see how staying at work instead of being a dad is a stupid idea
i work for a living .. i can pay rent its no biggie emotionally
but i need to put my family needs right in the middle of my vision
i know too many guys who say there kids grew up while they were at work
it all goes by so quickly etc

i think the cool thing about running your own business is you can make these sorts of decisions without the boss man feeling like he would be getting cheated somehow

i am going to end up with two wood "sheds" though :)
i think the one at home with become just the "quiet" hand tools and assembly one
all the big machines are going to work so i can use them at will without freaking out the locals :)

but i also see the future , and that means at least 6 weeks school holidays a year for 12 years plus sick days long weekends etc
i dont imagine for a sec that my kids will spend all that time at work with dad ,but i will be damned if they cannot spend some of it because i built a storeroom to put junk in ,instead of a dedicated room for my kids to feel at home in at work

but i am still thinking it through , keeping it out of the clients way but still "around" etc
and happy to entertain anybodies thoughts on the subject

the whole damn adventure is and will be a work in progress for some time i assure you

we are closing camperdown in may and opening up in leichardt as quick as i can (june), then building onwards and upwards

[13thbeach]

i am also putting in a "day room" for the kids so if one of them is too sick to go to school or has a half day/ school holidays or whatever they can come to work with dad and "live their life " not just be told to sit in the corner and shut up .. like i see in studios all the time , so thats a priority more so then anything

Its funny you mentioned that Rick. I'm in the middle of a studio build myself and that was one of my priorities also. I was lucky enough to get an extra room when I leased my place and I hope it'll be a room to "get out of the studio". When I have my kids at work, it'll be thier room to just hang out.

[musikwerks]

Simple, cheap wireless CCTV. One camera in the playroom and a receiver and monitor in the mastering suite. We did it at home so we could keep an eye on the boys while in their beds. Commercials come on the TV and we switch over and watch the kids for a bit, make sure they're ok and climbing out of their beds. We also have a wireless receiver by our bed so if they make noise in the night we can see if they're awake or just talking in their sleep (which they do a lot) before we have to get out of bed!

[heathen]

Leichardt is cool, will be heaps better places to eat than at Camperdown too. All good ideas, having space for kids is a great idea, teaching them to solder well would be even better, heh.

A tape machine would be nice but yeah you've got to ask yourself also is it worth maintaining also. Hope the move goes smoothly.

[NYMo]

Hi there,

I reckon the 24 track is a great idea...people love to see them
and hell...the maintenace is not too bad.

I find young bands love it and I've tracked several on mine (16 track 1 in..not the same I know)

i think Linear does heaps of work with his.

One can even track thru the 24 track to monkey tools, all at once !

If you've got the room and the loom..go for it !

cheers
N
Y
M
O

[heathen]

True, compared to everything else being done I guess keeping a tape maching going would be peanuts.

[mark rachelle]

can you still get tape?

[jkhuri44]

cant wait to see the new studio plaigerised on someone elses website....bad joke?

[rick]

i was just gonna steal somebody elses website this time around and save myself the hassle of building a new set
everybody else does it that way why cant i ..?

[heathen]

i was just gonna steal somebody elses website this time around and save myself the hassle of building a new set
everybody else does it that way why cant i ..?

Can I use the photos from the current Turtlerock when you move? :) :) I'm sure no-one will notice the difference when they get here.