Sydney Audio Club News
Future Meetings 2021
March Audio - https://www.marchaudio.net.au/
MaxMedia - http://www.maxmedia.com.au/
The Speaker Project - https://www.thespeakerproject.com/
Krispy Audio - https://krispyaudio.com.au/
March Audio - https://www.marchaudio.net.au/
MaxMedia - http://www.maxmedia.com.au/
The Speaker Project - https://www.thespeakerproject.com/
Krispy Audio - https://krispyaudio.com.au/
On Wednesday night we had a tour of some of the studios at Studios 301 in Alexandria, Sydney. Our hosts were Owen Butcher and his assistant on the night, Jessie. Owen is a respected recording engineer with many years of experience – although he’s only 34 years old he already has 18 years’ experience. He handles the recording of many different genres - his favorites are Jazz and Classical, although he does lots of Rock as well. It seems that Jessie does a lot of the Rap and Hip-hop.
Owen was a most generous host. Our aim wasn't just to be entertained (although we most certainly were), we were there to get an idea of the recording and mastering processes. We started in the 5.1 studio where we heard some phenomenal Donald Fagen (Morph the Cat). The bass clarity and punch was incredible. Owen demonstrated how the overall mix was comprised of many separate tracks, so he could easily tailor the sound to what he and the artist thought was best.
In a different studio we heard some jazz music by Steve Barry. The music was recorded to many different tracks – this allows Owen to add or subtract sweetness, brilliance, edge, whatever(!) according to the demands of his client. He uses the famous Bricasti M7 reverb unit too, often needed because the rooms are fairly “dry” sounding due to the room construction. As an example of the thought and effort expended, on a simple kick drum Owen might use multiple microphones so he can later dial in whatever sound the client wants. He spends lots of time and effort upfront before the artists even arrive - he determines what style of music will be played and how the artists want it to sound; he then determines the various type of microphones to use and where to place them; he organizes and tests all the gear; he gets it all setup before the artists arrive. When they do arrive, they just need to plug in - their setup is quick, this is good for them because it reduces the time they need to rent the studio (it isn’t cheap!), and they have less time to get nervous too! Owen said that even one microphone that refuses to work is a show-stopper and can disrupt the endorphin flow experience for the artists! He tries to avoid all such potential issues such that the recording process just flows nicely.
We also toured the main mastering room which is pretty much the domain of a fellow named Steve Smart – he has it setup precisely as he wants it. Others changes things at their own peril!
Owen’s main job is recording. He creates a rough mix at the end of each recording day. The client can then listen to that mix and ask for changes. Often the recording artist/s gets involved in the end “production”, and hence are often credited with the term producer. Owen also said that sometimes the artist might actually take a cut of the rough mix home to edit themselves – this is possible nowadays due to common tools like ProTools. Once the mix is finalised by Owen, it is passed to the mastering team. It sounds like there is less involvement between the recording engineer and the mastering engineer than you might expect – they each have their own domain and don’t cross borders too often.
The last room we visited was Studio 1 – this is the largest studio, big enough for a full orchestra. The room itself is very impressive, but the control room is also large and equipped with a state-of-the-art Neve 88R. This is a huge bench (that provides 72 separate tracks!) as you’ll see in the many photos below.
Owen explained the build criterion of all the studios. Each studio is built on a massive scale constrained layer damping system. The cement floor floats on massive slabs of heavy duty foam. The walls sit on the foam as well, and do not directly touch the floor or the ceiling. There are skirting boards around the perimeter to disguise the fact that there is a gap between floor, wall and ceiling. All the walls are non-parallel and thick due to the built-in absorbers. All the rooms are superbly quiet – the noise floor drops considerably whenever you walk into any of the rooms. The total cost of the treatment was 12 million AUD. A world famous fellow from Germany was flown over to design all the studios. Serious stuff. All the speakers are by PMC.
Below are also photos of what appears to be a museum area. But apparently, pretty much all of the gear is in working condition, and is used. It sometimes winds up in this area because there just isn’t enough room in all the studios to house everything. It makes for an interesting journey to walk through this area and marvel at the vast diversity.
There was lots of interest in this event. Of the 18 attendees (members and family), I dare say that everyone totally enjoyed it all. Given the response, we may well try to organise another such event in a year or two. For now, enjoy the photos….
BTW - Owen is the fellow with the bandaged knee.
Owen was a most generous host. Our aim wasn't just to be entertained (although we most certainly were), we were there to get an idea of the recording and mastering processes. We started in the 5.1 studio where we heard some phenomenal Donald Fagen (Morph the Cat). The bass clarity and punch was incredible. Owen demonstrated how the overall mix was comprised of many separate tracks, so he could easily tailor the sound to what he and the artist thought was best.
In a different studio we heard some jazz music by Steve Barry. The music was recorded to many different tracks – this allows Owen to add or subtract sweetness, brilliance, edge, whatever(!) according to the demands of his client. He uses the famous Bricasti M7 reverb unit too, often needed because the rooms are fairly “dry” sounding due to the room construction. As an example of the thought and effort expended, on a simple kick drum Owen might use multiple microphones so he can later dial in whatever sound the client wants. He spends lots of time and effort upfront before the artists even arrive - he determines what style of music will be played and how the artists want it to sound; he then determines the various type of microphones to use and where to place them; he organizes and tests all the gear; he gets it all setup before the artists arrive. When they do arrive, they just need to plug in - their setup is quick, this is good for them because it reduces the time they need to rent the studio (it isn’t cheap!), and they have less time to get nervous too! Owen said that even one microphone that refuses to work is a show-stopper and can disrupt the endorphin flow experience for the artists! He tries to avoid all such potential issues such that the recording process just flows nicely.
We also toured the main mastering room which is pretty much the domain of a fellow named Steve Smart – he has it setup precisely as he wants it. Others changes things at their own peril!
Owen’s main job is recording. He creates a rough mix at the end of each recording day. The client can then listen to that mix and ask for changes. Often the recording artist/s gets involved in the end “production”, and hence are often credited with the term producer. Owen also said that sometimes the artist might actually take a cut of the rough mix home to edit themselves – this is possible nowadays due to common tools like ProTools. Once the mix is finalised by Owen, it is passed to the mastering team. It sounds like there is less involvement between the recording engineer and the mastering engineer than you might expect – they each have their own domain and don’t cross borders too often.
The last room we visited was Studio 1 – this is the largest studio, big enough for a full orchestra. The room itself is very impressive, but the control room is also large and equipped with a state-of-the-art Neve 88R. This is a huge bench (that provides 72 separate tracks!) as you’ll see in the many photos below.
Owen explained the build criterion of all the studios. Each studio is built on a massive scale constrained layer damping system. The cement floor floats on massive slabs of heavy duty foam. The walls sit on the foam as well, and do not directly touch the floor or the ceiling. There are skirting boards around the perimeter to disguise the fact that there is a gap between floor, wall and ceiling. All the walls are non-parallel and thick due to the built-in absorbers. All the rooms are superbly quiet – the noise floor drops considerably whenever you walk into any of the rooms. The total cost of the treatment was 12 million AUD. A world famous fellow from Germany was flown over to design all the studios. Serious stuff. All the speakers are by PMC.
Below are also photos of what appears to be a museum area. But apparently, pretty much all of the gear is in working condition, and is used. It sometimes winds up in this area because there just isn’t enough room in all the studios to house everything. It makes for an interesting journey to walk through this area and marvel at the vast diversity.
There was lots of interest in this event. Of the 18 attendees (members and family), I dare say that everyone totally enjoyed it all. Given the response, we may well try to organise another such event in a year or two. For now, enjoy the photos….
BTW - Owen is the fellow with the bandaged knee.
