The old mix write-up!

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The old mix write-up!

Post by @?,*???&? » Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:14 am

Found this online this morning. It's an old write-up of my alma mater! Interesting view and perspective. Working in the DAW domain as we all are, I am nostalgic for a big, well-tuned, control room!!!

From Mix Magazine March 1, 2001:

Next stop: a few minutes away at Burbank's Master Control. Manager/co-owner Ron Corbett showed me around the SSL 4000 E-equipped facility, where a two-year redecorating process was recently completed. No longer the spare, concrete industrial space that I remembered from the past, the studio's original exposed brick walls and high ceilings have been enhanced with new textures and carpet in warm earth tones. A mixture of art now adorns the walls, including some collected by (co-owner) Larry ?Shea? DeGasperin on his travels to China. Also new are a kitchen and a separate Pro Tools suite.

?We started redecorating at the end of ?98,? says Corbett with a laugh, ?and I can definitely say that we're sick of remodeling. We've done it slowly, one piece at a time, because we're not the kind of business that can take out a big loan and slam it. We didn't want to have down time. Instead, we'd do a room or part of a room, working on weekends or at night and stopping when clients were working. That's why it took us almost two years.?

Master Control is known as a reasonably priced place to both track and mix and in recent years has played host to long-term projects such as Toad the Wet Sprocket with producer Gavin MacKillop. In addition to the 52-input SSL, the studio provides a Neve 12-channel sidecar with 1063 EQ/mic pre's and a good complement of outboard, including plenty of vintage pieces by Pultec, API and UREI, and some specialty items, such as two CBS Audimax II tube limiters, a Trident spring reverb and an Ursa Major Space Station. The spacious complex features both a large 22?20-foot control room and a massive 25?58-foot recording space. During the renovation, the recording space, which is graced by a Steinway Model C 7-foot grand piano and several very cool backlit drum kits, was made more sonically flexible with new flooring, carpet and an abundance of full-size baffles.

When Master Control was originally opened in 1984 by producer/engineer/musician John ?Ace? Otten, it was equipped with a Trident Series 80 console. The SSL console was installed in 1986, and the first sessions booked on it were for Madonna's True Blue album. Now owned by three partners, Otten, DeGasperin and Corbett (who handles the day-to-day management), the facility plays host to projects that run the gamut of genres. Recently in have been pop-rockers SR-71 with producer/engineer Neal Avron, the Rounder Records' Woody Guthrie children's series with Frank Fuchs producing and Static-X with producer/engineer Ulrich Wilde. On the day I stopped by, new artist Sled was mixing with producer Mark Kendall and engineer Jim Faraci.

?We're more of a by-the-project than a by-the-hour studio,? comments Corbett. ?I'd say our niche is high-end tracking and mid-level mixing. We get a lot of mixes because of the size of the control room. And now, with the Pro Tools room, it works out even better for our clients. They can be set up in a separate place, but if they need the system in the control room, they can have it there instead.

?Most of our projects come from the producer or engineer,? he continues. ?They call up and book the time themselves. We have a lot of regulars, so as long as our handful of clients is working, we're working. I like the sort of mid-level niche that we're in. Although we share a lot of the same clients with other studios, we're really not directly competing with anybody.?

According to Corbett, the recording space is also a favorite with drummers, and he recalls a session with ex-Policeman Stewart Copeland. ?When the session was over, he hung out for several hours just jamming by himself, because he liked how he sounded in the room so much.?

A good number of Master Control's sessions are still analog. ?Our 2-inch machines definitely still get used, and the biggest trend I see is the hybrid between analog and digital,? he notes. ?People use the technology in different ways for different projects.?

About the finally completed renovation, Corbett notes: ?Your day rate doesn't go up because you put in new doors or change the carpet. Recording budgets haven't gone up, and that can make it difficult for a studio to spend money on improvements. But you want to put things back into the business to let your clients know that you care about them, so you do what you can. Our goal was just to make it feel like someone's home and to make it a comfortable place for people to work.

?In the end, I couldn't tell you how to stay in business, we really just try and service the business that we have. You always have a certain number of new business each year, and you try to make them repeat clients. And, of course, you hope that your regular clients do well, because if they have work, so do you.?

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