How many of you are using a "One" room?

mattssons · Post by **mattssons** » Mon May 14, 2007 10:48 am

How many of you stay in one room for both the recording and mixing stages?

What do you like or don?t like about it?

Good points: Better communication, the interaction between the artist, producer, engineer. More fun, no more lonely isolation on your own behind the glass.
Faster productions: The engineer is constantly reminded of what the source really sounds like in the room.

Bad points: The need to have ear protection from time to time. You can no longer make fun of the performer behind the glass and you have to constantly be close to some rather smelly musicians?No possiblilty for straw foks to wander in and out of the control room. The need for a machine room for noisy gear in order to keep the Control room /Recording space noise limits below acceptable limits.

Whats your thoughts? /Thanks /Toby

Rodgre · Post by **Rodgre** » Mon May 14, 2007 11:11 am

The studio layout at Tremolo Lounge has been evolving over the years from smaller, more isolated rooms to one big open barn space. The biggest change was when most of the walls were taken down a couple of years ago leaving only one section of a wall with a door and window between the "control room" area and the "live room." This wall doesn't even enclose either space, it is basically just a divider for about 15'.

Immediately I had to contend with all sorts of issues from trying to hear what things sounded like on the monitors while the band was blasting away ten feet from me to dealing with new reflections and echoes when monitoring mixes. I am more accustomed to mixing in a closed-room environment and in a perfect world, I would have a "convertible" space with sliding doors or movable partitions so I can close off the control room at times, but the open space has been great for communication purposes, where I am free to walk right into the live room without having to creak open a door slowly and sneak in. In that respect, it's really nice and comfortable. It's also nice when you want to do quick and dirty overdubs right next to you, instead of patching things in 30' away.

One thing that I've noticed, though, is that bands aren't used to this situation. They often prefer to be isolated in another room. They need to be convinced that it's okay to come into the "control room" area and listen, or sing, or play.

It took some time, but after a while, I've gotten used to the situation, relying on headphones at times, putting up baffles, using packing blankets, etc. Another great benefit of a larger, open room is that you can put ambience mics anywhere and get a cool room sound.

Roger

JWL · Post by **JWL** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:19 pm

I'm debating this very issue currently for my new studio build.

My family and I are in the process of buying a place that has a 12x20, single-car, detached garage, that I will be turning into my studio.

It's a small space, so I'm leaning toward a one-room design, though admittedly I'd love to have a separate control room, recording room, and iso booth.

I still have time to think about it.

I like recording bands, and in recording most bands I prefer to have them all in one room, set up so that I can get the entire band with a stereo pair of room mics (usually M-S), and get a good stereo image with those. Then the close mics fill out the sound. I've really been digging this recording strategy lately.

centurymantra · Post by **centurymantra** » Mon May 14, 2007 2:40 pm

I'm working in a 'one room studio', although I do have an attached isolation room for amps, etc. I have grown to like it and it does have some benefits. Monitoring is tricky, particularly with drums where a 'record - listen - adjust - record - listen...repeat as necessary' process is in order, but once a working method and familiarity with the room are in place things should start to go smoothly, and the benefits of being able to quickly patch things in and out and communicate with musicians does go a long way. A good set of isolation headphones that one becomes intimately familiar with are an important accessory. I use the Beyer DT770pro sealed cans when monitoring the micing of quiet sources such as acoustic instruments and a pair of gonzo-isolation Remote Audio headphones when setting up in front of blaring amps. That being said, I do occasionally pine for a proper control room, but am pretty content with what I have. There are a couple of pretty good threads on here if you search around, including one I started when first contemplating the move to a one-room studio.

numberrr · Post by **numberrr** » Mon May 14, 2007 4:26 pm

ive always worked this way. at first, it was because of a simple lack of space, but ive grown to hate having any physical objects between myself and the people i am recording. gotta be able to communicate!

and yea, ear protection is key

stevebozz · Post by **stevebozz** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:32 pm

playing engineer and drummer often leads me to record-adjust-listen-record-adjust-listen labor already, so I don't mind the environment. at the rate I pop on the computer and then back to cables, snakes and microphone placement, I'm glad I don't have a door!

Rigsby · Post by **Rigsby** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:28 am

I'm working in one room. It's a great recording room but i'd like a far far dryer room to mix in. Right now i spend a hell of a lot of time checking between monitors and headphones to counteract the issues that brings up. Aside from that i love being in one room, far better communication and that's key.

mRG · Post by **mRG** » Tue May 15, 2007 12:40 am

My place is just one room - I didn't have room for anything more at the end of my garden, so had to go for just the one soundproofed room. Before building my place I usually worked in rehearsal rooms with bands (in the same room as them) anyway, so I wasn't losing anything ...

It's OK. The sheer joy of having a place to make noise without annoying anyone and record just out the back door of my house is far outweighing any frustration at not having a control room ... I use in-ear headphones to get a grip on how whatever I'm miking up is sounding, plus a bit of experience, a bit of luck, a bit of randomness ...

radical recording · Post by **radical recording** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:55 am

My family and I are in the process of buying a place that has a 12x20, single-car, detached garage, that I will be turning into my studio.

My first studio was in a garage about that size--all one room. We set up drums on one end, the mixer and monitors on the other. Yeah, it got loud but we always got a good drum sound. I had four or five musicians at a time set up in the room, if we needed to we'd set up the guitar amp in another part of the house.
The space I have now is larger, but not by much--and I still do it all in one room. I like being nearby to move mics or see\hear what the musicians are doing.

DefD · Post by **DefD** » Tue May 15, 2007 3:16 pm

i used to record in a converted apple barn.
it sounded great and had good sight lines.
i'm looking at getting a new space as much like it as possible.
lately i'm recording in the dining room of a rented house and i hate it.
i am also ditching pro tools as soon as possible.

Ethan Winer · Post by **Ethan Winer** » Wed May 16, 2007 11:33 am

mattssons wrote:How many of you stay in one room for both the recording and mixing stages?

I have one large room and it's great. I wouldn't work any other way. But I record mostly myself and friends.

--Ethan

myfipie · Post by **myfipie** » Wed May 16, 2007 2:06 pm

I have 2 rooms and can not even think of spending a full day in the same room with a drummer POUDING away.

Also the treatment from a live room to a control room can be different so I see that as a challage to have the "best of both worlds" set up that way. Yep you can make it work in one room but.......

Glenn

Ethan Winer · Post by **Ethan Winer** » Thu May 17, 2007 10:06 am

Blah blah, yeah sure Glenn.

Seriously, Glenn makes a great point IF you record drummers a lot.

As for treatment, I'm not convinced the goals are all that different for recording and mixing. At least not in a home sized studio. Common to both is avoiding standing waves and flutter echoes and comb filtering. Once either type of room is neutral you can get great results. If you ever find time to get up here to visit I promise you'll be impressed with my one-room setup.

--Ethan

myfipie · Post by **myfipie** » Thu May 17, 2007 10:28 am

Ethan Winer wrote:Blah blah, yeah sure Glenn.

Seriously, Glenn makes a great point IF you record drummers a lot.

As for treatment, I'm not convinced the goals are all that different for recording and mixing. At least not in a home sized studio. Common to both is avoiding standing waves and flutter echoes and comb filtering. Once either type of room is neutral you can get great results. If you ever find time to get up here to visit I promise you'll be impressed with my one-room setup.

--Ethan

If the room is pretty small then yea the set up will be close to the same. As you pointed out avoiding standing waves, flutter echoes and comb filtering are key, but if the room is a little bigger for recording drums there are other things in the room you can do to give it a very nice sound. In a control room I think about one thing and that is the mix spot. Making that as perfect as possible. For a live room I think of it as a over all sound of the room avoiding the things you listed above when recording the source.
Yep Ethan I am sure one of these days you and I will have a drink together. YOUR BUYING THOUGH.

Ethan Winer · Post by **Ethan Winer** » Thu May 17, 2007 11:09 am

Glenn,

but if the room is a little bigger for recording drums there are other things in the room you can do to give it a very nice sound.

Agreed.

Yep Ethan I am sure one of these days you and I will have a drink together. YOUR BUYING THOUGH.

You bet I'm buying! Any chance you'll make it up here this October for the AES show in New York?

--Ethan

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