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We've been busy putting the finishing touches on several projects around the recording studio. It's been a massive push to get all these things done before the end of summer...almost made it.
It was about a year ago that Vibe56 hosted an open house to celebrate the official opening of it's doors. The first year of any business is important, and that was no different here.
To the studio's benefit, we've seen a wide range of different projects come through. Dozens of mix sessions and even more overdub sessions helped us fine-tune our control room, plug-ins and equipment. The many full-on tracking sessions with a full compliment of A-list session players has helped us gear-up with plenty of microphone cables, talkback switches, headphone stations, patchbay cables, and tie-lines.
Best of all, we've made a lot of friends in our first year. Our clients have come from just about every conceivable genre; country, rock, gospel, bluegrass...they have all chimed in under our roof. A couple of weeks ago we even recorded a 20-piece choir.
Our list of clients continues to grow, and we're very proud to have such a lengthy list in just a one-year period.
Thanks to everyone that has given us a chance to prove ourselves as a rock-solid studio.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Paving The Way
Although we claim to be "Rockin' the Row", until recently, we were also rocking the parking lot. We've paved our entire parking lot with asphalt to make it easier for everyone to put a little "roll" into the rocking going on inside our recording studio.
All of the local instrument cartage companies have certainly given their collective thumbs up to our latest improvement. Imagine rolling a 400-pound Hammond B3 organ over gravel.
We've actually got a lot of little improvement projects like this underway. It was great to finally be able to put a check-mark next to "Pave Parking Lot".
In addition to paving the studio's parking lot, we also completed the driveway that now exists between our studio and the building next door (54 Music Square West). I've already almost been killed twice by people zooming up this driveway from 17th Ave. Good times.
You can view the photos taken before, during and after the paving project. It's an amazing transformation actually. There's a slideshow available via this link that shows the entire process from gravel to asphalt.
All of the local instrument cartage companies have certainly given their collective thumbs up to our latest improvement. Imagine rolling a 400-pound Hammond B3 organ over gravel.
In addition to paving the studio's parking lot, we also completed the driveway that now exists between our studio and the building next door (54 Music Square West). I've already almost been killed twice by people zooming up this driveway from 17th Ave. Good times.
You can view the photos taken before, during and after the paving project. It's an amazing transformation actually. There's a slideshow available via this link that shows the entire process from gravel to asphalt.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Vibe56 To Host Audio One ProTools 7.2 Clinic
Come experience the power of Pro Tools HD 7.2 software. With a dramatically enhanced feature set — including the industry’s most comprehensive automation, extended video capabilities, revolutionary new workflows with multichannel field recorders, built-in dubber/stem recorder functionality, and the new SignalTools DigiRack™ metering plug-in — Pro Tools HD 7.2 is the indispensable upgrade for your Pro Tools|HD® system or ICON integrated console. Pro Tools HD 7.2 introduces a wealth of new features and enhancements designed in direct response to feedback from mixing and post professionals who use Digidesign systems every day.
September 29th, 2006 at 6pm
Where:
Vibe56 Studio
56 Music Square West
Nashville, TN
Google Map
Please RSVP:
Audio One: (615) 341-0056
Hope to see you there…
Saturday, September 02, 2006
(un)Balancing Out The Buzz
We were finally able to nail down a hum problem that was present in our headphone stations. It was an amazingly frustrating problem to tackle, and we're very thankful to be on the other side of it now.
Initially we had considered the usual suspect of grounding issues related to power. After ground-lifting everything in the studio, it made no difference whatsoever. We also isolated the ground paths for the three separate styles of outlets we have in the studio.
We have seven headphone stations that allow each musician to maintain their own mix while tracking. Each station consists of a 12-channel mixer and an amplifier. If the piano player wants more acoustic guitar in his (or her) headphone mix, it's as simple as raising a single fader. Generally each musician wants to hear more of themselves, so this kind of set-up is often referred to as a "more-me" system.
The 12-channel mixers that we use for each headphone station consist of 4 mono channels and 4 stereo channels. The inputs for the mono channels are balanced, while the inputs for the stereo channels are unbalanced. The buzz we were experiencing was due to the fact that we were taking a balanced output (from ProTools) and trying to feed it into the unbalanced inputs of those stereo channels.
We purchased an 8-channel Hum Eliminator (stupid obvious product name) for each headphone station, and re-wired each station to incorporate it. These units are designed for taking an unbalanced signal and turning it into a true balanced signal. We needed it to do the exact opposite, so we hooked it up in reverse so that it was taking an balanced signal and making it unbalanced.
The end result is that the hum and buzz in our headphone system is gone. Mission accomplished.
Many thanks to John "Massey" Rohrer of Invisible Man Media Services for his help in tackling this issue.
Initially we had considered the usual suspect of grounding issues related to power. After ground-lifting everything in the studio, it made no difference whatsoever. We also isolated the ground paths for the three separate styles of outlets we have in the studio.
We have seven headphone stations that allow each musician to maintain their own mix while tracking. Each station consists of a 12-channel mixer and an amplifier. If the piano player wants more acoustic guitar in his (or her) headphone mix, it's as simple as raising a single fader. Generally each musician wants to hear more of themselves, so this kind of set-up is often referred to as a "more-me" system.
We purchased an 8-channel Hum Eliminator (stupid obvious product name) for each headphone station, and re-wired each station to incorporate it. These units are designed for taking an unbalanced signal and turning it into a true balanced signal. We needed it to do the exact opposite, so we hooked it up in reverse so that it was taking an balanced signal and making it unbalanced.
The end result is that the hum and buzz in our headphone system is gone. Mission accomplished.
Many thanks to John "Massey" Rohrer of Invisible Man Media Services for his help in tackling this issue.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Music Row Magazine
The August edition of Music Row magazine features studios, producers and engineers. I was honored to be among a select few of Nashville's "recording professionals" to be asked some pretty tough questions regarding the studio business in general. I have to admit it took me a couple of days to formulate some answers.
The article itself is organized by presenting the question and then displaying selected answers from each professional. Here are the questions and my answers:
1. What's the biggest issue facing your studio's economic survival today?
Investing in the right technologies. When resources are limited, selecting the right gear is crucial. Studio equipment is as much of an investment as the studio itself is.
2. Is the MP3 and its reduced audio quality a thorn in your side?
The fact that 44.1 kHz is still the audio standard is what's frustrating. We're sitting here working with $3000 mic pre's and the ability to do 192k on the digital recording side of things. The CD quality standard is woefully overdue for an update. We've barely progressed past the wax cylinder stage of digital audio. MP3s that are properly converted at a higher quality bit-rate are virtually indistinguishable from their CD counterparts.
3. Are you losing potential clients because they are at home using Garageband or another low-cost home recording software?
Home recording has become a part of the process. I've talked with several home studio owners that appreciate the opportunity to work in a commercial facility where they can concentrate on the project and not have to keep reminding everyone to jiggle the toilet handle. We provide an environment where creativity is king, and try to stay out of it's way.
4. What is the future for recording studios in Nashville?
A recording studio is a service business. You simply can't have sustained success without satisfied clients walking in and out of your door. That aspect tends to weed out studios that aren't being driven by a sincere appreciation for music and the process of creating it. Clients are looking for efficiency, and a limited budget demands it.
5. Has country music's sales growth trickled down to your bottom line? Why?
Growth in any part of the music industry will ideally help support all the other links in the chain. Obviously, if the record companies are making more money, that's more money they can invest in new talent. Investing a reasonable percentage of the profits back into what you've done to make those profits in the first place is usually pretty sound advice.
6. Do you believe that DRM (digital rights management) is a long term solution for the music industry?
DRM and it's implementation is still evolving, and will continue to evolve in some form to remain valid. Those that are truly determined to get around protected media are going to remain determined. Digital media should be protected enough to be an effective deterrent and to make it clear that it is indeed protected.
7. What is your favorite color?
I'm quite fond of green.
Well, they didn't really ask me that last question, but I thought it was important.
The article itself is organized by presenting the question and then displaying selected answers from each professional. Here are the questions and my answers:
1. What's the biggest issue facing your studio's economic survival today?
Investing in the right technologies. When resources are limited, selecting the right gear is crucial. Studio equipment is as much of an investment as the studio itself is.
2. Is the MP3 and its reduced audio quality a thorn in your side?
The fact that 44.1 kHz is still the audio standard is what's frustrating. We're sitting here working with $3000 mic pre's and the ability to do 192k on the digital recording side of things. The CD quality standard is woefully overdue for an update. We've barely progressed past the wax cylinder stage of digital audio. MP3s that are properly converted at a higher quality bit-rate are virtually indistinguishable from their CD counterparts.
Home recording has become a part of the process. I've talked with several home studio owners that appreciate the opportunity to work in a commercial facility where they can concentrate on the project and not have to keep reminding everyone to jiggle the toilet handle. We provide an environment where creativity is king, and try to stay out of it's way.
4. What is the future for recording studios in Nashville?
A recording studio is a service business. You simply can't have sustained success without satisfied clients walking in and out of your door. That aspect tends to weed out studios that aren't being driven by a sincere appreciation for music and the process of creating it. Clients are looking for efficiency, and a limited budget demands it.
5. Has country music's sales growth trickled down to your bottom line? Why?
Growth in any part of the music industry will ideally help support all the other links in the chain. Obviously, if the record companies are making more money, that's more money they can invest in new talent. Investing a reasonable percentage of the profits back into what you've done to make those profits in the first place is usually pretty sound advice.
6. Do you believe that DRM (digital rights management) is a long term solution for the music industry?
DRM and it's implementation is still evolving, and will continue to evolve in some form to remain valid. Those that are truly determined to get around protected media are going to remain determined. Digital media should be protected enough to be an effective deterrent and to make it clear that it is indeed protected.
7. What is your favorite color?
I'm quite fond of green.
Well, they didn't really ask me that last question, but I thought it was important.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Vibe56 Hosts Pro Audio Video Podcast
We jumped at the chance to host episode #3 of a podcast that is rapidly gaining a devoted audience of like-minded audio geeks. It's a must-see for anyone looking to learn more about recording engineers.
Taking advantage of their surroundings for this particular episode, Scott and Ben review control surfaces such as our own Digidesign D-Command. As with every review so far, it's a frank and honest look, with no BS filters. That will probably change when they get sponsors and free gear.
This episode also features a shootout between Universal Audio's new 1073 Plug-in and a real Neve 1073, which they forget to mention we have eight of. Actually we have three 1073's, two 1066's, two 1084's, and one 31102. I digress...
A regular feature in the video podcast is "Guitar Gods of MySpace". This segment brings forth hilariously bad guitarists and is often accompanied by Scott and Ben's own tongue-in-cheek music video. This episode features a guy named Bobby, and the accompanying video hints at the close relationship between the Sonic Valentine hosts.
They don't have any weapons, but they are armed...with the truth.
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