PDA

View Full Version : Abbey Road



majick47
03-23-2005, 09:17 AM
Read in the Boston Herald this am that the Abbey Road studios will be open to the public for a short time. They are going to show films that had their scores recorded at Abbey Road in the largest studio which will seat 250 people. A smaller studio will be set up as a gallery with photos of different artists that recorded their. According to the article Abbey Road opened in 1931. Also Abbey Road has been a mecca for Beatles fans who have tried everything under the sun to gain entrance according to the article. Which major recording studios are open to the public to tour in the USA if any? Would love to check one out short of flying to London.

Dougie
03-23-2005, 12:04 PM
If it was me, I would check out the studios of interest, look up their website and email them to see if they ever have an open house/tour. But there would be no subsitute for Abby Road:)

My choice would be Hitsville USA ( Motown ) or Sun Records in Memphis.

Doug

Don McRitchie
03-23-2005, 12:20 PM
You can read about our 2003 tour of Sunset Sound Recorders here:

http://www.audioheritage.org/html/perspectives/lht-2003/sunset.htm

This is one of the most storied studios in Hollywood. It was profiled promentently on a PBS documentary of Sunset Strip as part of a series on great American streets.

We were able to gain access to this studio through our contributor George Augspurger, who is a former JBL employee that has gone on to reknown as one of the foremost studio designers. My guess is that it would be difficult for the general public to arrange tours, but I could be wrong. These are first and foremost businesses and they have an obligation to protect the privacy and work environment of their clients. This was evidenced by substantial security provisions at the facility.

There are also some issues of protecting intellectual property. On the same day that we toured Sunset, George arranged for us to visit Marcussen Mastering (http://www.marcussenmastering.com/)which is a five year old, state-of-the-art mastering lab. We received a comprehensive tour, but were barred from taking any photographs during that visit.

Mr. Widget
03-23-2005, 12:24 PM
I have been to several studios over the years. For the most part they are not keen on having people drop by. They typically don't have signs out front and try to keep a real low profile. Of course the bigger venues like Capitol Records are pretty obvious, but getting past the security guard is a bit difficult if you don't have official business there.

Widget

Ian Mackenzie
03-23-2005, 08:00 PM
Abbey Road use highly regarded active Dynaudio monitors with DEXQ room conditioning in some of their studios.

Ian

Don McRitchie
03-23-2005, 09:02 PM
I don't think there is a monitor manufacturer out there that doesn't claim Abbey Road as a client. Just a short list includes ATC, B&W, Dynaudio, Genelec, JBL, KRK, PMC, Quested, and Tannoy. A google search of "Abbey Road" and each of these brands yielded a hit describing Abbey Road as a customer. Part of this is due to the fact that Abbey Road is a complex of a number of studios with numerous monitors. However, given the high profile of that studio, I have seen it stated a number of times that studio monitor manufacturers donate their products to Abbey Road just to gain the bragging rights.

Ian Mackenzie
03-24-2005, 12:28 AM
Yeah, I grabbed that from the DEXQ PR.

Ian

Ian Mackenzie
03-24-2005, 07:17 AM
Read in the Boston Herald this am that the Abbey Road studios will be open to the public for a short time. They are going to show films that had their scores recorded at Abbey Road in the largest studio which will seat 250 people. A smaller studio will be set up as a gallery with photos of different artists that recorded their. According to the article Abbey Road opened in 1931. Also Abbey Road has been a mecca for Beatles fans who have tried everything under the sun to gain entrance according to the article. Which major recording studios are open to the public to tour in the USA if any? Would love to check one out short of flying to London.

Most studios hold at least two sets of monitors,usually of alternate brand and design per studio to offer near and mid field monitors to cover any mastering requirement and of course artist and client preference.

The point perhaps for those intertested in monitoring will be what they were using at the time these film scores were recorded.

Flip a coin on pre 1960 scores being monitored on Tannoys.

Ian

analogman
03-24-2005, 08:41 AM
In their larger rooms they favour B&W.

Analogman