FEATURE STUDIO PROFILE
space for people to hang out and it sounds great as well. Monitors are The Boulder from
Unity Audio, which Green also designed, with testing taking place at Rimshot.
Thorne uses a Solid State Logic
AWS 900+ compact SuperAnalogue console to complement the Decca Records all-valve console, which everything goes through.
The studio has 30 channels of
valve mic preamps, 10 in the control room and two racks with 10 each in the booth and live room. “These days, as far as I’m aware, when most people say ‘valve’ they think ‘it’s an effect, it’s warm and fuzzy, it’s something to help a computer sound less clinical’. Decca was trying to make these as clear and as pure as they could in the 60s. They sound great. It’s almost like cheating.” Outboard includes a one-off
Decca 67 prototype EQ from 1967. “The bottom on the 50Hz is fantastic when you’re mastering things,” says Thorne. “They’ve really chosen the frequencies nicely.” Additionally, valve guru Tim de
Paravicini has made major changes to an early 60s Studer C37 tape machine for Thorne. “It would have used thin 0.25in tape and Tim’s completely rebuilt it to use 0.5in tape. He was down in November to give it a little bit of TLC but most of the time we end up mixing to it.”
Upstairs is a machine room that
contains more Studer tape machines, all of which get lined up before every session, and Pro Tools HDX with some Burl Audio B80 Mothership converters. Roughly 70% of recordings at Rimshot start on tape then end up in Pro Tools because of logistics or time and cost. Thorne has some custom equipment that makes transitioning between tape and Pro Tools easier. “If you’re recording on tape and you want to dump it onto the computer you often find that the levels you’re working on for tape are hotter and the converters don’t sound great when you’re running them that hot. “With these attenuators you can
tweak back little bits when you need to and make sure the convertors see the perfect level. Little things like that make a big difference to my workflow. “The look on people’s faces, whether it’s kids who have come in, bands who have done it a lot, or
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even engineers who’ve just forgotten, when you put up the 2in multi-track and they hear the first thing back they all smile. There is something romantic about watching the wheels go round. That’s what studios are. They’re supposed to be a space to make people feel good and inspire them. The technical side of it is great but sometimes it’s the little things that actually matter more. “I’m not a retro gear junkie.
Everything we’ve got is here because I think it’s the best at what it does.”
www.rimshotstudios.com
Selected Gear List
Consoles • Decca GENDEC 1960s valve console
• Solid State Logic AWS 900+ (Upgraded to SE)
Analogue
• Studer A827 Gold Edition 2in 24-track
• Dolby SR & A type noise reduction (24 tracks)
• Studer A80 MKIV 1in eight-track • Studer C37 valve 0.5in stereo • Timeline Microlynx syncroniser
Monitors
• Unity Audio Boulders (pair) • Focal Sub 6 • Genelec 1029a (pair) and 1091a sub
Mic Pres
• Decca valve mic preamps (20) • Focusrite Red 8
Microphones • Telefunken C12 and U47 valve mics
• AEA R44 ribbon (matched pair) • Neumann U87 (2) • AKG C414 (2), D12 (2), D112 and C1000s (2)
• Earthworks TC25 (2) and SR25
EQ • Decca valve EQs (20) • Esoteric Audio Research 825Q • Decca 67 stereo mastering EQ • Esoteric Audio Research Custom EQs (2)
Reverbs/Delays
• EMT 140st plate reverb • Lexicon PCM90 reverb • TC M3000 reverb • Yamaha D5000 delay • Binson PE603 delay • Studer B67 0.25in tape delay
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