[Vintage-Audio] Re: RCA B and Nashville studios

[LeeHazen at aol.com]

Ah, finally, I can respond on List -

Regarding RCA's studio A in Nashville and the great recordings that were made
there.

I must include Owen Bradley's Quonset Hut studio in this note as it was
equal in every way to RCA B.

My experiences with Nashville start in l962 when I visited with a friend who
was interviewing with Owen Bradley as a recording artist.  I was allowed to 
sit
on the stairway leading down to the studio while sessions were proceeding
and I was mesmerized by the whole experience.  I decided, on that first visit,
that I wanted to be a studio mixing engineer.  I think I was 20-21 at the 
time.

The equipment in both studios was excellent !  Recordings made in RCA,
played back on today's extended range speakers, sound better than the
engineers ever heard them when they recorded them.  The monitor speakers of 
the day, Altec 604s in Altec grey bass refex enclosures, had a limited low
frequency response -  and a lot of low end got on the recordings that they 
never
heard.  The microphones were all excellent - mostly Telefunken/Neuman types.
The consoles  were usually custom built using the best preamps and line amps
and tape machines from the day had excellent frequency response down to
30 hz and below.

If you have a copy of Elvis's recording of "Are you lonesome tonight" , there 
is
a good example of the extended low frequency response of the system at :28
in to the record.  If your speaker system is good down to 15-20 hz, you'll 
hear the
events.

The room of RCA B was pretty "live" and had a good "room sound".  
There's more to do with a records sound than just the gear - the room is
most important and how it is set up can make or break a record.

Then, there are the musicians - Nashville had and has the finest on the 
planet.
The A team players of the day worked long 4 - session days and hopped from
studio to studio doing projects.  

Back in the old days, the musicians themselves, established the "sound" by
regulating the volume at which they played.  Drummers like Buddy Harmon knew
to play softly if he wanted to sit prominantly in the mix.

Reason being:  The loudest person in the studio will often sound fartherst 
away
due to room spill getting into microphones that are picking up soft 
instruments
and vocalists.  So, the musicians tried to all play at the same volume and
the result was what makes Nashville's 50's & 60's recordings sound so 
wonderful.

In those days, everyone played in the studio at the same time.  They often
recorded 4 tunes per 3 hr session and in three sessions, an album could be
completed - no remixing required as they recorded direct to two track and mono
tape machines.  3 channel 1/2" came into vogue in the 60's allowing the lead
vocal to be recorded on its' own track and repaired later if need be.  It was
important to keep the vocalist's voice isolated from the musicians in this 
case
otherwise, the vocal could leak onto some of the instruments' microphones or
the Background Singer's mikes creating a "ghost" if the new vocal didn't match
the old one.

Over the years, studios have become very isolated into many small rooms,
with each musician and his instrument in each room.  Cue systems started
being used in the mid 60's and have become a major issue in the ISO booth
type studio.  Each musician has his own mixer and can make the headphone
mix just the way he wants.

The more isolation used, the more "sterile" the recordings become and the
"Perfect recordings" often lack the spontanious "feel" of recordings from the 
old
days when phones were not used and remixes were not possible.

Talent - talent, talent - the Mixing engineers, the Producers, the Artists,
the musicians and singers are what make a great recording and being in a good
room makes a huge difference in the end result.

I'm glad to have been there before the old "live" style of recording faded 
out.
You had to be on top of your game, cause you didn't get a second chance if
you made a mistake.  Today, any part can be corrected, even the Vocalist's
performance can be pitch corrected, time corrected, copied and pasted and
on and on.  You don't even have to sing the entire song with copy and paste
allowing choruses to be copied.

They are making some very good sounding recordings today, but none of them
give me the goose bumps that the Everly Brothers, Marty Robbins and many
other Nashville recording artists give me.

I'm retired, 64, and live 25 miles NE of Music Row in Hendersonville, Tn.  
Johnny Cash's lake home (now Barry  Gibb's) is about a mile down the shoreline
from my home adjacent to Old Hickory Lake.  I've lived here 32 years and 
operated
"Studio by the Pond" for 12 years - l974- 1986.  The old studio is still down 
in
my basement but is an analog 24 track state of the art l976 facility.

I'm also a collector of magnetic recorders with 120 + tape and wire machines 
on
display.  I repair them and archive recordings from the old formats.

Thanks for letting me join your group.

Lee Hazen