Control room VS Studio Room where do you put the most focus?

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Member Since: Apr 26, 2006

So much is said about the importance of monitors, I am curious to see where opinions fall, about where you should place the most focus and how it would be placed. If you had to make a choice between the control room and the studio room/live room.

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Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 30, 2008 01:48 am

Control room for me. It has to sound good in here for me to work properly. Although I can adjust to almost any room and monitor's I am most comfortable here in my space. I have packed up my near fields and brought them on location when needed to feel more comfortable. And I will usually bring a reference CD with to ring my own head in as it were to a strange work space.

One thing I will say is that I know all the recording spaces here and have learned what each can and cannot do or be used for. You can find something unique in every corner of a recording space. But the control/listening room is where it really happens for me.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not at all stating that a recording space is second or not worthy of investing in. Because it is if your going to build a space to do specific work. But I am saying you can learn to use the space that is there and take advantage of all the character that is already present in it. Then possibly tailor it to suite more specific needs when the time comes.

For me, and many others as well the listening is the most important as that can have a great effect on final product. Though many will state the mix can be fixed or tweaked even if it takes a few times because the listening room is not conclusive to a good first mix.

In reality one can argue points for each. But for me the focus is on the listening as that is were I can hear what works in the recording space and what does not work. So in the end, listening can find and fix the problems that might occur in the recording room.

Hope that made sense.

I tune down down...
Member
Since: Jun 11, 2007


Aug 30, 2008 10:44 am

Yeap. What he said! Haha.

MASSIVE Mastering, LLC
Member
Since: Aug 05, 2008


Aug 30, 2008 12:06 pm

No doubt, the control room. Unless it's reasonably accurate and consistent (and you're reasonably accurate and consistent in it), nothing else will really matter. You need to be able to accurately work with the live space - good or bad - so you can accentuate the good and reject the bad.

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002


Aug 30, 2008 06:52 pm

Looks like its pretty much the same all the way around. Although I do know a couple oddball engineer's that would argue the point.

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007


Aug 31, 2008 04:59 am

Well, knowing me and myself and how I work, I'd put more focus on the control room. However, the way I think, is that it's kinda like comparing apples to oranges, and asking which is better for you? The answer being both, but for different reasons.

Now I'm not a recording engineer, and I don't have, nor have I worked with a live room, or done any recording work. That said, knowing what I've read in various sources/tutorials/forums/whathaveyou, if you start with a bad recording, then even if you have a good control space, it will be hard to make the most of it. The live room can influence the sound of the recording, depending on shape/size/acoustics/etc. So I would think that having the live room set up properly would be just as important as having the control room set properly. Although more of the "nuts and bolts" type work happens in the control room as far as making the most of the recording, and putting everything together.

Which is more difficult to "tune" I couldn't really say, but in both cases, I think it's important to get to know/feel your space.

Anyhoo, that's just the way my logic works. As for my feeling, that points me straight to my desk. It's all I've ever really known hehe. =]

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