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65-537: Battery Studios is an independent recording studio complex in Willesden in northwest London originally established in 1980 when Zomba Group acquired Morgan Studios 3 and 4. The studios were later purchased by Flood (producer) and Alan Moulder and operated as Assault & Battery Studios. The studios have since assumed their original name and, since 2021 have been managed via a joint partnership between Miloco Studios , Flood and Moulder. Originally established in

130-485: A telephone hybrid for putting telephone calls on the air, a POTS codec for receiving remote broadcasts , a dead air alarm for detecting unexpected silence , and a broadcast delay for dropping anything from coughs to profanity . In the U.S., stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also must have an Emergency Alert System decoder (typically in the studio), and in

195-401: A different machine, which records the combined signals (called printing ) to a 1 ⁄ 2 -inch two-track stereo tape, called a master . Before digital recording, the total number of available tracks onto which one could record was measured in multiples of 24, based on the number of 24-track tape machines being used. Most recording studios now use digital recording equipment, which limits

260-750: A home studio is challenging because they are usually the loudest instruments. Acoustic drums require sound isolation in this scenario, unlike electronic or sampled drums. Getting an authentic electric guitar amp sound including power-tube distortion requires a power attenuator or an isolation cabinet , or booth. A convenient compromise is amplifier modeling , whether a modeling amp, preamp/processor, or software-based guitar amp simulator. Sometimes, musicians replace loud, inconvenient instruments such as drums, with keyboards, which today often provide somewhat realistic sampling . The capability of digital recording introduced by ADAT and its comparatively low cost, originally introduced at $ 3995, were largely responsible for

325-537: A home studio via the Internet. Additional outside audio connections are required for the studio/transmitter link for over-the-air stations, satellite dishes for sending and receiving shows, and for webcasting or podcasting . Neve Electronics Rupert Neve formed Neve Electronics in 1961. The company specialised in producing professional audio equipment and mixing consoles. The products used high-quality components and utilized Class-A circuit designs. In 1964

390-417: A joint partnership with Flood and Alan Moulder to manage the studios going forward, and returned the facilities to the original Battery Studios name. Recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record

455-413: A large role in the recording process. With software, a powerful, good quality computer with a fast processor can replace the mixing consoles , multitrack recording equipment, synthesizers, samplers and effects unit (reverb, echo, compression, etc.) that a recording studio required in the 1980s and 1990s. A computer thus outfitted is called a digital audio workstation , or DAW. While Apple Macintosh

520-444: A lesser amount of diffused reflections from walls to make a good-sounding room. A drummer, vocalist, or guitar speaker cabinet, along with microphones, is acoustically isolated in the isolation booth. A typical professional recording studio today has a control room , a large live room , and one or more small isolation booths . All rooms are soundproofed by varying methods, including but not limited to, double-layer 5/8" sheetrock with

585-508: A regular stage or film set. In the era of acoustical recordings (prior to the introduction of microphones, electrical recording and amplification), the earliest recording studios were very basic facilities, being essentially soundproof rooms that isolated the performers from outside noise. During this era it was not uncommon for recordings to be made in any available location, such as a local ballroom, using portable acoustic recording equipment. In this period, master recordings were made by cutting

650-410: A rotating cylinder (later disc) made from wax. Performers were typically grouped around a large acoustic horn (an enlarged version of the familiar gramophone horn). The acoustic energy from the voices or instruments was channeled through the horn to a diaphragm to a mechanical cutting lathe , which inscribed the signal as a modulated groove directly onto the surface of the master. Electrical recording

715-497: A selection of instruments in their live room, typically instruments, amplifiers and speaker cabinets that are large, heavy, and difficult to transport (e.g., a Hammond organ ) or infeasible (as in the case of a grand piano ) to hire for a single recording session. Having musical instruments and equipment in the studio creates additional costs for a studio, as pianos have to be tuned and instruments and associated equipment needs to be maintained. General-purpose computers rapidly assumed

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780-402: A signal from one or more of the microphones in the studio could be routed to the loudspeaker in the echo chamber; the sound from the speaker reverberated through the chamber and the enhanced signal was picked up by the microphone at the other end. This echo-enhanced signal, which was often used to sweeten the sound of vocals, could then be blended in with the primary signal from the microphone in

845-399: A single singer-guitarist, to a large building with space for a full orchestra of 100 or more musicians. Ideally, both the recording and monitoring (listening and mixing) spaces are specially designed by an acoustician or audio engineer to achieve optimum acoustic properties (acoustic isolation or diffusion or absorption of reflected sound reverberation that could otherwise interfere with

910-414: A single take. In the 1970s the large recording companies began to adopt multi-track recording and the emphasis shifted to isolation and sound-proofing, with treatments like echo and reverberation added separately during the mixing process, rather than being blended in during the recording. Generally, after an audio mix is set up on a 24-track tape machine, the tracks are played back together, mixed and sent to

975-646: A team of "in-house producers" which included Robert John "Mutt" Lange , Martin Birch , Tony Platt , Chris Tsangarides and Nigel Green. Birch recorded such albums as Iron Maiden 's Killers (1981), and The Number of the Beast (1982), as well as portions of Whitesnake 's Saints & Sinners (1982) at the studio. Platt recorded Krokus ' One Vice at a Time (1982). Lange recorded such notable albums as Def Leppard 's High 'n' Dry (1981) and Pyromania (1982), as well as The Cars 1984 hit album Heartbeat City at

1040-408: A vibrant acoustic signature as the natural reverb enhanced the sound of the recording. In this period large, acoustically live halls were favored, rather than the acoustically dead booths and studio rooms that became common after the 1960s. Because of the limits of the recording technology, which did not allow for multitrack recording techniques, studios of the mid-20th century were designed around

1105-419: Is a Class-A design microphone/line preamplifier with three equaliser bands. The equaliser has a fixed 12kHz high frequency band and switchable low and mid range bands with cut and boost controls. There is also a passive third-order (18 dB/octave) high pass filter. Two switches were also fitted on the module's front panel for equaliser bypass and phase polarity. The 1073 module was designed to be part of

1170-428: Is a key goal, the musicians, singers, audio engineers and record producers still need to be able to see each other, to see cue gestures and conducting by a bandleader. As such, the live room, isolation booths, vocal booths and control room typically have windows. Amplified instruments, like electric guitars and digital keyboards, may be connected directly to the recording console using DI units and performance recorded in

1235-409: Is essential to preserving the ability to fine-tune lines up to the last minute. Sometimes, if the rapport between the lead actors is strong enough and the animation studio can afford it, the producers may use a recording studio configured with multiple isolation booths in which the actors can see each another and the director. This enables the actors to react to one another in real time as if they were on

1300-487: Is used for most studio work, there is a breadth of software available for Microsoft Windows and Linux . If no mixing console is used and all mixing is done using only a keyboard and mouse, this is referred to as mixing in the box (ITB). OTB describes mixing with other hardware and not just the PC software. A small, personal recording studio is sometimes called a project studio or home studio . Such studios often cater to

1365-511: The RCA company in the 1930s were crucial to the crooning style perfected by Bing Crosby , and the famous Neumann U 47 condenser microphone was one of the most widely used from the 1950s. This model is still widely regarded by audio professionals as one of the best microphones of its type ever made. Learning the correct placement of microphones is a major part of the training of young engineers, and many became extremely skilled in this craft. Well into

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1430-407: The "studio" or "live room" equipped with microphones and mic stands, where instrumentalists and vocalists perform; and the " control room ", where audio engineers, sometimes with record producers, as well, operate professional audio mixing consoles , effects units , or computers with specialized software suites to mix , manipulate (e.g., by adjusting the equalization and adding effects) and route

1495-573: The 1950s and 1960s, the sound of pop recordings was further defined by the introduction of proprietary sound processing devices such as equalizers and compressors, which were manufactured by specialist electronics companies. One of the best known of these was the Pultec equalizer which was used by almost all the major commercial studios of the time. With the introduction of multi-track recording , it became possible to record instruments and singers separately and at different times on different tracks on tape. In

1560-508: The 1960s, in the classical field it was not uncommon for engineers to make high-quality orchestral recordings using only one or two microphones suspended above the orchestra. In the 1960s, engineers began experimenting with placing microphones much closer to instruments than had previously been the norm. The distinctive rasping tone of the horn sections on the Beatles recordings " Good Morning Good Morning " and " Lady Madonna " were achieved by having

1625-469: The 30th Street Studio at 207 East 30th Street, the CBS Studio Building at 49 East 52nd Street, Liederkranz Hall at 111 East 58th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues (a building built by and formerly belonging to a German cultural and musical society, The Liederkranz Club and Society), and one of their earliest recording studios, Studio A at 799 Seventh Avenue. Electric recording studios in

1690-455: The 30th Street Studios in the late 1940s and A&R manager Mitch Miller had tweaked it to perfection, Miller issued a standing order that the drapes and other fittings were not to be touched, and the cleaners had specific orders never to mop the bare wooden floor for fear it might alter the acoustic properties of the hall. There were several other features of studios in this period that contributed to their unique sonic signatures. As well as

1755-409: The 80 series Neve console. It was never intended for use as a stand alone module. It is now regarded as a "desert island" preamp by many recording engineers, and has been used on a countless number of hit records over the past 30 years from Rock, Rap, Hip-hop, to Classical. The sound is described as very big, fat, and colored. The factor contributing to the larger than life sound is greatly attributed to

1820-476: The BBC. Before the introduction of Necam, all fader mixing had to be done as live, a considerably skilled and stressful task for any dubbing mixer. Necam allowed for fader movements to be stored and recalled at a later point, allowing the dubbing mixer to build a mix in stages and focus on the creative and artistic elements of a mix, rather than on managing the technology. For those working in television post production, this

1885-423: The audio signal before the output amplifier, meaning the output level can be raised after compression of the signal. The controls include compression attack and recovery times. There is also a bypass control to switch the effect in or out of the circuit. Other configurations were available at the time of the product's release. The Neve 33609 compressor limiter was re-designed around 2009 by AMS Neve and labelled as

1950-519: The case of full-power stations, an encoder that can interrupt programming on all channels which a station transmits to broadcast urgent warnings. Computers are used for playing ads , jingles , bumpers , soundbites , phone calls, sound effects , traffic and weather reports , and now are able to perform full broadcast automation when no staff are present. Digital mixing consoles can be interconnected via audio over Ethernet . Network connections allow remote access , so that DJs can do shows from

2015-669: The company moved to Cambridgeshire . That year Neve Electronics built one of the first transistor-based mixing consoles for Philips Records Studios in London. The company moved to a purpose-built factory in Melbourn , near Cambridge where in 1968 they designed the 2254 compressor limiter for ABC Weekend TV in the UK. It was also in 1968 that Neve Electronics began to distribute their products in North America. Vanguard Records , of New York City ,

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2080-489: The concept of grouping musicians (e.g., the rhythm section or a horn section ) and singers (e.g., a group of backup singers ), rather than separating them, and placing the performers and the microphones strategically to capture the complex acoustic and harmonic interplay that emerged during the performance. In the 2000s, modern sound stages still sometimes use this approach for large film scoring projects that use large orchestras. Because of their superb acoustics, many of

2145-480: The consideration of the physical dimensions of the room itself to make the room respond to sound in the desired way. Acoustical treatment includes and the use of absorption and diffusion materials on the surfaces inside the room. To control the amount of reverberation, rooms in a recording studio may have a reconfigurable combination of reflective and non-reflective surfaces. Soundproofing provides sonic isolation between rooms and prevents sound from entering or leaving

2210-436: The control room. This greatly enhances the communication between the producer and engineer with the player, as studio mics, headphones and talkback are unnecessary. Recording studios are carefully designed around the principles of room acoustics to create a set of spaces with the acoustical properties required for recording sound with accuracy. Architectural acoustics includes acoustical treatment and soundproofing and also

2275-445: The design of the transformer which seems to add subharmonics to the signal. The Equalizer section of the 1073 is regarded as very "musical" and practical and has become the favorite choice of many engineers for recording and mixing. The 33609 is a 19” rack mounted compressor limiter produced by Neve Electronics for broadcast and recording purposes. The unit can be linked for stereo and multi-channel operation. The compressor processes

2340-518: The early 1970s as Morgan Studio 3 and 4, the studios were purchased in 1980 by Zomba Group and re-named Battery Studios, initially catering to Jive and Zomba artists, but later also open to outside projects. Battery Studios in London featured a 32-track Mitsubishi recorder and Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer workstations, and was the first of what would eventually become multiple Battery Recording Studios facilities operated by Zomba in London, New York City, Nashville, and Chicago. The new owners hired

2405-473: The former Morgan Studio 3, which they re-named Assault & Battery 2. This studio was remodeled and outfitted with a 60-channel Neve VR60 mixing console. In 2012, Foals recorded Holy Fire at the studio with Flood, Moulder, and engineer Catherine Marks . In 2019, Studio 2 was refurbished and equipped with the Cadac recording console used by Radiohead to record OK Computer . In 2021, Miloco entered

2470-412: The inherent sound of the large recording rooms, many of the best studios incorporated specially-designed echo chambers , purpose-built rooms which were often built beneath the main studio. These were typically long, low rectangular spaces constructed from hard, sound-reflective materials like concrete, fitted with a loudspeaker at one end and one or more microphones at the other. During a recording session,

2535-591: The larger studios were converted churches. Examples include George Martin 's AIR Studios in London, Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York City, and Pythian Temple studio in New York. Facilities like the Columbia Records 30th Street Studio in New York and Abbey Road Studios in London were renowned for their identifiable sound—which was (and still is) easily identifiable by audio professionals—and for

2600-584: The mid-20th century often lacked isolation booths, sound baffles , and sometimes even speakers. A major reason that isolation was not used was that recordings in this period were typically made as live ensemble takes and all the performers needed to be able to see each other and the ensemble leader while playing. The recording engineers who trained in this period learned to take advantage of the complex acoustic effects that could be created through leakage between different microphones and groups of instruments, and these technicians became extremely skilled at capturing

2665-422: The mid-20th century, recordings were analog , made on 1 ⁄ 4 -inch or 1 ⁄ 2 -inch magnetic tape , or, more rarely, on 35 mm magnetic film , with multitrack recording reaching 8 tracks in the 1950s, 16 in 1968, and 32 in the 1970s. The commonest such tape is the 2-inch analog, capable of containing up to 24 individual tracks. Throughout the 1960s many pop classics were still recorded live in

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2730-629: The newer 1081 microphone/line preamplifier and equaliser. In the same year Rupert Neve sold Neve Electronics to the Bonochord Group . He continued working alongside Neve Electronics until 1975 when he left altogether. In 1977, Neve Electronics began using digital technology with the introduction of their Necam system. Necam stood for Neve Computer Assisted Mixdown. The first Necam system was installed at AIR Studios in London . Necam also gained popularity in television post production facilities, including

2795-524: The number of available tracks only on the basis of the mixing console 's or computer hardware interface's capacity and the ability of the hardware to cope with processing demands. Analog tape machines are still used in some cases for their unique sonic characteristics. Radio studios are very similar to recording studios, particularly in the case of production studios which are not normally used on-air , such as studios where interviews are taped for later broadcast. This type of studio would normally have all of

2860-502: The property. A Recording studio in an urban environment must be soundproofed on its outer shell to prevent noises from the surrounding streets and roads from being picked up by microphones inside. Equipment found in a recording studio commonly includes: Not all music studios are equipped with musical instruments. Some smaller studios do not have instruments, and bands and artists are expected to bring their own instruments, amplifiers, and speakers. However, major recording studios often have

2925-460: The recording business in the U.K., citing the growth of project studios and decreased demand from record labels for commercial studio services. In 2005, Flood and Alan Moulder purchased the former Morgan Studio 4, which they re-named Assault & Battery 1, outfitting it with a 72-channel Solid State Logic SL 4000 G+ acquired from Trent Reznor that had previously been in use at his New Orleans recording studio. Three years later, they purchased

2990-459: The rise of project studios in the 1990s. Today's project studios are built around software-based DAWs running on standard PC hardware. An isolation booth is either a partially enclosed area in the live room or a completely separate small room built adjacent to the live room that is both soundproofed to keep out external sounds and keep in the internal sounds. Like all the other recording rooms in sound industry, isolation booths designed for having

3055-444: The same equipment that any other audio recording studio would have, particularly if it is at a large station, or at a combined facility that houses a station group, but is also designed for groups of people to work collaboratively in a live-to-air situation. Broadcast studios also use many of the same principles such as sound isolation, with adaptations suited to the live on-air nature of their use. Such equipment would commonly include

3120-401: The saxophone players position their instruments so that microphones were virtually inside the mouth of the horn. The unique sonic characteristics of the major studios imparted a special character to many of the most famous popular recordings of the 1950s and 1960s, and the recording companies jealously guarded these facilities. According to sound historian David Simons, after Columbia took over

3185-508: The seams offset from layer to layer on both sides of the wall that is filled with foam, batten insulation, a double wall, which is an insulated wall built next to another insulated wall with an air gap in-between, by adding foam to the interior walls and corners, and by using two panes of thick glass with an air gap between them. The surface densities of common building materials determines the transmission loss of various frequencies through materials. Thomas A. Watson invented, but did not patent,

3250-516: The skill of their staff engineers. As the need to transfer audio material between different studios grew, there was an increasing demand for standardization in studio design across the recording industry, and Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood was highly influential in the 1970s in the development of standardized acoustic design. In New York City, Columbia Records had some of the most highly respected sound recording studios, including

3315-495: The smaller independent studios were often owned by skilled electronics engineers who designed and built their own desks and other equipment. A good example of this is Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, the site of many famous American pop recordings of the 1960s. Co-owner David S. Gold built the studio's main mixing desk and many additional pieces of equipment and he also designed the studio's unique trapezoidal echo chambers. During

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3380-474: The sound and keep it from bleeding into the other microphones, allowing better independent control of each instrument channel at the mixing console . In animation, vocal performances are normally recorded in individual sessions, and the actors have to imagine (with the help of the director or a reader) they are involved in dialogue. Animated films often evolve rapidly during both development and production, so keeping vocal tracks from bleeding into each other

3445-408: The sound for analog or digital recording . The engineers and producers listen to the live music and the recorded "tracks" on high-quality monitor speakers or headphones . Often, there will be smaller rooms called isolation booths to accommodate loud instruments such as drums or electric guitar amplifiers and speakers, to keep these sounds from being audible to the microphones that are capturing

3510-401: The sound heard by the listener). Recording studios may be used to record singers, instrumental musicians (e.g., electric guitar, piano, saxophone, or ensembles such as orchestras), voice-over artists for advertisements or dialogue replacement in film, television, or animation, Foley , or to record their accompanying musical soundtracks. The typical recording studio consists of a room called

3575-445: The soundproof booth for use in demonstrating the telephone with Alexander Graham Bell in 1877. There are variations of the same concept, including a portable standalone isolation booth and a guitar speaker isolation cabinet. A gobo panel achieves the same effect to a much more moderate extent; for example, a drum kit that is too loud in the live room or on stage can have acrylic glass see-through gobo panels placed around it to deflect

3640-474: The sounds from other instruments or voices, or to provide "drier" rooms for recording vocals or quieter acoustic instruments such as an acoustic guitar or a fiddle . Major recording studios typically have a range of large, heavy, and hard-to-transport instruments and music equipment in the studio, such as a grand piano , Hammond organ , electric piano , harp , and drums . Recording studios generally consist of three or more rooms: Even though sound isolation

3705-444: The specific needs of an individual artist or are used as a non-commercial hobby. The first modern project studios came into being during the mid-1980s, with the advent of affordable multitrack recording devices, synthesizers and microphones. The phenomenon has flourished with falling prices of MIDI equipment and accessories, as well as inexpensive direct to disk recording products. Recording drums and amplified electric guitar in

3770-435: The studio and mixed into the track as the master recording was being made. Special equipment was another notable feature of the classic recording studio. The biggest studios were owned and operated by large media companies like RCA, Columbia and EMI, who typically had their own electronics research and development divisions that designed and built custom-made recording equipment and mixing consoles for their studios. Likewise,

3835-452: The studio. Other albums recorded at Battery Studios in the 1980s include A Flock of Seagulls eponymous debut album , Whodini 's self-titled album , Joan Armatrading 's Secret Secrets (1985), Talk Talk 's The Colour of Spring (1986), and The Stone Roses ' debut studio album In 1984, Billy Ocean and recorded his international breakthrough album Suddenly at Battery for Zomba subsidiary Jive Records . Ocean would return to

3900-671: The studios to record " When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going " hit song from The Jewel of the Nile Soundtrack, Love Zone (1986), and Tear Down These Walls (1988). In 1991 Bryan Adams worked with Mutt Lange at the studio to produce Waking Up the Neighbours , and the following year The Tragically Hip worked with Chris Tsangarides to produce Fully Completely In 2001, Zomba Group announced withdrawal from

3965-571: The unique acoustic properties of their studios and the musicians in performance. It was not until the 1960s, with the introduction of the high-fidelity headphones that it became common practice for performers to use these to monitor their performance during recording and listen to playbacks. The use of different kinds of microphones and their placement around the studio is a crucial part of the recording process, and particular brands of microphones are used by engineers for their specific audio characteristics. The smooth-toned ribbon microphones developed by

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4030-442: Was common by the early 1930s, and mastering lathes were electrically powered, but master recordings still had to be cut into a disc, by now a lacquer, also known as an Acetate disc . In line with the prevailing musical trends, studios in this period were primarily designed for the live recording of symphony orchestras and other large instrumental ensembles. Engineers soon found that large, reverberant spaces like concert halls created

4095-574: Was included in the company's research and development programme was a digitally controlled routing system; very few of these were sold. In 1985, Neve Electronics was acquired by the Siemens group; then in 1992 the Siemens group combined Neve Electronics with another newly acquired company, Advanced Music Systems to form AMS Neve which continues to produce products under both the Neve and AMS Neve brands. The 1073

4160-513: Was seen as a major breakthrough. In 1979, the 8108 console was produced using both analog and digital technology. The console had assignable controls and memory mixing faders. In the 1980s, there were concerns about Neve Electronics' financial situation. This was partly due to their ambitious investment into research and development of projects such as the DSP console and the Necam system. Another product that

4225-454: Was the first American recording studio to take possession of the Neve console in October, 1968. In 1970, Rupert Neve designed the 1073 module for the new A88 mixing console; this console was designed for Wessex Studios . During the seventies Neve Electronics produced a whole series of mixing consoles for both broadcast and recording studios. In 1973, the 8048 console was produced; this included

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