combined control & tracking room

In this previous thread yosh shows off his beautifull studio.
His site is http://www.themaproomstudio.com/.
His control room area is in the live room. This way of working has always fascinated me.
We used to have a portastudio in our rehersal room... when the engineer is part of the band it's just easier to ditch the control room altogether.
I kind of miss that way of working.

Is anyone here using a mixed control/live room?
What are the pro's & cons in your experience ( tracking with headphones)?
What's your workflow like?
How do you try out new mics/pres and stuff?
Don't you have to turn up your phones dangerously loud when you're tracking drums/guitar amp?
Can you hear the differences in mic selection/placement?
Do you have iso rooms?
Any thoughts or experiences are greatly welcomed.

Mike

There are two problems:
a) Absence of protection against musicians promiscuity 
b) You have to wait for playback in order to really judge the quality of the recorded sound. Big waste of time and concentration IMO.

I've been in a private studio that was set up that way. worked real well for the hands on producer who only cared about working an artist and not the gear. For the engineer it was a real nightmare. as previously mentioned hard to really judge sonics with the band in the same space.  plus it can get kind of crowded depending on space sice.  Then again lots of vocal tracks are cut in the control room. so I dunno what to tell you... hell if you think it will work for you then try a small scale first before taking the plunge. I know it wouldn't work for me.

i think it would make the most sense for a musician/engineer.
and not much sense to me, i wanna hear what's in my audio system.

the one thing that would happen that i would call real good though...
you would clearly hear the sounds the band was giving you, then see if
you got a good  'capture'  of it on playback.
to many engineers isolate themselves in the control room too much.
you should know what stuff sounds like in the studio, at the amp, trumpet, what ever.
don't just put up a mic, go into the CR and then tell dude to start playing.
stand with them in the studio and HEAR THEIR INSTRUMENT, HEAR THEIR SOUND.
communicate with them.

then go into the CR.

of course if you can't make yourself do this, maybe the one room approach would be best.

I think I'm going to forget about this idea!

I like that idea, and like Yosh studio also, but i've done recordings isolated in a control room, and some others where i was right there with the musicians, and had to wait to judge on speakers, because headphone is a bad judge, and i tottaly agree that for an engineer it's pretty hard to be in there and wait for the end of the take to hear, but if you've heard them playing a little together before the take, and if your mic placement and choice was in accord to what you heard, then waiting is not that hard, you feel confident, and that could be the method to join both worlds, but if i had space, then i would isolate but put a big window in front  .

I've done this approach repeatedly over the years. While it is not optimal for a traditional approach to recording bands, where there is an established engineer and a group of people playing, it has a couple of big benefits:

1) You can be utterly flexible in your layout, changing furniture and re-positioning gear as your business changes/develops.
2) It makes the best use of space, if space is limited.
3) It requires the least amount of construction. If you are renting, consider the cost you would be putting into revising someone else's space.
4) It is perfect for recording yourself/your band, if a separate engineer is not available.
5) It maximizes the amount of space that the playback monitors inhabit, thus minimizing low frequency buildup and room modes.

Hi,


  working in the same space can be very good for the music! You are part of the whole process as a producer. As an Engineer, Know your gear, know your mics, dont over eq or compress anything. You can do it later when you can hear better. It requires discipline from the musicians to shut up when you need them to. Good isloated headphones likr Beyer DT150s will help. Trust your instincts. recording this way is all about vibe. You will spend less time faffing around with mics, and more time rocking out!



    ANdyP

when you're flying solo, i find it preferable to separate rooms.  lets you demo gear and mic positions relatively rapidly, and once you've got things set you can generally get a feel for whether the take was solid or not just by being there.  i guess i'm a guy that likes to track dry and play around later though, so take that with a grain of salt.

If you didnt see this before, enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymg5rG16Tns
Dawn and George Massenburg At Blackbird.
I think the one room consept is great. Comunication is the key word.
j