(1970s) Quad Mixing Studio Configurations

[kfbkfb]

I can't find the image at the moment, but I recall a picture of a (1974?) EMI Quad mixing studio with 1 chair (near a mixing board, of course) in the middle of 4 speakers.

Anyone know how many variations there were in the various Quad mixing studios of the major record labels and of independent studios configured for Quad mixing (obviously, the studio layout would affect the Quad mix)?


Kirk Bayne

 

[par4ken]

I would love to se a picture of such a studio set up!

 

[Soundfield]

EMI Quad remixing room at Abbey Road, 1974 -

 

[kfbkfb]

Seems like a precursor to Atmos (type) surround sound, with the 4 (full range) speakers a little higher than ear level.


Kirk Bayne

 

[fredblue]

Seems like a precursor to Atmos (type) surround sound, with the 4 (full range) speakers a little higher than ear level.


Kirk Bayne

pretty sure there's a photo somewhere of one of the Quad mixing spaces CBS used that also had the 4 monitors setup in such a way.

also it appears the Rears were set a little further back from the listening position than the Fronts?

knowing that no EQ was used by CBS Quad engineers so as not to introduce any phase anomalies that might affect SQ decoding, i wonder what the effect of having wall hung speakers was on Bass response on some of those Quad mixes..

 

[DuncanS]

pretty sure there's a photo somewhere of one of the Quad mixing spaces CBS used that also had the 4 monitors setup in such a way.

also it appears the Rears were set a little further back from the listening position than the Fronts?

knowing that no EQ was used by CBS Quad engineers so as not to introduce any phase anomalies that might affect SQ decoding, i wonder what the effect of having wall hung speakers was on Bass response on some of those Quad mixes..

As the speakers of the day were mostly infinite baffle and I'd assume these monitors were as well, so I'd say not a lot of effect on the Bass, but there doesn't appear to be any acoustic room treatments so no baffles, absorbers, reflectors, though the wall could be made up of what was acoustic cladding, thick paper/cardboard(?) panels with lots of holes. My first visit to a recording studio was mid-ish 1975 and that was what covered a lot of the walls.

 

[steelydave]

I asked Arthur Stoppe about the quad monitoring setup at Sigma Sound, and he said it was similar to this - four identical speakers (I can't remember the brand at the moment) suspended from the ceiling, angled down slightly so they were pointed at ear level. They were angled inward at exactly 45 degrees, and the mixing desk was in the middle of the room.

This picture of Larry Keyes, Al Lawrence and Rick Derringer appears to show a similar setup, note the huge speaker in the back corner that looks like it's angled in at 45 degrees:

This footage of Stevie Wonder with co-producers/synth programmers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil (playing their TONTO synthesizer, which also featured on the Isley Bros. records of the mid-70's and Weather Report's Tale Spinnin' amongst others) shows rear speakers positioned truly at the back, against the back wall of the studio. I believe this was in one of the Record Plant's LA studios, where TONTO had permanent residence thanks to its size and the amount of production work Margouleff and Cecil were doing at the time.

 

[Soundfield]

...there doesn't appear to be any acoustic room treatments so no baffles, absorbers, reflectors, though the wall could be made up of what was acoustic cladding, thick paper/cardboard(?) panels with lots of holes....

Whilst I was at secondary school, the head of the Physics Dept. (who was, I’m convinced, entirely mad) built a recording studio (ostensibly for the use of the Music and Drama Dept.s but largely I suspect for his own use). Any pupils foolish enough to be placed into detention on his watch had their punishment enhanced by having to stick thousands of those soft fibre egg trays to the walls for acoustic treatment in an attempt to reduce echoes in the big room he’d hi-jacked. It seemed to take forever (and I’ve no idea where he got all the trays from) – did it work ? No, I don’t recall it having any noticeable effect. Particularly as the next round of punishment was to get the recalcitrant to paint them all (dark green I think) – an even longer task , but one that only made the surface hard again!

 

[DuncanS]

Whilst I was at secondary school, the head of the Physics Dept. (who was, I’m convinced, entirely mad) built a recording studio (ostensibly for the use of the Music and Drama Dept.s but largely I suspect for his own use). Any pupils foolish enough to be placed into detention on his watch had their punishment enhanced by having to stick thousands of those soft fibre egg trays to the walls for acoustic treatment in an attempt to reduce echoes in the big room he’d hi-jacked. It seemed to take forever (and I’ve no idea where he got all the trays from) – did it work ? No, I don’t recall it having any noticeable effect. Particularly as the next round of punishment was to get the recalcitrant to paint them all (dark green I think) – an even longer task , but one that only made the surface hard again!
View attachment 63261

Probably better than getting a punishment from a 6th form prefect as one of my friends did, having to write10 pages describing the inside of a pin-pong ball!

 

[kfbkfb]

So...the unasked question...does anyone here on QQ have 4 full range speakers set up similarly to these mixing studios?

(I don't, but after purchase research about my Polk T15s revealed they are designed to be placed a little above or below ear level for the most accurate sound)


Kirk Bayne

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Check out the back cover of Steely Dan - Countdown To Ecstacy.
Tilted speaker behind and above Jeff Baxter. Looks like a big JBL in the front.

 

[fizzywiggs41]

Oops.
for those who don't have it , here's a picture.

 

[steelydave]

Yes, good call - this is the Village Recorder in LA, where Ed Michel did most, or all of his quad mixing for ABC and Impulse! records, and Rob Fraboni did Dylan's Planet Waves. You can see the quad joystick pan pots on the mixing desk as well, at the bottom right with the square white surrounds, next to the ashtray.

 

[fredblue]

was that the studio where the monitors were horn loaded and so everything had a baked-in midrange suckout or was that where they did something else like "Katy Lied" or "Aja"?

 

[steelydave]

I thought it was the RCA studios that had horn-loaded monitors?

The only story about the mixing of Countdown to Ecstasy I remember offhand is Rick Derringer saying that they either tried to, or did mix it using a set of those enormous floor-standinging Magnepan magnetostatic loudspeakers as monitors.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Yes, good call - this is the Village Recorder in LA, where Ed Michel did most, or all of his quad mixing for ABC and Impulse! records, and Rob Fraboni did Dylan's Planet Waves. You can see the quad joystick pan pots on the mixing desk as well, at the bottom right with the square white surrounds, next to the ashtray.

what are you trying to say ?

 

[steelydave]

what are you trying to say ?

Just trying to give a reasonably-sized visual landmark that people of a certain age will be able to easily pick out.

 

[fredblue]

what are you trying to say ?

Roger Nichols got high as fook and played with the panpots til the joystick broke?

(presuming he mixed the Steely Dan Quads and not A.N. Other?)

 

[fredblue]

Just trying to give a reasonably-sized visual landmark that people of a certain age will be able to easily pick out.

 

[fredblue]

I thought it was the RCA studios that had horn-loaded monitors?

The only story about the mixing of Countdown to Ecstasy I remember offhand is Rick Derringer saying that they either tried to, or did mix it using a set of those enormous floor-standinging Magnepan magnetostatic loudspeakers as monitors.