[Intro pricing extended] Available now: T-RackS Sunset Sound Studio Reverb

[Teneyetus]

What is the "real name" of "Teneyetus"... the person who said that they worked at Sunset Sound ?

He sounded like DK's alter ego in his posts

You accusing me of being a sock-puppet? haha. No, it's definitely not me. I do now know the guy's real name because I wanted to meet him after reading his awesome post so I talked to him in PM. But, as Meffy points out, it would not be my place to say his name. That's up to him. He's worked at the studio a lot and has some interesting knowledge to share! Seems like a nice guy too so I hope people appreciate him and make him feel welcome here. Otherwise it'd be your loss. He knows a lot more than I do in terms of what has been done with gear use and signal paths at the studio in various sessions. I'm always researching that kind of stuff with people I know or meet who have worked at the studio... and that does include engineers who have worked with Van Halen, Beach Boys and other greats so I'm collecting all kinds of info (and making presets) to benefit anyone who's into the educational side and also... likes those kinds of free extras. Presets like that can be a great starting point in music making. When I read Teneyetus's post my "preset meter" went off in my head. I kept thinking what he was saying would be great to show in a chain within T-RackS! So, maybe we'll do that.

By the way, I also have no idea what a Teneyetus even is. If I did have an alter ego here (which I never have in 18 years and mods can confirm that probably) it would be a name I understand... like Octopus or Dave or Dave the Octopus... actually that would be too easy to figure out. Hmmm... I don't know actually what I would call myself. I better just be Squids then! If you don't believe me I'm gonna laugh and probably spit out my drink.

Teneyetus = a misspelling of tinnitus. Something I get to enjoy in the evenings due years of drummers hitting the snare drum while I’m trying to mic the damn thing up and my ear is practically on the drum. Or guitarists strumming open chords while I’ve got my face in the grill of their speaker cabinet.

[Teneyetus]

Not sure what Sunset Sound Studios used for delay, but a Sunset Sound Studio Delay plugin would be very cool I think depending on how they used delay!

If you go to the sunset sound website, sunsetsound.com, under “studios” there’s a link titled outboard. It will give you a list of gear racked up in each room.

Usually the Roland SDEs were the pre delay for the reverb. Don’t sleep on those boxes, they’re great mono delays.

[Teneyetus]

Other delays in heavy use while
Mixing, at least during my tenure were I think pretty standard for commercial studios, but less standard for those working from home (myself included now): AMS DMX-15, lexicon Primetime ii, atr-102 with a VSO and huge 1/4” reels. Also, the Yamaha SPX-90 and the eventide H3000.

Some bands liked to track with the ATR-102 slapback for the vibe - this just meant assistants like myself were constantly having to flip the reels. I think that was all pretty standard studio equipment.

Most producers/engineers liked to bring in their favorite gear too. Echoplexes, fulltone TTE, various Roland Space echo type things.

The amount of awesome gear people trucked through that place was amazing. In my mind I always felt a bit like I was at a vintage hot rod show for audio. Between the studio gear collection, the collections the producers, engineers, and studio musicians brought in, and all the gorgeous instruments the various rental companies in LA would load in via the cartage trucks, I have a case of gear lust that there is no coming back from. There’s simply no coming back after being exposed to all that stuff. My wife just doesn’t get it, cannot understand why I need and want more music crap!

Thank god for plug in emulations

[Bombadil]

Bring your cowbell, and EXPLORE THE ROOM!

For a second I thought you were kidding (the million and one "more cowbell" jokes) but actually it's not a bad idea. I did do this with a snare hit in all three live rooms. I might do a few more transient sounds like that. But, I also personally like to hear musical instruments being played, or a full drum groove or vocal tracks to get some context in how it would be used as opposed to the clinical test. Depends what it is but I'll keep exploring and trying things. Right now I'm actually playing around with isolated Doors tracks I found. If you want to hear the echo chamber of Studio 1 there's no better "demonstration" of the original than this!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3sW9r ... =emb_title

Now if I could get this vocal track dry I could run it through the plug-in! Or I could do my best Jim Morisson impression myself... eh... or see if some Doors tribute band has a guy who sounds very close so we can get a decent AB comparison. Best would be the dry track if it wasn't printed this way with the reverb on tape (it might have been).

No, no. Not kidding. I'm not a 'produsah,' so the joke isn't that worn for me. I like the 'oldies but goldies.'
Honestly, the only studio that I can think of off the top of my head where I'd be completely gushing is Abbey Road #2. Or maybe Sun records. This place, I never heard of. I'm sure it's special to some people, though.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Not sure what Sunset Sound Studios used for delay, but a Sunset Sound Studio Delay plugin would be very cool I think depending on how they used delay!

If you go to the sunset sound website, sunsetsound.com, under “studios” there’s a link titled outboard. It will give you a list of gear racked up in each room.

Usually the Roland SDEs were the pre delay for the reverb. Don’t sleep on those boxes, they’re great mono delays.

They are definitely great. Closest I have in my home setup is ye olde DEP-5.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Most producers/engineers liked to bring in their favorite gear too. Echoplexes, fulltone TTE, various Roland Space echo type things.

Ooo that TTE would be a nice addition to the SSTE (and would sound great with the lush TERC chorus in the collection) in our Fulltone Collection.

[Teneyetus]

They are definitely great. Closest I have in my home setup is ye olde DEP-5.

I hadn’t seen the DEP-5. Definitely looks
Of the same era. I bet it’s pretty sweet! I would t mind having one just based on the SDE3k performance

[Squids]

Other delays in heavy use while
Mixing, at least during my tenure were I think pretty standard for commercial studios, but less standard for those working from home (myself included now): AMS DMX-15, lexicon Primetime ii, atr-102 with a VSO and huge 1/4” reels. Also, the Yamaha SPX-90 and the eventide H3000.

Some bands liked to track with the ATR-102 slapback for the vibe - this just meant assistants like myself were constantly having to flip the reels. I think that was all pretty standard studio equipment.

Most producers/engineers liked to bring in their favorite gear too. Echoplexes, fulltone TTE, various Roland Space echo type things.

The amount of awesome gear people trucked through that place was amazing. In my mind I always felt a bit like I was at a vintage hot rod show for audio. Between the studio gear collection, the collections the producers, engineers, and studio musicians brought in, and all the gorgeous instruments the various rental companies in LA would load in via the cartage trucks, I have a case of gear lust that there is no coming back from. There’s simply no coming back after being exposed to all that stuff. My wife just doesn’t get it, cannot understand why I need and want more music crap!

Thank god for plug in emulations

That's great stuff! I saw Joe C has his rack parked in Studio 1 with a lot of nice stuff.

Regarding any possible delay emulations, if it was to be a plug-in related specifically to Sunset Sound I would think it'd need to be a little more specific to the studio as opposed to a popular brand delay. The ATR-102 slap back is up there on my wish list. Have you messed around with T-RackS Tape Machines? It's really good! A lot of engineer friends are really getting into that.

I'll be in LA next week. I'd like to meet you and talk about your experiences at the studio. If you're around you should stop by either the studio or one of the other studios I'll be at in different areas of Hollywood and The Valley.

[Teneyetus]

Hi Sauids - I’m no longer in LA so I won’t be able to meet up next week.

I’m not aware of any proprietary types of delays. In the cabinet in studio 1 there used to be a calculation sheet that did all the math for the ATR VSO, so you could dial up 1/4notes, 1/8th notes etc based on BPM. Someone had graffitied it up with “feel, ears?”

I haven’t messed with the tracks tape machines yet, but I was checking them out. Definitely look like a great offering!

[Teneyetus]

Hi Squids - I’m no longer in LA so unfortunately I won’t be able to meet up next week.

I’m not aware of any proprietary types of delays that the studio may or may not have used. In the cabinet in studio 1 there used to be a calculation sheet that did all the math for the ATR VSO, so you could dial up 1/4notes, 1/8th notes etc based on BPM. Someone had graffitied it up with “feel, ears?” Not sure if that chart was proprietary, I don’t think anyone can claim ownership on mathematics tables... or can they?

I haven’t messed with the T Racks tape machines yet, but I was checking them out. Definitely look like a great offering!

[Squids]

Ah it's a shame you're not there anymore. I'm bringing sushi to the studio for lunch. The good stuff. But, yeah, I'm into tape delays and I'll have to have a look in that cabinet! haha. Good tip.

Definitely check out the TR Tape Machines. I just bought some actual tape machines (I was buying out a studio that had them) and I'm thinking about getting them up and running. Old Ampex tube machines. But, I gotta say, every time I take on a project like that I look at the plug-ins and think... maybe I'm crazy and should just do everything inside the box. Haha. Sometimes I do. But, I like the hybrid analog/digital studio. Got a couple of vintage Pultecs for the master buss and a little SSL and Neve summing mixer. It's fun to play "mini studio". But, of course, of all the things I could get, a real PLATE and an Echo Chamber are totally out of the question. So, for that I have no choice but to only use the plug-in and I gotta say that after doing a decent amount of recording and mixing at Sunset Sound and lots of use so far with the Sunset Sound Studio Reverb plug-in beta, this does a fine job for that role. It really does sound like I have those great elements as part of my studio.

[digitalboytn]

Ah it's a shame you're not there anymore. I'm bringing sushi to the studio for lunch. The good stuff.

Best not to bring the sushi over from FL...

It might be a little "fishy" by the time it gets to CA....

You already know that there are some great sushi restaurants in the valley

Better than the offerings on that part of Sunset

[Teneyetus]

Ah it's a shame you're not there anymore. I'm bringing sushi to the studio for lunch. The good stuff.

Best not to bring the sushi over from FL...

It might be a little "fishy" by the time it gets to CA....

You already know that there are some great sushi restaurants in the valley

Better than the offerings on that part of Sunset

Funny story I remember hearing. Back in the day when there were tape budgets, that was a great place to hide budgetary items you didn’t want the record company to see. So if you went over your food budget “buy some more tape.” Just a creative accounting tool the studios and producers used.

Apparently at some point someone was buying enough tape to fly sushi over from Japan.

Pretty sure much of the tape budget in those days may have gone straight up people’s noses in powder form as well.

Long before my time, that’s for sure!

[Squids]

Ah it's a shame you're not there anymore. I'm bringing sushi to the studio for lunch. The good stuff.

Best not to bring the sushi over from FL...

It might be a little "fishy" by the time it gets to CA....

You already know that there are some great sushi restaurants in the valley

Better than the offerings on that part of Sunset

I can grab some great sushi from Katsu-ya in Studio City and just pop back over Highland to Sunset Sound while it's still fresh and amazing. I did that last time I was there and everyone seemed to like that. I think that's the least I can do if I'm asking the engineer to run every track through every reverb in the facility which is otherwise quite a tedious task... but, not when powered by spicy tuna on crispy rice!

[digitalboytn]

Yep...Katsu-ya on Ventura...

That's the one I was thinking of when I mentioned Studio City...

Get some wasabi into the engineer and that'll get his motor running