Rick Rubin´s control room secrets??

Hi everyone. It´s my first post here and so far I´ve found lots of interesting stuff from this site. Here´s my question, hope it´s in the right section. I dig Rick Rubin´s work a lot in every aspect. Recording wise, one particular thing that I keep noticing in his work are the recording enviroments where his sessions are hold. Especially during the tracking the control rooms acoustics seem to be "killed" with lots of carpets on the wall etc. The sessions have been hold in villas & other places that doesn´t look that "hifi". But results are always great. What´s the magic there, is it just the genious of that dude?? regards jaakko

Well when in a room that is not built for studio, you have to walk the room talk and listen. Find the null spots and place the mic there. As what you hear at the null spot is what the mic(s) will pick up. No Magic, just experience.

So that is where they are recorded. Where are they mixed? Andre

It also helps to have Johnny Cash in that room.

Sword9 wrote:

It also helps to have Johnny Cash in that room.

exactly. there´s no question that all the acts he has worked with have been great & talented. for example the rhcp´s bloodsugarsexmagic album sounds imo great, and it has been recorded in villa instead of "real" studio. makes me wonder. cheers jaakko

There's no question that acoustics and sound containment are at cross-purposes in most cases - Newell goes into this in some detail in his Recording Studio Design book; one of the instances he mentions is the recording of When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin - a total fluke in acoustics that worked really well. The drum sound for that song was Bonham trying out a different drum kit on a break, the kit had been set up in a hallway in this big old house, Headley Grange, in Hampshire England - the rest of the guys were in the "recording" room, Bonham went out to the hallway to check out the new kit, forgot to close the door, started doing his thing, and Andy Johns heard this incredible sound (being picked up from mics in the OTHER ROOM) in the remote truck - the rest, as they say, is history... This particular house was 'way out in the quiet country, so no containment necessary - when we have to constrain the sound, it's a whole different set of conditions inside, and much more difficult (if even possible) to get "that sound". That, along with the obvious talent on both sides of the window, is something you can never get out of a "wonderbox" processor... Steve