Gear Explanations

WHAT'S ALL THAT GEAR DO? Or Why We Got What We Got...

After dozens of introductory visits with prospective clients, and saying the same raps over and over again, it finally dawned on us to write down some information about the technical side of Wellspring so that you might better understand some of your options if/when you choose to record with us. You might think of this essay as a kind of "Recording Gear 101" course, and use it to evaluate Wellspring in comparison to other studios. Since we began in 1986, we've spent many sleepless nights researching and deciding what to get, and while we hardly expect studio clients to become as obsessed about recording equipment as we are, we hope this short piece will help you get the most value and highest quality sound on your project.

TAPE FORMATS- Digital Vs. Analog; The Great Debate THE CONSOLE MICROPHONES AND MIC PREAMPS COMPRESSION, EQUALIZATION, AND DIGITAL EFFECTS INSTRUMENTS MASTERING THE BOTTOM LINE

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TAPE FORMATS- Digital Vs. Analog; The Great Debate

Most projects we do are initially tracked to either analog or digital multi-track recorders, and later mixed down to an analog or digital tape before final transfer to cassette or digital CD mastering. At Wellspring we have six ADAT digital multi-tracks, allowing you up to 48 tracks of recording, and offering the following advantages: low tape costs, faster punches (correcting mistakes) than analog, crisp, very quiet recording quality, and a modular design allowing one to digitally take the best of several takes and mix them quickly to a single track. Our main analog recorder is a Studer 24 track 2-inch machine, which remains a world standard in analog machines. Analog machines in general and Studer machines in particular offer a warmer, "fatter," and to many ears a more satisfying tone quality over digital, and most major label rock, folk, and blues records are still made on analog machines. Tape for the Studer will cost between $100 and $400 more (depending on the length of time needed) than a comparable ADAT project; it's up you to decide if it's worth it. After you've recorded to multi-track, you then have the choice of mixing to analog 1/4" or 1/2" on our Studer A80 tape machines, or to DAT. As you might expect, analog mixes have slightly higher tape costs and a somewhat warmer sound than digital mixes.

October 2001 Update: EXTRA! EXTRA! DIGITAL DOESN'T ANNOY US ANYMORE! After 4 months of using and loving RADAR, our new 24 bit Hard Disk Recorder, we're happy to say that the thin, overly bright, unfat nature of digital is a thing of the past. Every engineer who's tried the system at Wellspring has become an instant convert. Though analog tape is still popular (witness the recent session of J.Geils here), and unbeatable if you're looking for drum sounds mashed with tape compression, most new projects are starting as multitrack RADAR files. Everything's stored on the original 18 gig drives, and backed up to DVD at regular intervals. It's a wild new world, but it's great to hear a new technology that actually improves things. Also, there's never been a single crash or any other event where audio's been damaged or lost. Media costs run about the same or slightly higher than ADAT, still far under analog tape.

Sept 2003 Update: J Geils, a self-described "old analog fart" now tracks happily on RADAR.

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THE CONSOLE Our main console is an 80 input Neotek Elite, a board long regarded as one of the best sounding in the world. In a 1989 issue of Sound Engineer and Producer, 30 top British recording engineers rated the Elite first overall (ahead of Neve, SSL, and all others) in blind listening tests. The console's configuration is 32 x 26 x 40, with up to 80 inputs possible in mixdown mode. There are 6 sends per channel,3 on board mute groups, great sounding eq's, and Optifile Tetra automation. Automation essentially lets you get every mix exactly the way you want them, but the trade-off is that it can take significantly more time to fix every last detail. Sometimes clients prefer just to automate one tricky track or portion of a song, and mix the other tracks manually. Wellspring's Elite has had extensive modifications ( newer high-end op-amps, better capacitors, etc) done by audio wizard Coleman Rogers.

Studio B now features a Sony DMX-R100 digital console, a board widely-acclaimed as one of the best sounding in the industry. The console has extremely powerful automation features that allow you to automate any and all features of the mix, and (most importantly) to recall the mix almost instantly at a later date. Mark Knopfler's most recent album was mixed for Surround Sound on this console, and we've enjoyed the power and flexibility this console has afforded our clients.

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MICROPHONES AND MIC PREAMPS Wellspring has a wide array of Neumann, AKG, Manley, Sennheiser, Shure, and Audio Technica microphones, allowing you a maximum degree of flexibility in shaping your sound. We have 21 Neumann mics, including the U-47 and U-67 tube mics (you guessed it--tube mics are warmer and have a different presence than solid state mics, making them an excellent choice for vocals.) Besides the microphone, the microphone preamp exerts a significant influence on how sound gets to tape. Wellspring has 40 channels of outboard mic preamps, ranging from tube preamps by Telefunken/Siemens, Demeter, and RCA, to solid state preamps by Neve, Troisi, and Symetrix. Some artists who've used the Telefunken/Siemens mic pres include Lenny Kravitz and the Beatles; Sting, Suzanne Vega, and David Wilcox have recorded through the Demeter,and Michael Beinhorn uses the RCA. Neve modules are famous throughout the industry for their punchy, sweet sound and have been used by countless artists from Michael Jackson to the Rolling Stones. Name dropping aside, a microphone or mic preamp doesn't guarantee that you'll sound like anyone in particular, but if you like certain "colors" in your music, we can usually match sounds from other studios and artists. Sometimes people will chose different combinations of mics and preamps depending on the song.

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COMPRESSION, EQUALIZATION, AND DIGITAL EFFECTS Often before a sound is put on tape, and more often in mixdown, the track may have its dynamics controlled by compression (to prevent tape saturation or produce a desired sonic effect). Wellspring has 33 channels of different types of compressors and limiters, and we've found that some units work well in different applications and not as well in others. Equalization is used to accent or reduce the bass, midrange, and treble frequencies of tracks, and we have over 25 channels of outboard parametric, tube, semi-parametric, and graphic equalizers. Wellspring also has tube and discreet (no integrated circuits) compressors and equalizers, which (again) tend to have a warmer and punchier sound than chip-based components (this is getting redundant, isn't it?) In mixdown, a variety of digitally-based effects are used to further shape your sound. These include digital delays, flanges, and choruses, which take digital "bites" of a sound, and spit it back out with a little twist of the timing and/or pitch to create effects ranging from the beautifully subtle to the outrageously weird. Digital reverbs imitate the sounds of large and small spaces as well as imaginary environments, and are probably the effect you've heard most often on contemporary albums. Too much reverb can make a mix sound tubby and indistinct, too little and the mix can sound dry and sterile. Wellspring has some of the best known and widely praised reverbs and delay devices, including the Lexicon 300 the PCM-91 PCM-80 and PCM-70, the TC M5000 and 2290,the Dynacord DRP-20, the Eventide H3000, the Ensoniq DP-4, and a dozen other units. The type and variety of effects used in mixdown is totally up to you, and many clients will use only a small amount of reverb in a simple, acoustic mix. However, if you're crazy about effects, and can't live without four delays and six reverbs on your guitar sound, we can accommodate you.

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INSTRUMENTS Though most of our clients prefer to play their own instruments, there are times when something we can offer might improve the sound of your project. Among the instruments Wellspring has available include 2 Yamaha C-7 Grand Pianos, a Hammond B-3 Organ with Leslie speakers,Rhodes and Wurlitzer vintage keyboards, a Yamaha S-90ES weighted action 88 key synth, a Collings Brazilian Rosewood acoustic guitar, many other acoustics by Martin, Gibson, Taylor and others, five Stratocasters of various ages, old Fender Jazz and Precision basses, 3 Telecasters, vintage Gibson electrics including an SG, Les Paul, ES335, ES 330, and others, 6 and 12 string Rickenbacker electrics (for that Beatle guitar sound), a 60's Ludwig drum kit, and many other instruments. We also have 28 guitar amps from Fender, Mesa, Marshall, Vox, Victoria, and Ampeg, along with gobs of guitar effect pedals.

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MASTERING When everything is mixed to your satisfaction, it needs to be assembled into a final product. This process involves putting the songs in the proper sequence, and making any changes in songs levels, equalization, ambience, compression, or other factors that will make the completed work flow smoothly from one song to the next. Often this process is fairly simple and straightforward and takes about 3 hours; other times you may want to mess around with things, and this will add more time to the process. Wellspring uses Sonic Solutions digital mastering along with a Roland DM-800 Digital Workstation with a 1 gig Jaz drive for its editing and mastering, and we can make realtime CD's for you with a Marantz CD recorder. We also use high end AD converters by TC Electronics and Cranesong in transferring material to be mastered.

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THE BOTTOM LINE After all the toys have been talked about and played with, the most important aspect of any studio is how you feel when you're there. We pride ourselves on the quality of the contraptions we can apply to your project, but all the gear in the universe wouldn't matter if you didn't feel comfortable and creative while working here. Every engineer who works at Wellspring is or has been a working musician, so we understand, or at least try to understand, what it takes to make good music happen. We keep our egos out of your music, and constantly strive to get the best from you. There are bound to be difficult places in any project, and we'll try to help you deal with those times whenever we can. Wellspring has thrived for over 12 years and 350 albums, with almost no advertising, because of our commitment to getting good music on tape. We hope you've enjoyed reading this, and wish you well in proceeding with your project. Call Eric Kilburn at (978) 263-9246 anytime for more information.