Recording Studio Design by David Frangioni

Abbey Road Studio Two is a recording studio in London, United Kingdom, opened in 1931 and closely associated with the Beatles and Pink Floyd. Abbey Road: Studio Two history This chapter explores its recording history, recognizable architecture and the relationship between the room and the people making music inside it.

Begin with the room. Before the equipment list and the celebrated names, look at the staircase, the floor, the height, and the distance between the musicians and the people recording them.

A studio can be approached as a collection of tools. For this book, a more interesting starting point is the relationship between the space and the creative work it makes possible.

Abbey Road Studio Two’s recording-room design

Studio Two opened in 1931 as one of Abbey Road’s original three studios; the studio’s own history describes early use by jazz and swing bands, smaller chamber ensembles, and later comedy performers. Abbey Road: studio history Its well-known staircase arrived in 1957, when the control room moved upstairs to make space for more equipment. Abbey Road: Studio Two

Those details offer a useful way into the photographs. Rather than treating the architecture as scenery, look for how it organizes the working day: where people gather, how they see one another, and where decisions are made.

The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Studio Two’s recording history

Abbey Road dates the Beatles’ first recording with George Martin at the studios to June 1962, and identifies the Beatles and Pink Floyd as central to Studio Two’s reputation. Abbey Road: recording history Its account also places later artists including Radiohead, Adele and Oasis within Studio Two’s continuing story. Abbey Road: later recordings

A familiar artist can be the invitation to explore a studio. The deeper question is how a workplace acquires meaning over time, and how each new group of musicians might approach a room already associated with so much music.

Acoustic details and isolation booths

Abbey Road’s historical account singles out the herringbone floor, dovetail bricks, baffles and tall isolation screens among Studio Two’s recognizable features. Abbey Road: the room’s details In 2016, the studio added two isolation booths by repurposing existing spaces, including the original ground-floor control room and a former microphone store. Abbey Road: isolation booths

A room can retain a recognizable identity while the practical demands around it change. Here, the adaptation invites us to consider the balance between preserving a distinctive recording environment and making it useful for another generation of sessions.

My perspective on recording studio design

What I want to explore in this book is what makes a studio matter to the people creating inside it. The photographs invite us in, but the most valuable questions go beyond what a room looks like.

Where does the artist feel comfortable? How do the musicians and the recording team communicate? Which details help everyone stay connected to the performance? Those are the questions I want to bring to each studio we present.

People, performance and recording space

Return to the two photographs and look at what each allows you to see. One centers the recording position; the other centers the performers sharing a space.

Keep both views in mind as the book grows. Every studio offers another way to think about the relationship between music, people and place.

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Blackbird Studio is a recording complex in Nashville’s Berry Hill neighborhood, Tennessee, United States, founded in 2002 by sound engineer John McBride and artist Martina McBride. Blackbird: founders and location This chapter looks at two ways to shape a recording environment: the adaptable spaces of Studio A and the diffusion-led listening design of Studio C.

A great studio gives people useful choices. For this chapter, I want to look beyond the impressive equipment and ask how the room itself helps define those choices.

Blackbird’s people and recording history

Blackbird’s own account names artists including Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Beck, Rush and The White Stripes among its clientele. Blackbird: artists and history That list is an invitation to explore, rather than a substitute for understanding the work: an artist’s presence on a studio’s client list does not establish which room, song or album was involved.

The complex also includes The Blackbird Academy, an audio-engineering school, along with an equipment-rental operation and the Inside Blackbird online learning platform. Blackbird: the wider complex I find that educational dimension worth keeping in view. A studio’s story includes the people learning to support a session, not only the names listeners recognize on a record.

Studio A: a console with history, rooms with choices

At Studio A’s center is a customized Neve 8078 console originally built for Motown in Los Angeles and later owned by Donald Fagen. Blackbird: Studio A’s console history Blackbird dates John McBride’s purchase to 2002 and describes a six-month restoration with Geoff Tanner, one of the console’s original builders at Neve. Blackbird: restoration and modifications

The room’s current specification lists a 72-input console, while its architectural description identifies 11 recording areas, adjustable panels in the large tracking room and a Hidley-designed reverberation chamber with an adjustable ceiling. Blackbird: Studio A’s room design Those details give us something more useful to consider than age or rarity alone. The interesting question is how many meaningful decisions a space offers before the recording team reaches for another processor.

In this photograph, look at the bench, the music stands, the microphone positions and the windows between spaces. The Blackbird Academy: archival room photograph Imagine the practical questions behind that arrangement: where should a player sit, what needs to be within reach, and who needs to see whom? It is a way of looking at a studio as a workplace rather than a display case.

Studio C: making diffusion part of the architecture

Studio C’s open-plan environment was designed by George Massenburg and Dr. Peter D’Antonio, with Blackbird describing 138,646 individual pieces of MDF used in its diffusion design. Blackbird: Studio C’s designers and diffusion The Acoustical Society of America’s 2022 account explains that primitive-root diffusers cover the walls and ceiling, scattering sound in many directions rather than returning it as a single strong reflection. Acoustical Society of America: how Studio C works

That account describes the designers’ aim as an ambient, anechoic environment: controlling interfering reflections without creating the uncomfortable sense of an acoustically dead room. Acoustical Society of America: the design objective For a reader, the useful distinction is between a striking surface and the acoustic problem it is meant to address. The visual pattern becomes more interesting when you understand the intention behind it.

Blackbird currently lists Studio C for immersive mixing, reference listening and overdubs, with 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality Audio capability. Blackbird: current Studio C specification Its listed Atmos monitoring includes three ATC SCM300ASL Pro speakers for the front channels, twelve SCM100ASL Pro speakers for surrounds and overheads, and six subwoofers for low-frequency reproduction and bass management. Blackbird: current monitoring equipment

Keep that current specification separate from older photographs and equipment lists when exploring the room. To see the diffusion surfaces for yourself, open Blackbird’s official Studio C page and gallery; those photographs remain on the studio’s own website.

My perspective: start with the decision

What interests me here is the relationship between choice and confidence. I would rather begin with the decision a musician or engineer needs to make than with the name of the equipment used to make it.

Can the performers communicate comfortably? Can the engineer distinguish an artistic choice from something the room is adding? When looking through a studio gallery, those questions are a useful counterweight to the temptation to admire the racks and stop there.

Return to Studio A’s piano-room photograph, then explore Studio C’s official gallery. Look for where a person belongs in each space, and what each environment asks that person to notice. That is the thread I want to carry into the next chapter: rooms designed around the act of making music.

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