Technology in music series; (part 4) from one mic to 128 tracks (IV)

As of this writing, a good console could cost a million dollars or more. With the cost of the audio accessories not included on the board, designing and building a room, buying the actual tape and/or digital recording system, and lease or mortgage payments, a good studio in a good location could set the owner back two million dollars before it ever books an hour. And then it has to start booking those hours, no mean trick in itself. “The folks that… use A-list studios are among the most conservative in the world,” said producer Vic Steffens, a studio owner in his own right. “They generally do not take chances unless they absolutely cannot get another place.”

Beyond building a clientele for a studio, you need to maintain your customers. As with any business, the prevailing wisdom says that retaining a customer is about 90 percent easier (and more cost effective) than getting a new one. For many studios, retaining customers meant keeping their prices low so that a similarly equipped space could not woo away hours with severely undercut rates. However, in keeping up with competition, rising rents in the most desirable areas, rising salary requirements for staff, and all the other costs of doing business, this could squeeze a studio’s margin like an old whalebone corset.

Billboard columnist Paul Verna elaborated:

One studio owner recently told me that he was looking at early 1970s receipts of one of New York’s top facilities and was astounded to learn that the top rates were exactly the same then as they are now, a quarter-century later. However, the average investment necessary to construct and equip a top-notch room has increased more than tenfold in that time, according to sources, from approximately $150,000 to at least $1.5 million.…A big reason for the increasing costs besides inflation, has been the for an ever-growing number of tracks in recording/mixing situations. Whereas recording projects in the ‘70s and ‘80s seldom exceeded 24 tracks, today it is not unusual for a major mix to require up to 96 tracks. Accordingly, consoles and tape recorders – which account for the bulk of a studio’s investment – are bigger and therefore expensive.

“In some cases,” Steffens concurred, “having an SSL or a Neve might make the difference being booked or not.” Kit Rebhun, studio manager at Glenwood Place Studios in L.A., also agreed on the importance of having a board people know: “Right now, the market wants tried-and-true. People aren’t comfortable with new consoles, even if they’re absolutely incredible. They don’t want to sit down with a learning curve; there just isn’t time for it.”

However, all those tracks lead to several issues for the musician, the record company, and the music. Where the Animals could get off the train at eight in the morning, load their equipment off the train and onto a lorry, get to the studio, load their equipment off the lorry and into the studio, set up, record an entire album, tear down their equipment, load it back onto the lorry, and get on a train again all in about five hours, these days it might take that much time just to mic the drums properly.

The recording process has become long and drawn out, and lacks the spontaneity and energy that powered an adrenaline-fueled, well-rehearsed three-hour session. While recordings have become far more precise, precision was never really a hallmark of popular music until very recently. As Paul and Rundgren point out, the human element gets lost.

Then there’s the cost. Most’s session for the Animal’s first album, by his own estimates, including studio time, tape, and hauling equipment, probably cost around $100. At that rate, releasing an album had very, very little in the way of up-front costs, compared to even a couple of weeks at a modern recording studio, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars, even at the discounted rates fuelled by the intense competition in the business.