If you want to make a high-quality recording, nothing beats the gear and acoustics of a well-designed commercial studio. Unfortunately, the number of such facilities has dwindled down to a relative handful in recent years, as the business model is no longer a profitable one. One town in which there are still a number of major studios in operation is Nashville, Tennessee. Audiofanzine recently had the privilege to visit one such studio, Ocean Way Nashville, which is built in an old church building. We shot this video during our visit.
Both Studio A and Studio B at Ocean Way Nashville have large-format Neve consoles and gobs of vintage outboard gear. The big difference between the studios is their acoustics: Studio A’s live room is located in what was once the church’s sanctury and has a nice, live natural reverb to it, which makes it a great room for tracking orchestras or getting huge drum sounds. Studio B, which is smaller, has much tighter reflections, and offers a very different recording experience.
