RECORDING Field Notes – The Studio Space

A Brief History of the Evolution of the Control Room

The story of the recording studio and the control room began with one simple conundrum: where to put the gear? 

At first, the recording equipment sat on a table, and everyone stood around it and belted out their tunes into some sort of horn-shaped device. Eventually, microphones were introduced into the process, which allowed the musicians to perform more naturally since microphones were more sensitive to sound. This sensitivity also meant that in addition to the musicians, the microphone could also pick up background sounds like the engineers twiddling the gear and the inherent noise of the recording equipment.

So, the gear and the engineer were eventually moved to a separate, often tiny, space adjacent to the main recording area. This relocation allowed engineers to speak to one another during the recording process for the first time, and I can only assume the snare sound was mentioned regularly. Thus, the control room was born.

And almost immediately came the one thing you can always count on: changes! Those changes continue right on up to present day, where many of us may find ourselves working alone in a studio designed specifically for our needs, possibly at home or close by (more on that in a bit). And with almost certainty we are working at a studio with more power and possibilities than any previous studio in known history. How things have changed!

Let’s continue with our quick review of how we arrived at the current idea of a control room.