# How can I recreate the sound of the Abbey Road Studio?



## stigc56 (Mar 13, 2021)

Hi
I know! It's not possible. BUT when I listen to the audio from Anne-Kathrin Derns YT videos, with my headphones Beyer Dynamic DT 1770 PRO, it sounds so GOOD! The space is kind of behind me also. The instruments clearly defined, the reverb not too pronounced and everything is just sounding so good - did I say that? 
And it's not because of the headphones. It also sounds so much better on my speakers.
I simply love this recording stage sound and I have a fairly big arsenal of software in my studio and I'm working hard to make it sound the best. 

Can anyone give advise regarding this?

Right now I'm using VSL Synchron Strings 1 with a Classic Room Mix and returning to Nuendo - with a send to Altiverb 20th fox.


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## BasariStudios (Mar 20, 2021)

Well that depends what is Anne-Kathrin using as a Library?
Maybe SpitFire's Abbey Road One?


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## molemac (Mar 20, 2021)

stigc56 said:


> Hi
> I know! It's not possible. BUT when I listen to the audio from Anne-Kathrin Derns YT videos, with my headphones Beyer Dynamic DT 1770 PRO, it sounds so GOOD! The space is kind of behind me also. The instruments clearly defined, the reverb not too pronounced and everything is just sounding so good - did I say that?
> And it's not because of the headphones. It also sounds so much better on my speakers.
> I simply love this recording stage sound and I have a fairly big arsenal of software in my studio and I'm working hard to make it sound the best.
> ...


Use an abbey Rd impulse response


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## Dewdman42 (Mar 20, 2021)

as far as I understand it, there are no abbey roads room IR's and I doubt Abbey Roads will ever allow it to be sampled for that purpose.

Waves has some plugins that emulate various components in Abbey roads, including compressors, mixer channels, EQ's,.....and for reverb they have recreated (presumably with IR's) the sound of AR's chamber and plate reverbs (there are actual physical chambers and plates at Abbey Roads studio). And the actual control room has been sampled too...in the form of a plugin... But the actual recording rooms...nope.

As to how to "get the sound" of abbey roads...I think there is a whole lot of stuff that contributes to whatever you heard at abbey roads, including the hardware, the rooms, and a whole lot of engineering choices...so I'm not sure you are going to find an easy way to make something sound like Abbey Roads without going there to record.


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## molemac (Mar 21, 2021)

Dewdman42 said:


> as far as I understand it, there are no abbey roads room IR's and I doubt Abbey Roads will ever allow it to be sampled for that purpose.
> 
> Waves has some plugins that emulate various components in Abbey roads, including compressors, mixer channels, EQ's,.....and for reverb they have recreated (presumably with IR's) the sound of AR's chamber and plate reverbs (there are actual physical chambers and plates at Abbey Roads studio). And the actual control room has been sampled too...in the form of a plugin... But the actual recording rooms...nope.
> 
> As to how to "get the sound" of abbey roads...I think there is a whole lot of stuff that contributes to whatever you heard at abbey roads, including the hardware, the rooms, and a whole lot of engineering choices...so I'm not sure you are going to find an easy way to make something sound like Abbey Roads without going there to record.


There aren’t any official ones but some composers have made their own


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## G.Poncelet (Mar 21, 2021)

Altiverb’s Todd AO IR is quiet similar I believe


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## Trash Panda (Mar 21, 2021)

These IR’s claim to have a sound similar to famous halls like Abbey Road and AIR Lyndhurst. Haven’t tried it personally, but have heard good things.









Hollywood Sound IR


This significant upgrade will allow you to smoothly modulate various reverb parameters - a first for convolution plugins. As well you will have much faster access to the IR’s. You can now; •...



www.numericalsound.com


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## Markrs (Mar 21, 2021)

Trash Panda said:


> These IR’s claim to have a sound similar to famous halls like Abbey Road and AIR Lyndhurst. Haven’t tried it personally, but have heard good things.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looks very interesting and even though the video they have done is a dull education style, the sounds differences actually sounded pretty convincing. The price isn't cheap ($139) given you would need Liquidsonics Reverberate 2 as well.


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## Dewdman42 (Mar 21, 2021)

I have no idea whether Numerical Sound will capture a sound similar as abbey roads, but it’s a very quality product that I bought mainly because it’s built on reverberate which I already owned. I have yet to really make much use of it because I usually use mirpro.

Mainly he sampled a well regarded Hollywood soundstage, with everything you need for different listening positions, etc. And he provides a bunch of reverberate presets that make use of reverberates ability to modulate and other tricks, making it very very flexible for an ir based system and also having more movement then is typical in IR plugins.

Reverberate is not required to use those IR’s they are standard IR’s that could be used in many plugins, but to take full advantage of everything he did with reverberate’s extra capabilities you obviously need reverberate.

As far as I know it’s the only third party presets made for reverberate.


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## NoamL (Mar 21, 2021)

I agree with @Dewdman42 's first post... the sound comes not just from the volume of the space but also the choices of microphone types & positions, thanks to the wisdom of the engineers who have been using that room for years.

You can imagine, as a proof-by-extreme, that the sound & character of a trumpet mic'd from 2 centimeters away in Abbey Road, is not too different from the sound & character of a trumpet mic'd from 2 centimeters away in your garage.

So I think the key is to critically "listen into" your reference recording and try to hear what combinations of mic positions they are using, at what levels. And then match that mic-for-mic with your own libraries. Sort of like taking a vector apart into its components. Try to find each component of the sound, where is the spaciousness & width really coming from, where is the detailed grit & presence really coming from etc. And then listen to the mics of your own instrument critically and ask for each mic if it's taking you closer to or away from that sound.

In my experience, approaching it from this "mic for mic" perspective will also naturally get you closer to the tonal balance of the reference recording. Instead of having to radically EQ your submixes for each instrument. Because the tonal balance of what a mic picks up is totally a function of what kind of mic it is and where it's intercepting the expanding sound-bubble emanating from the instrument.

an IR ... in the end it's just an echo.  That is to say, if you don't have ambient enough microphones in your library, then you may need to send your overall mix of an instrument to an IR in order to fill-in that tail. But it will already sound more authentic if the mic mix _that you're sending_ is an accurate approximation of the mics in the reference recording. Even then, if you're really after that big room sound, then you might not be able to get it with libraries recorded in spaces that don't have that big back-space.


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## mussnig (Mar 21, 2021)

I didn't make a detailed comparison, but using "London Plate" in 7H as a tail gives me some nice Abbey Road vibes. Obviously, if I use a dry library I put it in a room/hall first (most of the times via convolution reverb). I also experimented with just 7H on dry libraries (in that case, using ER in 7H as well), but since I mix multiple libraries together anyways, the first method works better for me.


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## bvaughn0402 (Mar 21, 2021)

I don’t think in a blind audio test if I could even pick out Abbey Road from many others. It is more the nostalgia than anything (to me).


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## stigc56 (Mar 22, 2021)

BasariStudios said:


> Well that depends what is Anne-Kathrin using as a Library?
> Maybe SpitFire's Abbey Road One?


It's a live recording.


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## stigc56 (Mar 22, 2021)

Dewdman42 said:


> as far as I understand it, there are no abbey roads room IR's and I doubt Abbey Roads will ever allow it to be sampled for that purpose.
> 
> Waves has some plugins that emulate various components in Abbey roads, including compressors, mixer channels, EQ's,.....and for reverb they have recreated (presumably with IR's) the sound of AR's chamber and plate reverbs (there are actual physical chambers and plates at Abbey Roads studio). And the actual control room has been sampled too...in the form of a plugin... But the actual recording rooms...nope.
> 
> As to how to "get the sound" of abbey roads...I think there is a whole lot of stuff that contributes to whatever you heard at abbey roads, including the hardware, the rooms, and a whole lot of engineering choices...so I'm not sure you are going to find an easy way to make something sound like Abbey Roads without going there to record.


I'm sure it's not ONLY the room. And I don't need it to be easy fix . I have Altiverb, Mir Pro + the 2 Lexicons from UA + all the other "usual" from Steinberg (I'm on Nuendo). Cinematic Rooms and Seventh Heaven has been suggested. I might try them.


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## stigc56 (Mar 22, 2021)

NoamL said:


> I agree with @Dewdman42 's first post... the sound comes not just from the volume of the space but also the choices of microphone types & positions, thanks to the wisdom of the engineers who have been using that room for years.
> 
> You can imagine, as a proof-by-extreme, that the sound & character of a trumpet mic'd from 2 centimeters away in Abbey Road, is not too different from the sound & character of a trumpet mic'd from 2 centimeters away in your garage.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your reply. I spend a lot of time trying to listen - compare - edit my template against real recordings. I know for sure that the secrets in the sound not alone is buried in the room - funny enough in my original post I didn't mention that the room was my main goal - but the panning the dry/wet balance the EQ, all of these elements plays a role.
Well I just "cried for help", longing to come back to the composer inside me!


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## stigc56 (Mar 22, 2021)

By the way this was the audio:


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## Project Anvil (May 4, 2021)

Hey @stigc56

I'm going to be a little mean here, but I will be nice after that, so don't worry!

OK, mean thing first: if _anyone_ here knew the secret recipe to recreating the Abbey Road sound, do you think they would share it publicly? So far I know of exactly two people who know how to do this and they're Blakus and Headshot. Neither of them is going to tell you how to do it because I can assure you both of them invested huge amounts of time to get there.

Secondly, I think the effort itself may be slightly misguided, and I think you know it because you wrote:



stigc56 said:


> I know for sure that the secrets in the sound not alone is buried in the room


The room sound _is_ important of course, but if the performance in that room sucks it's going to sound like crap in a great room.

I am 99% sure that both Blakus and Headshot spend a lot more time ironing out the perfect performance (by layering libraries) than they are spending it on spatialization. Be warned though, while they both have insanely accurate Star Wars Main Title mockups it requires a special kind of dedication to get there (we're talking using a library for a single note in a performance, going into Kontakt to reprogram stuff, and frankly just knowing all of your libraries inside out).

I would start by trying to identify what the _qualities _of Abbey Road are that you like. In other words: what about the Fearless recording you linked to do you like? There's only a small string band in there, a full brass section, and 4 woodwind players so a lot of the sound you're hearing (percussion for example) was not recorded in the room but is samples and was layered in. So, if it's the percussion you like in that track, then you should try to aim for the Sony MGM Scoring stage sound instead since I'm 99% sure Anne uses CinePerc, which was recorded there.

Point being, Fearless is not a _pure_ Abbey Road sound and if you're after a pure Abbey Road sound, I'd pick a different reference.

There are a couple approaches you could try:
- The most low effort one is to use the Abbey Road impulse response that was shared on here, which was created by using Spitfire Orchestral Foundations to create an impulse response. It's an approximation of an approximation of an approximation at best, but it does something at least.
- Equally low-effort (but requiring a bit more patience) is to wait for Spitfire Audio to release their Abbey Road products. Fair warning, I find their sample player to be a complete turd and can barely get myself to use it, but is the AR sound and frankly it's probably the most painless way to get it.
- Use the floorplan of Abbey Road as a guide to generate approximate early reflections. The perceived size of a room is much more in the early reflections than it is in the tail, and that's what this method addresses. This won't magically give you the sound of Abbey Road, but it will at least give you an approximation of a room of the same dimensions.

It's hard to explain in words (and I intend to do a video about it sometime) but in essence it boils down to this: the walls are reverbs. So, you're going to have a left wall reverb, a right wall reverb, a back wall reverb, etc. All of the walls are at different distance from your sound source, meaning that they will reveberate the sound at different points in time. For example: 1st violins sit to the left, so their sound waves are going to hit the left wall first, then the back wall, then the right wall, etc (discounting the ceiling and the floor _and_ discounting cross-feeding/interference from one wall to another). Given a position in the room, you can measure out the distance to each wall and from that calculate the time in milliseconds it needs to be delayed. Again, this is all an approximation, but I've gotten fairly decent results by thinking of walls as reverbs instead of a single, uniform IR.

Or you can just get something like EAReverb or VSS to do all the delays for you (I would not use either of those for tail however).


EDIT: for reference.

Blakus:


Headshot:


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## stigc56 (May 4, 2021)

Since my initial post I have bought Cinematic Rooms and I am working to incorporate that in my template. After a whole life as musical director and studio musician on several records here in Denmark, I know that the performance is the fundament for the house!
Thanks!


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