the sounds right away, and we keep the tools console to help sessions run better and to
on hand to get that done, day in and day out. make setups easier. We normalled all of our
Nothing beats the classics when it comes to outboard mic pre’s into the console, as well as
getting great sounds. all of our 2 track decks and outputs, which cut
our patching by almost 75%. We also relabeled
Studio A Control Room
[GTR] Given how many big studios closed our patchbays from the factory to make things
their doors before and after you launched, more clear and easier to use. We are constantly
having a giant live room as an integral part of making the studio easier to use and the console
your studio was a pretty gutsy move. What was is at the center of that. Console maintenance
the strategy behind this? and calibration is very important to us, and
of equipment we have is here because it’s we have made modifications to the console
useful. If a piece of equipment is hard to use, to make it sound even better. Recording a full
constantly breaking, or isn’t in some way band with an all analog large format console is
special or for a very specific purpose, we sell it. an amazing experience!
We take cues from our staff, guest engineers,
and artists about what they want to have [GTR] I love the fact that Studio B enables
available to make their lives easier. Calibration you to use the isolation rooms from Studio
and maintenance is crucial to our operations, A for overdubs or re-tracking parts if they’re
so we meticulously go through everything available. This is a great use of space – was
before it goes into the racks. There is nothing
Studio A Tracking and ISO Booth
worse than finally getting that opportunity to
use a classic mic-pre or compressor, only to [John] Our owner was involved in his own
find it inoperable. Workflow also dictates what album project when he got the idea of building
we keep around. We pay very close attention 25th Street. He spent a lot of time working in
to what we are recording on a day to day basis, studios where he grew up in NYC, and here in
and we adapt our collection to that workflow the Bay area as a musician, and thought the
directly. For example, we record a lot of drums, area could use another big room where a full
so we keep 10 channels of Neve 1073, 1084 band or ensemble could make music together.
and 1081 modules normalled into the first 10 In retrospect the idea was gutsy, but it has
channels of the console. paid off. We are booked constantly, and our
this part of the original plan?
Studio B
clients use this studio for its intended purpose
of having an accessible and beautiful space [John] Studio B was originally intended to be
to make music. Building our business hasn’t an office! After the first few years in business
been easy, but we are proud of the hundreds of we needed a second studio to take on smaller
records that have come out of this place in just projects, editing work, and a host of other
a few short years. day to day tasks that we couldn’t accomplish
because the main rooms were getting booked
Neve Heaven
We also record a lot of vocals, so we have
[GTR] You’ve got an API Vision console in so regularly. We slowly built up the room with
Studio A which is great for big sessions. In gear that had been in the owner’s project
addition to the number of inputs, what are your studio, and added the tie lines into our main
favorite things about this console? patchbay, which allowed us to tie all of the
vintage V72, V76 and DW Fern mic-pres, 1176,
rooms together. Like everything else here, we
LA2 and Fairchild compressors, and hardware [John] Because 99% of all of our mixing paid very close attention to what our clients
de-essers ready for that. Almost no outboard happens in the box these days, the console actually need and we have continually adapted
is used for mixing these days, so our outboard is used exclusively for recording. Having a the equipment and workflow to accommodate
equipment is used primarily for recording big console allows us to record very large that. We just completed a total makeover
sounds. Having useful, easy-to-use EQ and ensembles and offers a lot in terms of bussing of the room last month, which included
compression at the recording stage makes and general routing. We have spent a lot of new speakers and a total rework of the gear
life easier when it comes to mixing. We go for time this year customizing the layout of the and acoustics. Everything that was done
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