DBox Summing Mixer & Monitor Controller , Otari Analog Tape Machine 8 Tracks MX5050 . Universal Audio UAD Plugins & many others
Guitar Amps - Vox AC30 , Laney Iron Heart , Mesa Boogie Mark V , Roland Bass Amp .
Microphone - Neumann U87 , Neumann TLM102 , AKG C414 , Blue Woodpecker ( Ribbon ), Rode K2 ( Tube ), Shure Sm7B , ElectroVoice Re20 , Sennheiser MD421 many more like Audio Technica and Se Elec-tronics Pieces of gear you cannot live without
As the Chief Engineer the studio myself I would say it is almost impossible for me to have a session with-out the API preamps , Neumann TLM 102 & AKG C414 . They are my go to mics , I cannot run a session without any of these three . They are so handy because we sometimes have three vocal sessions a day and personal projects and amateurs are really common , so the TLM 102 & AKGC414 are easy to setup , sound fantastic and with the API Preamps we can have a World Class sound quality in just 5 minutes of setup .
Describe your typical work day in the studio .
We open at 11AM . Our manager comes in to supervise the cleaning and make sure all the essentials are there for the day . After that , straight away our engineers get ready for the session , be it recording , overdub or Mixing session . Our manager usually keeps his session inventory where he checks whats pending and whats ready to be delivered . Other than this if we have free time some other day we have team training to improve our technical skills .
Take us through some of your most significant releases from your studio and why it is special .
There are so many releases that we are really proud of but this time I ’ ll mention just one and thats “ Comedian on Drugs ” album by our home town band , Avora Records , released last year 2020 . Making of this album was really special because , they were at the time the hottest up and coming band in India , they won almost all the big competitions they appeared in that year 2017 and got tons of invitations to perform . In 2018 , they came in to the studio to record their debut album . I Co-produced the album , and I had real fun making it , these guys are extremely talented and incredible to work with . The band had a clear vision for the album and they already had it all planned out in their minds even before they ever come in . So , co-producing it was more like assisting the band to make each vision of the song a reality . However I would like to mention that the process was really technical recording wise that was the best part for an engineer . We did a lot of crazy , wild experiments . In using all those techniques , all i had to do was capture their art and musical skills and make sure i get the soul of the song . It was one of the best experience I ’ ve had ever since I ’ m in the music business , almost 15 years ago .
What ’ s your next buy for the studio ?
We ’ re really fortunate here in Kings & Prophets to have started out even back in 2012 with some of the best and industry standard equipments . Right now , the legendary Universal Audio 4-710 Preamps , DW Moon Mic , Yamaha
Recording Custom Drum Kit & decent cymbals collection : D are already on the way , very excited about that and we ’ ll also be getting the Barefoot Monitor speakers and the legendary SSL-Bus Compressor as soon as possible .
Tips to aspiring owners of studios
To an aspiring recording studio owners across our country I would like to encourage them to first invest in the technical knowledge before investing in any kind of equipments specially the expensive ones . Reason one is everyone loves to have cool gears that people may admire and you might get clients who are attract-ed by your gears . But sooner or later if your production is not up to the mark or expectation then you ’ re going to loose that client . Reason two , if you invest on expensive gears first , its gonna take you a while to become professionally good . which is usually 2 to 5 years , by this time some of your gears will wear out and you will have to reinvest . In other words , you ’ re giving yourself the opportunity to learn with expen-sive gears while making less income which is not a wise business strategy . So , you can buy decent afforda-ble gears and invest as much as you can on learning . Other thing is you can also first work under someone who already knows and get everything you want to know about . Get yourself together , have patience , it takes time and then when you have the experience , expertise , confidence and the professionalism and then start the big investment . All the Best .
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