Show Off Your Studio – Part One

We asked for studio pictures and hundreds of you responded… It’s another new MusicTech series in which you show off your studios!

We asked the MusicTech Facebook and Twitter audiences to send us a picture of their studio sets ups (#showoffyourstudio) and were stunned by the response. We’ve since interviewed some of the respondents for more details, and here they are. If you want your space to be featured in the magazine then add your picture to our regular Facebook Show Off Your Studio posts…

SoundGasm Studio

Interviewee: Kyle Bryson (owner/engineer/producer)
Contact: Kyle@soundgasm.com

What are some of the key components in your studio?
Top of the list are: 1956 Hammond C3 with a Leslie 147, a full Gretsch Catalina Maple Series drum kit, several guitar amps including a Marshall JCM800, and a variety of guitars, mics and other instruments. Other gear includes Yamaha HS8 monitors, Eurodesk MX9000, MoTu 2408Mk3 and 24 I/O converters.

Which DAW do you use and why?
We run Cubase 7.5 and Avid Pro Tools 11 on multiple custom-built Windows 7 Pro-based computers running on i7 4790 core processors with 32GB RAM and RAID systems. Cubase is our main DAW, but we are beginning to use Pro Tools for tracking and editing because it is more intuitive, and Cubase for mixing down due to the workflow.

What is your favourite piece of gear and why?
Right now it’s my Yamaha HS8 monitors. I love those monitors. Everybody loved the NS10s from back in the day, and I wanted something close to them.

How often would you say you spend in your studio per week?
Around 30-40 hours a week.

How do you use your studio?
SoundGasm Studio is used for recording bands, hip-hop artists, classical musicians, and other local talent around town. When it’s not being used for a recording studio I spend my time jamming with a few bands, and with the other musicians in the family.

Do you have any interesting studio-based anecdotes?
The Murray SoundLab is a $46 million professional studio down the street from my house. The first time I walked into their control room two guys I had not seen since middle school were working there. When I told them about SoundGasm Studio they said they had already heard of the build through the grapevine and they were wanting to hear/see it. It was quite surreal to have people working in such a professional studio express curiosity about our place.

Is it perfect already or is there room for improvement?
The rooms were tested multiple times, and we made several changes to ensure we had an amazing space to track in. We also have plans for a second tracking room that is currently under construction.

What is next on your studio shopping list and why?
Preamps, preamps, preamps. You can never have too many preamps, and we want options.

What is the one piece of advice you would give someone just starting to build their own studio?
Take your time and do it right. The saying goes, “You can’t rush art.” You’re going to be making art in the studio, so take your time to perfect your art. Besides, a good-sounding room is just as important as any piece of gear you could invest in.

Wax Recording Studio

Interviewee: Jean-Baptiste Pilon
Web: jbpilon.com waxrecordingstudio.info

What are some of the key components?
Trident Series 65 desk; 8 x Telefunken preamps; Neve, Altec, Summit Audio, vintage Shure preamps; Mojave MA-200 (Royer), Neumann, AKG, Coles, Sontronics, Beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Sony, Shure, Audix, Telefunken mics; and loads of instruments.

Which DAW do you use and why?
Pro Tools – it’s the most reliable.

What is your favourite piece of gear and why?
Our Trident desk. It’s full of body, character, can go from clean to dirty, and the EQs are great. It’s the same desk as the legendary Daptone studio in New York.

How often would you say you spend in your studio per week?
From 16 to 50 hours maybe. It really depends on the projects we have.

Perfect or room for improvement?
We could improve the microphone collection and get some more hardware (compressors, EQ and plate reverb for a start).

What is next on your studio shopping list and why?
A Neumann U 47 clone because that’s the microphone. But it’s also way too expensive for us to get the real one, so a clone will have to do. I’m thinking Peluso or Pearlman.

What is your dream piece of gear and why?
Probably a vintage API desk because they sound and look awesome!

Big Wheels Studio

Interviewee: Frédéric Devanlay
Web: www.bigwheels-sounddesign.com

What are some of the key components?
Barefoot Sound MicroMain 27, Genelec 1032A, Yamaha NS10 and Blue Sky 5.1 monitors; Amek Big 44 series mixer; Avalon preamp; Tube Tech LCA 2B compressor, Neve 1076 rack; UAD 33609 compressor; PCM60 & PCM70; Eventide H3000, Nord Lead synth; Novation Bass Station.

Which DAW?
Steinberg Nuendo and Pro Tools.

Favourite gear?
My best piece is the 1076 EQ and UAD 33609 compressor. The 1076 makes rich and deep bass frequencies and the 33609 on the drum is famous for a pumping and dynamic sound.

How do you use the studio?
I work professionally as a sound designer. My Zero-G Cyberstorm library was made there.

Any studio anecdotes?
During a vocal session, a girl singer asked me to turn off the light of the studio and when I turned back to talk to her from the control room she was in her underwear! Oops! Sorry…

Any advice to people setting up a studio?
Focus on gaining knowledge of the room and speakers. Have a comfortable seat and two good screens, as most of your time will be sat in front of them. When you are mixing, turn off the screens and work with your ears.

SynthLab

Interviewee: Sotiris Gougousis
Contact: www.facebook.com/pages/Sotiris-Synthscape/220871154592750
Web: www.cdbaby.com/Artist/SotirisGougousis

Tell us about the main components…
Many soft synths and sound libraries, keyboards and rack synths, along with guitars, a Yamaha RY30, a Celtic harp, a theremin (Moog Etherwave Plus), monitors, mics… the list goes on!

Which DAW?
Cubase, as I’ve grown up using it and I feel comfortable with it. Plus I believe it’s more powerful than any other DAW.

Favourite piece of gear?
It’s a tie between the Yamaha EX5 and the Novation Supernova.

How often are you in your studio?
Usually three or four times a week I get ‘lost’ in there…

How do you use your studio?
I am mainly recording my own music, but lately I have started producing tracks for others as well. My main method of composing is setting up suitable sounds on all keyboards and then improvising on them while recording everything, so nothing gets lost, and edit later on.

What is next on your studio shopping list?
A Kurzweil PC3K8 because of the superb sounds and keyboard feel.

What is your dream piece of gear?
I’d love to have a Yamaha CP70.

Any advice?
Buy one machine at a time, learn everything about it and then buy the next piece. Otherwise you won’t take full advantage of their potential.