The 10 Best Reader Studios

Our #showoffyourstudio campaign has been a real success, with thousands of shots sent in to us here at MusicTech, here’s the readers who impressed us most with their studios. And they’re not (all) hugely expensive set-ups, either…

Read the #showoffyourstudio archive here

SynthLab

Why? Because it’s called ‘SynthLab’. It’s basically a chair that looks like a chair from Star Trek, surrounded by synths. And did we mention the synths?

Owner Sotiris Gougousis
Quote “I get lost in there…”
Contact via CDBaby at www.cdbaby.com/artist/SotirisGougousis

Talla 3

Why? Because Talla 3 sounds like an alien planet, and this studio looks like a studio from Talla 3. And it has stormtroopers. Two of them.

Owner Tommy Jansson
Quote “I can sit here doing nothing, just watching waterfalls on the big screen and chilling on the couch until inspiration hits me.”
Contact tommy@talla3.com

Silicone Music Productions

Why? Because it heralded the start of MusicTech reader studios becoming bathed in blue light. After this, no studio shot was complete without moody (but very blue) light somewhere in it…

Owner Gustavo A. Sacchetti
Quote “Perfection doesn’t exist, and there’s always something more that I want to get…”
Contact info@siliconemusic.com

Philippe Beaubrun 

Why? Because we dream of wires. And chairs with wheels, and floors to slide across so we can plug them in.

Owner Philippe Beaubrun
Quote “The truth is that sometimes I still occasionally don’t understand why no sound is coming from the speakers until I realise that I simply forgot to power them up.”
Contact pbeaubrun@libertysurf.fr

Bass Lab

Why? Because it’s in a shipping container. Brilliant…

Owner Steven Comeau
Quote “I’ve always lusted after a Prophet VS. The sound of it makes my inner angst-ridden teenager want to write bad industrial music.” [We’ve all been there – Ed]
Contact steven@basslabstudio.com

Rain City Recorders

Why? You really have to ask? Just look at that rack of gear on the left. Just look at it! It’s called ‘the rack of doom’ by the way…

Owner Stuart McKillop
Quote “There’s always room for improvement. There’s always room for more gear.”
Contact raincityrecorders@gmail.com

Steve Cain 

Why? Because amongst all the gear – and there is some incredible stuff here – he’s managed to fit in a bed. Yes, this is probably the best bedroom studio ever, and it cost less than $1,500!

Owner Steve Cain
Quote “While technically it is a recording studio, it gets played as a single ‘thing’”
Contact stevec@hotmail.com

Big Wheels

Why? Just look at all those monitors. And the outboard.The outboard! And the monitors!

Owner Frederic Devanlay
Quote “My Zero-G Cyberstorm was made there.” ** We didn’t know that this collection – our library of 2014 – was made there when we featured the studio…
Contact via the website at www.bigwheels-sounddesign.com

Kooza Production Studio

Why? The neatness? The Nord? The ease of workflow? The absolute clinical cleanliness? The chair? ALL of the above?

Owner Loris Venegoni
Quote “Your studio begins with your ears…”
Contact loris.venegoni@gmail.com

Paquito Garcia 

Why? Because sometimes it’s nice to see an actual person in your studio shots – and Paquito certainly looks as chilled and relaxed as one possibly could in their own environment…

Owner Paquito Garcia
Quote “I miss the days of the Amiga 2000: making music back in those days was simply more straightforward…”
Contact mistermagic@hotmail.com

Show Off Our Studio
13 great items in the MusicTech studio, separate from our team of writers – who each have separate studios. Here’s what you’ll find in our main test area…
● Moog Sub 37  – Possibly the finest synth we’ve reviewed in the last year…
● ARP Odyssey – Possibly the finest classic synth we’ve reviewed in the last year…
● Roland System-1 – Flashing lights, classic Roland emulations, dodgy keyboard, but lovely.
● Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol – Great keyboard, great lights, one of the best Kontrollers ever made.
● Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2 – Something lovely and digital to plug all of our test gear into, this has more features than we are yet to discover, weighs a ton but is a simply an incredible mixer and interface, plus control surface for Studio 1.
● Various monitors, inc PMC twotwo.6 and Focal Alpha 65s – Simply brilliant on both counts
● Ableton Push – We’re getting nicely into Push – check out our next tutorial in a forthcoming MT Live Special.
● Native Instruments Maschine 2 – Next on our list to catch up on, there is, they say, no better way of making beats.
● Live, Logic, Studio 1, Cubase – Yes, all of those, but then we need to keep abreast of eveything…
● Saffire Pro 28 – One simple elegant interface to bind (some of) it all together…