I have been recently asked...a few times...to list what I use at my studio. I keep promising to do this and then life (sessions) get in the way and I totally forget. So...I'm taking an ear/brain break from doing some editing on the new, and I might add great, Sarah Pierce project.
Anyway...this is what the Cribworks Digital Audio is currently all about.
It all starts with the physical space. And so...
From the very beginning, the focus has been on acoustic instruments and vocals though drum kits and Marshall amps have always been welcomed as well...'specially drums. Just sayin'...
Anyway, when we bought the house, the second floor was totally unfinished. Stud walls, sub floor, nothing. The upside, it was as big, in square footage, as our entire old house. Now, months and a ton of labor later, it is a studio in the fullest/purest sense of the word. A main cutting room 40'x25'. A control room 15'x25' and an isolation booth that is 15'x15'. The solid wood floor floats on machine rubber. All the walls are double. The glass between the control room and the cutting room, the isolation booth and the cutting room, and the isolation booth and the control room is all double...the glass itself is 'insulated' which means that each pane is actually two sheets that are sandwiched by a clear sheet of plastic...much like the safety glass in your car. Each pane then rests in a cradle of machine rubber. The air conditioning/heating is done with two Mitsubishi zone systems. Whisper quiet and amazingly efficient. Each grounded 'duplex' (wall outlet) in the cutting room is on it's own 30 amp breaker. In the control room there are an additional 6 dedicated circuits. Everything grounded to both cold water and earth, the AC is as quiet as it can get. We have done our very best to make it 'real!'
Once the construction was done, I brought in Nick Landis...engineer/acoustician from Terra Nova Digital Mastering. Armed with computer, reference mic, and 'tones' he 'shot' (computer analyzed) the rooms many times each. Once done he took the information, did his interpretation of what he saw, made recommendations re: acoustic treatment...how...what...where. I did what he suggested and it was/is amazing. No standing waves and a gentle natural decay. The control room amazingly accurate.
I cannot express my pleasure recording in my 'little' studio.
So...on to the gear:
A Matt Silaski designed audio CPU. 64 bit. (6) 3.2 gig dual core processors. 16 gig RAM. (2) Terabyte internal drives. 2 UAD 2 Quad cards and a UAD 2 duo card. Matt is a master audio computer builder. In a test, at 24-96, a full compliment of tracks, and a ton of plug-in's, we were able to get this machine running up to about 15% CPU usage. Amazing. Knowing that I can record at the higher resolutions I prefer...my default is 24-96...and then bring my work to a world class mastering facility/engineer (Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital Audio), dump to 1/2" analog, and master from tape...at 24-96. I am one seriously happy guy!
Anyway...
Nuendo V5.5.6 - audio recording, mix, post production software
RME Fireface 800 A/D convertors (3)
John Oram designed 1974 Trident Flexi-Mix recording desk
Mogami Gold and Platinum cable throughout
Monitors:
DynAudio BM6A powered near field studio monitors
Audex Nile V passive 2 way near field studio monitors
KRK V4 near field studio monitors (mono 'soft')
Grado Labs/Alessandro Audio Music Series Pro head phones (2)
Amplifiers:
Stewart Class A (1000 watt)
Macintosh 250
QSC RMX 1400
Alesis RA 100
Outboard microphone preamps:
Amek/Neve 9098 outboard mic pre/EQ (2)
Focusrite ISA 428 (4 channel)
API ' The Channel Strip'
TL Audio Stereo Classic (stereo tube microphone pre-amp/DI)
Focusrite Green(2)
Aphex Stereo Tubessence
RME Fireface 800 (8 discrete balanced microphone inputs/'box' with class-A stage, separate activation of 48 V phantom power, and separate XLR/TRS inputs)
Outboard compressor/limiting amplifiers:
Manley Vari-Mu (stereo-tube)
TL Audio 2021 Valve Compressor (stereo-tube)
UA 1176
DBX 160XT
DBX160X
DBX 166XL (stereo)
Focusrite Green (2)
Microphones:
Neumann: including vintage U87’s (2) and the TLM102 (stereo pair)
Pearlman hand built 'vintage' tube microphones: TM 2, TM 250, and TM 47
AKG: including vintage 414’s, TLII’s, 451's (2). D-12 and 'The Tube'
Senheisser: including 421’s and 441’s
Audio Technicia: including ATM 4060 tube and the AT 825-stereo
Earthworks: 30K mono pair
Audix: D2's 3’s, 4’s and D6
Audex: SCX-1 with -10db pads and hyper cardioid capsules( 3)
Røde: NT4 Stereo
PZM: 'dual mono'
Shure dynamic mics: various ’57’s, 58’s, and Beta 87’s
Full library of UAD plug-ins along with various Wave Platinum, Bluetooth, and native Nuendo plug-ins.
Fibes drums (Merel proudly endorses © Fibes Drums, Austin, Texas)
20x16 kick
10x8, 12x10, 14x14 toms
various snares - including 5.5"x14" Craviotto 'solid' maple, first year 5"x14" Rogers 5 Line Dyna-Sonic, 5"x14" Nobel and Cooley, 4.5"x14" brass, maple Fibes, 5"x14" maple Ludwig, (2) Pearl 6"x14" Free Floating (with all the shells)
large cymbal collection
all appropriate hardware
Yamaha double chain pedal and DW 5000 high hat
...and more percussion instruments than I know what to do with...this is sorta what I do smile emoticon
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Vox AC 4 C-1
Yamaha P90 electric piano/controller
Hammond B3 with Leslie (122 or 145) available upon request
Collings D1 acoustic guitar (Sitka top, mahogany body and neck, ebony fingerboard)
1988 Alvarez Yairi (hand made by Kazou Yairi - Adirondack top, rosewood body, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard)
Gretch Nashville Florintine electric guitar
Fender Jazz Bass (Mexican)
Michael Kelly Legacy Flame F-Style Mandolin (spruce top, hand carved flame maple back and sides, maple neck, rosewood finger board)
And so there ya have it. Thanks for asking. gimme a call and/or stop by. I love making new friends.
Peace,
M
Anyway...this is what the Cribworks Digital Audio is currently all about.
It all starts with the physical space. And so...
From the very beginning, the focus has been on acoustic instruments and vocals though drum kits and Marshall amps have always been welcomed as well...'specially drums. Just sayin'...
Anyway, when we bought the house, the second floor was totally unfinished. Stud walls, sub floor, nothing. The upside, it was as big, in square footage, as our entire old house. Now, months and a ton of labor later, it is a studio in the fullest/purest sense of the word. A main cutting room 40'x25'. A control room 15'x25' and an isolation booth that is 15'x15'. The solid wood floor floats on machine rubber. All the walls are double. The glass between the control room and the cutting room, the isolation booth and the cutting room, and the isolation booth and the control room is all double...the glass itself is 'insulated' which means that each pane is actually two sheets that are sandwiched by a clear sheet of plastic...much like the safety glass in your car. Each pane then rests in a cradle of machine rubber. The air conditioning/heating is done with two Mitsubishi zone systems. Whisper quiet and amazingly efficient. Each grounded 'duplex' (wall outlet) in the cutting room is on it's own 30 amp breaker. In the control room there are an additional 6 dedicated circuits. Everything grounded to both cold water and earth, the AC is as quiet as it can get. We have done our very best to make it 'real!'
Once the construction was done, I brought in Nick Landis...engineer/acoustician from Terra Nova Digital Mastering. Armed with computer, reference mic, and 'tones' he 'shot' (computer analyzed) the rooms many times each. Once done he took the information, did his interpretation of what he saw, made recommendations re: acoustic treatment...how...what...where. I did what he suggested and it was/is amazing. No standing waves and a gentle natural decay. The control room amazingly accurate.
I cannot express my pleasure recording in my 'little' studio.
So...on to the gear:
A Matt Silaski designed audio CPU. 64 bit. (6) 3.2 gig dual core processors. 16 gig RAM. (2) Terabyte internal drives. 2 UAD 2 Quad cards and a UAD 2 duo card. Matt is a master audio computer builder. In a test, at 24-96, a full compliment of tracks, and a ton of plug-in's, we were able to get this machine running up to about 15% CPU usage. Amazing. Knowing that I can record at the higher resolutions I prefer...my default is 24-96...and then bring my work to a world class mastering facility/engineer (Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital Audio), dump to 1/2" analog, and master from tape...at 24-96. I am one seriously happy guy!
Anyway...
Nuendo V5.5.6 - audio recording, mix, post production software
RME Fireface 800 A/D convertors (3)
John Oram designed 1974 Trident Flexi-Mix recording desk
Mogami Gold and Platinum cable throughout
Monitors:
DynAudio BM6A powered near field studio monitors
Audex Nile V passive 2 way near field studio monitors
KRK V4 near field studio monitors (mono 'soft')
Grado Labs/Alessandro Audio Music Series Pro head phones (2)
Amplifiers:
Stewart Class A (1000 watt)
Macintosh 250
QSC RMX 1400
Alesis RA 100
Outboard microphone preamps:
Amek/Neve 9098 outboard mic pre/EQ (2)
Focusrite ISA 428 (4 channel)
API ' The Channel Strip'
TL Audio Stereo Classic (stereo tube microphone pre-amp/DI)
Focusrite Green(2)
Aphex Stereo Tubessence
RME Fireface 800 (8 discrete balanced microphone inputs/'box' with class-A stage, separate activation of 48 V phantom power, and separate XLR/TRS inputs)
Outboard compressor/limiting amplifiers:
Manley Vari-Mu (stereo-tube)
TL Audio 2021 Valve Compressor (stereo-tube)
UA 1176
DBX 160XT
DBX160X
DBX 166XL (stereo)
Focusrite Green (2)
Microphones:
Neumann: including vintage U87’s (2) and the TLM102 (stereo pair)
Pearlman hand built 'vintage' tube microphones: TM 2, TM 250, and TM 47
AKG: including vintage 414’s, TLII’s, 451's (2). D-12 and 'The Tube'
Senheisser: including 421’s and 441’s
Audio Technicia: including ATM 4060 tube and the AT 825-stereo
Earthworks: 30K mono pair
Audix: D2's 3’s, 4’s and D6
Audex: SCX-1 with -10db pads and hyper cardioid capsules( 3)
Røde: NT4 Stereo
PZM: 'dual mono'
Shure dynamic mics: various ’57’s, 58’s, and Beta 87’s
Full library of UAD plug-ins along with various Wave Platinum, Bluetooth, and native Nuendo plug-ins.
Fibes drums (Merel proudly endorses © Fibes Drums, Austin, Texas)
20x16 kick
10x8, 12x10, 14x14 toms
various snares - including 5.5"x14" Craviotto 'solid' maple, first year 5"x14" Rogers 5 Line Dyna-Sonic, 5"x14" Nobel and Cooley, 4.5"x14" brass, maple Fibes, 5"x14" maple Ludwig, (2) Pearl 6"x14" Free Floating (with all the shells)
large cymbal collection
all appropriate hardware
Yamaha double chain pedal and DW 5000 high hat
...and more percussion instruments than I know what to do with...this is sorta what I do smile emoticon
Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Vox AC 4 C-1
Yamaha P90 electric piano/controller
Hammond B3 with Leslie (122 or 145) available upon request
Collings D1 acoustic guitar (Sitka top, mahogany body and neck, ebony fingerboard)
1988 Alvarez Yairi (hand made by Kazou Yairi - Adirondack top, rosewood body, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard)
Gretch Nashville Florintine electric guitar
Fender Jazz Bass (Mexican)
Michael Kelly Legacy Flame F-Style Mandolin (spruce top, hand carved flame maple back and sides, maple neck, rosewood finger board)
And so there ya have it. Thanks for asking. gimme a call and/or stop by. I love making new friends.
Peace,
M
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