and capturing musical performances
well. We are keenly attuned to the nuances of performance, and to
the range and capabilites of those individuals we have the pleasure to record.
It is always our intent to foster capturing the best possible performance,
through a careful and studied attention to detail, and through a thoughtful
and understanding relationship with our clientele. We are skilled at
providing feedback about when one more take is essential, when a performer
is reaching their peak performance levels, and when those levels begin to
drop off. We will not intrude on a performer or producer's wishes;
however, as it is our desire to cooperate with the creative process in every
way possible, and to facilitate the intentions of those we serve. We
understand that this requires us to walk a fine line sometimes, but we will
go out of our way to give you exactly what you want, if it is in our power
to do so.
We possess a wide range of fine microphones
and other equipment, to capture your sound with pristine quality and clarity,
and we are constantly expanding the number and types to accomodate the various
groups and instruments we record here. We currently employ microphones
by Rode, Neumann, Audio-Technica, Shure, CAD, Yamaha, and Samson, using
microphone preamps and input channels from Aphex, ART, Behringer, Nady,
and DOD. All content in this studio is captured on a custom-built
Windows-based computer, with 1 GByte of RAM, and over 600 GB of
Hard Disk storage, running at 2 GHz, with A/D and D/A conversion from Terratec,
Roland, and Behringer. Our FireNet SAN gives us access to more than 250
GBytes of additional storage for complex Mixdowns, Video, or Archiving works
in
progress. Main monitors in the control room are Yamaha NS-8 series
nearfield monitors. Other monitors are available for comparison. We
utilize a wide variety of Audio software including SAW Pro (Software Audio
Workshop) from IQS, Magix Samplitude; Sound Forge, Acid, and Vegas from
Sonic Foundry/Sony, and a number of others.
Of course, we have a host of plug-ins and soft-synths, MIDI sequencing
and playback programs, and more. We have external sound modules from
E-mu and Ensoniq, drum samplers from DOD, Yamaha MIDI Drum Pads, and MIDI keyboards
from Yamaha and Korg, to facilitate creation and real-time playback of
MIDI scores.
Our new pride and joy is a mahogany finish M-type Steinway
Baby Grand piano previously owned by Jonathan's piano teacher, Helen Baldwin.
For those who prefer playing an acoustic piano it offers
ease of playability and an excellent tone. We have already used it
in a number of recordings, including a demo album of original works by Jeremy
Kermani and Xoch's song Enemy, which
appears on her June 2006 CD popcore du jour. We also have a number of other instruments available for use
at our studio, including an electric bass, several guitars and a variety of small percussion items.
We also offer our own musical expertise,
and the availability of a wide range of fine performers, arrangers, and producers.
We may not have mastered every style or play every instrument, but
we know people who have. We have broad-ranging expertise in our immediate
studio complement, and we can supply a host of available others whose level
of expertise ranges from the unquestionable to the sublime. The fact
that we are musicians as well as recordists allows us to have a better sense
of what musicians are looking for. We can address questions of how
to improve musicality, or tonality, as well as knowing about the proper microphone
placement and selection for each instrument or ensemble. We are careful
and caring people with a willingness to take the extra time, or make the
extra effort, required to get things perfect. We are, however, capable
of working with deadlines and working to help you meet all your important
deadlines with all the materials you require. Although there are some
jobs we know that we can't handle, it is impressive to note the wide range
of Audio services we do offer. In short, we can do absolutely
everything needed to take you from concept to finished Album, Video, or Demo.
We already have an impressive list of success stories to attest to this.
We offer Digital Multitrack Recording
in the Project Studio at our Lynn Road facility, with 24+ channels of simultaneous
input (after recent upgrades) and virtually unlimited mixdown track capability.
We have offered Audio CD Mastering for more than 10 years now, with
a keen sense of what each recording needs to shine, and what is required
to make diverse recordings work well together. Listen to the Clearwater
and IPSECs Indian Point Compilation CD, for a good example of the latter;
some cuts on that album had the benefit of professional digital recording
facilities while others were recorded on cassette, but the overall timbre
of the album remains consistent throughout. We can do noise reduction
and sound restoration, to revive those old vinyl and tape recordings. We
also do creative Audio Editing work, where we can create collages of music
that blend two or more songs into a medley, remove verses or solos, add additional
repeats or make other kinds of structural changes that allow
you to re-shape the music you love into something new and different. We
have all of the tools to do your dance re-mix here too. Nor have we
neglected the spoken word, in all of this, as we also craft words and characters
as well as music and sound FX, but we can blend them all together too.
In short, we do almost everything
you might want us to do with your music or speech. Beyond this, we
can craft, or help you to craft any sort of sound whatsoever because we are
sound designers, as well as recordists and musicians. We have extensive
modern synthesis and sampling capability, but we are also engineers, circuit
builders, and tinkerers. Our chief engineer Jonathan was building circuits
for his first Synthesizer back in the 70s, and he had the opportunity to play
extensively on one of the big old modular Moog synths, which was installed
at SUNY Albany during the formative years of Electronic Music, where he
studied with Joel Chadabe. He is eminently qualified for helping others
find an interesting and unique sound for a musical voice, a signature sound
for an animated character, or sound effect. He was trained in Audio
and Video Production at Dutchess Community College, but he has also logged
hundreds of hours at various commercial recording facilities. Our
assistant engineer Cary Kruzansky has her own Production Suite with Audio editing, vinyl restoration, and limited
recording capability. She has more than 5 years experience as an Audio
recordist both in remote locations and in the studio, and she is eager to
gain more experience in this field.