Thanks for stopping by to take a look at our studio. I want to use this space to show you around the studio a bit, and go into a bit more detail about the design and the philosophy behind it. We’ll do some additional posts in the future to get really nerdy about details of gear and such…this is a little more like the 100 foot view, as opposed to the 1000 foot view that’s on the main web site.
Today’s incarnation of the studio is truly a years-long dream in my head brought to life in a way that actually exceeds what I thought possible. A couple other versions of the studio existed in more temporary spaces in my prior houses in Berkeley, CA and then Pine Lake, GA. When we bought our current property in the woods of Lilburn, GA, it was with the intent of having the room to build a no-compromise version of the studio I’ve always imagined.
I like to think of our current property as having many of our favorite elements from the various places we’ve lived before. There is something about living amongst tall trees that makes me feel at peace, and I love looking out at the pond on our property and just zoning out for a bit. This kind of environment is one that breeds creativity for me and hopefully for all of the artists we work with. I love being able to share it with everyone that comes in to work on their music. Our extremely low overhead (compared to a traditional commercial space) allows us to keep things relaxed and flexible. I prefer for sessions to feel like a good hang with friends, rather than a hard slog at a not-so-ideal job. Make no mistake, we work plenty hard on the music, but it would all be for naught if the environment didn’t allow artists to relax and give their best performance without unnecessary stress.
I engaged Wes Lachot early in the process of searching for a suitable house, and I could never have gotten to where we are without his unique genius. From the street outside, the studio addition perfectly integrates into the architectural style of the house and looks as though it were meant to be there from the start. When you see just how many trees we have on our property, it’s pretty amazing to realize we only had to take out two of them to build the addition.
The tracking room incorporates floor-to-ceiling windows in attempt to bring a bit of that outdoor beauty and creative energy inside. The overall aesthetic design of the inside space is meant to capture the feeling of the woods as well, and I’m still pretty blown away by how well that turned out. The sound of the live room matches its visual beauty with a natural live sound and smooth decay reminiscent of a larger space. This is achieved through the liberal use of ceiling and wall diffusive elements as well as careful attention to modal ratios. The acoustics of the room can be further manipulated via gobos that are absorptive on one side and diffusive on the other.
We’ve got some great house instruments available for use that live in the tracking room most of the time – a handful of my favorite electric guitars and basses, and of course my cherished Taylor guitars (a 916 and a K26) that record beautifully in the space and are featured in a large majority of my past work. We’ve also got a Yamaha Stage Custom drum kit and various other bits of percussion. For vocals, we almost always go with my Blue Bottle, with a number of different capsules available to try depending on the singer.
The control room is designed as a fully reflection free zone behind the console, and measures very flat in the critical bass region. The main monitors are an in-wall pair of ATC SCM150s, tri-amped, with ATC discrete analog amps and crossovers. The control room rear wall contains broadband and tuned basstrapping as well as Brett Acoustics Slatffusor diffusors. Wes designed the room’s geometry around the ATC monitors from the start, resulting in an absolutely breathtakingly detailed and accurate stereo image.
The studio’s technical design is a reflection of my personal production style which often combines acoustic instruments with software-manipulated soundscapes as it embraces both classic analog and the power of modern DAWs. The console is a 32-channel modular hybrid design built around SSL’s Matrix2 and Sigma for hands-on DAW control and DAW-driven analog mixing automation with digitally controlled recall-ability for efficient switching between tracking and mixing sessions. The summing system is complemented by four SSL X-Racks filled with a mixture of EQ (mostly the famous black 4k modules) and compressor modules as well as a selection of mic preamps and processors from API, Rupert Neve Designs, Crane Song, and Louder Than Liftoff for a versatile analog tonal pallet that integrates seamlessly with in-the-box DAW processing. The credenza houses a further selection of both analog and digital gear from Universal Audio, Focusrite, Lexicon, Apogee, Kemper, and Flock Audio.
As time allows, you’ll see future articles from us that dive into even more fine grained detail of the different aspects of the studio and our gear. In the meantime, feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in making some music with us, we’d love to have you.
