Equipment
Recording
We usually record choirs, small orchestras, and other projects that only need stereo to DAT tape, with a Fostex D-5 recorder. This allows for up to 120 minutes of uninterrupted CD-quality audio per tape, so it is ideal for live performances.
For multitrack projects, we generally record directly to 20-bit (Type II) ADAT tape, using an Alesis ADAT LX20.
In order to accommodate 8 XLR microphone inputs, we use an SM Pro Audio PR8 preamp, mounted above the ADAT or D-5 in an SKB 4U Roto Rack.
We have an additional hard disk based 8-track recorder (Fostex VR800), but it does not synchronize out of the box with the ADAT. It is, however, useful for projects where the relatively slow shuttle speed of tape is frustrating, and with some coaxing it could be made to sync with the ADAT for a 16-track recording.
Microphones
For stereo recording and for individual vocals, we use a pair of Behringer B-2 large diaphragm condenser microphones. These may be used with either an omnidirectional or cardioid polar pattern, making them excellent both for up-close vocals or amp pickup and for recording sound from a distance.
We also have several vocal stage microphones, which may give some vocalists a more ideal sound than the condensers, and they also work well as guitar amp pickups.
You may provide any additional microphones that are needed for recording. And if you have a personal favorite microphone for a particular instrument or vocalist, we’ll gladly use it!
Mixing
For mixdown and for gigs that require sound to be mixed live, we use a Tascam TM-D1000 digital mixer. It has 8 analog inputs, 8 TDIF-1 digital inputs and outputs (which we convert to and from ADAT optical with the Tascam IF-TAD), four auxiliary busses, and several S/PDIF and AES/EBU inputs and outputs. Naturally, it has switchable EQ on all channels, and it also has some built-in effects.
Once we get the right mix, we send it digitally, through an Edirol UA-1D USB interface, to a computer, where the mix is normalized, any subtle mastering effects that are needed are applied, and the project is split into tracks and written to CD.
Effects
Besides the on-board mixer effects, which include reverbs, choruses, delays, and compressors, we have an Alesis NanoVerb and some Reason effects (including a pretty advanced reverb processor, a compressor, and parametric EQ), which can help add spaciousness and that professional touch to your recordings.
Software
Most of our actual recording is done with real hardware, rather than with a computer interface. However, we do have a very powerful piece of music-writing software: Propellerhead Reason 2.5.
Using Reason is like having an entire rack of instruments and effects at your disposal, without the expense and space requirements of all the physical hardware. It has an analog synthesizer, what Propellerheads calls a graintable synthesizer, a drum machine, two different samplers, many effects, and, naturally, a mixer. The only limit to the number of these devices in the rack is the power of the CPU and the amount of RAM in the computer.
Feel free to listen to Emotion Unleashed, a song John put together for a friend’s film festival project, for a taste of what Reason can do.
Other gear
We also have an Alesis SR-16 drum machine, which has pretty realistic sampled drums, useful for solo projects that could use a bit of rhythm.
For those projects that can benefit from samples and loops, we have a Zoom SampleTrak ST-224. This unit has a variety of on-board effects to apply to samples (or direct input, for some of them), including some really cool pitch shifters and phasers, flanger, delay, distortion, and high- and low-pass filters.
Naturally, we have a couple of keyboards, for controlling Reason or other MIDI modules. One of them is a 73-key Casio keyboard. On its own, it’s not very impressive; the sounds are dated, and its only controller element besides the keys is a pitch-bend wheel. But it is nice for controlling piano and other keyboard modules, as it it almost a full-sized keyboard.
The other keyboard is an M-AUDIO Ozone, which, while having only two octaves of keys, has both pitch-bend and modulation wheels, as well as eight programmable knobs. This one is ideal for controlling synths and other modules that have many settings that can be changed in real-time.