Studio Overview

The best guitar ever made, is the one you're excited to use.

We primarily work out of Ableton Live, but we also love to have fun with our outboard gear. Here is a little overview of our gear outside the box.

The Centerpiece

Our Neve 5060 is the centerpiece of our setup - a 24x2 channel analog summing mixer and monitor controller. This device is like a scaled down center section of a Neve 5088 console, bridging the gap of our hybrid studio. All of our audio passes through this box!

Interface and Converters

RME Madiface XT II and Ferrofish A32 Pro

To be able to have the flexibility to make dynamic routes for audio through our gear, we use an RME Madiface XT II paired with Ferrofish A32 Pro AD/DA converters. You might think 394 channels is enough, but we're already half way there!

500 Series Racks

We've got several racks of 500 series modules we process audio through, and the chassis have some super powers as well! In no particular order:

500 Rack 1

We've started using Cranborne 500ADAT chassis due to the amazing benefits of being able to route audio I/O through individual modules via ADAT or via direct analog chains. For example, this rack has one of our vocals chains in it Mic Pre -> EQ -> FET Compressor ->Opto Compressor and we can record the output of each individually, allowing us to go back and adjust stems if needed.

This rack is our more DIY one as well, where all but one have been hand-assembled from kits by us.

Modules:

73P Mic Preamp by DIYRE [Neve 1073 style] (x3 - two are in process of being built and calibrated)
Neve 551 Inductor Equalizer from RND
CP5176 Compressor by Sound Skulptor [1176 style]
LA500A Compressor [LA2A style] by JLM Audio
VP312 Mic Preamp by Classic Audio Products, Inc [API 312 style](x2)

500 Rack 2

Also in a Cranborne 500ADAT are some of our stereo-processor power houses.

Modules:

SSL Ultraviolet EQ
Elysia xpressor neo compressor
Elysia karacter saturation/distortion
SPL BiG stereo image bigger maker 😁

We also have a WesAudio _Titan rack featuring ADAT via the Calypso. In addition to their sound, WesAudio is known for making digitally controllable analog devices, so this rack features other WesAudio modules that can be controlled and automated via their plugin interface in our hybrid setup.

Modules:

WesAudio _Hyperion parametric EQ
WesAudio _Dione VCA Compressor
WesAudio _Rhea vari mu tube Compressor
Neve 542 Tape Emulator (x2)
WesAudio _Calypso AD/DA Converter

Master Bus

On our master insert, we've got the Neve Portico II Master Buss Processor on compressor/limiter duties. Similar to the mixer on a Neve 5088 console, it pairs quite well with our Neve 5060 Centerpiece.

Rack Mount

It's not all 500 all the time - we utilize some rack mount gear as well! Here are a few highlights of other gear we use in our chain as well.

SSL Revival 4000 Channel Strip and GRP V22 Analog Vocoder

We have a GRP Synthesizer V22 22 band analog vocoder, which is an absolute dream to use. Also pictured is our SSL Revival 4000 Analog channel strip.

We also have an SSL Fusion analog color box, that gives us a bit of the SSL flavor to pair with our more Neve-based setup. Also pictured, is our Neve 5059 Satellite Mixer, as an occasional extension to our Neve 5060 as a dedicated summing bus.