Equipment & facilities @ El Studió

Control Room

• A 24.5 m² mix room, built on a “reflection-free” architectural concept, acoustically treated with broadband panels and massive super-chunk bass traps. It delivers a very flat frequency response even without EQ-based calibration.

• The room’s horizontal section is trapezoidal, with an inclined ceiling. All dimensions are based on prime-number ratios and designed to minimize reflections at the sweet spot.

• Connected to the live room via a 32-way multicore run through the floor, plus an 8-way multicore dedicated to the headphone-amp feed.

• The 32 XLR jacks in the live-room mic panel feed directly into the preamps. Preamps’ outputs go into a patch bay, which in turn routes them internally to the inputs of the Antelope Orion 32+ Gen 3 converter.

• In the rack on the Soundtracs desk there are seven Neutrik patch bays bringing in every I/O of the outboard gear to facilitate routing and inserts. The patch bays also host the jacks for the console’s eight bus-inserts plus the main mix bus, the console outputs, 2-Track inputs, etc. Everything can be reconfigured easily using color-coded patch leads.

• A pair of Sennheiser HD 650 headphones is provided for checking mixes in headphones.

• Floor-embedded HDMI and SDI video circuits connect live room and control room for video shoots (cameras in live room, video switcher in control room).

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Live Room

• 44 m² floor area with a 4.3 m ceiling height.

• Completely asymmetrical—no parallel walls.

• The largest wall is one giant diffuser.

• The ceiling is fully treated with a mix of pyramid diffusers, space-coupler diffusers, and absorption panels.

• Side walls (except the diffuser wall) are partially treated with six broadband absorption panels (180 × 120 × 10 cm), mounted 10 cm from the wall to control reflections without deadening the ambiance.

• The window is covered by a large acoustic curtain that can be rolled back when more natural reverb is desired.

• The floor is high-quality laminate parquet. For vocals a booth is built from large gobo panels, and a thick specialty carpet is laid in part of the floor.

• Eight mobile gobo panels on wheels allow flexible reconfiguration and precise control of reflections or isolation of sound sources:

  • Four panels, 2.1 m high × 1.2 m wide × 20–40 cm thick (80 kg each), one side fully absorbent (mineral wool in three densities), one side reflective (wood, angled to bounce to the ceiling).

  • Three panels, 1.9 m high × 1.2 m wide × 11 cm thick, sandwich construction of mineral wool-plywood-mineral wool.

  • One panel, 1.2 × 1.2 × 11 cm, same sandwich structure.

• A comprehensive assortment of mic stands and clamps is available.

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Studio Equipment

• DA/AD Converters

  • Antelope Orion 32+ | Gen 3 (32 IN / 32 OUT)

  • PrismSound Lyra (2 IN / 2 OUT) for recording the analog sum/mix

• Monitors

  • PMC result6 nearfields

  • PMC Twenty5i mains + Bryston 4B ST amplification

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• Outboard Gear

  • Preamplifiers

    • 2 × Gyraf Audio Gyratec IX dual-tube mic pre (originals, not clones) – 4 channels

    • 1 × Teggeler Audio Manufactur Vari Tube Recording Channel (tube preamp + Pultec-style EQ + opto + vari-mu compressors)

    • 3 × API 512c

    • 2 × CAPI VP 28 DBL2 (top quality API 312 clone with 3-band HPF)

    • 2 × CAPI VC 528 “The Missing Link” (API 2520 op amp-based line amp)

    • TL Audio 2 Ivory 5052 Stereo Valve Processor (tube pre, parametric EQ, comp, limiter)

    • D.A.V. Electronics BG2 Broadhurst Gardens No. 2 (4-channel Decca-type mic pre)

    • Tascam MX-80 (8 FET pres modded with 48 V phantom)

    • 32 channels of quality pres in the refurbished Soundtracs Topaz Project 8 console (+4 dBV)

    • 24 channels of decent pres in a well-maintained Mackie 24/8 (direct-out capable)

    • 6 Apogee Symphony-identical pres in an Apogee Quartet (as additional pres)

  • Dynamics, EQ, FX Processors

    • Teggeler Vari Tube Recording Channel (Pultec EQ + opto + vari-mu)

    • 3 × Empirical Labs EL-8 X Distressor

    • TL Audio 2 Ivory 5052 Stereo Valve Processor (dual chains or stereo link)

    • 4 × Elysia Xfilter 500 (stereo mastering EQ)

    • 2 × Elysia Xpressor 500 (stereo bus comp)

    • SSL The BUS+ compressor

    • 2 × dbx 163x compressors

    • 2 × dbx 560A compressors (modern 160)

    • 2 × CAPI VT 50 (top quality API 550A clone)

    • 1 × API 550A EQ

    • 2 × SSL 611 EQ

    • 1 × Joemeek SC2.2 V4 photo-optical stereo comp (“dark mode”)

    • 1 × IGS Rubberbands 500 (Pultec-style mastering grade stereo EQ)

    • 1 × Gyraf GEQP-1 (Jakob Erland Pultec)

    • 1 × Drawmer 1973 three-band stereo FET comp

    • 1 × Black Lion Audio BLUEY F.E.T. (1176 clone made with Chris Lord-Alge)

    • 2 × CAPI FC 526 XFMR (500-series 1176 with API mojo 2520 op amps.)

    • Lexicon PCM 81, PCM 80

    • Yamaha REV 7, Digital Delay D1500

    • Pioneer Reverberation Amplifier SR80 (spring reverb)

    • dbx 231s 30-band graphic EQ (for mix room compensation)

• Console

  • Soundtracs Topaz Project 8 analog console (32 ch, 8 groups), fully refurbished and modded for +4 dBV, semi-parametric EQs, used as analog summing mixer and for recording and monitoring (British sound).

• Cabling & Monitoring

  • Premium Vandamme, Sommercable, Cordial cables with Neutrik connectors

  • 8 × Audio-Technica headphone amps in live room

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• Microphones

  • Large-diaphragm condensers:

    • 2 x Neumann U87i,

    • 1 x Neumann U67 (vintage),

    • 2 x AKG 414 XLII (stereo set),

    • 1 x AKG C4000B,

    • 1 x Royer R121 ribbon,

    • 1 x Neumann KM 100 (with K 40 cardioid),

    • 2 x AKG C451,

    • 2 x Audix UEM 81C,

    • 2 x Earthworks TC-20,

    • 3 x Sennheiser MD 421-U (vintage),

    • 1 x Sennheiser MD 441,

    • 1 x Shure SM7B,

    • 2 x Shure SM57,

    • 1 x Audix D2,

    • 3 x AKG C112,

    • 1 x Shure Beta 52A,

    • 1 x Shure Beta 91A,

    • 3 x Sennheiser MKH 416 etc.

• Calibration & Software

  • SONARWORKS Sound ID Reference calibration system

  • Licensed plugins & suites: Logic Pro, Pro Tools, iZotope, Waves, Neural DSP, Line 6, SoundToys, Relab, Celemony Melodyne 5, Synchroarts Revoice, Toontrack Superior Drummer 3, Antelope DSP (“virtual outboard”)

• Computers

• Mac Mini M1, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD + external SSD + RAID 5 backup

• MacBook Pro i7 (6-core) 32 GB RAM with Logic Pro, printing mixes via PrismSound Lyra converter

• Instruments

  • Drums:

    • PDP Maple Concept 7-piece kit;

    • high-end Premier snares:

      • Ludwig LB417 14"x6,5" Black Beauty;

      • Pearl JJ1365 3"x6.5" Joey Jordison Snare;

      • Tama MP1455BU 14x5,5" Mike Portnoy signature;

      • PDP Maple kit snare - 14"x5,5";

    • Meinl Dark Custom cymbals;

    • full drum-mic stand & cable set;

    • Radial and Cordial DI/Reamp modules

  • Guitars:

    • Gibson Les Paul “Joe Perry” ’96;

    • Ibanez Artist AR-100 ’80;

    • Aria Pro II Strat ’77;

    • Custom Pine Telecaster (Dimarzio Twang King & Tone Zone);

    • Rebel Relic P90 Tele;

    • Schecter C7 Rob Scallon multiscale 7-string;

    • Ibanez Jamboree ’77 all-maple acoustic

  • Basses:

    • Aria Pro II Jazz Bass ’76;

    • Ibanez RoadStar PJ ’80;

    • Cimar Jazz Bass ’76 (Bartolini pickups);

    • Rickenbacker 4001 ’76 JetBlack

  • Amps, Cabinets, Speakers, Processors:

    • Orange OR-100 + Orange 2×12 Celestion Vintage 30 Cabinet;

    • Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier + Mesa 2×12 Vintage 30 Cabinet;

    • Revv Generator 100 + Hesu 2×12 Demon Cabinet;

    • Hiwatt Hi-Gain 50 combo;

    • Marshall EL34 100/100 + JMP-1 head; Marshall 1960B ’73 4×12 with rare vintage 1972 G12H Blackback Celestions;

    • Yamaha 100B212 ’70s;

    • Ampeg SVT-3 Pro + Ampeg 410 HLF Cabinet;

    • Alto TS412 monitors (live room);

    • Line 6 HX EFFECTS;

    • assorted overdrive pedals.

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