DACS designed and built our studio. We're proud of it. It's small but beautifully formed! The walls are triple thickness and the doors are HEAVY. It's soundproofed, but more than that, it's been acoustically designed so that it's flat. We mean that there are no reflections in the control room or the live room/vocal booth. It's air conditioned because you need to be comfortable on long sessions and it's got fibre optic lighting installed that is colour controllable so that we can give you the right ambience for your recording and your mixes.
When we chose a mixing console, we wanted something that was flexible enough to handle working in an analogue and digital environment, which is why we chose the Mackie D8B digital 8 bus console. We've upgraded it to version 5 so that it can be used as a HUI, that is, a control surface that controls the DAW environment. We also have several software packages with the desk too, including Antares Autotune and Massenburg EQ. There are 24 digital inputs and outputs via lightpipe (ADAT optical) and 24 mic/line ins plus AES/EBU and SP/DIF outputs.
Our DAW environment is Logic Studio - Dee is an Apple Certified Pro and Trainer so this is the natural choice for him, not only is it a flexible but it sounds great too. The new features in Logic 8 make it a powerful tool for your session. For nearfield monitors we chose Mackie 824 Mk1s - they're detailed and warm; we recently installed a Genelec sub too. In the rack is a very fine Clarity Mic Amp by DACS. It's had lots of good reviews in the pro audio press because it's incredibly clean and we love it. Also in the rack is a nice TL Audio valve comp for a little extra grit when you need it and a Focusrite Liquid Channel, awesome modelling technology that emulates all the classic large format consoles you'd ever wish to record on. Over the next year, we hope to expand upon this and add some nice Class-A mic amps and comps to the studio - keep checking our spec list for updates. We have a nice collection of mics, including a new Rode Valve, AKG 414, Rode NT1s, Shure Beta 98s, 58s, 57s, 56s, 52 and we're looking at some new additions right now, including Sennheiser 421s and a Royer ribbon mic.
The vocal booth is actually large enough to record a drum kit, which we've done on many an occasion. Guitar amps can be cranked up right next door whilst you sit in the control room in air conditioned luxury on a leather sofa! But if you'd like to record as a live band then we have tie-lines running up and downstairs. There are DV cameras placed around the main rehearsal room - it has a huge sound, very live, very ambient; drums sound fantastic recorded there! In the control room is a 42' plasma so we can communicate with you whilst downstairs. We have it covered!