Recorders
Studer A 820 MCH 24- and 16-track
Qty: 3 (Two in Studio A, One in Studio B, plus parts machines)
2" 24/16-Track Recorder w/Dolby SR and Dolby A Noise Reduction
The high watermark of analog multitrack recorders. This machine is the result of a perfect marriage between microprocessor-aided function and 40 years of professional analog audio expertise.
Studer, in the late eighties decided to make the ultimate engineer/technician/musician's machine. They took application suggestions from engineers in the field to better facilitate given studio habits. The net result was a machine with near-perfect tape transport, and a multitude of handy features (reverse record, easier spot erasing, 4 different ways to dump tape, cigarette lighting, leftover eating, etc.)
The audio alignment is aided by a computer, making it a matter of minutes to completely "set-up" the machine. It will memorize 2 sets of calibration data for every speed. This is handy when mixing down tapes recorded at different levels and speeds.
One feature that seems intimidating at first is the meter bridge. Bargraph meters on an analog machine seems wrong, I know, however it gives you the ability to truly see transient levels. Either way, you can accurately predict whether your signal is at a good level, or getting compressed/ distorted. Whatever your preference, we can help orient you on what's what.
You can tell I like talking about this machine. Oh yeah, it sounds good too. Those of you familiar with the A-827 will get along fine with the A-820. They both sound transparent with mild bass bumps and extended high end.
Did I mention it eats leftovers? Let's see your Pro Tools do that.
We have 2" 24-track, and ultra high fidelity 16-track headblocks. All tape machines are calibrated before each session.
Ampex ATR-102 2-Track
Qty: 4 (Two in Studio A, One in Studio B)
2-track (stereo) master recorder, refurbished by Mike Spitz of ATR Services.
Widely regarded as the best mastering recorder built. The heads were manufactured by Flux Magnetics to have an extended low-frequency response, and because of this our ATRs have a relatively flat record-to-reproduce response from 20 Hz to 30kHz at 30 IPS! This is the machine to mixdown to.
These machines have all been completely rebuilt by ATR Services.
We have four of these machines available with 1/2" and 1/4" headblocks. They run at all conventional speeds- 30ips, 15ips, 7.5ips, and 3.75ips. We have additional 1/4” 4-track and quarter-track heads and 1/2” 4-track and 3-track heads available for tape transfers.
Tape machines are calibrated before each and every session.
Pro Tools Rigs
Both studios have 24-input, 24-output Pro Tools rigs that are running Pro Tools Ultimate (what used to be called Pro Tools “HD").
Studio A’s rig has Apogee Symphony mkII converters, and Studio B’s rig has Avid HD I/O converters.
We have a floating Sync HD that allows a Pro Tools rig to SMPTE-lock to a tape machine. We also have splitter boxes that allow tape to feed Pro Tools, or vice versa, so that you can track to tape and dump the tape recording to Pro Tools easily, or vice versa.
The computers running Pro Tools are Mac Pro 5,1 (last gen “cheese grater” Mac Pros) running OSX 10.14 Mojave with these specs:
12-core 2.66GHz Xeon (2 x 6-core processors)
64GB RAM
SSD Boot Disks and 2 - 4TB of audio storage on magnetic disks
USB 3.0 PCI cards
Studio A has a UAD-Solo card with some select plugins. We have a small compliment of additional plugins (we have the real analog outboard this stuff models, after all!) in both studios.
