DEATHPOP STUDIO EQUIPMENT LIST JULY 2009
Author – Gobz
Below is the list of the equipment that is installed at my home/pre-production studio. The equipment is utilized by my 5 bands : Whores of Babylon, Soundisciples, W.O.B – The Noiselab Project, The Drunken Pirates & Corporation of Corpse Stealers ( C.O.C.S ). Also I co-own a commercial studio `State of Art` ( SOA Studios ) in Bristol with Geoff Barrow of Portishead fame and it has a vast array of other stuff, but that`s a different story.
Most of the work for my bands is carried out at the home studio with the exception of : recording real drums, much of the final vocals & some of the final mix downs, these are undertaken at State of Art.
Monitors
1 pair Yamaha NS10M`s ( small, industry standard monitors )
1 pair JBL TLX 20`s ( very large )
Mixing Desks
Soundcraft Delta 200, 24 channel modular mixing desk with flight case ( popular live mixing desk )
Yamaha DMP7, 8 track automated digital mixing desk with FX and `flying faders` ( bought secondhand from Midge Ure of all people ! )
Outboard Modules
Yamaha R100 digital FX ( old 12 bit digital unit, not used for a while )
Yamaha DMP7 ( 90`s unit, not just a mixer also contains the equivalent of 2.5 Yamaha SPX 900 FX units !, listed again under – mixing desks )
AKAI MDF 24 ( midi Drum pad & pot controller unit )
Drammer LX20 duel compressor
Drammer DS201 duel noisegate ( essential for that `gated` synth trance effect )
XRI XR300 smpte synchrosiser ( to sync computers with multi track tape machines )
AKAI S950 Audio Sampler expanded to 3 Meg memory ( classic 80`s 90`s unit, not used so much now )
AKAI S1000 Audio Sampler expanded to 8 Meg memory ( classic 80`s, 90`s unit, not used for some years now )
Multi-Track recorders
Alesis A-Dat 8 track digital tape recorder ( 90`s machine still very useful as PC hard disk recorders have an annoying time delay in their operation )
BOSS Micro BR ( Pocket sized digital 4-Track recorder with drum machine, great for demo ideas )
Tascam Porto 02 ( crappy 80`s 4 track porto-studio tape recorder, never used now )
Archos AV700 portable media player/recorder ( used to record master tracks, instead of a DAT tape machine )
Dell Axim X51v , 624 mhz pocket PC ( in the studio it is used as a Dictaphone for capturing ideas for songs etc )
Microphones
1 Shure SM58 and 1 Shure SM57 ( Industry standard and the only mics that I keep at the home studio, although we have AKG 414`s & Neumann mics at our main studio – State of Art )
Hardware Synthesizers
Korg M1 keyboard synth ( classic late 80`s early 90`s, professional, large and robust )
Roland Juno-D Keyboard synth / controller ( modern light general purpose synth with hardware pots for the real-time control of `Analogue` PC software synths)
Roland JV1010 synth module with orchestral expansion board fitted ( late 90`s synth with general purpose quality sounds )
Guitar Equipment
Washburn RS-10V 80`s vintage – Fitted with EMG 81 & EMG 85 pickups ( Gibson PRS shaped guitar )
Ibanez RG270 DX – Fitted with Seymour DUncan TB-2 ( SH-2 ) pickup
Aria Pro II ZZ Deluxe 80`s vintage – Fitted with Seymour Duncan SH-8 Invader pickup ( Destroyer shaped guitar )
ESP LTD Axxion ` Dave Mustaine` signature – Fitted with Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB & SH-2n pickups( unusual shape designed by Dave Mustaine )
ESP LTD EX-50 – Fitted with Seymour Duncan SH-6 set of pickups( Explorer shaped guitar )
Shecter Blackjack - Fitted with Seymour Duncan AHB-1 Blackout active pickups ( satin body finish on guitar )
Hamer Flying V 80`s vintage - Fitted with Seymour DUncan SH-13 `Dimebucker` pickup ( Flying`V` shaped )
B.C Rich Warlock - Mick Thompson Signature - fitted with Seymour Duncan SH-2 pickup
Squire Showmaster - fitted with Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB pickup
Washburn XB120 Bass Guitar – Fitted with Active Soapbox pickups
Alesis USB Pro midi Drumkit with real drumskins and cymbals
Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 watt valve amp
Marshall Valve State 100 watt amp
4 Marshall SPEAKER CABS : 1960A, 1960AV, 1960B, 1966B
A bunch of different FX pedals - Ibanez Soundtank ClassicMetal / Ibanez Soundtank Tube Screamer / Boss GP-20 distortion & amp modeler / DOD compressor / Boss compressor / Boss ME-30 FX center etc etc
A Violin & some Acoustic guitars
Computer Hardware
1 x `Dual Core E7200 ` 2 x 2.85 GHZ ( overclocked ), 2 Gig DDR3 Ram, GeForce 260 GTX Graphics,22” flat panel Computer System ( mainly used for Video editing & Games )
2 x `Athlon 2800+`, 1.5 Gig Ram, 2496 M-Audio pro soundcards, 19” widescreen flat panel Computers ( these 2 low audio latency computers via pro audio software handle the bulk of my sound creation )
1 x `Medion Microstar` `Pentium 4` 2.6 GHZ, SoundBlaster Extigy usb soundcard laptop computer ( originally it used to handle some of the sound creation but the audio latency is a bit slow so now used for general purpose and sometimes as the main sequencer )
1 x Atari 1040 ST computer ( used as the main sequencer and loaded with a version of Cubase from 1989 !, more reliable than modern PC sequencers )
Main Computer Software
Video Editing :
Cyberlink Power Director 6 ( low level video editor, fine for most jobs )
Sony Vegas 6 ( poor as an audio hard disk recorder, good as a pro video editor )
TSUNAMI – Mpeg DVD Author Pro ( for creating a DVD with interactive menus )
Stand alone Software Sound Modules / Synthesizers :
Native Instruments Kontakt 2 ( audio sampler / FX / mixer / synth module with a large library of instruments too, especially good for orchestral stuff. My most used module )
Native Instruments Intakt ( sampler / sample management )
Native Instruments Absynth ( wacky and interesting soundscapes, good for film/industrial/trance etc )
Native Instruments Reactor ( masses of classic analogue synths recreated here )
Native Instruments Massive ( great new analogue synth with huge sounds )
Atmosphere ( ambient pads n FX )
FM7 ( recreates the 80`s icon DX7 keyboard synthesizer, which I always hated, suffice to say I never use this )
Native Instruments B4 ( re-creates old organ sounds, sound like Jon Lord from Deep Purple & Portishead etc )
Native Instruments Pro-53 ( mocked up like the classic analogue synths – Jupiter 8, juno 106 etc )
Native Instruments Guitar Rig ( makes your guitar sound like it`s plugged into a big Rig, not as good as a pro Rig but much better than a practice amp )
Midi drum programs - BFD2, Superior Drummer & Battery ( For use with the midi drumkit or Akai MDF 24 drum pad box)
T-Racks Pro 24 ( a virtual analogue mastering suite )
Pro Tools version 7.4 M-Powered Sequencer & hard disk recorder & music production ( essentially this is replacing or has replaced the Cubase sequencer & the ADAT multitrack recorder)
Soundforge audio editor ( essential for tiding up those samples before sampler use )
Rooms
Main Control / composition room ( Large work surface, sofa, office chair. A former bedroom )
Gonk !
A `Tickle me` Cookie Monster, he is my Religion !
( see `Cult of the Cookie Monster` on myspace http://groups.myspace.com/cultofthecookiemonster
and facebook
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5456016597 for details )