Studio 44
We are a new recording studio in an old 40'x40' high-ceiling building in the middle of a forest overlooking the ocean on Mayne Island.
About
The room sounds incredible. Walls are custom made cedar quadratic resonance diffusion designs or reversible binary amplitude panels, enabling either dampened or open natural reverb configurations.
Because of the size and acoustic treatment, Studio 44 achieves 100% ITU-R BS1116 standards, which is quite a difficult endeavour. In live room mode there’s a wonderful natural reverb. With the wall panels flipped into absorb mode you can hear exactly what’s going on in the mix.
Good vibes = closer to your music
We’ve spent an incredible amount of design and investment on sound quality. Pretty much everyone who has played there has said ‘This was the best sound on tour’ and even ‘This is the best live show we’ve ever had’. It turns out a 40’x40’ venue with a gabled roof technically sounds amazing and we’ve improved on this by extensive sound treatment.
We’ve agonized over the monitors – Genelec 8361As, perhaps the finest available, a wide variety of incredible microphones, a Neve Amek console, all sorts of outboard gear amplifiers, and A/D converters. We’ve done weeks of calibrating and tuning to get it to sound absolutely amazing in there, which it does.
While the shop looks kind of scruffy from the outside, everything is super high-end inside. There’s an incredible mix of new and vintage gear. For a complete gear list, scroll down!
Console | A/D | Software
Rupert Neve designed Amek BCIII fully restored and recapped. 12 channels mono, 8 stereo, 4 submix. Huge punchy sound with the famous 9098 preamps.
UAD x16 – Flagship A/D/A conversion. Scroll down for list of plugins
UAD Apollo x4– setup as the monitor controller + extra DSP
Izotope Ozone 11 Advanced
Argosy Dual XL desk with full patchbay for outboard gear routing
Microphones
Dachman DA87i x2 Neuman U87 clones
A custom made large diaphragm tube driven condenser which is AKG C14-ish
Earthworks SR314
Sennheiser: MD 441-U
Sennheiser 541 Blackfire x3, same as the 441-U but black
Sennheiser: MD 421
Sennheiser: e945, e935, e835, e609 guitar cab
Aston Starlight SDCs x3, two are a matched pair
Matched pair custom modded large diaphragm tube condensers
Sure: SM7b
Sure: 57s x4, 58s x2
Audix i5
Rode NT1 shotgun
Apex ribbons (modded) x2. Vintage sounding RCA44 style
Microphone preamps
AMEK BC3 with Neve 9098 preamps x12
Twin SSL 4000 E refurbished channels
Hairball Lola – dual signal path, super clean, also a DI
Hairball Bronze – tons of colour, warm, amazing DI
SSL VHD+ – big, open, clear
Ward Beck M460 racked by Grunnig Audioworks ‘The Canadian Neve’ two channels
Ward Beck M460 50th Anniversary edition 2 channels
UAD 4-710D, 4 UAD preamps each with an 1176 compressor
UAD Apollo x4
ART Pro MPA II, preamp shootout winner, upgraded with JL tubes
Outboard gear
Channel Strip: Twin SSL 4000 E refurbished channels with preamp, dynamics, filters and EQ. They are actual SSL 4000 strips from a console which resided at Dierks Studios, that recorded Michael Jackson, Tangerine Dream, The Scorpions and many other albums. The real deal. Professionally racked and calibrated by Big Valley Audio. Serial 12/22.
Compressor: Tegeler Creme, Pultec style EQ with VCA compressor. Info
Compressor: Serpent SB4001 stereo bus compressor, an SSL G series clone with more features
Compressor: ART Pro VLA II tube stereo bus compressor, upgraded with JL tubes
Compressor: Lindell Audio 7X-500 an 1176 clone with more features
Compressor: DBX 560a x2
Compressor: Valley International Dynamite 2 smash those drums! Amazing on overheads
Compressor/Transient designer: Tegeler Magnetismus Reverb: Tegler Raumzeitmaschine, maybe the world’s greatest hardware reverb. Info
Reverb/FX: Lexicon MPX500
Amps and cabinets
Fender Twin Reverb reissue with Elecro-Voice EV 12Ls
Fender ‘65 Princeton Reverb tremolo with 12” Celestion Swamp Thang
Traynor YBA-2 1970’s EL84 version with a 15″ Celestion Big Ben
Traynor YGM-3 1970’s, 12” Celestion greenback
Traynor YGM-4 Studio Mate 1970’s, 4×8” Webber alnico speakers – a mini Marshall 4×12 but with 8” drivers in a combo. Such suuuper cool amp. The tremolo will make even the most hardened soul cry
Tranor Bass-Mate 1965 vintage 6V6 version, 15” Altec Lansing driver, the legendary Bass mate
Traynor YT-15 a 2×15″ cabinet great for bass and sometimes guitar
Garnet / Piper Stencil, 20w 6v6 refurbished with a Cannabis-Rex 12” driver.
Canadian amps represent!
Instruments
Keyboards
Rhodes “Seventy Three” Stage Piano, Mark III
Arturia Micro Freak
Nord Lead 3
Guitars
Larrivee Rosewood Recording Series steel string acoustic
1959 Guild M-75 Aristocrat
1973 Gibson L6-S
1975 JooDee Fender Strat (amazing)
1990 Carvin DC-135 Koa
2010 Fender Precision bass
Tokai Les Paul with Semour Duncan pickups
Spanish acoustic nylon classical with a solid cedar top
Yamaha RGX A2 (surprisingly great tone)
Drums
Full MES drum set with high-end cymbals – contact us for more info
Miscellaneous contraptions
XDJ-RX3 Pioneer DJ controller
Hologram Microcosm
Triton Audio FetHead mic preamps x3
Cloudlifter CL-2
BAE PDIS DI
Radial Pro48 DIs
Numerous guitar pedals of all kinds, contact us for the list.
UAD Plugins
iZotope Ozone 11 mastering suite, 1176LN, 1176SE, Ampeg SVTVR Classic, Ampex ATR-102, AMS RMX16 Expanded, AMS RMX16, Antares Auto-Tune Realtime Access, API 550A, API 560, API 2500 Stereo Bus Compressor, API Preamp, API Vision Channel Strip, API Vision Plus Channel Strip, bx_masterdesk, bx_tuner, C-Suite C-Vox Noise Reduction, Capitol Chambers Reverb, Century Tube Channel Strip, dbx 160, Empirical Labs Distressor, EMT 140, EMT 250, Fairchild Plug-In for UAD-2 (Legacy), Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection, Fender 55 Tweed Deluxe, Fuchs Overdrive Supreme 50, Harrison 32C, LA2A, Maag EQ4, Manley Massive Passive, Marshall Plexi Classic, Neve 1084 Preamp and EQ, Ocean Way Studios, Oxford Dynamic EQ, Precision De-Esser, Precision Enhancer Hz, Precision Equalizer, Precision Limiter, Precision Mix Rack Collection, Precision Multiband, Pultec-Pro, Pultec EQ Collection, Pultec, Pure Plate Reverb, Raw, RealVerb-Pro, SSL G Bus Compressor Plug-In for UAD-2 (Legacy), SSL G Plus, Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder, Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection, Thermionic Culture Vulture, Tube-Tech CL 1B Compressor, Tube-Tech CL 1B mk II Compressor, UA 610-B Tube Preamp and EQ
Security
Multiple cameras cover the property and all routes leading up to and from the studio.
All entrances and exits are recorded with 24/7 monitored alerts.
Biometric door locks.
Battery backup on cameras and internet ensure 100% uptime video recording of outside and inside the facility.
Note: The 44 does not rent or loan out equipment due to insurance reasons.