the Pinemarten studio...

I've been meaning to do a little post about my home studio (the 'Hut') for some time now, and since I've been in there a few times recently I managed to take a few snaps whilst falling about hopelessly in the mess trying to make some music...

My studio is a small two story building, although it's only got 1 room upstairs and 1 room downstairs joined by some very steep steps. The downstairs is kitted out as a control room, with the upstairs acting as a live room and a place for me and my other hobbies. I'm really lucky I've got this space... Recently most production and recording has actually all taken place downstairs as it's just been a little easier.

For those technically minded folk who want to find out more about what software / hardware I use, I will be putting up a little 'studio' page on the blog - but for now here's some more basic info!

my grubby Soundcraft 'Ghost'

I've been using my Soundcraft 'Ghost' mixer recently, mainly for it's fantastic pre-amps, I don't really ever need 24 simultaneous inputs in the 'Hut', it's also got a lovely EQ on it that's pretty impressive for the price - this console happens to be the first ever studio desk I worked on and it's my favourite to this day! 

I've never been able to afford any high quality microphones - so my Rode NT1A has been with me ever since I built the studio and has been fantastic recording a whole range of instruments and of course, my wobbly voice...

Yamaha DX27 (with one missing fader)

As many of you will have noticed from listening to my records, I like to use quite a few 80s sounds and  older synths - the DX27 is not one of Yamaha's flagship synths, and it's not even really a collectors item but I do love it! You can hear it most notably in my song 'On The Line' providing the bass.

The Akai LPD8 is probably the most up-to-date bit of gear I have in my studio currently, and I use it all the time. Mostly this is for programming in drum beats and especially when recording tom fills etc. It lights up when you play the pads and costs just £40, what more could you want?

The good Doctor is in the house....

My Boss 'Dr Rhythm' was found in a bin outside work... Luckily I was on hand to rescue him and he's been in perfect working order ever since! Unfortunately time has taken it's toll on his wonderful looks but that doesn't matter 'in the mix' as they say... I use it a lot for tom sounds and percussion, although I have sampled  each sound into the computer anyway, it's nice to play the little pads and get some feeling into tracks! 

I hope that might have been of interest to some people.. of course there are many other things, but as previously mentioned I'll post those on my 'studio' page!

Thanks for reading / listening!

Pinemarten