Wishing Well Studio
Recording ♦ Mixing ♦ Mastering
In the studio or on location
The music world is changing. Big studios are becoming financially unviable, yet home recording rarely bares the results that software marketers and cheap gear manufacturers promise. This is where small to medium size studios step in. The most important thing is an experienced engineer/producer, then a good room and lastly, the kind of gear no right-thinking person would buy to use privately.
This studio is tailored primarily towards acoustic music production and is set up with carefully selected, high quality converters, pre-amps and microphones and a controlled and variable acoustic environment, to achieve the best possible warm, natural sounds. With experience in recording everything from solo violin, choral groups, harpsichord, grand piano, folk bands, singer songwriter – to rap vocals and live rock band tracking sessions with drum kit and guitar amps, there isn’t really much that hasn’t been done here.
Wishing Well Studio is based around a homely, converted barn. Usually sessions take place with the engineer and musicians all in one spacious room (36 square meters), allowing for a very direct working relationship. This is a modern recording concept, championed by the likes of Peter Gabriel when designing his famous Real World Studios. The rustic sandstone walls, vaulted brick ceiling and custom room treatment make for a diffused, neutral acoustic.
| ♦ CLASSIC & MODERN MICROPHONES for best possible sounds |
Typical Use |
| Large Diaphragm Condensers |
|
| Neumann U87 | Vocals, guitar, drums, rooms, percussion, bass, guitar cab, pipes |
| SE Z5600a valve mic (modded capsule and valve) | Vocals, guitar, strings, rooms, bass drum, double bass |
| Audio Technica AT4040 | Flutes, strings, guitar cabs |
| AKG C414 XLS matched pair | Piano, choir, fiddle, strings, guitar, percussion, drum overheads, toms |
| Small Diaphragm Condensers |
|
| AKG C480b matched pair (cardoid and omni caps) |
Rooms, orchestra, choir, acoustic guitar, mandolin, percussion, piano, drum overheads, harp |
| AKG C451 matched pair | Acoustic guitar, hihat, violin, percussion |
| SE3, SE1a | Acoustic guitar, percussion |
| Ribbon Mics | |
| B&O BM6 vintage matched pair | Guitar cab, acoustic instruments, vocals, fiddle, drum overheads, piano |
| Cadenza vintage 1950s | Vocals, violin, guitar, guitar cab, room mic |
| Dynamic Mics | |
| Sennheiser MD421 vintage (x3) | Toms, brass, accordion, bass cab, guitar cab, pipes, flute |
| Shure SM57, SM58 | Vocals, instruments, snare drum |
| AKG D112, Red 5 | Bass drum, double bass, djembe |
♦ Monitoring is an important starting point. Neumann KH-120a nearfield monitors with matching DSP sub are a compact, highly accurate full-range system. Using the KH-120As, decisions on setting up sounds and later while mixing them can be made quickly and in good faith that they will translate well to other systems.
♦ Preamps – Analogue signals are amplified with an array of top quality pres from legendary British manufacturers SSL and Focusrite as well as Swedish newcomers GAP (modified by Salossi with hand-wound transformers) and US legends Universal Audio. These can be selected or set up to go for anything from a clean and accurate reproduction of sounds to something more dark and “vibey” or perhaps brighter and more aggressive. So we can get punchy guitars, smooth fiddles, fat drums, detailed vocals – or whatever suits the context.
♦ Instruments – CME 88 key keyboard controller, quality piano, Rhodes and Hammond Virtual Instruments, cajon. Various private instruments.
♦ Conversion – Very high quality Universal Audio AD/DA converters are used for pristine, accurate recordings.
♦ Plug-Ins – A wide variety of top plug-ins are available for tracking and mixing, including a selection of UAD’s sublime powered plug-ins, Waves Diamond Bundle, Lexicon’s industry standard reverb engines, Celemony Melodyne and all of the Slate Digital signal processors.
♦ Editing, Mixing and Mastering – Now that a track is recorded, it might need some editing and then it needs to be balanced both tonally and in terms of volume. The latest Melodyne plug-in allows for accurate adjustment of pitch and timing, even within a polyphonic sound source.
See the Studio Production page for more information about recording with Andrew Cadie.
Get in touch to discuss your needs…
♦ Rates can be charged per 8 hour day or per hour.
Book for an entire CD production (tracking, mixing, mastering)
Or for individual elements:
– Mixing
– Mastering
– Overdubs
– Location Recording
EXTRAS:
– String arrangements
– Brass arrangements