Studio Equipment

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Studio gear I use

Keyboards
Microphones
Outboard
Recording
Computing
Monitoring

Microphones

AKG CK91 cardioid and CK94 figure-8 capsules mounted on SE300B bodies in Mid & Side configuration within a Rycote full windshield and fluffy windjammer
2 x AKG C1000S (hyper-)cardioid condenser microphones [these were given away to GearSlutz :-]
Audio Technica AT4040SM cardioid condenser microphone
Audio Technica ATM11 cardioid electret condenser microphone
Audio Technica ATM21 cardioid dynamic microphone
Audio Technica Pro25 hypercardioid dynamic microphone
Sennheiser MD421 Mk II cardioid dynamic microphone
Sennheiser/Telefunken TD26 super-cardioid dynamic microphone
SIB Drum Systems D727 cardioid dynamic microphone
Sontronics Sigma active ribbon (figure-8) microphone
Sontronics Helios variable-pattern vacuum-tube condenser microphone with SPS1 power supply

Mic stands

2 x AKG ST1 foldable mini-tripod
3 x Studiospares mic stands with bag
2 x Konig & Meyer KM26085 one hand mic stands with telescopic booms
2 x Konig & Meyer overhead mic stands
Konig & Meyer KM24050 multi-purpose mic arm
Konig & Meyer KM258 table clamp boom arm
Konig & Meyer KM235 stereo bar
various other floor/desktop/podium mic stands

Outboard

Rack 1 (preamps - 14U blue+black)

MXR Flanger/Doubler Model 126 analogue BBD flanger (pictured here atop new rack setup)
Sony SRP-L200 stereo compressor / limiter / expander / gate
CLM Dynamics DB8000s 8-channel M&S mic-pre/limiter (makes a nice input stage for HDSP)
Funklogic Palindrometer
Philip Rees 2M MIDI merge box (behind Palindrometer)
Waldorf MicroWave rackmount wavetable synthesiser with Philip Rees C16 MIDI slider control unit
Lexicon Model 97 "Super Prime Time" monster digital delay

Rack 2 (digital/patchbay - 12U black)

RME Digiface breakout box for the Hammerfall DSP PCI soundcard
ETA Systems PD11LVIEC-CE power conditioner
[Blank rack panel with dbx compression graphs]
Signex ARC32 Smartpatch 16-way audio router (balanced version) with V2 firmware including Multiple Destination Routing
Signex Universal Panel custom-configured with various USB, BNC, Jack, XLR Universal Panel Modules
Signex CPX16MJ 16-way XLRM patchbay with rear jacks and lacing bar
Signex CPX16FJ 16-way XLRF patchbay with rear jacks and lacing bar
Frontier Tango24 8-channel 24-bit A/D-D/A convertors (x2)
dbx 160A mono compressor
TC Electronic D*Two rhythm delay
TC Electronic M*OneXL dual effects processor

Rack 3 (UFO - 11U black)

Casio CZ101 synth sits on top alongside Palmer MCT-8 cable tester
dbx 263X de-esser
dbx 563X 'The Silencer'
dbx 163X OverEasy compressor / limiter (x2)
dbx 463X OverEasy noise gate / expander
dbx 166 stereo compressor / limiter / gate
dbx 363X dual noise gate (x2)
TC Electronic 2240HS dual 4-band parametric EQ (same as two 1140's)
Eventide H949 Harmonizer
Urei 565 filter set

Rack 4 (MIDI - 10U beige)

industrial PDU - studio master switch (DANGER)
Audio Architecture Function Junction 8x8 programmable MIDI patchbay
Chloride Power DeskPower UPS
Akai ME80P 10x8 MIDI patchbay
Akai ME35T drum-MIDI trigger unit
Akai S3200XL digital sampler (creating 'The Malcotron')
[Swicthed mains 6-way extension lead for annoyig wall warts]
Panasonic SV-3700 professional DAT recorder with RAK-SV012WH remote control

Rack 5 (reverbs - 2U black/blue)

Behringer BCR2000 rotary encoders
Sony MU-R201 digital reverberator
Sony DPS-R7 digital reverberator

It's only a matter of time before Rack 5 gets combined with Rack 6 and maybe one day evolves into some kind of live effects rack, with a rackmounted mixer on top for stage usage...

Rack 6 (FX - 3U black/red/blue)

Sony DPS-F7 Dynamic Filter / drum synth / monosynth / vocoder...
A third dbx 363X dual noise gate
Lexicon Vortex audio morphing processor
Undoubtedly more to come...

Recording

Soundcraft Spirit Studio LC 16:8:2 in-line console
Tascam DA-P1 portable DAT recorder
Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT recorder
Yamaha MT2X 4-track tape recorder
Alice Matchpak bi-directional stereo balanced-unbalanced convertor (to+from hi-fi and 4-track)

After years without a viable multitrack (apart from my old 4-track) I finally began recording audio direct to computer in 2009. The following year I embarked on a vast climb up a massive mountain of DAT tapes, many of which are now happily gathered together on computer, and some are being released online as time allows.

Computing

Custom-built six-core high-efficiency silent AMD Phenom II workstation with 16GB ECC RAM, SSD, etc. (full specs) plus:

A nice pair of EIZO L685 18" LCD monitors running off a Radeon HD5750 silent triple-head graphics card
RME HDSP PCI 26-channel professional sound card and Digiface breakout box
Frontier TranzPort wireless remote (now works on Linux :-)
Debian/aptosid GNU/Linux running Free audio software:
- Ardour digital audio workstation
- Hydrogen virtual drum machine
- Rosegarden notation/sequencing
- ALSA, LASH, LADSPA plugins and JACK

Monitoring

APS Aeon active mid-field monitors
Fostex PM0.4 mini active monitors in Computer Room for reference listening
Classic Mission 707 hi-fi loudspeakers
Ancient Marantz hi-fi loudspeakers
Beyer DT150 closed-backed headphones
Beyer DT990pro open-backed headphones
Passive headphone splitter allowing headphone sharing in any room

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