Back in business - new studio space

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

As some of you know, I used to do mixing and mastering in a small extra bedroom setup, and tracking on lock-out at other studios. I've been out of the game for a couple of years, but slowly building up a new setup, and just last week I found a spot I can afford and set up shop there.

It's an old office space next door to our rehearsal spot. It's not big, but the location is good, the floor plan makes it very workable and it has a great vibe. I'll have a 45 square meter combined control and live room in an L shape, a 10 square meter room I can use as a drum/guitar/vocal booth, and a small 7 square meter room for storage/electronics workshop kinda work.

My rent contract starts on the first of November, and it'll take me a week or two to get everything set up. I'm building as much as I can at home - I've already finished a new desk with 2x12U side racks and the monitor stands, and I'm almost done building acoustic panels. I'll have twelve 30mm panels, 100mm panels in the corners from floor to ceiling, and a pile of 100mm and 30mm panels for the small tracking room. I won't even attempt to achieve total isolation, as I'm on a budget and I kinda want to have a living room/rehearsal space kind of atmosphere there.

I'll post some pics as soon as I get the keys and start getting the space together, but meanwhile here's a Sketchup of the spot (sans the storage room, vestibule, toilet, shower and small kitchen):

I've already booked the first sessions, and I'm really stoked about this!

In case anyone is interested, here's my list of gear at the moment:

DAW and i/o:
MacBook Pro Retina
Apogee Ensemble
Behringer ADA8000 converter
Tascam M30 mixer
Tandberg 84 reel to reel
Focal Alpha 65 monitors
Yamaha NS F-150 speakers
Audio Technica ATH-M50 and Superlux headphones

Software
Pro Tools 12
Slate Digital everything, Fabfilter, IK Multimedia, Melodyne etc.

AMPS:
Matamp GT120 1976
Sunn Beta Lead 1970’s
Orange PPC412 w/ V30’s
Tainted Audio Moth 212 w/ WGS Veteran 30’s
Dynacord DA16V 1961
5F1 Tweed Champ
Not mine, but available: 5150, Selmer Treble 'n' Bass, Blackstar, a Peavey 4x12 and more.

INSTRUMENTS:
Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro 2010
Gibson Les Paul Custom 1980
Tokai Goldstar Strat 1984
Ibanez Lawsuit Les Paul 1970’s
Framus Standard 4 Bass 1973
Framus 5/2-20 Maya acoustic 1961
F-Line “Fang” acoustic to spill beer on
Basic percussion stuff

FX:
Roland RE-501 Tape echo and chorus
EHX Deluxe Memory Man (big box) delay
EHX Small Stone Nano phaser
EHX Holy Grail Plus reverb
MXR Carbon Copy delay
Dunlop Cry Baby 95Q wah
DOD FX80B compressor
Tainted Audio Dagon OD120 overdrive
Tainted Audio Ahab fuzz
Tainted Audio Abaddon fuzz
BAT Pharaoh clone fuzz
DAM Meathead clone fuzz
Tube Screamer clone overdrive

MICS:

Can't remember everything, but the basics are covered, eg. 57's, e602, DPA, MD421 and so on.

 

[mva801]

Awesome man! Def share some pics. It's good to see a familiar face back around here.

What prompted the move back into audio? I remember reading a long time ago about you getting burned out, and if I remember correctly just kind of getting sick of running a business as an engineer.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Awesome man! Def share some pics. It's good to see a familiar face back around here.

What prompted the move back into audio? I remember reading a long time ago about you getting burned out, and if I remember correctly just kind of getting sick of running a business as an engineer.

Yeah, it was mostly financial. After I moved here, I didn't have a studio to track at whereas I used to have three: an almost free project studio, a cheap but decent place with a great live room and a near top notch place for a very good deal being the house engineer.

That forced me to pretty much rely on mixing and mastering, which worked fine for quite a while, but after hitting a very rough patch of one unfortunate cancelation after another, I ran out of buffer and had to pick up a day job to get me back on my feet. The day job started taking so much of my time (10-14 hour days, usually from 10AM) I eventually got totally fed up trying to juggle the two gigs and had to give up on the audio gig altogether.

I switched jobs, though, started working eight-to-four and slowly got back into playing and getting a new setup together, piece by piece, to work on my own stuff, and quickly remembered how much I love turning knobs. Then I stumbled upon this place, and since I can double it as a rehearsal place for my friends, the overhead is so low I can keep afloat basically doing just a couple of nights of tracking a month. I'll still have my day job, so financially I'm way better backed up, and still have the option to go full-time if I can get enough business.

Things I learned the last time round:
1) Always, ALWAYS take a deposit. Until the money is in your account, you're not booked.
2) Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Always have a backup plan.

 

[mva801]

Ha ha I hear ya. I've been able to strike a balance the last few years. I have a part time job that I do 20-30 hours per week, that allows me to record/ mix another 20-30. I have tinnitus pretty bad so the days of me doing looooong studio hours for weeks at a time are over.

I just wish I had another space to mix in besides my bedroom. Its not large and I also have to sleep in here so I can't really place my monitors in the correct position or treat the room properly. Better than nothing though!

 

[Pxz]

That look like it's going to be a great setup. I would love to see the end result of this.

 

[jipchen]

Nice! Keep us updated

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Cheers guys! Yeah, I'll definitely post some pics once everything's set up!

 

[Felix Neumann]

Wow that's quite a list, dude!!! Good to see, you're back in business! I remember the Mammoth songs, you've put out a looong time ago.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Wow that's quite a list, dude!!! Good to see, you're back in business! I remember the Mammoth songs, you've put out a looong time ago.

Haha, it's been quite a while since those! Once again, thanks for the awesome solo you did back then!

Here's some more recent stuff. Real ghetto setup - 8 tracks in, a tiny kick drum and so on, haha. A bit of sample blended in the kick, about 40% sample in the snare, otherwise everything is natural:

 

[Felix Neumann]

Jarkko, that sounds just perfect. Goosebumps intro and extremely epic *BÄÄÄM!!* When the rythm section appears. Excellent. This is just a matter of personal taste, but imo the snare could deserve a little bit more reverb (wide, long with little intensity). But that's just nitpicking.

Really great sounding mix! Guitars and the punch of the drums just fucking KILL!

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Jarkko, that sounds just perfect. Goosebumps intro and extremely epic *BÄÄÄM!!* When the rythm section appears. Excellent. This is just a matter of personal taste, but imo the snare could deserve a little bit more reverb (wide, long with little intensity). But that's just nitpicking.

Really great sounding mix! Guitars and the punch of the drums just fucking KILL!

Thanks so much mate, I really appreciate it! Yeah, I totally agree about the snare verb. Went back and forth with it for quite a while, and got a bit deaf to it

In case anyone is interested, here's the setup we used IIRC:
- Drums are a cheapo Chinese mini kit, can't remember the brand. Tiny kick drum, snare, one rack tom, one floor tom. Kick e602, snare 57, rack tom e609, floor tom MD421, overheads ISK SDC's (very cheap Chinese OH's, but I like them!) and room Zoom R16's built in condensers, haha!
- Guitars are my '76 Matamp GT120 through an Orange PPC412 w/ V30 (57) and a 2x12 I built w/ Veteran 30's (e609)
- I'm not sure about the bass, but I *think* it was DI + Sunn Beta Lead into the PPC412
- Vocals were through the nearest LDC I had in hand, something cheap anyway!
- Everything tracked with a Zoom R16, for kick and snare I used the preamps on a 70's Tascam desk

 

[Korwent]

I agree as for the snare, and I'd have mixed the bass a tad higher too, other than that it's really cool, as is the song, good job on this one!

 

[Felix Neumann]

"Went back and forth with it for quite a while, and got a bit deaf to it "

haha I totally hear ya

 

[mva801]

Needs bigger toms!

Killer song man

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

No it doesn't, it's already released weeks ago

Thank you very much for the kind words, folks!

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Got the keys, moved halfed of the stuff in, picked up a console (a 40+8+2 channel Amek TAC Scorpion II), started fixing it and installing the acoustic treatment.