Happy New Year 2012

Stairway to StarMount

It has been a great year for StarMount Studio. We hereby thank you for your continuous support and hope to see you soon!

The studio will be taking a day off on the 1st and will be fully operational on the 2nd of Jan 2012. Fun and exciting time awaits!!!   HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Off The Cuff @StarMount Studio

Off The Cuff, a young and promising band came all the way from Singapore for their debut album. Featuring Meryl Joan Lee on vocals, Sooty Heng on the piano, Seow Yi Zhe double bass and Benjamin Low on drums.

We were excited to record the band as they also brought in the whole arsenal of Analysis Plus cables for the recording. Most were hooked up with the Yellow Ovals except Vocals and Double Bass on the Pro Ovals.

As usual, sE4400 stereo pair is our favorite for piano, JZ V12 for vocals, Ribbon tube on the double bass (sounded so rich and warm), as for drums, overheads sE 3, snare SM57 and bass drum e902.

We were lucky to have Artisan series of Dixon for the recordings as well. The set is coated with Dixon's patented liquid gold finish and we like what we see. As for sound we love what we're hearing from the drum kit. Although the 22"x 18" is a bit too large for us, but we're loving the warm lows from the kick. The flexible tuning range is definitely helpful in getting the right tone for the songs.

We had all Analysis Plus cables for the entire recordings, including the interconnects to the monitor speakers. Blue Ovals really helps the Quested V2108 to reveal more especially on the high frequencies, wider stereo field and we also noticed faster transients as well.

Neve Portico on vocals, and bass, Chandler TG2 for pianos and the rest through Zen console. All in all, the audio quality was surprising and it's definitely another pleasant and enjoyable session to all. We'll keep you posted on their album release, definitely not to be missed.

Enjoy :)

Great times and lots of fun. Frm left: Meryl, Yi Zhe, Sooty & Benjamin

Artisan with some really interesting cymbals.

Its full on Analysis Plus Cables! The white capped, purple one is the Pro Ovals...

Pro Ovals Instrument Cable for the DI.

Our already favorite sE4400 sounding ever awesome with the Yellow Ovals.

You must watch out for her.. great vocals!

The bass camp.

Even the piano is getting cozy with the comforters... Off the Cuff in action.

Pictures provided by Felix Voon@StarMount Studio

Cables ShootOut @ StarMount Studio

We had the opportunity to get our hands on a wide range of cables lately. We'll be doing cables shoot out with the following:
Analysis Pro- Black Ovals, Choc Ovals, Blue Ovals, Yellow Ovals, Pro Ovals.
VOVOX- Link Cables
LAVA Cables- Magma, Vintage Tweed, Retro Coil, Soar, LAVA ELC, Clear Connect, and LAVA Custom.

Other brands includes : DiMarzio instrument cables, Planet Waves instrument cables and Canare Star-quad cables.

We welcome all to join in the fun from 22 Dec 2011 till 27 Dec 2011. For enquiries or map to get here, please contact info@StarmountStudio.com for more informations. Sound samples will be up soon!

Videos taken from "Drumming with Style with Martin Ngim"

For those who missed out the drum workshop earlier on, Concerto Music has made some nice clips for you! Here's one of the video from our first workshop series at StarMount Studio, thanks to the main organizer Concerto Music to bring the workshop series into StarMount Studio. Thanks Danny Chen, Alex Hong and Jason Teo, and of course, Martin Ngim for making the workshop a success. Enjoy...

Crystal Silence Cover- "Drumming With Style with Martin Ngim"

Best Time for Piano Recordings

 The Yamaha DC-1in Studio A is tuned and the actions are re-calibrated by our skilled Mr. Chew. The tuning reference now is at 440Hz. This is the best time to get some piano tracks down without requesting for additional tuning fee needed. Contact us at info@StarMountStudio.com for studio rates and session bookings!

Feature Film Shot and Recorded @ StarMount Studio B

We had Ali Reza and his crew coming over for his latest feature film shot and recored at Studio B. Its always fun to see new setups and explore more possibilities to use the room other than just audio recording. Plus, this is the first day of our new assistant engineer Q.E Lim. Welcome aboard :)

Soundtrack for film at StarMount Studio

Strings and more strings coming in the studio these days. And it's lots of fun and hard work, most of all great effort to everyone involved in the movie soundtrack production.
Mixing cues and matching music to pictures are something new to our engineers and not to mention around the clock tracking and mixing!

We had 2 groups of string players coming in for the tracks and also cutting some rhythm sections and most of all the beautiful voice of miss Bell Foo.

sE Gemini sounds great when paired up with Bell's vocals. It gives such hugging warmth around the vocals, and it is really good if you're looking for the "intimate" vocal feel. Top end was silky and it sits right in the mix nicely.

JZ V12 was use for some "sweet" vocals as the strong mids from the mic and creamy top end gives it a solid yet punchy performance. Its interesting that this FET could produce texture very close to a tube mic would.

Looking forward to the mastering of the movie and will keep you guys posted when the movie is out!

Cross checking strings arrangements : From Left Jin Tat, Felix, Chern Hwei 

Strings rehearsal at the lounge, we might record here next time :)

Edmund Yong on the drums

Studio A live room

One of a few group pictures : From right Felix, Alex, Jin Tat, Cellist Bell Foo, Vincent Chin and strings players.

Audient Shines at StarMount Studio!

 We are on Audient's Newsletter!!!  Its a coverage about us using ASP 008 one of our favorite multi channel mic pres in the studio. It has recently put into action on Jazz Trio, String Quartets and also on some pop materials.
ASP 008
Thanks Audient and SoundBuz for the opportunity given.

Here's the link to the Newsletter:
Audient Shines at StarMount Studio

Sirius Quartet Surprise Visit to StarMount Studio

Sirius Quartet was at StarMount Studio on a surprise visit. It was kind of a " Record and Dash" session. They're just amazing to record. The impromptu performance and intensity was great. 

Ron, Chern Hwei, Jeremy, Alex and Gregor at StarMount Studio

Masters at work

Late Night with John Dip Silas Trio

Not long ago, we had the John Dip Silas Trio over for a jazz trio recording, featuring John Dip Silas on piano, Benjamin Low on drums and Seow Yi Zhe on double bass. We don’t get recording sessions beginning at 12am too often, and this one is the first one in awhile. 

It was initially a jam session and it turned out the tunes were good for an EP!!! This is what StarMount Studio is all about, have it practice session or not, we will always treat it with 110% focus and effort on our work!

From Left: Benjamin Low, John Dip Silas and Seow Yi Zhe
(Pictures and session recorded by Felix Voon)

Trio in action (double bass in another booth) 

Hands On Session

We had CAP students (Certificate on Audio Production) from ICOM (International College Of Music) for their vocal recording class recently. Everyone gets their hands on the Audient Zen console, moreover have the opportunity to mix and match microphones and mic pres just to AB the differences. 

Students were also exposed to the new Quested V2108 monitor speakers in the studio. We had Natasha Humera Ejaz on vocals, singing to a backing track of Norah Jones "Sunrise". The students were taking turns operating ProTools and working to get the vocals sounding good on the outboards. 

We paired up JZ V12 microphone with Chandler Limited TGII mic pre, and MXL990 with Universal Audio LA 610MK II. 

The first pair produced a lush, solid and punchy vocals. We tried different gain settings with low gain to cranking the gain almost to the limit. The students were amazed by the tone changes by playing with just two knows : gain and output level. 

JZ V12 was also paired with  LA 610MKII. Here we get to try out a beautiful engineered microphone through UA's channel strip. The dynamic range and transients are much broader and faster on this combination. We were able to get different tone, from clean to over gained and hard compressed vocals from the LA 610 MKII. It gave a vintage feeling, However, the mic pre was not as punchy and thick sounding compared to the TGII. 

MXL with LA610MK II has some interesting sounds as well. The mic pre definitely helped the microphone for a nice mid tone, fuller bodied sound. It was sounding thinner compared to the V12 pair. It could be a nice effect applied on backing vocals as the texture was crispy and thin.

It was a pleasure having CAP students over. its a great experience for all and we look forward for more!

Ali, Alex, Natasha, Kangkan and Alex@StarMount Studio.

Drum Date with Martin Ngim 16/10/11 8PM

Martin Ngim is coming to do a drum workshop in StarMount Studio !!!
Courtesy of Concerto Academy of Music Sdn Bhd, the drum workshop will be in StarMount Studio, Studio A on the 16th Oct 2011.

10 lucky seats are open to public only. Act fast!!!!

Martin Ngim

One of the most celebrated drummer and also the only Sonor Endorsee from Malaysia. 

links/ preview:
Martin Ngim's video








For more details/registration call : 0362759331 ( Concerto Academy of Music Sdn Bhd)

Horn session with Jon Dante.

We recently had Jon Dante, principle trumpet for MPO (Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra) and now HKPO (HongKong Philharmonic Orchestra) in for Q Sound's upcoming project. The player is already fantastic so we need to make sure we're able to fully capture and preserve the performance.
We use the new JZ Vintage Series V12 microphone, placing about 2 ft away, off-axis slightly to the right of Jon's custom made horn. The signal was routed through Chandler TG2 coupled with Neve Portico 5043( high threshold, almost non compression) and finally back into the DAW via our Lavry Blue converters.
The end result was a smooth and lush tone, with the already smokey horn sound from the custom made piece. It has a vintage vibe of olden days recording as it has silky smooth top end, and fat mids.
The V12 has certainly surprised us with the full bodied sound, yet unlike the rest of the V series, It has a slight shimmer on the top end, which sounded so close to a valved microphone.

V12 put to work. The lush and warmth tone captured was incredible.

Check out the trumpet, the tone is amazing! Thanks Jon Dante!!!

We're Upgrading To Serve You Better!

Its been a while since the last post. We have couple of upgrades and new toys coming in. We're happy to have Vox AC30CCX and Fender HotRod Deville 2x12 in the studio.
Thanks to Ganz from SoundBuz.com. We're able to have Chandler TGII and tested Chandler Germanium Pre in the studio. Our latest gear on testing is JZ V12. It has the same unique yet robust look like the other vintage series microphones. Recording sessions are on the way and we will let you know how much we're loving it very soon!!!!

Violinist & Engineer duo @ StarMount Studio

Fung Chern Hwei, 1st violinist of Sirius Quartet dropped by StarMount Studio for an interesting project : a duo of violinist and audio engineer. Its about impromptu music played, tracked and mixed at the same time. The beauty is time and space were preserved and printed on the recording. No post editing or mixing allowed after the tracks were recorded. 

Fung Chern Hwei on violin

Alex Tan on the Zen

Dixon Drums-Spider at StarMount Studio

Here's a drum demo of Dixon Drums-Spider. Brought in by Concerto Music Store and played by Danny Chen of Concerto Music Academy. The shells are of mahogany, and they are light on weight and deep in tone. The session was tracked with Audient Zen's mic pre and Metric Halo Channel Strip TDM(Slight Compression).

Studio Recording Tips- How to keep a smile on everyone's face :)

Most often I got calls and enquiries about studio rates and what are the possible best way to get their songs done in the least time and best performances. I can't give you a price quote when you're not sure of what you want to do in the studio. Well, here are some accumulated experience throughout my days in StarMount Studio:   Sessions can take too long, albums budget went overboard, and musical and artistic differences can put a real strain on band relationships. So I've decided to put up some useful tips for those who are preparing to record at a studio that can help save time, money, and relationships.

#3 – Have a reference and know the sound/ tone you want

I do agree on creativity and keeping an open mind on every project as nobody likes to classify their sound, but it is important to have reference points when trying to explain the tone you’re looking for.  It'll be a great help if you could show us samples or references, for instance - " I like the reverb on this particular vocal track, or I want my drum sound like this reference". And most of all, keep it realistic. A Yamaha Grand Piano will never sound like a Steinway in anyways... If you want to have the sound of a Steinway grand, go get one. Well, to have a clear sound in your mind and be able to kind of reference it to the engineer would speed up the whole set up and tone searching time. 

#2 – Get your gear(s) into shape.

Before coming into the studio make sure your gear is in good working order.  Change guitar strings and drum heads.  Batteries!! Make sure your active guitars/bass/ stomp boxes are fully charged or replaced. It happens when all of us  would be so carried away, looking for the buzz or trying to fix distorted signals and in the end is the caused of a dying battery.   Drummers make sure that you have enough sticks to break, and make sure the pedal is squeak proof.( a lil WD40 spray would do the job)

#1 – Plan your songs

In my opinion, the #1 way to save time and produce the best recording is to come into the studio with your songs prepared.  You don’t want to waste your studio time working out arrangements, especially when you're on budget crunch. Although more time spent means better business to us, but we certainly do not want that to happen. We want to extract and capture the maximum potential of your project, thus putting more time on tracking and mixing.  Sure, there might be some "magical" moments of artistic inspiration happen when you want to try a different harmony or rearrange a chorus, but it should be just a bonus on the already solid foundation. 

It is always good to have a well thought out pre production plan. Then bands/artistes can communicate better with the engineer on voicing out the needs. And if you have your own comfortable ear/headphones, bring along and you won't have to complain on how uneasy you are with a stranger headphones.

Of course, keeping everyone hydrated and well fed is the key of a happy and productive session.

Feshun - Shambe ft Rifga ( The first Maldivian Jazz Music Album )

FESHUN ALBUM LAUNCHING - LIVE IN MALDIVES 19th JULY 2011

Le Cute Presents Feshun - Shambe ft Rifga ( The first Maldivian Jazz Music Album ) Live in Maldives - 19th JULY 2011 at Olympus Stage ; Co - Sponsored by Wataniya Telecom Maldives and Bay Watch - Powered byBadhige TM ... Managed by Music House - TICKET Updates coming soon!!!


This is the latest update about the project done previously with StarMount Studio. We are honored to have the band in the studio. The band spent 4 full days on laying down the parts, trying out as a whole and multi-tracking. We had a half day loading and set up, mainly to get everyone comfortable in the studio (which is often an untold secret of successful recordings)


We tried new gears on this project, utilizing JZ's flagship model BH-1 aka BlackHole on the vocals and lead saxophone. Other than the stunning look of a large rectangle hole in the middle, the sonic quality is very unique as well. I personally likes tracking with figure of 8 on this mic as I find that it has the most 'intimate' feeling, yet retaining the smooth and silky highs of the vocals. 


The mic was able to drive the Portico pres up until 4 o'clock and the result is stunning, solid and warm vocals. I think both the Neve Porticos and Black Hole matches well. They complimented each other and especially when the silk button was on, it just made the already silky top end extra creamy! 


The rest of the recording setup were quite interesting as well, but the JZ BlackHole just stole the limelight for now. The band will be coming over later tonight and we'll be discussing on how to put up an ass kicking album launch in Maldives next week!




sneak preview on some of the tracks from the album
http://soundcloud.com/shambe-ft-rifga/hinithun 

July Promotion!!!!

If you're planning to get your demos done, or lining up for an EP or album, this is the time!

As of this month, July, StarMount Studio is doing a special month promotion on both Studio A and B. 

Attractive package rates from RM 1000 per song (Track and mixed) in Studio A,  and Introductory tracking rates of RM65/ hr in Studio B is on.

Booking period ( 5th July until 31st July). Terms and conditions apply.

Enquiries are welcomed at info@StarMountStudio.com

First Impression on Solitaire 6a

It looks like a larger sized Solitaire 5a. The unit has the same black wooden finish, and has only power switch and level knob on the back of the speaker (no shelving or boosting features).
Nothing much on the looks of this pair, but what amazes us was that 1 inch difference in driver size can have such drastic sonic presentation!! We're talking about a lot more wider stereo field, deeper depth and almost a full freq band reproduction. This is definitely not sounding or behaving like any other 6 inch monitors we've ever came across.
One of the tracks played was Tracy Chapman's "Baby Can I Hold You". We're able to "see" the sounds, localization has never been easier with these pairs. The impressive stuff is the bass frequency. It can go really low yet very composed and maintaing the clarity of the bass.
We all agreed that the unit needs to be run-in for a few days or at least a week before it can fully open up. So far, the depth was amazing. The reverbs and sound field was just amazing. We're able to hear ADSR of so clearly, especially on the bass and vocal reverbs.
Apparently although they look identical on the outside, 6a was a total restructured unit from 5a. Components used and op amps are different and I would say the designer really maximize the potential of the 6 inch monitor speaker.
Right now the speakers are on the treadmill, so let it run for couple of days and we'll do another round of listening session probably by next week.
If you're interested to listen to the speakers, feel free to contact us at info@starmountstudio.com. We'll be more than happy to listen to it again and again (provided the studio is free from sessions).

Solitaire 6a is coming tonight!

If you've been to StarMount Studio, most of you would be remember how well the Solitaire 5a performs on the top end and throughout the frequency bands. Just that its a lil bit shy on the bottom end as it can go down to 50hz as claimed.
This post is about, Solitaire 6a is coming to StarMount Studio tonight, 9pm, courtesy of SoundBuzz Enterprise. We'll be having listening sessions on the larger 6a and I'm already excited thinking of how it would perform against the smaller 5a.
Limited seats are available and kindly mail into info@StarMountStudio.com for your reservation. So far we left 4 seats only.. Hurry!

New Toys for Studio A

We're welcoming new Audient Black Series, SPL Transient Designer into our gear collection in Studio A. We have a full signal chain from mic pres to eqs to compressors, ADC and even master word clock, all nicely fitted in a 3U 10 slot rack. To my surprise, the PSU takes up another 2 U as opposed to other Lunchboxes which has just AC connectors.
Sonic quality aside, the appearance of the Audient Black looks promising. The knobs feels robust and we just love the LEDs, especially the VU meters on the compressors.
The SPL Transient Designer looks simple. With just Attack Release, Bypass and Link available, its pretty much straight forward to start using it. As its only accepts TRS I/Os, we have to make a couple of TRS-XLR cables for the patch work.
The studio is in need of a patchbay for all the gears and I can see it'll be arriving very soon.
Next up would be the test run of the new acquired gears... Can't wait to test them out!!!

Studio B

After a long night of soldering, we finally got Studio B patched up for multi tracking!! 

Getting your materials recorded with high end gears has never been so affordable right now. Promotional rates will be up soon. Please contact us for more information.

Share The Love

Share The Love! 

We were honored to be in this Share The Love movement, started by Julie's biscuits... They really put their heart and soul in baking biscuits and.. (well, just buy their new oligo 25 oat biscuits and you'll find out how tasty they are.)

Together with Adrian Lai and Yuri Wong as producers, we're able to have Asmidar and Bihzhu to do their songs in StarMount Studio. "Langit Biru" by Asmidar and "Heart Way" of Bihzhu. Both are unique and the approach was full of fun and excitements. 

"Langit Biru" has a nice blend of instruments line up. And its always challenging to capture violins and trumpets. Nonetheless, Asmidar's vocal is just superb. 2 takes was all we need...

As for Bihzhu, we took a different and fun approach. Other than vocal, ukelele and double bass, we used non musical instruments to create beats and fills throughout the song. I was surprised to hear the blend of a floor tom with the double bass would have the outcome of a timpani. We discovered some really interesting sounds as well, but grinding sugar with plastic on ceramic plate, and many more...

You can check out the final product here :http://www.sharethelove.my/ 

The songs are available for download F.O.C and there are some really good clips too. Enjoy!

Platinum TDM

We've added Waves Platinum TDM Bundle into our plug-ins library! More upgrades and additions to come this week..

New Kid On The Block

Finally Starmount Studio has it's own blog!!! First of all we like to take this opportunity to thank family and friends that had been supporting us all along since when we started. Thank You so much..without you people StarMount couldn't come until this far.

Well...for those who didn't know Starmount Studio is a mid-sized professional recording studio in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We are passionate about practically everything related to music and extended to audio. Most importantly we are serious in MUSIC thus we try to utilize top-notch gears for all our recording, tracking and mixing. Our commitment is towards YOU, our esteemed clients, your creativity and artistic endeavors. So what are you waiting for? Call us you music freaks or drop us an email if you don't feel like talking =P

I want to be a Superstar!

Feel Free to check out our website www.starmountstudio.com

Current projects

Clients in the "Current Projects" drive are: Basement Syndicate, Amirah Ali, Shambe, and Hanz.. more to come next week..

We've done all the tracking for the clients and are now working on the mix for Shambe's debut Jazz album. 

New Gears...

We'll be posting up the latest news from StarMount Studio, here you'll find pictures of studio set ups, visiting artists and musicians, audio gears reviews and many more..

New addition to the studio: Mac Pro 8-core 2.6 Westmere with 8GB...replacing the current 8 core Nahelem Mac Pro, which is under servicing due to its power supply issue.

We're also very happy to be testing the BlackHole BH-1S, top class, handmade microphone from JZ. It has a very focused body with natural top end. Loving the details captured from the cardiod pattern. 

We're experimenting on other patterns like Omni and figure of 8 later today. Test subject would be of male vocals and on acoustic guitars...