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!!!!