HEDD Type07 at StarMount Studio

StarMount Studio is really fortunate to be one of the few to experience the first things that reaches our shore (Malaysia)
Dennis Tan of  Roland Asia Pacific (RAP) offered us a trial to listen out to new speakers and without much hesitation and with great pleasure we got a pair of Heinz Electro Dynamic Design HEDD Type 07 active monitor speakers in the studio.

 1:1 box for the HEDD Type07

To be honest, this pair is not a show stopper. It appeared to be under powered when it was fired up alongside with ATC SC25, Solitaire 6a (which sounded very close to ATC SC25 at a fraction of the price) or even Axis Voicebox S passive ribbon speakers. We are used to a more open sounding, class A amps rather than enclosed bass reflex active speakers. Thus the underpowered impression was made when they were lined up together.

We always believe in 2nd chance, so we took great length into sweeping frequencies, adjusting speaker angle, and finding the best distance from the wall and to the sweet spot etc.

Here are some things we figured. The speakers sounded best in the studio when its about 1ft away from the wall, spaced in between is around 5m and about 3m to listening spot. The speakers are very directional, and we manage to widened the listening sweet spot with this arrangement. And listening to 78dB is quite comfortable as well. The mids and highs are very well presented without much hype or in your face especially on those sensitive 7k, 10k region. Its not muffled but much more comfortable to use and encourages explorations on the high frequency regions in tone sculpting.

Interns wanted

The title is self explanatory. As the number of gears in the studio getting larger, so as the cable count, racks, and many thing else except the space and man power.

This is one good opportunity to experience different equipments that are being used in the studio, and getting to know the types and differences between different make of cables.

requirements:

1. Strong (not muscular) physics (able to carry a chair)
2. Hands and feet coordination skills ( can carry things and walk at the same time)
3. Understand at least one language (English, Malay, Mandarin)
4. Able to communicate with at least one language. (English, Malay, Mandarin)
5. Self Provided Transport. (close proximity to the studio location prefered)



Job Scope:
1. Sorting out  cables and organize them into respective categories
2. Sorting out  cables and organize them into respective categories
3. Sorting out  cables and organize them into respective categories
4. Carrying and connecting equipments
5. Labeling connections
6. Soldering of wires/cables (if you know how to do it would be great)
7. House Keeping (we're doing it already, an extra pair of hands would be great help)

NewSound "BEARING WITNESS" @ StarMount Studio

John Dip Silas brought NewSound over to track originals from his new band "NewSound". Talented band mates like Hor Chee Seng on the guitars, Icco Noel and Terence Ling on bass and drums, Hiroyuki Yagi and Scott Murphy on the  horns, and of course John Dip Silas on the piano and keys.

The sessions were all recorded live/simultaneously. Its challenging and exciting the same time especially when we're trying to achieve full sound recordings with minimum spills into each microphones. 

Both saxophones, tenor  (Scott) and alto, sometimes soprano (Yagi) were placed in the control room, and the rest of the band in the main tracking room where the grand piano and drums were at. 

Bass was tracked directly into Avalon U5, Guitars went into Radial JDI, tracking the direct signal and tie line into the amps (Mostly Fender Hot Rod)  in the booth, So we've got both DI(direct for re-amping) and amp sound captured in the room.

It's the season of piano recording

In support of our problem previous post of StarMount Dynamics series 1, the studio is giving huge discounts for Piano Recording with the StarMount Dynamics Crew.

It's the best time to get your piano tracks recorded at StarMount Studio!
We have been recording piano for close to a decade. With a plethora of microphone selections from small to large diaphragm microphones and outboard gears to match the sound required for your projects.

The tracks will be recorded in 96khz 24 bit, wav format by default. Feel free to let us know of your preferred sample rate prior to your session.

Best times for the ones preparing their audition tapes, getting some real piano into your songs or just wants to record your own musical journal.

JZ 11 and sE4400 microphones on the sound board of our Yamaha Concert Series C1 Grand Piano

Peace x Shane @StarMount Studio

Male x male duet is quite a rarity in the pop music scene, more so for a love song. Through Universal Music Malaysia & Singapore, Peace and Shane came together for a duet " You, Its You".

Alex Tan, the producer for this project got Dennis Law of A9 Strings for music arrangement, "Sotong" on drums, AJ Popshuvit on Bass, Dennis on the keys and Alex"the lion" Koh on guitars. 

Its also the debut recording for our new addition, Canopus Yaiba Groove Kit. We spent a nice 6 hours on recording the drums. There are 4 different snare tunings throughout the song, 2 different OH microphones on the first half and 2nd half of the song, and also we used 3 different snares for tone as well. The tones from the Canopus drums were so musical, easy to tune and sounds great recorded. The signals were all patched into Audient Zen Console mic pres and into Horus audio interface.

The bass went direct into Tree Audio Branch. Loved the tone especially cranking it through the opto compressors, the sound was almost complete into the mix.

Guitars were layered with multiple electric guitars and pickups. It provides a subtle but important support throughout the song. Hybrid processing of GTR and real pedalboard effects, combining DI and amped signals, especially for distortion powerchords towards the last chorus of the song.

JZ 11 was surprisingly fitting for the vocals in this song. We alternate JZ 11 into Chandler and Portico compressor for the chorus and JZ 11 into The Branch during the verse parts. Shane was using mainly Gemini MK2 while Peace was having a good mixture of both JZ and Gemini microphones.

Here's the music video and behind the scenes for the song: