Analog Distortion Clipper For Mixing & Mastering Music

Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in South London – we do a Lot of Mixing and Mastering for our fellow music & film producers – because we’re up there with the best in the business! We mix for regular musicians worldwide that recorded their lp’s remotely at home or rehearsal studios to full on label artists (We mixed Baba Ali’s Black & Blue single – got to number 4 in the singles charts!!).

Mix Engineer

Mix & mastering engineers that know their stuff are always on the hunt for tools that will give them & their work an edge – so we decided to help the audio world out – and build some of our unique in house mix / mastering tools. All three units are stereo / dual mono distortion units, but tuned for specific purposes!

Stereo Distortion MK1

MK1 is the go to for regular mixing and mastering enhancement of audio channels, stems, buses and mixes / masters – just a touch will add width, depth and excitement to the source. These units work on all genres – not just punk / metal and electronica – vocal, classical and folk recordings can be sweetened immeasurably with a touch of the right distortion. You can hear / see it in action Here:

Stereo Distortion MK2

MK2 is similar to MK1 but has a much darker tone, so for synths, bass, guitars, 808’s and bass heavy instruments / buses, this might well be the tool of choice. Very good for adding even more space and lushness to a mix – Superb at lifting synth and guitar elements out of the mud and into their rightful places in the soundfield.
You can hear / see it in action Here:

Stereo Distortion MK3

MK3 is more for sound design – unless you want to Black Sabbath / Pantera Every element in your mix (Yeah!!). It’s so over the top heavy! Amazing at adding lots of colours and harmonics to bass heavy material, brilliant as a glitch tool for any source audio, and a Godsend for blackening reverbs and creating the Dark Space!
You can hear His Majesty Here:

Yet another Stupendous creation from SHStudios!!! – you can purchase yourself one or more of these amazing enhancer / exciter devices Here:

https://reverb.com/uk/item/70966473-stereo-dual-mono-parallel-distortion-for-mixing-and-mastering-mk1

Analog Transformer Boxes for Music Mixing & Mastering

Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in south London – we mix & produce All kinds of music from alt jazz to metal to electronica classical – cause we understand music – & we understand how to mix it!

Analog Music Mixing Equipment

We’re also blessed in owning a ton of analog recording, mixing & mastering equipment from compressors to equalizers to saturators – all of which help put our mixes and masters way above anyone else’s – check out British Mustards’ last two releases – mixed by them at home – mastered to perfection by us! #howitsdone.

So……… you got all the plugins in the world – but still your mixes sound dull and lifeless, & they just don’t sit right – whaddayagonnado!

Here’s where we come in – we’ve started building transformer boxes for mixing and mastering engineers. Transformers are the most expensive part of high end audio equipment – & they all do amazing things – from saturating the low, mids and / or highs in a mix – to settling or glueing audio elements together & making a mix or master sound finished.

Transformer Saturator Clipper

….We even put em in nice vintage boxes!

As to which transformers we use – our best sellers are Lars Lundahl transformers – they are like wrapping your music in a sunshine rainbow – they add a ton of energy while keeping all the audio components in place – like a bus compressor but with no compression artifacts.

We also have some beautiful Belclere transformers used in Neve equipment & some amazing 416 transformers which set fire to any audio.

So …. if you would like some real analog energy to juice up your productions – contact us HERE. Or HERE.

Happy music creating y’all. xxxx

Analog Music Recording & Producing

Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in south London – we record & mix every music style from gentle folk (check out Roxy Rawson’s new release of Running up that Hill!) to jazz metal weirdness to the Heaviest Electro – Hop going!
As with all artists these days – time & money are of the essence – we have to deliver mixes to artists, management & labels on time & in budget – so ………. mixing & mastering plugins – good, high quality plugins have been a very necessary investment for our little recording studio business due to their instant recall (super time saving!). However – great as plugins are – they just don’t sound the same as analog recording equipment. There’s something missing – so! We also have a large collection of analog recording & mixing equipment. Here’s a little bit of what we use:

Analog Recording Equipment

This is the Third Dimension Chorus / Widening bbd echo unit – it’s generally used to stereo widen bass in a mix, but it’s great on keys, guitar & vocals too!

This is (one of three!) analog Echo Delay units we have at our disposal – these are amazing sounding preamps that add a whole lot of mojo to whatever we run through them. When we had Archie from King Krule in (we recorded three of his records) he went nuts running our Moog synth through them – because these analog echo units – they were a Huge part of the 70’s & 80’s synth sound. Also amazing on guitars & vocals.

This is our newest addition – a remake of the famous Mutron Biphase phaser unit! The originals go for thousands of pounds – & every fabulous funkateer from Bootsy to Larry Graham used them at one tome or another – then producers got hold of them – and a studio classic was made!

And last but by No means least we have the surreal & Extra beautiful TC Brainwaves pitch shifter – chorus / doubler pedal. Designed initially for guitar it’s fast become the go to Je Ne Sais Quoi bit of studiology at our house for adding some sparkle to any audio source. It’s ability to morph between pitch shifting, echo & chorus means it can give even the dullest sound source a bit of something special – & we’re all about something special!

In a world where all music is starting to sound the same – these little tools will make your ideas stand out!

Video Making for New Band Music Single Release

Here at the coolest recording studio in London Town – we do all kinds of media work – mainly music production, recording, mixing & mastering – but we also dip our toes into foley (film noise etc) soundtrack & Voiceover work – keeps things fresh!

Music Video Making

We’ve been making videos for years – mainly about all our superb analog recording & mixing equipment – like this one where we show off the new IR sofware we made using one of our 70’s echo / delay machines:

Now – since Songdog‘s new lp has been getting such amazing worldwide reviews, their PR firm wanted us to make something visual for the single release for ‘Of Gods & Men‘ – seeing as we made the record and all ……. apparently they liked our wayward psyche style (& who doesn’t!).

We started out by shooting some footage in Nunhead cemetery to get the backgrounds – then we green screened the band in the studio live room – then set to with our superb editing tools – et voila! A surreal filmic masterpiece – which makes the band stand out from the crowd. Here’s a few stills – we’re not allowed to show the video until the pr campaign is finished:

So …… keep an eye out – it’ll go live soon – & will blow your tiny mind!

Pineapple Empress new Lp “The Sonic Gospel”

Here at the best recording studio in south London – we record, mix & produce for clients worldwide! We’ve made superb records for King Krule, Ghostpoet, Songdog, Baba Ali (last single we mixed / produced went to no.3 in the uk charts) & a huge amount of local talent – so we know what we’re doing when it comes to audio capture & production.
And! – now Pineapple Empress have released their second lp!

The Sonic Gospel

Much like their first lp “The Enlightenment” it’s a plethora of ideas and influences ranging from jazz, to funk to americana to alt rock & encapsulates the notion of musical freedom – genre specific it aint!

Get The Sonic Gospel HERE:

The Best New Music

The Best new music is there to charge your spirit – challenge & uplift you & open new pathways to metaphysical understanding – in a nutshell – to enlighten human consciousness. It’s one of the most enjoyable & important things we as humans can make & experience – so go getcha an earfull of something wonderful.
It’s why we do what we do.

Analog Summing Mixer – Hybrid Music Production for more Beautiful Music !

Analog Transformer Mixers

Here at the coolest recording studio in South London – we mix and produce All kinds of different styles of music & audio for our clients – from new music to film foley to voiceovers – & all points in between!

Music production these days is done mostly in the box – plugins sound great – & you get instant session recall to tweak anything that needs tweaking. The problem with purely digital mixing – is that it sounds flat & a bit boring……. It just does.

If you ever get the chance to hear your music mixed through an analog desk – it will sound as though someone up in Heaven just turned the lights on – way richer – way more defined & with a kind of 3dness only achievable with expensive equipment. Problem is – all that costs a fortune – & takes hours to set up.

Hybrid Music Mixing / Production

So! …… because we’re Extra clever – we’ve built a hybrid system.

This is our RS transformer summing mixer – amazing on Drums – Bass Synths & Vocals

This is our Lars Lundahl Transformer Summing Mixer – beautiful on whole mixes guitars, classical / acoustic instruments & especially vocals

We now mainly mix digitally in the box – but we send all our lovely audio out to our summing mixers which are all stuffed full of BBC quality transformers – which do all the aforementioned Analog Magnificence – & take about 10 minutes to set up!

In any high end piece of recording or mixing equipment – a lot of the cost is in the transformers – they are Very expensive bits of gear – but they work their magic & literally Transform flat boring, sterile digital audio into something Much more beautiful & Expressive. Bass frequencies sound bigger & richer, the top end is sweeter & the general soundstage has much more clarity & Space!

Voila!
Amazing & Beautiful audio!
No wonder our mixes sound bigger, richer, better & fuller than everyone elses!

Music Producer Mix Engineer IR IR’s

Music Production Impulse Response IR’s

Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in South London – we don’t only mix some of the finest music the world has to offer ( Baba Ali + B&B)- we are also developing Impulse Responses from our huge collection of Mixers / Eq’s / Mastering Saturators etc – so that producers all around the planet can use our sound in their productions.
Cause it’s a Big, Beautiful sound y’all !!

We started out making IR’s for our Alice 828 mixer:

…… Which sound amazing – you can hear them Here:

Alice 828 Mixer

Then we added our amazing Mini Guitar Amp Saturator:

guitar amp ir

Which you can hear Here:

And now we have included the Superbeautiful Orban 622 mixing & Mastering Eq.

Orban 622http://recordingstudiolondon.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/orban-classic-studio-eq-equaliser-1.jpg

Which you can hear Here:

Orban 622 Mastering Equaliser

All of which you can purchase Here you lucky things!
Now Go Forth & Create Stupendous & Beautiful Audio!

Another Solid Shrunkenheads Production!

ShStudios – Mixing & Producing Baba Ali’s New Music Release !

Recording Studio

Baba Ali

Here at the Coolest Recording Studio in South London – we do a Lot of editing, mixing, & producing for bands locally & across the globe!
It’s been nearly 2 years since I mixed Baba Ali’s breakout single “House” – that got him 6 weeks of radio rotation & half a million spotify plays!
Now we’ve done it again – Black & Blue is out today on the Zen FC label – already getting airtime.

Baba Ali

Funk Electronic

Baba has always had a fascination for classic funk & electronic music ( from Parliment Funkadelic to Grace Jones & All points in between) but his vocal melodies & lyrics come from the alt dance / rock scenes – and it works!
What we end up with is a melting pot of musical forms that not only make you think – makes your body move too.
So head over to your fave music platform (Spotify – Amazon Music – Apple Music – Tidal – Deezer etc – or listen to it HERE) & Put some Dance in your Pants!

Shrunken Heads Studios

Mixed, Made & Produced with all our Love & Talents HERE – & HERE

ShStudios – creating Software from Hardware for your DAW !!

Shrunken Heads Music IR

Alice 828 Mixer – Mixing Desk

Alice 828 mixer

HNY y’all!

Here at The Coolest Recording Studio in South London – we been busy busy busy! We finished producing Songdogs new lp – recorded mixed & mastered a coupla ep’s for new up&coming bands – produced Baba Ali’s new dual track single out on Yard Acts Zen Fc label Feb 18th – & now we’re digitizing all our fabulous hardware – turning it into super high quality impulse responses (IR’S) – which you can drop into any convolution player software – et voila – you’ll have a piece of the studio right there in your session!

Impulse Response

All our IR’s have been created from a music mixing & production perspective – we havn’t done what all other developers do & copy a piece of hardware & hope it sounds right – we mix music for a living – & we’re at the top of our game mixing for clients worldwide – what we develop – we use.
All our IR’s will beautify and clarify your music – the line channels will bring your tracks alive, the mic channels add transformer saturation & a 3d quality, the limiters will settle your mixes into beautiful cohesion & the mixbus settings will add gentle analog saturation to sit your audio just right.

Alice 828 IR’s

Our Alice 828 mixer is an original from the 70’s – we used it extensively on Ghostpoets “Shedding Skin” lp – King Krules “The Ooz” & “Man Alive” lp’s – & most other sessions. Cause it’s Ace. All you need is a convolution player – plenty of free ones out there but we like Melda MConvolutionMB, Kilohearts Convolver & Fog Convolver.

Buy Impulse Response IR’s

You can buy these gorgeous IR’s HERE.

You can hear them Here.

You can hear them Here.

…. Now Go Forth & Create Magnificent Musical Masterpieces!!

Recording Huge Guitars & Massive Drums

Recording studio london

Big Bad Guitar

Here at the coolest recording studio in London Town we produce all kinds of music & audio for all manner of clients. One thing they all need is quality sounds – for which we need some specific tools – names – good mics – & really good, top drawer mic preamps.

We did have 96 different preamps & channel strips – but then we saw This little Doozer floating around the interweb:

Phoenix Audio Neve mic Pre

The DRS-Q4 is a masterpiece of audio engineering – looks like a Neve but has a much clearer more modern vibe – so delicious on drum overheads, guitars & vocals. The saturation this thing provides can make a vocal sit right in the mix from the get go. Amazing. It also makes guitars sound freakin Huge – especially running the audio through the eq – like stepping on gas for Sonics! Everything gets leaner, brighter & meaner.

Big Badder Drum Recording

JJ API Mic Pre

We couldn’t believe our luck when This bad boy dropped into our laps. Meant to be better than an original API 512 mic pre according to a lotta engineers – & yep – it makes Everything punch like a mule. Guitars are much more present, clear & defined than with other preamps – bass is just amazing – the d.i. alone is good enough for most productions – but twin that with a miked cab & Boom! SuperExtraBassPower right there. As for drums – forget it – this is the pre we will Always use for kick & snare from now on. It delivers a mix ready powerhouse with massive punch & exceptional detail. Winner!!

This last one is a Neve clone made in the 80’s by a Scottish company called clm – looks like a washing machine programmer – has no transformers so is super clean – but still has Neve heft & weight.

So – we got all points covered for all manner of audio recording – from our huge selection of vintage valve / tube preamps to these new guys we can track just about any sound required – which is why we’re the best recording studio in London town at our price point!

Come gitcha some!