JCP Recording Studio

JCP Recording Studio “Big sound…not big cost”

Attention Songwriters – We cater to you! We will make your vision a reality. For more information, see my rates.

Summary of Services and Products

JCP Recording is a home project studio that has been using PC-based digital recording since 1998. Services include:

Customer Value Approach – Our goal is to provide the best value of cost and performance. We can help determine your needs.
Customer Relationship – we grow with you. No project too small, let’s work on “no project too large” together
Location – Historic Victorian home within walking distance of City Park and downtown Appleton restaurants & entertainment, board or rent for extended studio time, 20 minutes from Outagamie County Airport
Easy Access – Direct access to studio from driveway, six-step entry.
16-track recording on Windows using Harrison Mixbus, 24-bit analog to digital conversion formats and 32-bit internal processing. Previous: Sixteen-track recording using Cubase SX software, Two-track recording, using software dating to Windows 3.0, and analog recording on Awia 2-track 1/4″ track reel-reel.
Audio production including musical arrangements, featuring 32 channel mix-downs, plug-in processing, and a variety of analog signal processing.
Audio mastering to CD via Harrison Mixbus and VST digital processing).
Studio rentals by the job and by the hour, with engineering.
Graphic Artwork Services available on site and sort-run CD manufacturing.
Management services for extended CD manufacturing runs, specialized graphic design, CD packaging, music marketing, promotion, and distribution.
Location recording & sound reinforcement for live music, mains and monitor systems up to 2,250+ watts to cover all but very large venues and outdoor engagements.
Audio Engineering consulting services for all aspects of digital recording systems and turn-key designs, sound reinforcement.

Products Include:

CD releases, industrial soundtracks, advertising jingles, live recording, and mastering for radio broadcast.

Clients Include:

A short but important list: Premonition (our current combo), John Pfeiffer, Frank Nelsen, Robyn Marie Metko, Amber Springstroh, 1st Degree, Leibold Associates Inc., Geriatric Jazz Group, North Coast Jazz Project, Island Jazz, Train Wreck (the band), Ken Anderson.

About the Studio – Engineering Notes

The audio signal path begins with a Mackie 1604 16-channel mixer, with additional Presonus & Behringer tube and solid state preamps, feeding a Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) 2408 Mark 2 audio interface with 16 In, 8 Out, 24 bit recording & playback. The 273 Watt computer system consists of a 3.2GHz – Intel i7-4790S Quad-Core CPU, 16GB DDR3-1600 RAM, fanless 400w power supply, passive CPU cooler, 1-80mm low noise chassis fan, 2-240GB SSHD (RAID1), and 2-1TB drawout drives, running Win 7. Two 19″ LCD monitors are used. Live 2-track recording uses a Lenovo T410s laptop, dual booting to Win7/Linux Mint. Primary DAW software is Harrison Consoles Mixbus. Mix surface is Behringer with motorized faders. Midi processing is via MOTU Midi Express 4in/6out midi bus.

Monitoring playback path is through A DBX DriveRack, feeding Alesis power amps tri-amplified into Heil ESS towers (1978 vintage, great stuff!), and 12″ Sub-woofer. Headphone monitoring is provides 6 individual mixes. Headphones are (3) AKG and (2) Sony.

The acoustic space is a small but functional asymmetrical-design 13ft by 18ft, with carpeting and acoustic ceiling, using Lenrd bass traps to reduce standing waves. Noise isolation construction consists of double brick walls on three sides, double drywall on one wall and behind the acoustic ceiling, and solid oak doors. Walls are fully treated in 2 inch wedge acoustic foam sound panels as well as special bass traps for a ‘neutral’ sound. The ‘drum room’ is currently partitioned to maximize eye contact while reducing bleed-thru. There is an adjacent reception room and separate guitar amp room under construction. Direct studio access from the driveway via six stairs for gear.

Microphones Include:

Large diaphragm condensers – Studio Projects C1, (2) Marshall MXL2001, Behringer B1.
Small diaphragm condensers – (2) AKG 535, Marshall MXL 603.
Dynamic microphones: (2) Electro-voice RE-20, (1) Sennheiser 421, (4) AKG 3700, (2) AKG 3900, AKG D112, (2) Audix D2, Audix D4, (2) Audix OM5.
Drum mikes: Our practice setup is for up to eight mikes on the studio drum set, quickly adjustable to suit your needs. AKG 535 overheads, MXL 603 HH, SM57 snare, AKG D112 kick, Audix D2s on toms, and D4 on floor tom.

Studio Instruments Include:

Roland XP50 sythesizer, Roland GR-33 guitar synthesizer, Fatar 88 key weighted keyboard, Kaysound keyboard controller, Ibanez electric bass, clarinet, violin, Peavey drumset, and misc percussion toys.

The Guitars above are (in order): Heritage Eagle Classic, ’82 Electra Howard Roberts w/Bartolini and piezo pickups, Fender Telecaster ’52 re-issue, Fender Stratocaster Powerhouse w/active pickups, Takamine AEN40C acoustic/electric, Takamine G126 classical guitar, Ibanez Bass w/active pickups. Not Shown: Heritage H555, Gibson Les Paul Traditional, PRS single-cut, and Godin Multiac ACS-SA solid-body classical guitar synth, traveler guitar (for my plane trips)

Amplifiers and guitar gizmos include:

Jazz sound – Polytone Mini-Brute II jazz amp (or direct to board via five pre-amp choices, or pick them all!)
American sound (single-ended 6L6 tube amp) – Epiphone Galaxy 10 tube amp with various pre-amp and power tubes
British sound (single-ended EL84 tube amp) – Epiphone Jr amp and head (2), one heavily modified with bit-mo modifications, revised power supply and output transformer.
British sound (push-pull EL84 tube Amp – Johnson Loredo hybrid amp (SS front end preamp) with Eminence 10″ speaker
Cabinets – 8″ and 10″ open back, 12″ half vented, and 12″ and 15″ sealed-back guitar cabinets.
Pedalboards – Digitech RP350, Dunlop Wha, Route 66, Boss chorus, Digitech Jamman
Other – Hafler T3 pre-amp, PreSonus Bluetube dual preamp, Behringer pre-amp

Signal Processing and Software Instruments:

Analog signal processing includes: PreSonus stereo tube pre-amp, Digitech RP350 guitar amp modeling, Alesis 3630 compressor, Alesis Midi-verb reverb, and additional Behringer Euro-mixers.
Digital signal processing and mastering tools are extensive and include: all Cubase VST plug-ins, WAVES Gold 3.1, Antares mike modeler, TL Audio parametric EQ, WARP Guitar amp modeler, and additional plug-ins of all types.
Digital instruments include SampleTank XL sampler with full library and Akai sampler playback, Native Instruments B4 ‘Hammond B3’ and FM7 ‘Yamaha DX7,’ and various additional software synthesizers. Also available is Band-in-a-Box 2009 sequencing software, Jazz Samplist drum loops, Virtual drummer, and Twiddly-Bits drum sequences.

Sound Reinforcement Includes:

All resources, equipment, and transportation for timely and dependable setup, calibration, live mixing and recording, and tear-down
Equipment available on consignment (rentals)
Multiple main mixing boards and sound recording technicians, recently added Mackie ProFX 12
Multiple options for recording – from stereo recording (set and forget) to multi-track
Mains consist of three-way power amplifier setup, using DBX drive rack with QSC 1104 and 1804 power amps, driving Yamaha SV115 or CM10 speakers with custom built sub-woofers. Equipment can be re-configured depending on the venue and your needs.
Monitors consist of custom built wedges, spot monitors, and access to JBL Eons as needed.