KDVS Studio A is a 100% analog recording studio serving underground and local music. It was put together with scrounged equipment, no budget, and a lot of hard work. It emphasizes uniqueness and old-school recording methods over expensive gear.

Everything is recorded onto 1" 8-track analog. Several microphones can be pre-mixed onto one track. It's faster than digital recording and it's easy to get a good sound.

The tape machine is an MCI JH-110C made in 1981, with very clean sound and gapless punch-in circuitry. (Special thanks to Kieran de Leon-Horton at UCD and Magnetic Reference Laboratory for help with restoring our calibration tape.)

The console is a Studiomaster Classic 8 with 24 channels and 3-band semi-parametric EQ. We have plenty of outboard compressors, EQ's, and filters. We have a reverb chamber, tape echo, tape chorus/flange, and other effects to give your mixes a unique sound that you won't get anywhere else.

We mix down to CD-R, 96 kHz digital, or 1/4" analog. We can edit the mix in the computer and do basic mastering.

If you need more tracks...
A 64-track Cubase 4 system can be synchronized to the tape machine. It has 8 inputs and 16 outputs. It can also be used for gating, editing, sample triggering, noise reduction, etc. We record every track to analog tape first, and mix on the analog console.

Staff
Fenris Wulf, KDVS Studio Tech. 17 years studio experience. Repairs and maintains the equipment, engineers most recording sessions.
Matthew Torres, KDVS Assistant Studio Tech. Assists on most recording sessions.
Various KDVS volunteers to help out.
(Our Chief Engineer, Richard Luscher, maintains the KDVS transmitter. The Studio Techs run the recording studio.)

The Studio
The old "Studio A" was too small and too close to the DJ booth, so we moved the studio to a larger room down the hall with better isolation. The room is connected to the control room by 16 microphone lines. The room is 15'x23' with a 10-foot ceiling. The walls have wooden shelves to provide diffusion. The sound is very natural and suitable for instruments or vocals.

Tune in to "Live in Studio A" Thursdays at 11 pm to hear the studio in action.

Recorders
MCI JH-110C 1" 8-track
Revox PR-99 1/4" 2-track
Cubase system: Cubase 4 Essential , 64 tracks, comprehensive editing capabilities, dual Xeon 2.4 GHz CPU, two UAD-1 cards with vintage compressor and EQ emulations, 120 GB SCSI drive, 400 GB backup drive, CD-R and DVD-R backup, audiophile 96 kHz converters.

Console
Studiomaster Classic 8 console

Monitoring
M-Audio Studiophile powered monitors with custom subwoofer
Alesis Monitor One secondary monitors
Yamaha vocal monitors
Sansui hi-fi speakers for reverb chamber
Behringer 8-channel headphone amplifier
Sennheiser HD-580 open headphones (4)
AKG K270S closed headphones (4)
Custom drum headphones (2)

Outboard Equipment
ART VLA II stereo optical compressor
Aphex Compellor broadcast compressor with Aural Exciter (2) (Thanks to Richard Luscher for loaning them.)
Symetrix 528E vocal compressor/parametric EQ (3)
Symetrix 425 stereo compressor/limiter
Furman TX-4 stereo crossover for high-pass and low-pass filtering
Scully 280 microphone preamps (4). High-quality vintage preamps with germanium transistors and UTC transformers.
Coming soon:
"Fenrisonic" stereo 3-band passive inductor EQ (similar to a Pultec MEQ-5, built from scrounged components)

Effects
Reverb Chamber -- we use the hallway to create a classic 60's vocal reverb
Revox PR-99 1/4" 2-track (tape echo, 50 to 500 ms)
Tascam 22-2 1/4" 2-track (tape chorus/flange, modified with coarse and fine speed controls)
Lexicon PCM-90 dual engine reverb
Coming soon:
"Fenrisonic" rotating speaker with continuous speed control and swappable horns and full-range drivers
Sonovox -- a recreation of a 1930's talkbox from the original patent diagrams

Microphones
Condensers:
Rode NT1A (2)
Rode NT5 (2)
AT 3525 (2)
AKG 414 multi-pattern
Oktava MK12 with cardioid and omni capsules
Oktava MK219 (2) and MK319 (modified for smoother frequency response)
AT 825 stereo mics (2)
Dynamics:
Electro-Voice RE-20 (4)
Shure SM-5b
Shure SM57's and SM58's
Shure Beta 57's and Beta 58's (modified for smoother frequency response)
Various lo-fi dynamics

Instruments
Marshall JCM800 50w split-channel
Marshall JCM800 50w single-channel
Ampeg V4 2x12 combo
Peavey solid-state bass amp
Marshall and Ampeg 4x12 cabs
2x15 bass cab
6x15 bass cab (stereo input, flat to 30 Hz, built as a PA subwoofer)
Peavey Radial drum set with double kick, 4 toms, wood, brass, and steel snares, various cymbals
ProCo DI boxes (6)
Various distortion pedals
Reamp box

Rates
$20/hour for recording and mixing, includes engineer
$1 each for CD-R with jewel box
$2 each for DVD-R with jewel box

Parking
$6/day, free after 10 PM and on weekends
Free parking two blocks away on A or B Street

Tape costs
(1 reel holds 33 minutes)
We use Ampex 456 for rock projects, and Ampex 499 for acoustic projects.
We buy slightly used tape to save money, and we play-wind each reel to check the condition.
$20/reel to use the tape
$40/reel to buy the tape